Skip to content

Month: December 2010

Paris, Snow, Murder, Terror

Paris City of Night (the thriller) is set in the last days of a snowy, cold year in Paris… with murderers and madmen and secret…

Share Button

A Fine, Simple Meal in Camogli at La Rotonda

A Fine, Simple Meal in Camogli at La Rotonda Camogli rivals the Cinque Terre these days when it comes to desirability. The less I say…

Share Button

Easy-peasy chicken Riviera style

Tonight we’re having chicken done in the style of the Italian Riviera, that stretch of craggy coast we can see way down below. Hereabouts this…

Share Button

Pandolce, Italian Riviera Icon

Pandolce is one of the Italian Riviera’s culinary icons. It’s found from the Cinque Terre near Tuscany, to Genoa, all the way to Ventimiglia on…

Share Button

Food Wine Italian Riviera: wine and Bordeaux dogue

Until today I’d only ever enjoyed the espresso, cappuccino, snacks and amazing wines at Da Nicco. This upscale, panoramic caffè-bar-hangout is just off the Via…

Share Button

Secret of Palin Popularity Revealed on Riviera

Sometimes you need that critical distance, the view from afar, to understand the perplexing phenomena of the day. Some of the most astute, clear-eyed critics…

Share Button

Postcard from Portofino

A century ago, people were smarter. Royals from cold climes headed for the Italian Riviera to winter—in places with palms, palace-hotels and yacht clubs. Places…

Share Button

Food Wine Italian Riviera: mailing sea biscuits

At our local post office in San Rocco this morning we arrived with a box of sea biscuits to send to a friend in New…

Share Button

More Food Wine Italian Riviera: sea biscuits in Haarlem

One day in the mid 1990s when Alison and I were creating the first edition of “The Irreverent Guide to Amsterdam” (later hijacked and handed…

Share Button

Food Wine Italian Riviera: Sea Biscuits galore

Everyone knows about the focaccia of Genoa and the Italian Riviera but who remembers the region’s hardtack? Sea biscuits? Those hard, dry crackers that sailors…

Share Button

More focaccia, Italian Riviera, Rapallo this time

Practically abutting Santa Margherita Liguria is Rapallo, a slightly bigger and better-known seaside resort. Like Santa, Rapallo has two excellent focaccia-makers (the half dozen others…

Share Button

Focaccia again, Santa Margherita Ligure

Santa Margherita Ligure is as famous for its frescoed buildings as for its focaccia, but since you can’t eat frescos even though they look downright…

Share Button