Prosecco vs. Champagne

It appears my favorite is winning! 

I've been a fan of Prosecco over Champagne now for a few years

thanks to some friends who won us over with their favorite bubbly. 

Prosecco sold 3 million more bottles than Champagne last year

for the first time ever. 

And with that, the French Champagne region 

is beginning to take notice. 

I like it because it has fewer bubbles.

The public also likes it because it is less expensive than Champagne

and apparently takes less time to produce. 

Prosecco is made from the Glera grape,

also once called Prosecco, in the Veneto region of Italy,

probably another reason I like it! 

It is also used in Venice's famous Bellini Cocktail,

invented by Harry's Bar founder, Giuseppe Cipriani, sometime in the 1930's or '40's. 

In the early 1500's, 

Prosecco was considered the heir to the Pucinian wine,

a favorite of Pliny the Elder.

It can be sparkling or still,

dry or sweet,

but most often dry and sparkling. 

Next time you celebrate with bubbly,

give ancient Italy a try! 

(Photo from Henly Literary Festival 2011)

(Info from Wiki and Total Wine's Guide to Prosecco)

Gondolier on a break~ Travelin' Tuesday

In honor of spending my time researching my book 

(set partly in Venice),

we're traveling back to the Veneto today.

Enjoy your week and imagine yourself floating down the Grand Canal,

singing "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie"

with your amore.

Venice from the Balcony~ Travelin' Tuesday

The slanting light, the sound of boat waves 

stroking every fine palace's doorstep,

the color of sunburnt ochre everywhere  

puts the mind aligned with

* dark, musty churches charged with the heady, 

ancient breath of incense

* curtains of wisteria softly calling with sweetness 

on warm breezes 

* thick, salty air that covers every surface with a sheen 

of slightly sticky 

* the promise of edible ribbons coated with local mountain herbs, 

soft cheeses and golden oil 

*evenings sprinkled with anise-kissed sambuca

* sweet, buttery pastries and thick coffee with whole cream

* a view that has lasted centuries. 

(If you haven't read Marlena de Blasi's 

A Thousand Days in Venice

and you're a fan of the city, the smells, the food and love,

you owe it to yourself! For an excerpt, click here.)

(Photograph copyright: Kirsten Steen)

A Thousand Days in Venice~ Teaser Tuesday

Hosted by MizB at shouldbereading.

Here's how to play:

*Grab your current read,

*Open to a random page,

*Share a few “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page,

*Please no spoilers!

*Share the title & author.

From Marlena De Blasi's "A Thousand Days in Venice":

"The forever barman at the Monaco is Paolo, dear Paolo, who had stuffed newspaper into my wet boots eight months before, when I'd missed my first rendezvous with Fernando. He herds us out onto the terrace into the luster of a slow-ripening evening. He brings us cold wine and says, "Guardate. Look," pointing with his chin at the mezzotint, the Canaletto, live before us in the rosy leavings of the sun. His everyday tableau delights him, surprises him. Paola can never be old in my eyes...

.....The promontory is raised up above the lagoon on a million wooden pilings, and at the summit of the building's stone tower twin Atlases bear up a great golden sphere, a perch for Fortuna, goddess of all fates. She is beautiful. A timid wind tries to dance with her now. And slim shards of light become her. "L'ultima luce. Last light," we say to each other like a prayer. "Promise me we'll always be together at last light," Fernando says, needing no promise at all.

If I could give Venice to you for a single hour, it would be this hour, and it would be in this chair that I would sit you, knowing Paolo would be close by, clucking about over your comfort, knowing that the night that comes to thieve that lush last light would also make off with your heartaches. That's how it would be." 

Not only is this wonderful writer's prose inspiring (she had me sobbing at the end at 7:30 in the morning), but once the romantic adventure with love and with Venice is over (for now), she includes recipes in the back from the couple's first few days together.  So tonight I made the very first recipe in the section called, "Food for a Stranger": A Gratin of Leeks made with mascarpone, nutmeg, 'just-cracked pepper', fine sea salt, vodka and Parmesan cheese. It was fabulous. I'm not a chef but I'm so excited to try a few more of her recipes. 

Reading and researching Venice for my WIP (love my hobby/job!), I found her descriptions of Venice dreamy, luscious, evocative and left me begging the angels to let it rub off on me. I'm going straight to her next book!

Travelin' Tuesday~ Venice

Photograph copyright: Kirsten Steen


While I occasionally skip a 'Missing Paris Monday' and in honor of the research I've been doing on Venice for a writing project, I'm adding a 'Travelin' Tuesday'!

I know it sounds like I have many but Venice is truly one of my favorite cities (right next to Paris and San Francisco). While I thoroughly enjoy Rome and love Florence, I absolutely ADORE Venice! Friends who visited recently called it a "Disneyland for adults" but I find the uniqueness of Venice exotically romantic. The gondoliers really will sing for you, there is no traffic noise and the Sambuca, well, watch out for the Sambuca. It's a tad on the dangerous side.

I've recently finished John Berendt's "City of Falling Angels" and Sarah Dunant's "In the Company of the Courtesan" and both have fired up those smoldering embers and made me want to return once again. I suppose part of the reason for setting a story location in Venice is so I can wander the narrow streets and waterways even if only in my head.

My love affair with Venice goes on and will continue until it is completely submerged by the very waters that make it famous and yet threaten to bury it. Let's hope those tourist qualities that bother some will be what actually saves it in the end!