Piemonte, Osteria dei Sognatori, Alba

This family restaurant is situated only minutes from the Alba market and is an ideal place to go for a simple lunch after you have done your shopping. The Osteria dei Sognatori (Tavern of Dreamers) offers limited choice but great value for money if you don't mind the Italian equivalent of pub grub. Between the four of us we shared two litres of the house red (Barbera d'Alba), plenty of Antipasti, four Primi, three desserts, coffees and water and paid 120 Euro. The food included:

- Vitello Tonnato, veal with tuna sauce (more mayonnaise than tuna, but very nice meat)
- Bagna Cauda, cauliflower and kohlrabi with the typical anchovi / garlic / olive oil sauce
- Toma al tartufo, local chesese with truffles and a sprinkle of olive oil
- Insalata di pollo, chicken salad
- Warm sausage with stir-fried cabbage, greasy but tasty
- Tajarin al Ragu, pasta with meat sauce
- Risotto con tartufo, risotto with truffles

as well as three rather mediocre puddings.

The service was run efficiently and very friendly by two young ladies and while this certainly wasn't our best culinary visit during our stay, it makes for a nice change - and a bit of a break for your wallet!

Piemonte - Bottega di Rosanna, Neive

Since I started visiting Piemonte in 2002 and came back year after year, with only one exception, every time I went I would visit the Bottega di Rosanna in Neive. Previously called the Bottega dei Quattro Vini and located just opposite the town hall in Neive in the basement of another municipal building, Rosanna and her husband Marco are running a small Enoteca that sells exclusively wines from Neive and offer a small range of simple dishes, limited to a handful of Antipasti, a couple of Primi and about four Dolci. I haven't been coming back for the culinary highlights so much, but predominantly because of the very warm and friendly service and the extremely reasonably priced wines, providing a great opportunity to sample a good range of local produce - the bottles are sitting on shelves spread throughout the room and you can casually browse for your next bottle. Who needs a wine list, right? I can't help the impression though that Rosanna has become a bit light at the upper end of the spectrum - while in the past you would find the best producers from Neive on the shelves, represented with several of their fine wines (such as the Master of Neive wines, Sottimano), these great wines have disappeared from the shelves and she is rather catering for the lower price ranges up to 20 Euros per bottle. I believe the Bottega di Rosanna still merits our annual visit; try the following when you're there:

- Acciughe al verde, salted anchovies in a pesto-like herb sauce, wash 'em down with a bottle of Roero Arneis from Bruno Giacosa
- Lardo con miele e nocciole, lard with honey and hazelnuts
- Insalata di Toma d'Alba, green salads with local cheese, hazelnuts, and pomegrenade
- Vitello Tonnato, thinly sliced veal roast with tuna sauce
- Salumi e Formaggi, local cold cuts and cheeses, simple and nice

Dependent on your appetite, choose from Tajarin with Ragu or butter and sage, or the rich vegetable soup. We usually skip dessert and have a café instead which is being served with a biscuit topped off with some whipped cream...

Piemonte - Osteria Del Vignaiolo, La Morra

This little gem can be found in a tiny village called Santa Maria, which is just 4km outside of La Morra on the way to Alba. It's a burgundy red building on the right and provides seats for about 30-35 guests. Its brick vaulted ceiling and a fire place provide a comfortable atmosphere, and the service is very attentive and friendly. The Osteria Del Vignaiolo is located in one of the best wine regions in Italy and is surrounded by Nebbiolo vines, producing some of the finest Barolo. The young chef is a master of oven roasted meats, but also features a few fish dishes on the menu, such as smoked eel, Loup de Mer and Marlin. Here are some of the highlights we sampled today:

- Insalata tiepida di coniglio, salad of rabbit, perhaps the best starter on the menu, perfectly flavoured, with tender bits of rabbit meat.
- Scallops with artichoke - flash-pan-fried, with great roast aromas, a light and extremely enjoyable dish.
- Tajarin al tartufo bianco, pasta simply served with butter and white truffles thinly sliced for you at the table - a Piemonte classic.
- Stincho di agnello, oven roasted lamb shank, absolutely gorgeous tender meat full of good flavours, top notch!
- Ossobucco de cervo, venison shank, again very tender but a little dry (typical for the very lean venison really).
- Coscia d'anatra con Arneis, duck leg cooked in Arneis, a typical local white wine.
- Tortino caldo di cioccolata, warm chocolate soufflé, of course still liquid inside.
- Tarte Tartin di mele, an apple tarte, served with gelato di fior de latte, lovely milky ice cream.
- Ravioli di cioccolata, chocolate ravioli in a slightly overpowering cherry sauce.

