I have to move on from all my posts about Puglia, even if I have another hundred or photos to share with you. We still have Sicily, Paris, Endinburgh and all the things I’ve been doing since I got back!
I also got another surprise as I’m a joint winner in August’s Does My Blog Look Good in This? (DMBLGiT) for Best Aesthetics for the Marocchino photo in How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy, sharing the honor with Sigrid from Cavoletto di Bruxelles. Yay! Thanks, judges!
On a related note, I strongly encourage everyone to publish full RSS feeds as much as possible. Not only is it offering a better service to your readers, but Technorati and Google don’t index the full post’s content if it’s not displayed in your feed and/or site. What does this mean? Others may never know you’re linking to them, and as this Technorati FAQ explains, the link doesn’t show up in Blog Reactions or in Search. Unless people religiously scour their statistics (for referrering URLs), they may never know that you linked to them unless you tell them! We all want to share the love and know about it! More reading on Full RSS feeds vs. partials from ProBlogger.
My morning routine has been rather confusing the last few weeks. From my favorite Marocchino alone, to adding Nutella-filled hot cornetti (Italian croissants), back to a sparse coffee on repeatedly late mornings, to eggs, English sausage and toast, to French pain au chocolat and crepes and omelettes, and back to my Marocchino. My stomach was enjoying all the skipping around and the varied fare and the meals that lasted after midnight. It’s understandable that it’s confused and now fights with me when I tell it we’re going back to a lone coffee in the mornings.
But this morning, this particular morning, my stomach wants this: A fresh brioche stuffed to the gills with Sicilian gelato. If I were an LOLcat, it would say “DO WANT!!!” on this photo.
There’s something about eating gelato in a brioche that is much more satisfying than the normal cones. This was my favorite meal replacement this summer. And since many bars (that serve coffee in the morning) also have gelato, I could grab a brioche with my espresso instead of the usual cornetto.
This particular brioche is from a bar in Alcamo, Sicily, and is filled with creamy pistacchio gelato (made with Sicilian pistacchios like the ones I sent David Lebovitz) and a chocolaty hazelnut gianduja flavor. Perfection. And writing this post is not helping my brain win the war with my stomach. We’ll have to see which wins at the bar this morning.
This one’s going in the Tour del Gelato (if you have a new stop on the Tour del Gelato, let me know)! They had a small assortment of flavors, but they were excellent. We also sampled a cannolo that was quite good.
Bar 900 – Pasticceria – Gelateria – Tavola Calda
Corso VI Aprile, 105 – Alcamo (Sicily)
You know, I’ve never tried one of those before. I have to be honest, the pistacchio color is kind of aesthetically … eh. But I’m sure it tastes heavenly!
Ouch, don’t listen, my little brioche sandwich! *covering its ears* Shelley, you’re right, it’s a bit bright green because I had to lighten up the photo – the second one’s a bit better since it was outside, but it was very very good!
Ha, that top photo, if you look at it really fast, comes off as a burger with a piece of lettuce on it! I’m not too sold on this particular “sandwich.” But, in all fairness, I would have to try one to give a final opinion on it.
That looks wonderful! There isn’t anything like that around here. Now I know where to stop first the next time I am in town!
Cyn
Sara: Believe it or not, I’ve never had one of those ‘sandwiches’…although I can’t imagine any Parisians eating them.
Yet one more reason to get back to Italy…(your care package was too much of a tease!)
@Giulia, you’re right! I’m not going to let you guys dissuade me…soo good.
@David …just wait until you see this year’s…everyone’s going to go mad for it :)
I had these for dinner last spring in sicily all the time …..aren’t they just….PERVERTED!!! SO so so great…..and they are starting to show up here in Torino as well….
I love these and although I live in Sicily, had my first one only a month ago…I will not tell you how many I have had since then. If you like them try granita and brioche too. But you have to come down south here for the real thing :)
That picture looks so weird, and yet from the description I think I’d really like it!!
I’ve never seen anything like that. It looks ok but I’ll go with the nutella filled croissant
Congratulations on the award. That coffee post was a great post all around. No wonder you are celebrating with gelato sandwiches!
I have never seen ANYTHING like this, but I am ready to step up to the plate this second for one of these!!!
OMG I want to marry that brioche. Do you know of a gelato place in Rome that does it up this way? I’m going back in December and want to “drag” Shelley to it so I can have that exact combo. Well, likely pistachio and baci, but essentially the same.
yumyum
I found this rather interesting because here in Singapore, this is EXACTLY how we have our ice cream. We’ve got these vendors on the streets hawking ice cream and you can have your choice of a cone or soft colorful bread to hold it up with.
The ice cream’s usually in a slab cut into rectangles though but some vendors have a giant tub which they scoop ice cream from with a mini scoop (the sort you’d scoop melon with).
@Laurie – Perverted? Sounds like you have a story to share! :)
@Jeni – Thanks!
@Beth / Maryann / Parisbreakfasts – you have to try it! :)
@Finny – I think Gelarmony (Sicilian gelateria Shelley knows) will do it this way!!
@JH – That sounds really interesting…blog about it and I want to see pictures!
um, I’m not sure what even to say about this sandwich – AMAZING!!! I finally got to read and see all of your posts from our time in transition (we got DSL yesterday :)). The photos are ALWAYS amazing…the eggplants don’t even look real!, beautiful urchin shot, and I love the mozz knot being held up by that man!
I’m going to get on the Tour del Gelato train soon I promise :) Found some good ones so far in Florence!
@FinnyKnits: as ms. Adventures already wrote Gelarmony sells these wonders in Rome. The two gelaterie in Rome also provide a very high quality gelato. There are two of them one is in Via Marcantonio Colonna 34, the other being in Via Oderisi da Gubbio (close to Viale Marconi). I don’t remeber the exact street number but it’s close to another famous “sweet city feature”: il Cornettone.
I can’t be sure about the ingredients used in the fruit flavours, but I bet the creams are pretty natural. Being a sicilan gelateria you should give a try to typical sicilian flavours: cassata and cannolo. Be warned they are pretty similar in base taste as they are both based on ricotta (a light cheese).
That’s also a good place to taste what a real ‘Cannolo sicliano’ could be, unless you are planning a trip to Sicily.
The only good ice creams are in Sicily, best places are near Messina or Catania.
You must try the “granita” coffee and milk cream taste with brioche, you can only find that in Sicily.
Now that is one thing I would try, as I absolutely love Pistachio gelato.