BOLOGNA DAY 3 -- 9/14/06

Bologna Day 3 was actually a half day in the nearby town of Modena, and half back in Bologna. Modena is a pretty little town town only about 15km outside of Bologna. We hopped on a train and we were there in twenty minutes. Our main purpose in seeing Modena was to purchase Balsamic Vinegar which is very famous in the region. They are obsessed with the stuff there, and it is not uncommon to see bottles selling for over 100 euros, some of them aged over 40 years. Liz found what she needed, and we proceeded to our lunch destination.

The first recording is sort of a 'by request'. We have been getting a lot of comments that sound like, 'yeah the audio sounds great, but can we experience the food instead?' Well, I thought it would be worth trying to deliver that to you. Here is a Binaural recording of me enjoying my calzone at Al Grottino's in Modena. It was certainly the biggest but also the best calzone I've ever eaten. I hope you think so too. Along witht his recording have a look at a few shots from the streets of Modena.

The next recording is just a short one I'll throw in from the train. I liked this one because I think it really shows off the binaural effect well. If you close your eyes while listening to this you will probaby be able to picture yourself at the station as the train arrives, boarding the train, finding your seat and settling in as the train pulls out of the station. Buon Viaggi!

Our last recording from Modena was a nice find. On our way to the train station we came across a little park on the side of a main road that seemed to be home to a Bocce ball club or something. There were a bunch of old Italian men playing a competitive game of Bocce and they were nice enough to let us watch. Here a few still shots and a video of the game.

Back in Bologna it started to rain. Our first bad weather of the trip so far but it was actually kind of nice. Bologna looks even better in the rain, especially at night. After an incredible dinner which Liz will soon tell you about, we took our nightly 'passeggiata' in Piazza Maggiore. Here are some beautiful pictures and a recording of the rain from underneath our umbrella as we walk along the square.

(Did you know that Bologna used to look like Venice? This is one of the last remaining canals that you can see in the city. Bologna at one time had only canals for streets just the same as Venice did.)

And now Liz will tell you about our many feasts, and also of our new friends here in Bologna.....

We began our feasting day in Modena, home of Balsamic Vinegar. They take this stuff very seriously here, and I purchased both a 30 year old and 40 year old bottle of the precious, syrupy liquid. After walking around for a while through the beautiful streets of the city, we had a quick snack of two small sandwiches, one with tuna, vinegar and borlotti beans, one with salami and cheese. We also ate a panini. The panini, filled with prosciutto, braised radicchio and melted mozzarella cheese, was served hot in a piece of tin foil. The bitter, slight sweetness of the radicchio, paired with the salty prosciutto and luscious cheese...It was, of course, the best panini we had ever had.

Lunch was at Al Grottino, a restaurant with a pretty sidewalk cafe, where Matt had the mouthwatering calzone you saw earlier. The calzone was over a foot long and filled with spinach, ham, mozzarella and ricotta cheese and tomato sauce. It was crispy, chewy, with incredible crust and bursting with the mixture of flavors contained within. I had gnocchi with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella cheese. The gnocchi were delicate and wonderful, bathed in a sweet tomato sauce with loads of melted mozzarella.

For dinner, Angelo and his two lovely daughters, Lucrezia, Rachele (please forgive us for spelling errors!) took us to Trattoria Tony, a small restaurant located on a street that was dotted with similar establishments. Despite all of our wanderings and efforts to find the best food in Bologna, we had never come across this street before--we realized again the importance of getting advice about a city from the people who actually live there. Trattoria Tony was definitely some of, if not the best, food we had in Bologna. Matt had ricotta tortelloni with butter and sage, the same dish I had had the previous night, but much better, with more butter, more sage and perfectly al dente pasta. I had tagliatelle with meat ragu. The pasta was fresh and eggy, and the ragu had a complexity of flavor that we had not yet encountered in that sauce so far. For our main course, upon the suggestion of Angelo, Matt and I both had the same dish--a giant filet of beef sitting on a thick piece of chewy bread, served in a balsamic vinegar sauce. The filet was so tender, the fragrant sauce tangy and sweet and really unusual. The dish was amazing. We finished our wonderful meal with our first grappa. The alcohol was a little shocking at first, but after a sip or two we were able to appreciate the delicate sweet flavor of this Italian fire water.

