Hello
Friends and Curious Anonymous Readers,
Buon
Giorno!
I
found myself watching the inauguration
of the new Pope in Rome
the other day. It followed soon after the
former Pope’s (mysterious) sudden resignation
and departure after seeking legal, permanent “sanctuary” in the Vatican.
When
I first heard his new name I assumed that
he was styling himself after St. Francis Xavier, co-founder (along with St. Ignatius Loyola)
of the Jesuit order that he’s a member of. I was encouraged that perhaps this meant that
he was the start of a new, less corrupt
Church and as one of the “military” (as
Jesuits are described) who was going to clean it up . But instead he’s apparently decided to be the
very first Pope to choose a man who’ was so “out there” that he talked to animals as his idol/model. Is he hinting at a planned escapist approach
of “hear no evil, see no evil” in order to preserve the Vatican
status quo?
While
still on an Italian theme, we were
having a walk around the Jordaan the other day (in the freezing cold) to do a bit of window
shopping on the Nine Streets. As were
walking there after getting off the tram I spotted this in a café window.
Beneath the two rows of tiramisu was tray full of beautiful cannoli!
They are my very favourite pastry of all and so hard to find in this part of the world. My Italian food appreciation was cultivated while living in New York with it’s vast diversity of ethnicities. There were many Italian bakeries around and I took the availability of cannoli for granted. When I moved to Ireland I I never once in over 20 year saw a cannoli throughout the entire country. Trips to London never yielded this illusive pastry either although all sorts of food products that I missed from the US could be found there. Other Italian desserts were widely available in both countries. Tiramisu was everywhere. You could get a wide variety of Italian deserts from Marks & Spencer or Sainsburys but alas no cannoli. I based my “I’m completely at home now”feeling mainly on what foods that I can find that I was used to from the USA. My list included ricotta cheese, plaintains and cannoli at the top of it. Slowly but surely I found most these things in Ireland as they modernized. They never did get plantains but I could get them when in London so would occasionally “import”a few when I visited my son over there. But never did I see a cannoli. When I visited NY it was the first thing I wanted to eat, followed by a pizza, Dunkin’Donuts French cruller and a warm pretzel from a stand.
They are my very favourite pastry of all and so hard to find in this part of the world. My Italian food appreciation was cultivated while living in New York with it’s vast diversity of ethnicities. There were many Italian bakeries around and I took the availability of cannoli for granted. When I moved to Ireland I I never once in over 20 year saw a cannoli throughout the entire country. Trips to London never yielded this illusive pastry either although all sorts of food products that I missed from the US could be found there. Other Italian desserts were widely available in both countries. Tiramisu was everywhere. You could get a wide variety of Italian deserts from Marks & Spencer or Sainsburys but alas no cannoli. I based my “I’m completely at home now”feeling mainly on what foods that I can find that I was used to from the USA. My list included ricotta cheese, plaintains and cannoli at the top of it. Slowly but surely I found most these things in Ireland as they modernized. They never did get plantains but I could get them when in London so would occasionally “import”a few when I visited my son over there. But never did I see a cannoli. When I visited NY it was the first thing I wanted to eat, followed by a pizza, Dunkin’Donuts French cruller and a warm pretzel from a stand.
About a year ago while walking down the Haarlemstraat I
spotted some cannoli in a window of Mondo Mediterraneo .
It
was as though I had spotted a mirage. I
had to take closer look to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. (We had just been in a coffeeshop.) But it was real cannoli! I went into the shop and saw that they had
two sizes of them. We bought 2 large
ones and 2 small ones to go and I remember eating a small one on the walk to
Centraal Station to get the tram home. I
was in heaven! I’ve had them a few times
since (along with some delicious pasta dishes from there) and OH has fallen in
love with them, too. So here we were on
a random walk and I spotted them in another place. They’re springing up all over! I’m really feeling completely at home here in Amsterdam food-wise. I can get every single thing I used to get in
NY and then some. Cooking and baking
have become a real adventure these days and I’m experimenting with so many new
things. I’d like to try to make my own
cannoli. I know how to make the filling
but apparently you need a special yoke ( Derry-speak for gadget) to make the pastry tube. But I’ve got a few ideas and one includes
making it a slightly different shape.