Table for a solo traveller

06/07/2022

On the 14th and 15th June I was in Genoa again. It has one of the largest old towns in Italy and it is easy to get lost as demonstrated when I was also there for a night from the 11-12 June and I got VERY lost.

My second visit to Genoa (14-15 June) I had less than 48 hours but it was the most amazing cultural experience. Once again I walked the old town flat and in that process I could not find my way back to my accommodation. I knocked on the door of an Italian restaurant and asked for wifi. Apparently I was not too lost as I was less than a 5 minute walk away.

While I was in the restaurant I asked if I could come observe a dinner service so I can learn some tricks to bring back to South Africa. After asking I realized this restaurant has 2 forks in Michelin so when they agreed to have me I was extremely excited! They gave me dinner and treated me like gold. An experience I had always dreamt of having.

The next day, I was up early as my first host in Italy from Couchsurfing introduced me to a Genoese food historian and author, Sergio Rossi, who went out of his to show me around the old town of Genoa and shops that date back 150 years! He also took me into a confectionery factory that is the oldest family run confectionery factory in Italy 🇮🇹 also dating back 150 years. I am going to write a whole post dedicated to this day.

01/07/2022

For those of you who missed this post...

30/06/2022

The next little village I went to after Imperia was Gorra (between the 9th and 11th June). It is a small place that makes a little triangle with Finale Ligure and Borgio Verezzi which I visited towards the end of my trip. The town has one Tabacchi / bar, one restaurant, one bakery, and one tiney tiny shop for basics.
My hosts had 400 olive trees which they make superb olive oil and also taggiasca olive tape Nader. They also have an organic veggie garden where they can get veggies for the meal that day. With them being vegan I made an olive oil based potato salad simply with herbs, lemon zest and garlic. And we went out for decadent vegan Gelato.

30/06/2022

I have been in France based in Plan de la Tour for a week and a half now and in two days time I leave for Portugal. I plan on doing formal recipe posts about my trip once I am with my computer and able to do a good job at posting. However I will keep posting little snippets here in the meantime about the past few weeks and the weeks to come.

It is market day in our little village today and with the sun being out it is bustling with people having coffee in restaurants and coffee shops and buying their weekly groceries from the local offerings.

09/06/2022

Just arrived in Finale Ligure from Imperia. Heading a bit inland for 2 nights in Gorra. Lots to do in this area.

08/06/2022

I entered into Italy yesterday by train. The views on the train were special. I have been staying with a super couchsurfing host who is introducing me to some local produce, culture and sharing stories about he grew up around food. In the coming days I will share the two dishes we did, both universally known and enjoyed by all... Pasta with pesto and Pizza. Tomorrow I head to a small mountain top town called Gorra.

06/06/2022

There is a reason why there is such a queue here. It is much longer than it looks. I have been coming to this restaurant since I was about 12 years old. The socca (chickpea pancake) is so good and is some of the best I have had. It is simply made feel chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt. Fried in a pan before being put in the oven.

05/06/2022

05/06/2022

Here is the recipe for the dish I promised you all.
This is more of a combination than a recipe. The peaches, rocket and goats cheese was brought at a local fresh produce market. The lady where I brought the peaches has just moved back to France after living in Cape Town South Africa for 24 years!

PEACH, GOATS CHEESE AND JAMBON (1 portion)

1 peach
Goats cheese as much as you want
Handful of rocket
3 slices Jambon or parmaham
Squeeze of fresh lemon

03/06/2022

I arrived in Nice, France yesterday and hit the ground running. Today I went to Marche Liberation and brought a few products. Watch out for a recipe / recipe combination in the coming day or two.

26/05/2022

To mark a week before leaving I present to you 'Banana, rye and cinnamon flapjacks'

Ingredients
~ 1 banana
~ 1 egg
~ 1/4 cup rye flour
~ 1/2 tsp baking powder
~ 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
~ butter and olive oil for frying

Method
1. Mash banana with a fork and mix in the egg. (A nutri-bullet or
stick blender also works a treat)
2. Mix in the rest of the ingredients until all combined.
3. Heat a pan on medium heat with a bit of butter and the same
amount of olive oil. Frying 2 - 3 at a time by spooning the mixture
onto a pan table spoon by table spoon cooking until golden
brown..
3. Heat a pan on medium heat with a bit of butter and the same
amount of olive oil. Frying 2 - 3 at a time by spooning the mixture
onto a pan table spoon by table spoon cooking until golden
brown.
4. Serve with butter or nut butter of your choice.