We want to thank Angelo and his family for inviting us to share this meal with them. Grazie Mille!

Today we leave for Venice. It will be our final stop on this tour of Italy. Remember, you can access all of the places we have been from the BinWorld Map page on this site. Next stop, Venezia! Arrivederci!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BOLOGNA DAY 2 -- 9/13/06

Another day in Bologna is another day getting fatter and happier. Eat, walk it off, eat, walk it off then eat and walk some more. That's been our formula and we're sticking to it. Our second day here was really nice. We covered a lot of ground. We started at the farmer's market near Piazza Maggiore. We saw some amazing goods for sale. Great produce, and some interesting seafood, including stingrays. Who knew you could eat those? Anyway, the first recording is of a flute player in the market.

We walked from there to the northern part of town and had an incredible lunch at ristorante Da Bertino. After eating for an hour or two, we walked all the way back across town and farther south until we reached torre degli Asinelli, a famous old brick tower. We climbed the tower to take in the view of Bologna from its highest point. The steps leading us to the top of the tower were almost as grueling as the Duomo in Florence, but maybe it just seemed that way because we were carrying an extra five pounds or so each in lunch weight. To go along with the next group of pictures, here is a peaceful recording of what it sounds like high above the Bologna streets.

That wraps up our second day here. The rest of the evening was spent eating another huge meal from which I will probably never recover. We are heading out of town today on a day trip to Modena. We will report back to you tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who has left us comments so far. It's been great to hear from all of you. Please keep them coming. We only have a couple more days left before we have to fly back to NY, so let's make the most of it! Send us an email!

Yesterday was a really great eating day, as you can see from that gorgeous lasagne pictured above. We began lunch at Da Bertino, an old restaurant located sort of in the middle of nowhere in a less than beautiful part of the city. The restaurant is known for serving traditional, "peasant" style food from Bologna, and it certainly lived up to its promise. Our antipasto was a mixed meat platter (something we have grown very fond of) with prosciutto, salami and mortadella. For pastas, I had tortellini with a meat ragu. Delicious pieces of flavorful beef, a light tomato sauce, and wonderful tortellini filled with pork. But Matt's lasagne--oh Matt's lasagne. In case you hadn't noticed so far, Matt has been incredible at ordering the perfect dishes for every meal. And this might have been his best decision yet. 10 layers of paper-thin sheets of spinach pasta, layered with a thick cheese puree with tomato sauce and ground meat. This was surely lasagne at its finest and Matt would hardly share a bite with me. For our next course, Matt and I shared a pasta e fagiole soup. This is one of Matt's favorite kinds of soup, and this one was unlike any other we had ever had. The beans were pureed into a thick, almost mealy (in a good way) broth. Tiny, chewy pieces of perfectly cooked pasta were abundant in every bite. It was so, so good.

Later, we had great gelato from a place our friend Suzie recommended (Thank you Suzie, thank you!). Fragiola (a strawberry like flavor) and Bacio (Baci chocolate flavored). This was the best gelato we had so far on the trip. Then we indulged in a frappe-basically a milkshake, with Nocciola (hazlenut) ice cream. Mmmmm.

