Without a doubt one of the nicest things about living on the east coast of the US is being able to visit other cities easily and cheaply. This past weekend I visited New York to meet up with some friends - $36 return on Bolt Bus, a (relatively) new bus company that has plugs for your laptops and free wifi. Definitely a change from the trip I took to Boston on Lucky Star a couple of years ago!
Lots of catching up with friends, drinks in the East Village, a walk in Central Park...
I'm guessing that the majority of people who read Jaffe already know this, but I'm moving to Boston!!!
Serena and I were in Boston at the end of last week to look for a place, and after seeing 16 apartments (yes, 16 apartments) in Cambridge, Beacon Hill, Fenway, and Back Bay/Symphony, we found a very nice one-bedroom garden apartment around the corner from the Prudential Center.
The move is set for the beginning of July, and the grill for the patio will be purchased the day after I arrive!!!
Those of you with a keen eye will have noticed that a few days ago I put up the pics from my birthday weekend with Serena in Paris. Serena arranged the whole thing - Eurostar from King's Cross to Gare du Nord, hotel in Montmartre - and it was amazing. Her only mistake was letting me navigate on Île de la Cité in the middle of a rainstorm. It's not clear how I did it, but I managed to miss Notre Dame (we found it eventually).
All in all, an amazing trip, and an amazing birthday present!
Since arriving in Salerno almost 10 days ago, time has passed very quickly. I've had a chance to have some of the Preferiti di Jaffe, and like last year, had a couple of days away with Serena to see some other parts of Italy. I'll post some longer entries about certain parts of our trip together later, but here's a brief version of our itinerary to get you started:
Salerno (click here for the town's official site (Italian)) Rome (click here for the city's official site (Italian)) Viterbo (click here for the town's official site (Italian))
Le Pain Quotidien - one year and half a world away...
A year after Serena and I took my parents to Le Pain Quotidien on the Upper East Side of New York (almost to the day), I found myself in another Le Pain Quotidien - this time in London. Sunday brunch with Julie, Ludo, Giovanna, Giulia, and Giovanni was exactly what Serena and I needed (that, and one of those little mixed berry tarts and a Belgian waffle).
This Sunday the Miami Dolphins will play the New York Giants at London's Wembley Stadium in the first regular season NFL (American football) game outside of North America. Although NFL players have no problem affording to vacation in Europe, it's possible that a lot of them are among the many Americans who don't even have a passport.
Certainly Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder's tongue-in-cheek comments published yesterday in this article in the Palm Beach Post sound like they come from a guy making his first trip across the pond:
I couldn't find London on a map if they didn't have the names of the countries. I swear to God. I don't know what nothing is. I know Italy looks like a boot. I learned that. I know London Fletcher. We did a football camp together. So I know him. That's the closest thing I know to London. He's black, so I'm sure he's not from London. I'm sure that's a coincidental name.
Nice one, Channing. Why do you think you aren't able to locate London on a map? Anyway, I'm sure you could find the US on a world map, right?
This is unlikely to be a weekly post, but I thought it would be nice to acknowledge the true geniuses out there. Unsung heroes who, despite being overlooked, have contributed something to society that has the potential to positively affect our lives. This week's geniuses are the designers of the Denver International Airport. They realized that if a tornado struck, a lot of people would be so scared they would soil themselves. Not a problem if you're in their airport.
For thinking outside the box, the designers of the Denver International Airport are the geniuses of the week.
The reason Serena and I went to Italy in the middle of August, the height of the peak season, is because she was a witness in her friend Catia's wedding. Being a witness in a European wedding isn't like being a witness in a trial (there are some obvious jokes to make here about the similarities between getting married and being sent to prison); a 'witness' at a wedding is what we would call a 'bridesmaid' or 'groomsman' in the States.
Catia and Assagid's wedding was in Francavilla, a town next to Pescara where Catia grew up. Assagid is from Ethiopia, and the two of them met while living and working in Würzburg. Serena and I flew into Pescara from London the day before the wedding, where we were met by Claudia, a friend of Serena's from medical school, who drove us to the hotel in central Pescara.
The morning of the wedding, Serena and I walked around central Pescara, which was pretty quiet outside of a street market that took up a few of the blocks between the hotel and the train station. It turned out to be a good find, since I forgot my belt and had to run out to get one from the market just before the wedding. Nothing like practicing my Italian with a street vendor - I even haggled to get a little discount.
