Some friends of ours brought us back a 250ml bottle of this stuff "Crema di Balsamico" from Europe and we finally tried it and it was great. From a little online research, its a reduction of balsamic vinegar and Trebbiano grape...

2004 Feudi di San Gregorio Aglianico Rubrato Picked up a bottle of this recently at Traverso’s in Santa Rosa - $14.99 on sale. I’ve always enjoyed Aglianico – mostly in the form of Aglianico del Vulture, but also Taurasi and...

pan came up on E-Bay, which I was able to get for 49.50. And Simonetta Lupi’s book is in the mail. By and large, I prefer French style preserves/conserves/jams. And I don’t much care for the Italian mostarda di...

I say a cioppino is more like the seafood is cooked in a stew-like sauce and then topped onto the pasta and frutta di ma mare has the seafood added to the pasta after the seafood is cooked. Enlighten me.

I’m not sure if there is anything seasonal, but they are so slammed lately that it is difficult to get anything that requires extra preparation—like broccoli rabe. The porcini mushrooms (preserved in oil and w/hot...

NY-style pizza has indeed landed in Santa Rosa and I’ve got the thermal-induced gingivitis (aka “pizza mouth”) to prove it! Many thanks to local chow correspondents Susan and Ellen for the quick heads up. I stopped...

Rosa United Soccer Scholarship fund. We tried the 2005 Di Majo Norante “San Giorgio” Sangiovese,, Molise for $20/bottle. Our bill with one espresso (with the option of agave nectar sweetener), one Arnold Palmer, all...

Friday afternoon I stopped at Traverso’s in downtown Santa Rosa to buy something cold to drink and found a prosciutto di parma sale in progress. Genuine prosciutto di parma is reduced from $32/lb. to $9.99/half-lb. until...

OK. Two things. First, bought a jar of fruits preserved in Mostarda di Cremona. I’ve been told there are recipes, primarily dessert ones, for this. Any suggestions? Second, years ago I had a sweet in Suzhou, it was a lotus...

The bombolini are the first thing I’m heading for on my next Ferry Plaza visit. http://www.chowhound.com/topics/425739#2793489 The product list looks quite interesting. http://web.mac.com/mariellaks/iWeb/I%20preferiti%20di...

. These half slabs of salmon were placed on large sheets of foil on a bed of Moroccan-style preserved Meyer lemons, fresh dill and onions and basted with Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc. After cooking on the grill, the rack...

the favorites. Big, big, BIG points to Johnny Reb’s for not drowning their slaw in dressing. (I get so tired of having to bring a life preserver for the bits of cabbage). We both seemed, however, a bit lukewarm on the hush...

Lucky me may get dragged to lunch at BdB in HB. Any suggestions what’s best to order or just shoot in the dark? [The Chowhound Team moved this discussion about Buca di Beppo from the Los Angeles board]

for mushrooms at a Chicago forest preserve last Saturday, I ran into a couple of fellow-foragers who turned out to be Italians (I had thought at first that they might be Czechs or Poles.) The first man I met told me that he is...

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