September 29, 2015

Our new Project: an update on tiles and more

September 29, 2015/ - Susan -

We were so crazy about cement tiles that we almost imported a container from Asia, until I realised the quality is not what we want. Since cement tiles are so en vogue, also Bisazza has some well-known designers creating beautiful cement tile series. But we could not see any samples, only the online catalogue, and they not only seemed pricy but also a bit too opaque. I almost had given up on antique style cement tiles when someone was telling me in Pizzo that they are renovating an old palazzo and the new owner wanted to get rid of the cement tiles. People have different tastes, right? When I wanted to see them, we learnt that workers had just taken them out the fast way. They were all destroyed and already disposed. Then I announced to my FB friends in Pizzo that I am looking for old tiles and the message got shared. A few days later, I was offered to visit a dark and dusty storage room. The tiles looked interesting, not glamorous, but ok. We did not know how many of the same pattern were in that dark earth hole, and how many were still usable. Look at the photo below! This is now what lays in front of our new entrance at the end of the staircase. It is a bit shiny after washing it with water, but doesn't it look nice? The same pattern in a different size and colour (not as nice as this one) was later offered through a different source, for a different price... I think we got really lucky!

antique cement tiles from Pizzo found a new home in Pizzo!

We even have one more square meter available that we will lay on the floor of a little bathroom. It is not what we had in mind, but I am so glad to have found something antique, something that gives the new apartment a bit of a special touch. When you come to Southern Italy on holiday you don't want to see what you could get at home or at Ikea, right? With these cement tiles we have recycled something original and local. I am sure our visitors will like a unique flooring. I do!

So far these cement tiles cover just 2-3 sqm ... out of hundreds.... there is so much more to decide ...

Apart from tiles, we like the experience we have with wooden parquet from Berti. So we decided to repeat the oak wood parquet from the residence for the flooring of the living areas and bedrooms.

However, for the kitchens and entrances we prefer tiles instead of wood. And because we could not get cement tiles, but wanted a Mediterranean touch nevertheless, I said let's get Vietri tiles that are beautiful colourful ceramic tiles from a town called Vietri, near Salerno.

And I still love the floor tiles of our master bathroom: Greca Blu by De Maio. It was an easy decision to use them also for two bathrooms of our new project. Each apartment will get a bathroom with these gorgeous floor tiles:

There will be two kitchens with entrances plus one extra side entrance for the dependance. I decided to chose for each area the best matching tile. So three decisions had to be made. Some of my friends got a bit of whatsapp messages with photos during the holidays (no crowd sourcing on the blog this time) and then, two days before my departure, I went with my mother-in-law to the showroom to finalise my choices. In the very last moment we changed the color of one kitchen from red to white in order to match a beautiful modern interpretation of a classic Vietri pattern! Since the kitchen builders were also gone to the beach (August!) it was no problem to change the colour for the kitchen. We had red in mind as we wanted it to resemble the kitchen of the residence. But now, I am looking forward to something fresh and exciting like this:

Tile: Benincasa by De Maio, Serie Fiori di Ravello

For the larger kitchen in the dependance (that would be white too) I have chosen 'Valeria' by De Maio (photo below). The star pattern is matching the cement tile 'star' in the entrance (first photo above), the light blue will match the balcony tiles and the Smeg fridge that will be light blue again like the one in the residence.

The most beautiful tile probably is the next one! I am very much looking forward to see that laid in the "side" entrance of the dependance, which is a corridor of 14 m2. The blue will match the Bisazza mosaic in the small bathroom, the blue of the relief of the church opposite in the piazza, the sky and the sea. It will look fabulous!

From the piazza, the facade looks already as we could move in tomorrow. Deja-vu! We had this with our first project too. When my neighbour brought me flowers to welcome us in the alley, because it looked from the outside like we had moved in, it took us another two years or so to finish the inside! This time, I hope we will be faster! Although we are already one year behind schedule due to - I would call it 'the usual Calabrian obstacles' - we plan to have two apartments ready for rent in May 2016.

The project from the outside - with one studio downstairs and the 2 story dependance upstairs.

The roof is done, windows and doors are installed. What is still missing are the balustrades for the balconies that we ordered to be crafted according to my design (which is repeating the pattern of the oldest railing of our first project).

Maybe I should have ordered some standard wrought iron pattern. Then you know what you get. Let's see. Can't wait to see the facade completed.

playing with designs for the WROUGHT iron balcony railings

July 10, 2015

We are Superhost

July 10, 2015/ Susan

Thank you to all my dear Airbnb guest for having chosen to spend your holiday in Pizzo di Calabria and for staying with us. We had great experiences with all our guest from different countries. Thank you for having been great guest! And mille grazie for having taken a moment to write a review for us.