The wedding was held in a small, simple, pretty church. Although I've been to more Christian weddings than Jewish weddings, and several of my childhood friends went to Catholic school, I would hardly say I was an expert on Christianity. This became apparent when I showed Serena's father this picture:
If you look closely, in front of Catia and Assagid you'll see a statue of a man lifting up his gown to reveal one of his legs. I found the statue very strange, but I waited until we were in Salerno before I asked Serena's father the question I was dying to ask someone at the wedding:
Why is Jesus lifting up his gown to show his leg?
Needless to say this question was met with a quizzical look. However, understanding that I was completely serious, he simply replied,"That's not Jesus, it's Saint Rocco." He followed that up with something to avoid any confusion in the future:
If it were Jesus, he would have been on a cross.
'nuff said. We all had a good laugh, as I explained that I had no idea why there was a dog next to the man depicted in the statue, and figured it was Jesus' pet dog, rather than the dog who saved St. Rocco's life by offering him bread.
Anyway, I put this question out of my mind as soon as we left the church and we all took little bags of rice, chocolate covered almonds, and coins to throw on Catia and Assagid as they left the church. I decided that the coins and chocolate covered almonds would hurt, so I pocketed the coins and ate the almonds before chucking the rice on the newlyweds.
The reception was held in a banquet hall on a hill overlooking Pescara, and it began with the antipasti, which were served outside as the sun set. It was hard to believe that we were going to get more food after the appetizers, which included a huge selection of different types of fish, seafood, and meat from the region. We had dinner inside in the main dining hall - more dishes with seafood and fish. The food was delicious, even if it was a little too much for a fan of the kiddie menu like me. Dessert was served outside by the pool, and was a buffet with as many choices as you could ever hope for. The only downside was that by the time we were all done eating, it was extremely late and everyone was stuffed and tired, so we didn't have a chance to dance. It was a shame, because I was looking forward to doing some traditional Ethiopian dancing with Serena:
A trip to Italy always involves food. On this trip I had the chance to have some of my favorites, try some new dishes, and even have a new version of an old favorite.
Pasta e fagioli The first time I had this was at Vicolo della Neve last Christmas. It made my list of favorites then, and is still near the top of the list. Vicolo della Neve was closed the first time we tried to go on this trip, but fortunately they were open again before we left so we could get our fix.
I tried two other things during dinner at Vicolo della Neve. The first was polpette, which are meatballs, and the other was ciambotta, which is a mixed vegetable stew. It's impossible to capture just how delicious each of these were. Clearly there were more things in the polpette than just meat, and more ingredients in the ciambotta than just vegetables. I have no idea what the other ingredients were, but if I grew up with these I would have been a much bigger fan of meatballs and vegetable stew!
Panzerotti Serena's mother made these during the Christmas holiday last year. This was also on my list of favorites then (as 'calzoni'), and is worth another mention now. Apparently these are popular in South Jersey, although I suspect they wouldn't even come close to the ones Serena's mother makes. We had them one evening for dinner on the patio overlooking Salerno and the Mediterranean Sea. Bellissimo.
Panzerotti
Arrosticini We had this traditionally Abruzzese dish at the dinner the night before Catia and Assagid's wedding. The dinner was at Catia's parents' house, and they made the arrosticini by hand. As far as I could tell, this was just grilled pieces of sheep on a skewer - no seasoning, no sauces. The simplicity, and the fact that the meat is extremely flavorful, is what makes this work. All you need is some bread and red wine, and you're all set. Buon appetito!
Home-made pizza Growing up in the US, we made pizza from scratch a few times (when I say 'we', I of course mean my parents). I remember my mother (or was it my father?) rolling the dough out onto a circular metal pizza pan with a Tupperware cup, spreading the tomato sauce, covering it with mozzarella, and putting it into the oven. We didn't have pizza often, but when we did it was a real treat.
When I heard that Serena's brother Antonio would be making pizza, I had a feeling he would do things a little differently. For one thing, Serena's family has a coal/wood-burning oven outside that looks like the kind you see in a real pizzeria. Also, I've heard the water in Naples is supposed to make the pizza taste better.
The result was impressive - fresh, light, delicious pizza. It was a team effort (as far as I could tell... I was too busy eating them as they came out of the oven), and Antonio, Silvana, and Serena made several pizzas with different toppings. Serena's father told me that the 'house speciality' is topped with tomato, mozzarella, and arugula.