For dinner, we went to Trattoria Gianni, another traditional Bolognese restaurant. We started with an assortment of fabulous crostini--sage, oil and prosicutto, melted mozzarella, roasted red pepper spread, balsamic vinegar, oil and basil and chopped tomatoes. All were to die for. For pasta, Matt had tortellini in brodo, tiny, dime sized tortellini filled with pork and served in a chicken soup that put the best jewish delis to shame. I had a Bologna specialty, ricotta filled tortelloni coated with butter and served with bits of fragrant fried sage. The flavor of the pasta lingered long after each bite, and I was very happy. For our main course, I went bold again, ordering another Bologna specialty--bollito misto, boiled meats. The plate arrived, an assortment of six different kinds of meat with a large pile of mashed potatoes in the center. I tried everything before I found out what it was, knowing I probably wouldn't eat it once I knew. It was all delicious, really delicious, with incredible contrasting textures and flavors. One of my favorites was a soft, meatlike substance that turned out to be "head" (who's head, I do not know). There was also tongue, beef, pork and veal, or at least, some versions of those things. I couldn't eat much of it, despite it being so good. I'm just a squeamish American! Matt got an incredible dish of roasted lamb, falling of the bone (the neck bone that is) and so great. Dessert was creme caramel and a semifreddo with amaretto. Both spectacular. By the end, we were very, very full--particularly Matt who was nearly delirious with food. It was a good meal.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BOLOGNA DAY 1 -- 9/12/06

Our first day in Bologna consisted mostly of walking. We walked from one end of he city to the other and back again, exploring as many little streets as we could before it was time to start eating again. We did not find too many opportunities to record but there were a couple nice moments. The first is a Romanian fiddler who was playing on the side of the main square, Piazza Maggiore.

(love the boobie fountain)

Later we walked along Via Zamboni where all the university kids hang out. It was an all out block party by the time the sun went down.

Finally, I've gt another little video of the band you see above. These guys were playing the Piazza Nettuno. You can see the giant shadow from the figure of Neptune on the wall behind the group. The Neptune statue is the centerpiece to the boobie fountain we showed you earlier. The sound doesn't really match the picture but the video gives you a nice sense of the surroundings.

We want to thank everyone who has sent comments to us so far and we hope to get more. Once again, you can see what people have written us on the comments page. Just click Send us an email!

Tell us what you think. Thanks.

Miss Elisabeth with the food story......

We arrived in Bologna ready for consumption of the best, richest food in Italy. We snacked on some pizza from Altero, a popular pizza place on a busy street in central Bologna. Then a mini eclair filled with a cold chocolate mousse that was painfully delicious.

For dinner we went to Teresina, a beautiful little restaurant where we sat outside, basically in an alley off one of Bologna's many winding streets. For our antipasto, I made the peculiar decision of ordering grilled sardines. They arrived, a plate of 6 sardines, butterflied and lightly breaded and grilled. They were tasty but really, who can eat so many sardines? And they looked very pathetic on their little plate compared to Matt's stunning dish of Prosciutto e melone (with melon) served with a mild white, creamy cheese. The prosciutto was so thin you could clearly see your fingers through it, and it tasted like a little bite of salty meat heaven. The melon was incredibly ripe and sweet. A bite complete with melon, prosciutto and cheese was...perfetto!

My pasta was rigatoni with eggplant, tomato sauce and ricotta salata cheese. This is one of my favorite pasta dishes of all time, and I don't think I will ever have a rendition as good as this one again. Big slices of eggplant were roasted and completely tender, bathed in a sweet tomato sauce and draped on pieces of perfectly cooked rigatoni. The shredded ricotta salata added a perfect, slightly sour contrast to the salty sweetness of the dish. Matt had tagliatella bolognese, fresh pasta with a fragrant sauce of ground, stewed beef. It was delicious.

For our secondi piatti, Matt enjoyed lamb chops that were about the size of a silver dollar--this must have been a very baby lamb. The meat was succulent and delightful. It was served (as was my dish) along with the best roasted potatoes one could ever have. We don't know what they did to those potatoes, but they were transcendent. My main course was a turkey involtino--turkey wrapped around spinach and pancetta. It tasted a lot like a really incredible rotisserie chicken, with sweet and unbelievably moist and tender meat. I will never view Thanksgiving turkey the same way.

We shared a cannoli for dessert, which I will not describe for no words can capture the excellence of this dish. Just...wow.