Napoli Part 3
Feb 21, 2009 | From the kitchen of Rose
One of the beautiful dioramas on display at the Festival Pane, Amore, e Fantasia
The Chiesa (Church) di San Vincenzo all Sanità below which lies the catacombs of Catacombe di San Gaudioso.
Who would guess that below the exquisite décor of this church lies the dark, grey, cold chambers of death. True it’s part of life and history but it’s one thing I don’t appreciate being reminded of.
But life is for the livings so on to one of the most luxurious and special hotels--the the Hotel Vesuvio. This is luxury without intimidation. The Caruso Suite requires $1900 a night. Of course the balcony has a view of Mt. Vesuvio. Everything is of the finest quality, from exquisite pink Murano crystal lamps and chandeliers to the finest granite in the bathroom, and beautiful woodwork. Pavarotti also stayed in this suite. It is said that Enrico Caruso died here but I distinctly remember my friend Judy, when we were in high school at Music and Art, telling me Caruso was her Uncle and he died on stage, I think at the Met! Be that as it may, I’m sure Caruso stayed at this hotel, even if he may not have died there, and I would stay in a heart beat (perhaps an unfortunate metaphor in this case).
The dignified but friendly Maitre d’ at Ciro a Santa Brigida where we enjoyed fabulous pizza for lunch.
lovely wine and label
Clams Posillipo
I’ve ordered mussels Posillipo in NY never realizing that the name derived from a region in Naploli!
Special noodles called paccheri from the town of Gragnano
linguini with langostino & pistachio at Grand Hotel Parker’s where we had the pleasure of staying. Their restaurant, on the top floor, is first class and has a great view of—you guessed—Vesuvio! In warm weather one can have breakfast, lunch or dinner on the balcony.
Christmas time is a great time to visit the area called La Sanita where there is shop after shop, many of which offer displays of amazingly detailed Xmas crèches for sale.
A store front in La Sanita
display of crèche figures
This store specializes in silver representations of body parts. They are designed to bring to church as an offering to the saints to cure the specific part of one’s body that is ailing.
This marble sculpture of the Veiled Christ “Il Cristo Velato” (1753) di Giuseppe Sanmartino, is the most amazing marble work I’ve ever seen. The Museo Cappella Sansevero does not allow photos to be taken so I purchased the post card of it and photographed that.
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Julie
02/26/2009 01:12 PM
Ooops, that last comment was from me, I must have fogotten to type in my email address and name.
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Anonymous
02/26/2009 09:59 AM
Rose, thanks so much for the reply, paccheri is a very interesting dish!
Luca, you're a gem to have researched those pastries, I loved reading about them!
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Rose
02/23/2009 04:05 PM
julia, the meat with the broad noodles is rabbit!
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Luca
02/23/2009 04:01 PM
According to my experts:
1. the "crostata-like" dessert is Pastiera Napoletana. It's actually an Easter dessert, but it's becoming popular all year round.
http://www.italian-food-recipes.net/2006/04/pastiera-napoletana-dessert.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastiera
2. the "green" cake on the upper shelf is a "Cassata Napoletana".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassata
3. the other cake , that look like a mountain of little balls, is unknown. It is very likely to be "struffoli".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struffoli
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Luca
02/23/2009 04:00 PM
Ciao,
I am afraid I have no idea about the names of these desserts. The one on the lower shelf just look like a crostata to me, but I might be wrong. The one on the top shelf is totally unknown.
That tells you a lot about how regional italian food is.
Anyhow, I'll forward this request to a friend I have who has been living in Naples for a while, and will see if she replies with a better answer.
Aloha
Luca
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Rose
02/23/2009 03:35 PM
julie, i don't remember the name of that special xmas pastry but i'm sure someone will chime in as it is perhaps the most famous holiday one in naples.
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Julie
02/23/2009 07:31 AM
Rose, what beeautiful photos, it must have been a wonderful trip! The langostinos with pistachios sounds lovely, and what are the paccheri served with? Is that pork, basil and tomato? or eggplant? When sugar is not involved, pasta is my favorite food!
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Patrincia
02/23/2009 07:19 AM
I absolutely love the photo with all the pasta. The long fusilli is my favorite. I wonder what the long rainbow ribbon pasta is used for. Mmmm.
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Soni
02/22/2009 01:34 PM
Thank you so very much for your encouragement and endorsement. The brioche coffeecake is my personal favorite offering in the store, so I am very glad that you had a chance to enjoy it as well. It was indeed an amazing surprise that you visited and I look forward to meeting you in person soon. Shankar is very happy and encouraged to read your feedback as well. Many thanks again for your good wishes.
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Soni
02/22/2009 01:34 PM
Thank you so very much for your encouragement and endorsement. The brioche coffeecake is my personal favorite offering in the store, so I am very glad that you had a chance to enjoy it as well. It was indeed an amazing surprise that you visited and I look forward to meeting you in person soon. Shankar is very happy and encouraged to read your feedback as well. Many thanks again for your good wishes.
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Hector
02/21/2009 02:30 PM
thank you Rose, Luca can have it the right way, but for me pasta was invented in China, so we can it noodles, as my Mom always did, too!
lovely posting, I think I will fix a quick noodle lunch, even tonight I am making your chestnut noodle for 20 people! unfortunately, I will skip sage because it is $3.99 for a bunch of 10 leaves, will sprinkle with fried garlic instead (never fry the garlic in the butter for the noodle sauce as it would be overpowering).
so luca, there you have it.
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Rose
02/21/2009 01:52 PM
our lunch today was your brioche coffee cake and it is absolutely fabulous. our before dinner treat will be your husband's magnificent rye bread--i can tell just from the smell, look, and feel of it that he is a superb bread baker.
i apologize for not having told you i was coming as i thought it would be a fun surprise. next time i'll be sure to call ahead. stroudsburgians are so blessed to have you there.
i wish you great success in your new bakery.
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Rose
02/21/2009 01:50 PM
regarding the posting above, hector has already alerting me as to how dismayed leca will be when he sees i referred to a pasta shape as 'noodles.' i was going to edit it but they realized why i had used the word noodles. when it's spaghetti i would never say spaghetti noodles, but when it's a different shape, such as elbow, my grandmother always called them elbow noodles. so i still think of them with affection that way. apologies to luca and all italians.
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Soni
02/21/2009 01:31 PM
Dear Rose:
I am Soni from Soni's Flour Shop in Stroudsburg, PA. I am so very sorry that I missed seeing you at my store earlier today. I think I must have said "Oh No!!" at least 20 times when my husband Shankar mentioned you visited. I so very hope you enjoy our products and that you will visit us again soon. I cannot tell you enough how immensely valuable your books have been to me and I refer to them for something or the other every single day. It is indeed an honor and I very much hope to see you again soon.
Many thanks and regards,
Soni.
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The Cake Lady of San Francisco
Downy Yellow Butter Cake