Travels With Bella Figura USA

More Champagne Tips: Uncork & Pour the Proper Glass of Champagne

I consider myself a master at uncorking a bottle of Champagne.  And no, it's not because I drink copious amounts of the bubbly (yeah, I know - I heard the snickering in the gallery) but because of a few lovely months spent working in a winery.  Yes, it was there that I learned to pop that cork - oh, so gently - and quietly - and never lose even a drop of the Champagne.

Properly uncorking a bottle of the bubbly is about as basic as it gets; but it's important.  And I've found over the years that many don't know how to do it.  It's nothing to be embarrassed about; it's just that most people have never been taught.

Posted on Our Artisans, we have a short video with Madame Guiliano demonstrating the proper method for uncorking - along with an explanation of why it should be done this way.

And here, Madame shows the proper "pour" for a glass of Champagne.

Our Champagne flutes.

Break out the Bubbly, But Use the Proper Stemware Please

You know how much we love Champagne. It's one of nature's greatest gifts - with a little help from the winemaker, of course.

But as with any fine, and often expensive, product, care should be given to presentation.  And in this case we're concerned with the Champagne glass.

It's not that it has to be some ultra expensive piece of crystal; no, it's the shape that's important.  And here to share the ins-and-outs of Champagne glasses is Mireille Guiliano.  Madame Guiliano is the author of French Women Don't Get Fat, and French Women For All Seasons.

But more importantly, for over twenty years she was the spokesperson for the Champagne Veuve Cliquot and the CEO of Clicquot, Inc.  So, when Madame Guiliano speaks of Champagne, we listen!

For your pleasure:

See our selection of Alan Lee Champagne flutes and wine stemware.

Why We Travel - Why We Must Travel

Back in July of last year I wrote a post - The Reason for the Journey.  And what was written then holds true today; for If ever there was a time when people need to get out of their own backyards, it is now.

I've loved to travel for as long as I can remember.  And it's never been a "check list" kind of travel: you know what I mean - go to as many places as you can, just to say you've been there.  No, for me, it's all about curiosity: how do other people live?  What are their lives like?  What do they value?  Are they different from me? Or are they, essentially, like me?

In The Reason for the Journey, there's a fabulous quote by Mark Twain all about having no regrets, and sailing away from safe harbor.

But another Twain quote comes to mind when I think about travel:

• Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.

The May/June issue of Departures magazine has an amazing cover story, Brave New Worlds, by Joshua Cooper Ramo.  I was struck by  two sentences in the article:

• If we truly want to develop a sense of the unstable geography at this moment and master the suddenly essential language of surprise and hope and danger, our only chance is to get out of the house (or the bunker) and start looking for signs of the new. 
• Travel, tourism, and culture instantly become more than hobbies or distractions; they are transformed into our best hope of understanding.

Our best hope of understanding...  Now, more than ever, we should all be travelers - not tourists - but travelers, with a keen curiosity to discover our similarities, in spite of our differences.  That's the reason we must travel.

"So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover."   (Thank you again, Mr. Twain.)

Come Fly With Me, Let's Fly Away!

Calling all lovers:  lovers of Italy - of great food - of great wine - of luxury travel - of Chef Lidia Bastianich!

That about covers everyone I know!  But you combine all those things, and the result is a Silversea cruise that sails this October.

That's right - this cruise covers it all: a seven day cruise, benefiting the James Beard Foundation, and "starring" Lidia Matticchio Bastianich.

The Silver Whisper sails from Venice on October 3, and winds up in Rome on October 10.  Along the way, she makes stops in Trogir,  Kotor, Montenegro, Sicily, and Sorrento.

Just think about it - not only do you get a luxurious vacation on board a Silversea ship (and this is a SMALL baby - not one of those gargantuan behemoths) and the journey to beautiful and historic sites, but you score a famous chef/author/restaurateur/ as a guide.

What more could you ask for?  Oh, there is one other thing: part of the trip is tax deductible!  Now really - how can you say no?

I've made my reservation - I'll see you in Venice!

For all the details, click here.

Six Tips for Making the Perfect Cocktail

Our last post was a recipe for a delish drink: the Blackberry Champagne Cocktail.  Now, we've put a number of cocktail recipes on the blog, and the only criteria we've ever had was "does it taste good?"

But upon reflection, we realized that there are some rules that should always be observed in making, and serving, cocktails.  After all, as we've heard from a number of folks: Life is simply too short to drink bad cocktails.

So, with that in mind, we have a set of six tips from cocktail master extraordinaire, James Mellgren, on the proper preparation and presentation of the perfect cocktail.  Here we go:

• Proper glassware  - an essential.  At the very least have martini glasses, highball and old-fashioned glasses.

