blogfromafar

Trieste has a lot of competition:  The Campo in Siena, the Piazza San Marco in Venice…but the Piazza dell’ Unita is one of the finest squares in Italy.  The architecture is Hapsburg sublime, and the open spaces, lined with evergreen trees that let off an alpine scent even when you’re not thinking about Christmas.  They invite strolling, political speechmaking, and all of the sorts of human interaction that make Italy’s liveable spaces so compelling to those of us who live in American suburbs and meet friends only after driving somewhere in a car.

Last night I wandered into Caffe degli Specchi on the piazza.  If it were not raining, I would have sat outside, but then I would have missed the awards ceremony for the soccer team that had won the trophy for the entire region.  Prosecco and toasts all ’round, (more…)

Yes, I am.  Illy’s designers are the best, and this newest espresso maker is so engaging, it almost has a face. You want to take him home with you just for that reason!  But then does he have a brain?  Will the relationship stand the test of time?  We asked Stefano Tognon at the Illy booth at Triesteespresso, a convention of all things coffee here in Trieste. 

The answer is absolutely yes.  (more…)

Maybe it’s just me, but the chilly rain in Trieste and the lack of
dining companions has me gravitating towards soup.  It comforts, has
an interesting mix of flavors, and feeds a hungry soul in a short
time.

In Trieste, there is a special kind of soup called jota (j is silent).
 In an homage to the days when the Austrian Hapsburgs ruled the world
(or at least most of it, including Trieste), it includes sauerkraut,
borlotti beans, whole peppercorns, pork (for flavoring; a little to
fatty to eat), and a bay leaf.  (more…)

  Here in Trieste, there’s a crazy “London Bus” snatched from Trafalgar Square, driving around town to promote Triestespresso, a celebration of all things coffee.  Every night there’s a tasting at 5pm where it’s parked at Piazza Della Borsa. Gianni Pistrini is your guide, and his zeal (possibly caffeine-fueled?) about the bean, the roast, the process the finished cup grabs the audience, inviting discussion.

On the night when I made my visit, the audience was stacked with visiting coffee dignitaries and a college professor, but it also included (for a short time) a few locals of dubious character. Signore Pistrini was evenly gracious and engaging with everyone, and even pretended not to notice when the locals left after their free coffee. (more…)

Triestespresso opened today with an introductory session on the state of supply and demand in the coffee industry.  For those of us in the audience more on the demand side than the supply, it comes as a surprise (but doesn’t stay that way for long) that coffee production, even in the face of a rise in demand, is predicted to rise only slightly if at all in the next ten years.

You know you’re in the minority in the audience when graphs showing a drop in coffee prices in 2004 is a bad thing.  But that crisis caused many farmers to turn to more stable crops (for example, in Mexico), and caused laborers to head to “the states” causing a shortage that exacerbates the production problem. (more…)

Enter here, and in you go, dropping back in time to Hapsburg Trieste.  Inside, you could as easily be sitting in a cafe in Vienna as on the Adriatic coast, surrounded by creamy yellow walls, just dripping with confections of plaster angels and spotty mirrors, The true elegance of the place is disrupted somewhat by someone’s unsettled idea of introducing “updated” furnishings:  bamboo, the same granite that we have in our kitchen at home, but once seated, you can choose to focus on only what is good and true.  I came in the late afternoon after the kitchen had closed, but was able to order the seafood appetizer pictured here.  In all fairness, the spotty, mediocre quality of the food may have had everything to do with my poor timing.

But I would come here again.   (more…)

  One of our favorite programs is The Splendid Table which airs Sundays at 2pm on 90.1, KERA-FM.  Lynne Rossetto Kasper presents intelligent, witty, and practical shows and tips to callers-in, and her website is chock-full of recipes, stories, and insight.  We’ve subscribed to her weekly newsletter and have tried the recipes, with good results. 

Last week, we tried two from the same newsletter and loved both, for different reasons.  (more…)

 We came for the food, and walked away with a love for the space, the gracious outdoors of Northpark’s new inward courtyard.   It was a glorious late-fall day in Dallas, one of those that almost makes up for the heat of July (almost).  We’d read about the newly-opened Cibus in Northpark Center (located under the AMC theaters, if you must know) and were anxious to see what local restauranteur Alberto Lombardi had up his sleeve this time.  So we sat down, snapped this photo, and almost forgot about the food for a bit (almost). 

For those of us who remember Northpark when it was an L-shape, not a square, the transformation is remarkable.  (more…)