Thanks to you it was possible to reach airbnb superhost status!

Palazzo Pizzo Residence has earned superhost status with Airbnb

Feeling proud! Mille Grazie and hope to welcome you all back in Pizzo in the near future!

Greetings from Pizzo!!

Feeling blessed to start the day with my friend and yoga instructor Bianca who is visiting from Germany.

Looking forward to a sundowner aperitivo with our new airbnb guests, old friends and family.

GT at sunset to celebrate airbnb superhost status

June 12, 2015

Cement Tiles

June 12, 2015/ - Susan -

CEMENT tiles look cool with modern or antique furniture — CEMENT tiles look cool with modern or antique furniture

In our old palazzo we have beautiful cement tiles that we were able to preserve. For our new project we were thinking of having cement tiles too. But the ones we have are no longer produced anywhere. However, as one can observe, another kind of cement tiles are very popular nowadays, especially crazy tile mixes can be seen everywhere. The pattern that are popular are probably Moroccan origin and are very hip in America and Southeast Asia. There are factories in the States and in Spain that produce them, but not in Italy. Since we see them allover in Bangkok (in the newly opened EM Quatier I would say 1/3 of the restaurants use Mediterranean cement tiles and crazy tile mixes) we found a factory here that produces beautiful cement tiles with classic pattern. We went to an architects fair and were in heaven at the BEZZ booth.

Should we really import for our project in Italy Mediterranean cement tiles made in Thailand? I was searching for producers in Sicily, but it does not seem that any Italian factory is still specialized in real cement tiles with a good choice of pattern. We were told that cement tiles are so delicate, even more than terracotta tiles, that customers turned to other products, porcelain tiles or wood. Cement tiles need constant care, mainly waxing and special cleaning products. Therefore cement tiles should not be used in wet area, not in bathrooms and even not in kitchens, we were told.

When we were in Italy, fake wood was allover the showrooms. It seems very popular and actually looks great. Should we use that in the kitchen? The only Sicilian company that offered products close to what we were looking for never replied to my email inquiry. Probably their hand made tiles would cost us a fortune anyway in comparison to the amazing Thailand tiles that are just 30 Euro per square meter! Sigh, I would really like to support Italian economy and have Sicilian tiles in my Calabrian home.

After having visited the fair in Bangkok and having found the factory's showroom and discussing pattern and color, and finding out the amount of sqm we would need, and having confused Angelo about the floor preparation, two weeks later we finally came up with a decision for two patterns.

pattern for living room and other small bedroom

Then a day later, I visited the new EM Quarter in Bangkok and - what a coincidence - most tiles on the new restaurants' floors looked very familiar to me and indeed were by that factory we had discovered. Shockingly, in one restaurant they were in a terrible state. I had seen the same scratches and cracks in the showroom before, but ignored it as I thought it's impossible what I see. These tiles had black marks allover and cracks. Black shoes and moving chairs seemed to leave black scratches. A lot. I went home and told my husband, that I have made a new decision. No imported tiles. It is a total different quality from what we have in our 200 year old house.

There must be another quality of tiles that you see allover Pinterest. They are used in shops, in restaurants, in highly frequented area, and they can't be that high maintenance. The Spanish factory is about three times the price and probably delivers more durable quality than the Thai production. But I need to see tiles and touch them before I can order. I have nothing to do with Spain. Thailand was just an option since we live here.

Why can't an Italian company just jump in and pick up the trend? But wait! Bisazza does now cement tiles! They are not the joyful elaborated Moroccan patterns and colors we were looking for. Bisazza's tiles have larger scale geometrical designs and mainly opaque colors. Cement tiles with a modern twist. And very Italian!

Maybe we should stress the budget for those Bisazza tiles?!

I can't believe we are back to zero. Feeling kind of disappointed if we would go for the good old oak panels. At least that kind of floor would not distract from the stunning sea views!

June 12, 2015

Tiramisu - the recipe and story

June 12, 2015/ - Susan -

Ingredients

5 egg yolk
5 table spoons sugar
500 gr Mascarpone
1-2 table spoons Cointreau
1-2 packs of vanilla sugar (vanillin)
a bit of lemon skin
espresso coffee (one pot or about 2 cups)
1 pack (2 x 12) Savoiardi (aka ladyfingers, sponge fingers)

