6.05.2011

Eggs en Cocotte

Thanks to many recipe blogs, we discovered the easiest one-pot dish to make for dinner and it is delicious to boot!  You need a small oven-safe dish.  You simply crack a whole egg in the bottom of the dish and the rest is up to you.  Sometimes we add salsa and grate parmesan cheese over it.  Other times we spread leftover homemade feta and mint dip or Trader Joe's Roasted Pepper spread and top it with asparagus or cilantro and salt and pepper.  Stick it in the oven at 400 degrees for 10-15 mintues depending on how runny you like your egg.  Add toast for dipping and enjoy!  


If you are looking for some more visually-pleasing inspiration Beatrice Peltre of the lovely La Tartine Gourmande has a great post on it.  Another good recipe can be found at Straight from the Farm.

6.04.2011

Postcard from Paestum

Our most recent summer trip to Italy was almost four years ago and it was heavenly.  It was our first time visiting the country in late June, which meant fewer crowds and more wonderful moments like visiting the ruins at Paestum and feeling like the only people there.  We arrived an hour or so before closing when the sun was setting low in the sky, casting a glow on the ruins, and we barely bumped into another person.  In fact our only real company was a band of undomesticated dogs skipping past the ruins which was quite a sight.

6.02.2011

Adventures around Campania

When we stayed in Paestum in the summer of 2007, we really felt like we were on a private island.  Compared to the typical throngs of vacationers we usually face in summer months, this June trip was a treat, starting with our stay at Savoy Beach Hotel.  

We spent the days swimming in the hotel pool which we had to ourselves,
lazily strolling over to the sea to swim in the Mediterranean and have a fabulous seafood lunches at beachfront restaurants,

 driving to charming, local mountain towns like Eredita (in our tiny FIAT rental car) to enjoy spectacular sunset views at delicious, yet amazingly affordable restaurants



and finishing with evenings driving around the region checking out the picturesque cliffs of neighboring Agropoli and its port before heading back to our lovely hotel in Paestum for dinner al fresco at Tre Olivi.