Distinctive red wines made from the
Sagrantino grape are unique to Umbria.
Photo courtesy i-Italy.com.

It’s Umbria Month in New York City, proclaimed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and celebrated at wine stores, restaurants, Italian food markets and Eataly, which is a combination of all three.

There are restaurant menus with Umbria’s signature fare, cooking classes led by Eataly’s chefs and tastings of Umbrian foods and wines at shops including Di Palo’s Fine Foods and Enoteca (wine store) in Little Italy.

Can you pick out Umbria on a map? The region of Umbria is in central Italy, less than two hours from Rome and Florence. The capital is Perugia.

Neighboring Tuscany gets much of the food and wine coverage in America, but the region of Umbria, east of Tuscany, is equally deserving of your attention.

And there’s much atmosphere as you eat and drink. Known as “il cuor verde d’Italia”, the green heart of Italy, Umbria home to stupendous mountains, valleys and medieval villages and of course.

We sampled some of the local specialties at Eataly—fine wines, black truffles, olive oil and a perfect porchetta, roast pig with the crispest skin we’ve ever had. Good news: It’s available every Thursday in the Rosticceria, one of the 12 eating areas at Eataly.

Along with the full-bodied, spicy Sagrantino-based red wines (the grape is unique to Umbria), it was a delicious lunch. Fully refreshed, we left “Umbria” and returned to the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

See all the Umbria Month In NYC activities at UmbriaMonthNYC.com.

At this moment, somewhere, the kettle calls. Somewhere the cup waits. Somewhere a person smiles, watching the leaves unfurl.

We grew up in a “tea family”; coffee was brewed for special occasion meals. A “cuppa” was our go-to respite. So we love this sentiment from the Republic Of Tea.

Over years of tea-drinking, we honed our preferences—Assam, Dragon Well, Earl Grey, Jasmine—to the point where we don’t spend enough time with other great teas.

And there are many of them. While all tea comes from one plant, Camellia sinensis, the terroir (pronounced tur-WAH), growing season and finishing technique yield hundreds of varieties. Think of wine grapes: the same Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay grape produces very different wine in different locations and in the hands of different vintners.

Terroir comprises altitude, soil composition, aspect, hours of sunlight, rainfall and humidity, among other factors. The same rootstock will produce different tea flavors, aromas and quality when grown in different places.

As with coffee, elevation is key: whether the plants are low-, medium-, or high-grown. Although good teas are grown in lower elevations, the highest elevations produce the greatest teas. The higher the altitude, the thinner and cleaner the air is and the closer to the sun the tea plants are.

TRY A GOOD OOLONG

In our quest to expand our tea choices, we purchased some quality oolong, a tea developed in China more than seven centuries ago.

Called wulong in some dialects and meaning “black dragon tea,” oolong is a traditional Chinese tea. Depending on terroir and processing, it can be sweet and fruity with honey aromas, woody with roasted aromas, green and fresh with floral aromas or somewhere in-between.

Some oolongs famously have the aroma of orchids. Subvarieties produced in the Wuyi Mountains of northern Fujian Province are among the most famous and sought-after Chinese teas (look for Da Hong Pao).

Oolong teas occupy a unique place in the tea spectrum: They are neither black nor green, but are oxidized to a point between the two, in a unique roasting process that can last from 12 to 36 hours, starting with withering the leaves under the strong sun and oxidizing them before curling and twisting. The degree of oxidation can range from 8% to 85%, depending on the roduction style.

The leaves are formed into one of two distinct styles. Some are rolled into long curly leaves (the traditional style), while others are wrap-curled into small beads.
HOW TO BREW OOLONG

1. Heat fresh water to a rolling boil. Use filtered water if your local supply isn’t clean tasting.

2. Use one teaspoon of leaves per six ounces of water. Steep tea for 5 to 7 minutes.

3. The leaves may be infused multiple times—keep infusing until the flavor wanes. It brings down the cost per cup!

Learn more about tea in our Gourmet Tea Section. You may enjoy browsing through the Tea Glossary.

Cake Out claims it has reinvented the cupcake, but it actually has reinvented the layer cake. With extra layers of filling not found in cupcakes, we’re charmed by this cake-in-a-box.

Cake Out thought out of the box by thinking inside the box. We’re not even going to guess how the cake is perfectly fitted inside (see the photo below).

What the company calls “modern cupcakes” are six layers of cake, filling and frosting that occupy a small Chinese take-out box wall-to-wall. The only instructions are to “Dig deep!” You get a luscious balance of flavors and textures in every bite.

The sophisticated-yet-fun packaging makes the excellent cake even more memorable.