• Serve very cold - there are a very few exceptions, but 99% of the time, you want icy cold.  And avoid making a drink so large that it's warm before the drinker can finish.

• Keep martini glasses chilled, either in the freezer or on ice.

• Use plenty of ice  - don't skimp.

• Never reuse the ice in the cocktail shaker.  When making a new drink, use fresh ice; and if you're shaking a drink to be served over rocks, strain the drink over fresh ice in the glass.

• Don't leave the liquor sitting on ice in the shaker - do not let it get watery.

Mr. Mellgren has co-authored two books for the host/bartender: Cesar: Recipes from a Tapas Bar, and The Bar: A Spirited Guide to Cocktail Alchemy.  (You can check them out at Amazon.com)

And we say Cheers! to good cocktails.  And you need some gorgeous martini glasses?  Look no further: a few samples from the Alan Lee Collection in the boutique - Fabulous!

Surviving the Tax Man - Bottoms Up!

Another April 15th has come and gone; and all I'm going to say is, "Hurray!"

And now, I do think a tasty libation is in order for all of us tax survivors.  And it should be simple and easy to prepare (after all, we're really tired from writing out that *&#* check to Uncle Sam) and very refreshing.

With that in mind, I've chosen the Blackberry Champagne Cocktail, created by Eben Klemm: it couldn't be easier to mix, and since the good people at Food & Wine love it, you know it's good.

So, with your recovery in mind ("I'm looking at this as a health recipe," she wrote with a wink) -

The Blackberry Champagne Cocktail

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon Chambord liqueur

Chilled Champagne

1/2 rounded teaspoon blackberry sorbet

Pour the Chambord into a flute, top with Champagne.  Add the sorbet - serve at once.

There you go - easy as can be - until next year...

(And if you still haven't gotten any Alan Lee champagne flutes - at 25% off - waste no more time!)

Let Venice Enchant You

Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.  Truman Capote

I love that quote.  It so deliciously describes the richness - the sensory overload - that is Venice, Italy.

Since I wrote in our last post that I'd just put a trip to Venice on my schedule, to say it's been on my mind is an understatement.  It's been in my thoughts a bit too much (after all, have to get some work done!)

But it's been quite awhile since I've been there - not since spring of 2000, to be precise.  It's easy for me to remember the time, because I visited just a few months after my mom had died.

Now, don't go thinking, "Uh oh, this is going to get serious; it must have been a sad journey."  No, quite the opposite.  Venice is a magical place: one moment you're looking at the brightest, bluest sky and sea, and the next  you can find yourself in a tiny, dark, twisting street - the kind of place where anything can happen.  Where masked phantoms - people or kindly spirits? - can appear out of nowhere.

If you believe you can commune with the spirit world (which I must admit, I'm way to practical minded to go there) Venice would be a likely place.  There's just so much that is mysterious about it.  Mysterious and enchanting.

These are a few of my own favorite photos of lovely Venice:

Leaving the Turquoise Coast and Arriving in Venice

Today, we're leaving Turkey and traveling west - west to Italy.  Yes, we enjoyed this week's wonderful guest  post on sailing down the Turquoise Coast, and the beautiful photos. 

But now I've got Italy on the mind.  Most likely because I just added a visit to Venice to my schedule for later this year.  So now, I'm thinking water - gondolas - the Grand Canal.

And as luck would have it, I stumbled across this video on YouTube.  I love it - it combines scenes that the typical traveler will never see, and a beautiful soundtrack.  The song in the video, Only You (Luna), is sung by the wonderful Alessandro Safina.

To take us into the weekend:

And if this is your first introduction to Alessandro, be sure and check out his website.

Twilight on the Turquoise Coast

One of my favorite times of day is the hour when everything is still visible, but the stars have started to appear, and the sky has turned that dreamy shade of inky blue.  It's the witching hour, when everything takes on a magical, fanciful look.

I always imagined F. Scott Fitzgerald felt the same, as he wrote in The Great Gatsby:  There was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights.  In his blue gardens men and women came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.

The whisperings - the champagne - the stars.  It doesn't get much more evocative than that!

And wouldn't you know it - fortune is smiling on us today!  One more stunning photo (joining the three from this morning) of the beautiful Turkish Riviera, but this time at twilight - the magic hour.

Absolutely beautiful.  Thank you again, Donna!

Sail Down the Turkish Riviera - the Turquoise Coast

After seeing yesterday's post by guest author, John McNulty, one of Bella Figura USA's friends sent us photos - photos of her own trip down the Turquoise Coast of Turkey!

For your pleasure:

 

  

Upper: Docked in harbor

Middle: The Captain's Mate ( a young one!)

Lower: Checking the maps

Thanks Donna, for sharing these with us!