As any Italian will tell you, nobody works in August. Well, almost nobody. The people who work in the restaurants and bars at the beach are kept very busy taking care of all of the beach-goers... and believe me, there are a lot of beach-goers. We visited three different beaches during our week in Salerno, and although each beach was slightly different in terms of the surrounding area, the routine was the same:
1) Rent a couple of chairs and a big umbrella. 2) Set all of our stuff down. 3) Go for a swim. 4) Lay on the chair either in the sun (Serena and her parents) or under the umbrella (me) until dry. 5a) If hungry/thirsty, go for a snack at the bar. 5b) If not hungry/thirsty, repeat 3) and 4)
In spite of the similar routine, each beach had various strengths and weaknesses:
Beach #1 - Paestum A friend of Serena's father recommended a visit to the beach in Paestum, a city known for its Greek temples that date back to between 220 BCE and 550 BCE. So the day after we arrived in Salerno we made our first beach outing with Serena's parents. The beach in Paestum was amazing. The sand was soft and fine, and the sea was so clear that you could see the bottom even after swimming quite a ways out. The little bar by the beach had a pretty big selection of panini, ice cream, and drinks. There wasn't much of a backdrop, just clear blue skies.
Sand: 9/10 Sea: 8/10 Bar: 8/10 Backdrop: 6/10
Beach #2 - Amalfi Serena and I visited Amalfi during our driving tour of the Amalfi Coast with her brother during the Christmas holiday last year. It's a truly beautiful town with a main street packed full of shops just off of a little square. We took a boat from Salerno to Amalfi, together with Serena's parents, and walked about 2 minutes (just next to the port) to get to the beach. After dropping off our towels at our beach chairs, we went for a little swim. When we looked back from the Sea, we could see the road we took with Antonio, followed by an amazing view of Amalfi looming over the beach. Absolutely stunning. The fact that the sand, sea, and bar weren't as nice as Paestum didn't matter. It's hard to imagine a nicer backdrop to a beach.
Sand: 6/10 Sea: 6/10 Bar: 6/10 Backdrop: 10/10
Beach #3 - Salerno Although it's hard to imagine a nicer backdrop to a beach than the one in Amalfi, the beach at the Lloyd's Baia Hotel in Salerno, which we went to with Serena's parents on our last day in Italy, is close enough to give it the same score. When you look back at the beach from the water, you see a huge bluff with an elevator on the side going up to the hotel, which overlooks the coast.
The ride in the elevator is probably not something my father (or grandpa) would enjoy, but before we left we took it to the top to take some pictures of the amazing view.
The sand and sea were better than Amalfi, and although the food selection at the bar wasn't that good, I was intrigued by the dancing lessons they were giving on the patio, which is why I scored it slightly higher than the bar in Amalfi. If Serena had joined the dancing lessons, it would have scored even higher.
Arrived back in the States last Sunday after an amazing week with Serena and her family in Salerno and the surrounding area. I'm still working on getting the pictures up, but in the meantime I thought I would post some of the highlights of the trip. Here's the first chapter, about my sagra experience.
A sagra is a local festival with food that is often centered around a particular ingredient or item. During one of the evenings, we went to a couple of the sagre around Salerno. The first one was a little on the quiet side, but the second one - Festa del Boscaiolo - was exactly what I had imagined from Serena's description of a sagra. Boscaiolo means woodsman, so the food at this sagra was centered around things you can find in a forest. It was in a small town called Calvanico, and when Serena and I arrived with her brother Antonio and his girlfriend Silvana, we were met by a crowd of people walking among the stands for the wine (gratis), pasta, or panini. We bought tickets to try the 'Penne alla Boscaiola' and the 'Panino do' Cravunaro (patate e funghi)', grabbed a glass (plastic cup, actually) of wine and settled into the food lines. While we ate, we listened to a band playing folk music, and watched a couple of little kids dance like they were at a Grateful Dead concert. Maybe they had too much of the free wine...
Will have a chance to post a longer entry, but just wanted to recap the last few days of my life:
Friday: Day flight to London. Saturday: Early afternoon flight from Stansted to Pescara. Had what was the equivalent to the American wedding rehearsal dinner. Sunday: Late afternoon wedding in Francavilla, followed by dinner/reception. Monday: Bus ride from Pescara to Naples, met by Serena's parents to take us to Salerno. Today: Trip to the beach in Paestum and a visit to the Greek temples.