You eat it with a fork or spoon without dropping crumbs anywhere. Mess-free and delicious!

Fun for weddings and other parties and corporate events, Cake Outs can be customized with personalized messages, logos and photos. We love them as wedding favors.

FUN FLAVORS

We liked every flavor we tried. You can buy them individually or in assortments:

The box is fully filled with cake. Photo courtesy Cake Out.

Order yours from CakeOut.net.

Find more of our favorite cakes and cake recipes.

[1] Use frosted grapes to garnish (photo All Recipes).

[2] Even one grape does the trick. Photo of vanilla bean cupcake with a center of champagne whipped cream, frosted with champagne butter cream and garnished with a half a sugared grape, courtesy Yummy Cupcakes.

As the days grow cold, berries can be scarce—or costly.

Substitute a sugared grape. It’s even more festive than a berry, and is easy to make (recipe below).

Sugared grapes can top any frosting or pudding, sorbet, ice cream or fruit salad. Or use them as a plate garnish with fish and poultry.

You can frost entire clusters of grapes and use them to garnish holiday platters and cheese plates.
HOW TO MAKE FROSTED SUGARED GRAPES

This easy recipe is adapted from Gale Gand’s Just A Bite, by Gale Gand and Julia Moskin.

You can use a half or whole grape for garnish.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. FREEZE the grapes. At least 3 hours and up to 7 days before serving, remove the grapes from their stems and place them in the freezer. To frost an entire cluster, leave the grapes intact on the stems. When ready to serve…

2. WHISK the egg whites with the lemon juice in a large bowl until frothy. Put the sugar in another bowl.

3. DROP the grapes into the bowl of egg whites, then pour the contents of the bowl through a strainer to drain the liquid. Place the grapes on a paper towel and roll them around until most of the excess egg white has been absorbed. Then, working in batches…

4. ADD the grapes to the sugar and shake them around to coat. Shake off any excess. Use as garnish and serve.

Raw eggs carry a slight risk of food-borne illness, including Salmonella. To reduce the risk, use only fresh, grade A or AA eggs. The eggs should be clean and properly refrigerated. Discard any eggs with cracked shells.

As an alternative, use pasteurized eggs, like the Davidson’s Safe Eggs brand.

Last year, we entered Kettle Brand Chips’ the People’s Choice Create-a-Chip Challenge. Our inspiration was a fully loaded baked potato: sour cream, chives, shredded Cheddar cheese and bacon.

Fifty-four other people had the same idea, and Fully Loaded Baked Potato was the winner.

The final recipe—the 15th in the current main line of chips (see all the flavors)—used green onion instead of chives and a smoky flavor substituted for the bacon. A year ago we received our reward: a bag of the chips (we really could have used an iPad…).

KETTLE BRAND BAKES, BAKED POTATO CHIPS

Now a year later, Kettle Brand has relaunched its Kettle Brand Bakes line with updated packaging and two new flavors: Sour Cream & Onion and Cheddar & Roasted Tomato. We received a bag of each, along with a bag of Sea Salt, and they are delicious (the Bakes line also includes Sea Salt & Vinegar and Hickory Honey Barbeque).

The flavors are excellent and the texture seems to be a tiny bit thicker than we remember: a much crunchier chip. Here’s the secret: Kettle Brand Bakes are the only baked chip made from whole slices of potatoes. Other baked chips and “crisps” (the British term for potato chips) on the market use dehydrated potato pulp and flakes. Really!

Oven toasting, rather than frying, also adds to the hearty crunch.

These crunchy, golden baked chips are one of our very lines. Kettle Brand uses all-natural ingredients and non-GMO potatoes. Kettle Brand is certified kosher by KOF-K.

NO ADDED SUGAR

We also like the seasonings in the Bakes line. The three flavors we tasted had no added sugar. While we respect the complex flavor mixes that Kettle Brand uses, we don’t enjoy even a hint of added sweetness on our potato chips (except in flavors where it naturally belongs, such as Barbeque and Honey Dijon and the Bakes line Hickory Honey Barbeque). So much sugar is, alas, added to “savory” foods in the U.S. that the line between savory and sweet has become blurred.

If you like the sweetness, why is this a problem? We don’t need extra sugar in our diets—neither the empty carbs nor the calories. In addition, the unnecessary sweetness trains the palate to want everything sweeter and sweeter. Here’s an article from WebMD.com on sugar’s effects on health.

Here’s more information about Kettle Brand. The Bakes line is available in 4 ounce bags for a suggested retail price of $3.39 at select retailers nationwide, and online at BuyKettleChips.com.

Find more of our favorite snack foods.