The wine list offers great choices in all price ranges, the puddings are served with a complimentary glass of Moscato d'Asti and with five of us sharing three starters, five Primi, four Secondi, five Dolci, two bottles of white, one bottle of Barolo and some coffees and limoncello, the bill at 370 Euro (including 160 Euro for truffles, fairly priced at 4 Euro per gram) was great value for money. This is surely one of our new favourites and top ranking restaurants in Piemonte.

Piemonte - Pane & Vino, Cherasco

Pane & Vino is a small Trattoria in Moglia - if you arrive in Cherasco from the A6/A33, you might drive by it without noticing because it is not in the historic town centre of Cherasco but right next to a petrol station before you climb up the serpentines to Cherasco. What it lacks in location it makes up in quality and authenticity of food! Emiliana and Rosanna rule in the kitchen and are true to the traditional Langhe cuisine, particularly to the Cherasco speciality, Lumache (escargots). There is even a Lumache set menu available! Between the five of us we sampled a good selection of dishes and let me mention just a few of the highlights:

- Lumache con panna e Fontina - escargots cooked in cream with lots of fresh herbs and a little garlic, topped off with a crust of Fontina cheese, a great antipasto, with lovely flavours and surprisingly mild escargots (probably owed to the cream).
- Fagottini - a crèpe pouch filled with salsiccia, veggies and cheese, perhaps the best starter we sampled, boasting rich hearty flavours and solid cooking crafts(wo)manship.
- Tajarin con sugo de salsiccia - the famous local pasta (made with 30 egg yolks) with a salsiccia sauce with a massive twist, being spiced with cinnamon and clover - not everyone's cup of tea but an inspired dish!
- Lamb chops in a herb crust - not grilled but fried "Milanese-style" in a heavily herb-enriched herb crust, very different and very yummy.
- A selection of 8 regional cheeses, with a very crumbly Castelmagno, a well matured Peccorino and a wonderfully creamy and nutty Blu d'Aosta being the stars of the ensemble.
- Pere cotto - pears cooked in a rich red wine reduction with cinnamon ice cream, my personal all time favourite (the red wine pear) with yet another lovely twist provided by the full flavour of the home-made ice cream.
- Panna Cotta con frutti de bosco - a fantastic Panna Cotta, with a rather runny texture and an amazing milky flavour (rather than the usual firm vanilla cream), perhaps the best I ever tried (only rivalled by my own recipe)!

The menu isn't extensive with about 5 different choices for each course but offers great local cuisine - Rosanna and Emiliana in the kitchen are not afraid to use spices and a good pinch of salt and Flavio, who provides a friendly and competent service, knows his way around the wine list and isn't afraid to disagree with one of my choices, based on our previous preferences, and recommend a different wine instead (which was a good thing, too). He also has a tendency to leave a few bottles of Grappa on his guests' table (if they wish) so you can sample a few. The five of us had about four courses each, shared three bottles of wine and the usual extras (water, coffee, grappa, etc) and came away with a bill of 225 Euro - that's Italy as we love it, great local food and wine at very affordable prices.

Film Review: 007 on Blu-Ray

Did you ever watch the first four Bond films on the big screen or were you too young when they hit the cinemas around the world, just as I was? Either way, if you have a decent home theatre setup (I am watching on a FullHD BenQ W6500 DLP projector with a Pioneer SC-LX82 / BDP-LX52 combo) and if you like your early Bond films (I am talking about Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and Thunderball), then I strongly recommend buying these Blu-Rays. The restoration used the almost legendary Lowry process, now owned by Reliance MediaWorks, who have just finished the Blu-Ray transfer of the Star Wars franchise with excellent picture and sound quality and hence become accomplices in Lucas' misguided efforts to ruin the original trilogy through intrusive editing - just imagine Felix Leiter in Goldfinger being digitally replaced with the Jeffrey Wright Leiter from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace to make it more "relevant" to younger audiences... Anyway, the restoration resulted in a pristine re-master with an image that is as clear, sharp and colourful as most films that have been released over the last few months - well, actually better than some of those! The sound has been updated as well and sounds better than ever, but the picture quality is the real winner. At least Goldfinger and From Russia With Love (the best Bond movies IMHO) should belong to any good Blu-Ray collection.