Back blogging in Terminal 8 at JFK. Feels like I was just here. I was just here. Taking the day flight to Europe instead of the overnight this time. Definitely some things are unique to the day trip overseas.
1) Packing the night before is a must. 15 more minutes of sleep isn't a big deal, unless it's the difference between waking up at 3 vs 3:15am.
2) Supershuttle is much faster in the morning. Maybe it's the lack of traffic at 4am, but we absolutely flew to JFK this morning. No problem getting here 3 hours before the flight. Still double-checked with the driver that we were going to the right airport (trust me, it's worth doing).
3) All of the shops are closed at JFK at 5am. Except - McDonald's! Whew! Thought I wouldn't be able to get a good breakfast before the flight!
My first visitor of the summer arrives Friday night. My niece Raven is 14, and this weekend she's staying at Chateau Jaffe. I'm excited, but as the time gets closer, I'm also a little nervous.
What do you do with a 14 year-old in New York City?
Still haven't finished posting about the L.A. trip. Did I already mention we ate out a LOT? Yes, I did. Here's another of our notable dining destinations.
Windows on the Water 699 Embarcadero Morro Bay, CA 93442 +1 805 772-0677
On the second day of our L.A. trip, Serena and I drove up the coast to Morro Bay, a small town just northwest of San Luis Obispo, where the 101 meets route 1 (aka Pacific Coast Highway). Morro Bay is known for Morro Rock, which is one of 9 volcanic plugs that can be found between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo. The Rock dominates the ocean view from Morro Bay, and the women at the front desk of our hotel (La Serena Inn, of course) recommended Windows on the Water for dinner, because of its view of the Rock.
When we arrived at the restaurant, we realized that it had more than a nice view. Serena had the Local Sand Dabs "Piccata Style", I had the Pacific Bouillabaisse, which was absolutely packed with seafood, and we split a half bottle of a Sauvignon Blanc from the Santa Ynez Valley, just an hour and a half away. Serena's fish was amazing - light and flavorful but not fishy. The bouillabaisse was a little spicy for me, but it had six different types of seafood (they brought what was essentially a toolkit for eating the different types of shellfish), and the broth left behind was perfect for bread-dipping. For dessert, we shared the Meyer Lemon Mousse with Seasonal Berries, which in this case was blueberries. The mousse was amazingly light, and the tartness of the lemon was perfectly balanced by the blueberries. It was night by the time we were done with dinner, so you couldn't see the Rock anymore, but we didn't care. It was a great meal to end a great day.
Just got back from a great week in L.A. with Serena and the family. We ate out a LOT. One of my favorite meals was dinner at a hidden gem along the coast, after a day playing tourist:
Neptune's Net 42505 Pacific Coast Hwy Malibu, CA 90265 +1 310 457-3095
I love seafood, I love the beach, and I love low-key restaurants. So, when my father told us he had heard of a place 'with an eclectic crowd' on the coast just north of the L.A. county border, I had a hunch we would be in for a treat. Neptune's Net is essentially a seafood shack overlooking the ocean in Malibu. They have both indoor and outdoor seating, and the decor is exactly what you would expect from a place by the beach - basic. The 'eclectic crowd' label was 100% accurate. The table across from us had a couple of 20-something blondes playing quarters (maybe speed quarters is a midwest thing) with some 50-something year-old men, another table had a husband and wife with their little kids, and another table had some teenagers who looked like they might have been surfing earlier.
Serena and I split the 'Neptunes Net Sampler', which is a fried seafood lover's dream - fish, shrimp, scallops, calamri, clam strips, and crab cake (all on a bed of fries). My mother went for the 'Fish and Chip', and my father had one of their (seafood) combo plates. The food was amazing, and even though everything was fried, the batter was light and we had no problem finishing what had looked like an overwhelming amount of food.
The next time you find yourself driving north on route 1 from L.A., and are thinking about where to stop for some food, look for the 'Ventura County' sign, and then keep your eyes open for Neptune's Net on the right. It's worth the stop.
OK, so no family is as dysfunctional as the Fockers, but certainly having two get-togethers with more than 15 people at each (in our first 3 days in California) was a baptism by fire for Serena. How did she handle it? I would say with flying colors, i.e., she didn't change her flight for an early return to London.