How to

Cook coffee first and let it cool in a bowl.
Separate egg white and egg yolk, use egg yolk only.
Mix well egg yolk with sugar.
Add vanillin sugar and Cointreau.
Move the mascarpone by hand.
Add a bit of lemon skin before finishing with the mascarpone.
Keep the mass in the fridge (raw egg is delicate!) and start working with the Savoiardi.
Roll each Savoiardi in the coffee (it need to soak the coffee in but not be too wet to fall apart).
If you want to prepare servings by glass like in the photo above, then break on Savoiardi in half and lay in each glass 1 biscuit broken in half. You will get 12 servings. If you want smaller servings, use espresso cups and use only half biscuit for each cup. You will get 24 servings. You can also prepare one large container and serve by spoon.
After the first layer of biscuits, add a layer of egg-mascarpone-mass on top.
Add another layer of biscuit.
Top with a last layer of egg-mascarpone-mass.
Sieve dark chocolate powder on top.
Cover with clear wrapping or aluminium foil and keep in the fridge at least for 4 h before serving.
Before serving sieve one more time a bit of chocolate powder on top.

Tips:

Although raw eggs are delicate, and you will only use freshly bought eggs, you could prepare the tiramisu the night before serving it as it even taste better the longer the Savoiardi biscuits are soaked with all the flavors.
Don't use the electric mixer for working the mascarpone. Work only with a hand mixer and do not over-do it as some mascarpone is more delicate than others and its consistency might become liquid. To rescue the desert you would then need to freeze it and serve "tiramisu ice cream".
Some more recent recipes include beaten white egg or cream. This results in double of the amount of mass. It might appear more light, but it is also more liquid and has a more intense egg taste.

Story:

Tiramisu is an Italian desert originally from Piedmont, Northern Italy and the name comes from the Italian words "tira mi su" which translates as "pull me up". Some say "pick me up". But it is less about picking or pulling someone, and rather more about something that needs an uplift or support ...

The stories vary, and there are also pastry shops in Treviso, Venice and Siena that claim to have invented or re-invented the recipe. But since Savoiardi biscuits (The Savoy were the Nobles from Piedmont) are part of the recipe, I will just tell the story I heard from Turino in Piedmont: Once upon a time there was a signora that had a pasticceria near a brothel. And the brothel's male customer passing by were in need of something heavy in calories and protein to gain back strength. So the signora prepared a special desert with sugar and eggs. It was very tasty and apparently had a 'lifting up' effect. A kind of early Viagra. So the desert was called "tira-mi-su" and became famous. Today, the desert is still called Tiramisu, but most people, like me, have never heard about the brothel story. BTW, the stories from Treviso and Venice also include brothels. ;-)

May 28, 2015

How to make green Pesto Genovese

May 28, 2015/ - Susan -

It's very easy when you have a food processor at home that mixes your ingredients into a delicious pesto sauce in just a few seconds. Else you can use a mortar.

Ingredients:

200 gr fresh basil
100 gr pine nuts (pinoli)
30 gr Parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves
olive oil (cold pressed extra virgin)
salt (3-4 pinch)

This amount of ingredients resulted in about 300 gr of fresh basil pesto sauce and could be stored in 2-3 glass containers. 300 gr pesto could be served with 500 gr pasta and make up to 5-6 servings.

How to:

- Cook water in a pot with salt.

- Clean the basil leaves by washing. Shortly blanch the the basil in boiling water. This is the "secret" to keep the leaves green (after the blending) and take away a bit of the bitterness.

- Take the leaves out and dry them on kitchen paper.

- In the meantime grate Parmesan cheese and peal the garlic.

- Then throw half of the ingredients in the food processor (to reduce the volume), add some olive oil. Later add the rest. Taste the pesto to add ingredients up to your taste.

How to serve: If you serve pasta with pesto alla Genevese boil a medium size potatoe (cut into small cubes) in the pasta water. Before pouring out the water, use one ladle of the cooking water to add into the sauce.Then add the pasta. Add more parmesan cheese on top of each serving, decorate with a basil leave and some pine nuts. Bon appetito!

More Tips:

While mixing the ingredients taste the pesto and adjust it to your taste. You can use less garlic (but at least 1 clove for the spice), you can use more Parmesan or Pecorino cheese, more salt, more pines, more oil. The sauce might become less green though.
If you don't use the pesto right away, store it in a glass jar and top the surface entirely with olive oil.
You can easily cover the surface with olive oil and freeze the glass jar up to a couple of months.
Don't make the mistake and serve spaghetti with pesto - it's the wrong pasta! Classic Italian style is to serve linguine with pesto! Or another flat pasta (bavette, fettuccine).

Today, I saw that some branches of my basil bush on the balcony had become to heavy and broke (or was it the cat?). It was time to process the beautiful basil to a pesto sauce. I had already stocked up pine nuts for that reason. - In the evening my son declared that I am smelling deliciously from pesto. His favorite sauce at the moment and he ordered pasta with pesto sauce for dinner. It was so yummy and we were so hungry that I almost forgot to take a picture. :-)