And while we are on the subject of quality restorations: check out Zulu on Blu-Ray, it's been restored to an eye-popping quality, with breathtaking colour, excellent contrast and great detail.

Warning: Plaxo

Ever heard of Plaxo? If not, all you need to know is: Stay away from it!!

Plaxo is an online address book that's been around for a while. Sometime in the summer this year I decided to pay just under $120 p.a. to have Plaxo synchronize all of my electronic devices that need address data and calendar info, e.g. Laptop, iMac, MacBook Pro, iPad and BlackBerry. My address books were always a bit of a mess and with cool functions that came with the PlatinumSync and Personal Assistant packages in Plaxo, such as the DeDuper, a function that would remove all of the duplicate entries in my address books and merge them intelligently, and 2-way-sync between all devices I was going to be the king of address books. Well, that's what I thought anyway...

After I had installed all Sync Points and kicked off synchronization on each of them I watched with horror how my address book grew from about 1,200 entries to 9,991 entries. That's where Plaxo stopped because it has a limit of 10,000 entries. Relax, I said to myself, kick off the DeDuper and you're back in the game. The DeDuper does not run on your machine but on the Plaxo Servers and my 10,000 entries gave those servers a bit of work to do - it took several days and several attempts before my address book was down to 1,600 entries. That was far from perfect, but hey-ho, better than 10,000 entries, right? Right. Unfortunately though created the intelligent merging algorithm a few surprises for me. Names, that were kept correctly in most address books, had been overwritten by eMail addresses from those devices where I just stored the email address in the address book without updating the name. The German "Umlauts" and other special characters got all "translated" into funny stuff, completely meaningless and wonderfully disruptive to any search function. Address data (postal addresses) got deleted in most cases. To make things a little more entertaining, Plaxo would also present me with error messages such as this one.

My address book is now back to about 6,600 entries and growing. It's one big mess and I can only begin to imagine the many hours of work required to restore it to a half-decent state (since I only realized over time the extent of damage Plaxo had done, I am not quite sure what backup to go back to - and how to keep track of all the changes I have made since).

So, as I said: stay away from Plaxo, you will regret it bitterly if you don't...

Food Review: schwarz (Heidelberg)

The Gault Millau Guide is suggesting that "schwarz. Das Restaurant" (that's the exact - if you ignore the typeface - presentation of the restaurant's name) is the best restaurant in Heidelberg, awarded with 16 out of the 20 possible points (although the guide always insisted that 20 points are reserved for God - if he ran a restaurant anyway...). One might expect Heidelberg's best restaurant to be located near the old castle (Schloss) or the old town centre (Altstadt), but instead it is within spitting distance of the main train station (Hauptbahnhof) inside a modern tall office building that's wrapped into an energy efficient glass hull. After checking in with the restaurants separate reception desk in the lobby, we are sent to the 12th floor in a glass elevator that already raises (no pun intended) expectations; the ride is not for people with high anxiety though.

schwarz presents itself with a modern interior and great views over Heidelberg and the surrounding areas (including a very tall industrial chimney standing right between the restaurant and the castle. The maÎtre'd greeted us in a friendly way and was slightly surprised when we chased our order for an aperitif with the question what Gins might be available to chose from. With a mildly puzzled look he suggested there would be a Frederiques (the spelling is owed to the distinct French accentuation of the word) and, of course (this was suggested with an almost undetectable disapproving scoff) Gordons. We felt adventurous and went for the unknown French gin, only to find out a minute later that it was indeed Hendricks, as the head waiter confirmed with an apology. We were very happy with that turn of events, but since the gin was served just with ice and tonic, I asked whether it would be too much trouble to be served with a couple of slices of cucumber. When I saw the surprised look I hastened to add, rather undiplomatically, that Hendricks was usually served with cucumber. The maÎtre'd complied without hesitation, but seemed a little wary of what other strange demands we might come up with during the next couple of hours; indeed, I couldn't help the feeling that he was a little hurt in his professional pride to be found to offer a service short of perfection.