Just took the E train to JFK, and this ad for a self-help book/cd called Law of Attraction caught my eye:
The author apparently has a three-step plan to improving just about every aspect of your life. The author's name? Michael Losier. Sorry, dude, but anyone with a name that close to Loser shouldn't be writing self-help books.
After living in London for over 5 years, I had established quite a list of 'go to' restaurants for friends and visitors. I would ask what they felt like eating - fish & chips, pub food, Italian food, etc., and we would go to one of the places on my list. My Italian pick was Oregano, a restaurant just off of Upper Street in Islington. I say that Oregano was my pick, because this past weekend Serena took me to a place that has forced me to relegate Oregano to Serie B.
Spacca Napoli 101 Dean Street London W1 +44 (0)207 437 9440
Spacca Napoli (named after the street in Naples that splits the city in two) is just off of Dean Street in Soho, an area known to be a bit touristy and overpriced, but when Serena told me the pizza was made like the real pizza from Naples (see one of my previous posts) I knew I was in for a treat. We started with a plate of 'involtini di melanzane', which is sliced eggplant (aubergine) wrapped around fresh buffalo mozzarella with a touch of sauce, similar to the sauce in eggplant parmesan. For the pizza course, we tried to order the 'pizza metro', which is a long, rectangular pizza that they top in sections, so that you end up with one pizza that is part margherita, part Napoletana, etc. We were too late for the pizza metro, so I had the margherita (which Serena recommended I have with buffalo mozzarella instead of the regular mozzarella), and Serena had pizza Siciliana. We finished the meal off with some limoncello. I'm not sure what the total bill was (thanks Sere!) but the prices were reasonable, especially for the area. Definitely worth a visit.
Thursday: Work at 8:30am. Catch the subway at 7pm to go to Heathrow. Catch 11:30pm flight. Asleep by 12:30am.
Friday: Wake up in London, catch tube to Kings Cross to meet Serena. Rewarded with an amazing dinner of spaghetti with clams and sea bass.
Saturday: Take tube to Borough Market for an abbreviated version of the 'Jaffe tour'. Finish walk with a little picnic/nap in Regent's Park. Dinner at an amazing pizza place in Soho (post to follow).
Sunday: Pancake breakfast (Aunt Jemima, just add water), then tube to Westminster bridge and the boat to Hampton Court Palace. Picnic in the gardens at Hampton Court, walk around the palace (pick up some ideas for future houses). Finish the day with a little S&M.
Monday: Tube to Heathrow, noon flight to New York. Back in lab by 4pm.
OK, it took me a while to put up a real post about our holiday in Italy. Hope you think it was worth the wait (click on the date of the trip to see the pics)...
I promised myself when I started this blog that I wouldn't turn it into a diary. So, rather than giving a minute-by-minute description of my two weeks in Italy with Serena and her family, I thought I would list some 'Jaffe favorites':
Favorite restaurant: Vicolo della Neve. This place is definitely worthy of a 'Restaurant of the week' entry. It's on a small street in the center of Salerno, and as soon as you walk in you know you're somewhere special. The tables are packed in as tight as they can be, and even then there were still people waiting to be seated. We went twice - on the first and last nights of the trip - and both times started our meal with pasta e fagioli (pasta with beans), which I'm told is a typical dish from southern Italy. The pasta was a mix of different types, adding to the rustic feel of the restaurant. After the pasta it was time for the pizza, simple and delicious, the Margherita - tomato and mozzarella. Finally, a bit of limoncello (lemon liqueur) to aid digestion.
Favorite town: Norcia. I really can't say why I liked this place so much, because we were only there for a late lunch and didn't even stay the night! Maybe I liked it because it was SO SMALL! Or maybe it was because we had a great meal with Sere's friends, who were a lot of fun. Or maybe I liked Norcia because you could get salami in every shape imaginable, including 'coglioni di mulo', which literally means 'balls of a mule'. Can't picture it? Click here.
Favorite Checchina dinner: Without a doubt - calzoni. Serena's mother made them by hand, and fried them instead of baked them. Amazing.
Favorite dinner: The night we stayed in Assisi we went to a super cute restaurant called Taverna dell'Arco da Bino. The food was really nice, and the atmosphere was even nicer. In the end, we found out that our waiter was going to New York just after the new year! So after our meal we gave him a few recommendations for his trip (and he gave us a nice after-dinner coffee).