The lunch menu offers limited choices but changes on a weekly basis. With a couple of choices each for starters, main dishes and desserts, a 2 or 3 course menu option offering different dishes and a daily special, there are still sufficient choices to be made. We decided for the à la carte option and ordered Vitello Tonnato, perfectly cooked to medium-rare (more rare than medium) and served thinly sliced with a light tuna sauce and some rocket and fragrant cocktail tomatoes, and Scallops on a pineapple curry, in my view the by far best dish we experienced on the day, due to it's imaginative nature, perfect balance of fresh, tangy flavors and impeccable preparation and presentation: the roasted scallops sat on a handful of pineapple pieces flavored with a Vietnamese-style curry boasting the fresh aromas of lemongrass and ginger, with the sauce presented in a "spuma" that is probably about to go out of fashion again but nevertheless worked perfectly for this dish. The touch of genius were the baby shisso leaves (the purple variant) that gave the dish yet another exotic, fresh flavor that accentuated the other aromas in perfect harmony. A 19 points dish in my book, to use the Gault Millau scale on this occasion. The main dishes consisted of saddle of lamb served on a pleasantly crunchy mix of beans with potatoes (a good dish with a slightly overcooked lamb that was closer to well-done than medium, but still juicy, tender and full of flavor) and a suckling pork shank in a rich dark-brown sauce, nicely glazed and with very delicate, tender meet that practically fell of the bone, served with cabbage and a dumpling. The main course offered classic dishes updated to the modern ways of cooking and prepared with professional attention and unquestionable craftsmanship. The brilliant inspiration that was evident in the scallop starter was not to be found here, but then again one cannot expect a miracle when enjoying what would typically be served as a business lunch at a very reasonable price of 20 Euro for the main course (the starters ranged between 9 and 12 Euro and the desserts were in the same price category). We ordered a 2003 Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) Auslese from the Pfalz region from the extensive wine list, which offered good value for money at 59 Euro for the bottle and managed to convince my rather skeptical friend David that the Germans can actually produce a decent bottle of red wine! By this point the maÎtre'd had lost his initial caution after the "Hendricks incident" and allowed us to order the dessert from the Set Menu (apple tarte with raspberry sorbet - yummy) - but just because we were nice!! I decided to have the Tartlet of Nougat with Baileys Ice Cream, the latter not very imaginative and even available from Häägen Dasz if I'm not mistaken, the Nougat Tartlet though being surprisingly delicate with a wafer thin biscuit crust filled with light, nutty nougat mousse - here was that creative energy at work again! We finished with a couple of espressos (my choice of a single espresso was greeted with a playful scoff of the maître'd, suggesting that only a lightweight would give the double espresso a miss) and we were presented with a bill of 173 Euro that we felt provided good value for money.

My final comments are dedicated to the service staff: although the restaurant was almost empty, the staff found the exact right balance between being attentive and keeping in the background. It would have been tempting to "over-serve" us, which did not happen once and we appreciated the efforts of the excellent maître'd to make up for his Hendricks "mistake", again without going over the top or getting disconcertingly nervous. I will look for an opportunity to return for the 7 course tasting menu (120 Euro) and will wait with applying a score until then (if pushed, I would probably go for a 7.5/10 for now, as a result of the average between the two "9" dishes and the other "7" dishes).

Film Review: An American Crime (Blu-Ray)

Ellen Page and Catherine Keener headline the cast in this film which is based on true events that took place in Indiana, USA, in the mid-60s. The film is horrifying, sad, upsetting and almost unbearably intense, but it asks a range of painful and important questions about why people look the other way or even willingly participate in obviously wrong acts of cruel violence. Keener is one of the top Drama actors of her generation and her performance in this film is again flawless. The real discovery though is Ellen Page, who starred in this film in 2007, the same year that she had her breakthrough with Juno. She walks a very thin line in her portrayal of Sylvia Likens and manages to get the balance right through an almost underplayed approach to the role that is unsettling and almost heartbreaking. The casting of the support roles is very solidly done, too, with James Franco (127 Hours, Spiderman 1-3), Bradley Whitford (Josh from The West Wing) and Ari Graynor (who also starred with Ellen Page in Whip It!) being the most prominent names perhaps. 8/10, but be prepared for your mood to sink significantly.

Future Female Film Stars: Top 10

If you're a film buff, you will probably not find any surprises here and you will probably counter with some other names which are still much more unknown. If you enjoy movies and look for some suggestions, which actors that are currently launching their career are worth looking into, here are my current Top 10 future female stars:

10) January Jones (Mad Men, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Unknown, X-Men: First Class)

9) Mila Kunis (Family Guy, The Book of Eli, Black Swan, Friends with Benefits. Next: The Muppets)

8) Rose Byrne (Damages, 28 Weeks Later, Knowing, X-Men: First Class)

7) Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)

6) Rebecca Hall (The Prestige, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Frost/Nixon, The Town. Next: The Awakening)

5) Olivia Wilde - Born 1984 in New York, Ms. Wilde developed her career both on television (The O.C., House) and the silver screen, the latter with appearances in a wide range of films from independent productions such as Nick Cassavetes' Alpha Dog in 2006, to silly teen horror flicks (Turistas, in the same year) and more recently big budget productions such as TRON: Legacy and Cowboys & Aliens. Her name is already attached to 10 future projects, including Andrew Niccol's In Time (with Justin Timberlake - Mr. Niccol is best known for his brilliant first film, Gattaca) and a rumored remake of Tomb Raider.

4) Elle Fanning - the youngest in this list, at 13 years old four years younger than her sister Dakota (War of the Worlds, the unbearable Twilight Saga), this is probably the biggest gamble. Although Elle Fanning has already appeared in 18 feature films, that includes films as early as 2001 (I Am Sam) when she was three years old. Her breakthrough came with Sophia Coppola's wonderfully slow paced and melancholic film Somewhere, in which she played Stephen Dorrf's character's daughter Cleo. She since appeared in Super 8, JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg's summer movie that pretty much tanked at the Box Office, and will appear soon in Ms. Coppola's Dad's latest film Twixt, followed by Cameron Crowe's (Say Anything, Singles, Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) newest film, We Bought A Zoo alongside Matt Damon. I think Ms. Fanning will be the much better actress in the family if she picks her films carefully - with directors such as Sofia Coppola and Cameron Crowe, she should be doing very well!

3) Chloe Grace Moretz - Born in 1997 in Atlanta, Ms. Moretz wowed the world when she dropped the C*Bomb in a very unexcited way in the 2010 Kick-Ass. Since then she has been in four more films, including Let Me In, which would be a great film if it wasn't for the much better original Let The Right One In.  She is already linked to seven new projects, including Martin Scorsese's Hugo, co-starring Jude Law, and the currently filming Dark Shadows, directed by Tim Burton and co-starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Michelle Pfeiffer and Eva Green. One to watch very closely.

2) Saoirse Ronan - Born 1994 in New York, but raised in Ireland, Ms. Ronan starred in 10 feature films so far, including Atonement, Death Defying Acts, the rather disappointing The Lovely Bones (not her fault though), The Way Back and Hanna. She delivered great performances in each of these films, and the roles she played were all rather demanding and versatile. She also doesn't fit the usual bill of the Hollywood beauty, which makes her interesting and immensely promising.

1) Ellen Page - the 24 year old Canadian had her breakthrough with Juno, in which she starred in the title role. Before that, she delivered a brilliant performance in the horrifying An American Crime alongside Catherine Keener, a shocking and thoughtful film based on a true story but unfortunately unknown to wider audiences. After Juno, her most prominent role was as Ariadne in Inception, but she also starred in smaller films such as the funny Smart People, the surprisingly entertaining Whip It  (a film about the Roller Derby League directed by Drew Barrymore - really??) and, perhaps her most whacky and surprising role to date, as Libby (aka Boltie) in the hilariously strange Super. We will see her next in Woody Allen's new film, The Bop Decameron, alongside Jesse Eisenberg (he will appear in my Future Male Stars Top 10). Way to go, Ellen!

Film Review: Hanna (Blu-Ray)

So in my last post I sang the praise of British film makers. Next thing I watch is Hanna, directed by Joe Wright, born 1972 in London. Mr. Wright previously directed Pride & Prejudice and Atonement (both with Keira Knightley), followed by the American film The Soloist with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey jr. A talented actor, no doubt. but somehow a little trapped in the "emotional drama" category? Well, if he ever was, he's not any more. Hanna is a brilliant action film starring Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett and Tom Hollander. I won't give any of the plot away on this one, and I hope you haven't read anything else about the film or even seen a preview. Despite the action scenes, Hanna is still a character movie, with a deliberately obvious fairy tale backdrop (which is explained quite well in some of the documentaries that accompany the Blu-Ray release). The music is written by the Chemical Brothers, which works exceptionally well for this film. The Blu-Ray delivers a crisp picture combined with a powerful soundtrack and is absolutely worth the extra money in comparison to a DVD. More about Saoirse Ronan in my next post. Absolutely recommended, 8/10.