Bella Bistro Weblog

Have you ever heard about Ferragosto? Yesterday one of my Italian friends was trying to explain to me the meaning. If you do not live in Italy or you have never spent your summer, in August, in Italy, you probably do not know. Well, Ferragosto is a very Italian holiday celebrated on August 15th.
It is celebrated just in Italy, originally, it was related to a celebration of the middle of the summer and the end of the hard labor in the fields.
In Italy, the entire month of August is generally taken as holiday from professionals, offices and shops just for leisure time and relax. Everything restarts in September!
It is very common to see signs on shop-windows in these weeks: “We come back on the 1st September “- “Closed, Re-open on September 1st”
Important industrial and business cities such as Rome, Milan, Turin are like “ghost cities” in this period. Everyone is away on holiday in August in Italy!
How do Italians celebrate during Ferragosto? Start with huge tables of food they are able to create on the beaches, in the mountains, on the boats… pizza, cheese, lasagne, gnocchi, grilled fish, mussels, BBQ and everything that you could ever tried in a typical Italian restaurant, add friends and family, great wines, sun and fun… from early morning to midnight. And to end the night fireworks!

I would like to try Ferragosto sometime. I think we Americans are missing out on something.
Buon Ferragosto!

Event: Life Is Pink

Where: Bella Bistro 7702, Ralston Road Arvada CO 80002 303-358-7253

When: Tuesday June 28 2011

Time: 5:30 PM to 10:00PM

Special Guests:

 Marilena Barbera As a little girl, I dreamt of a diplomatic career, but after I got my College degree in International Law in Florence and a Master degree in Tax and Financial Planning in Verona, my motivations to come back to my roots grew so strong that I decided to plan my future life in Sicily.Since then, I am sales and marketing manager of Cantine Barbera, with a main focus on foreign markets: driving the sales force with enthusiasm and deep passion, keeping personal relations with key customers, importers and distributors in 14 countries around the world. At the winery, I closely follow the harvest and the winemaking, along with the precious direction and collaboration of our oenologist Gianfranco Cordero .That is probably why the wines of Cantine Barbera have a woman’s temperament!

Pat Miller

The Gabby Gourmet Show, hosted by Pat Miller, airs in the Denver market on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Pat has been hosting the show for more than 31 years. Not only does she bring her culinary expertise and a loyal audience to radio, she has a feature television spot on 7 NEWS at 11a.m every Wednesday;  she also writes feature articles for various publications including Colorado Expressions’ food magazine, MANGIA, COLORADO VIEW,  and restaurant reviews for OUTFRONT,  as well as her extremely entertaining and informational animated website at www.gabbygourmet.com. In addition to being an accomplished cookbook author, Pat writes and publishes The Gabby Gourmet Restaurant Guide, a guide to dining in the greater Denver Metroplex. This 25th Guide brings a special anniversary edition of the book and is on sale now. She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the national Share Our Strength Gabby Gourmet Food

Price: $75 Please make reservations. You may pay $35 to Bella Bistro and write a check to Children’s Hospital for $40 This includes your food and drink for the evening.

Raising Money: You put three very strong, passionate, driven women together and what do you get? Women who want to have a big party invite their friends and make a difference. That’s what Shelly, Marilena & Gabby intend to do. There are going to be so many ways to donate money for children with cancer, you will have a tough time deciding between them all. Gabby will be signing her books for you and the money will be donated back. More then half your ticket sales will be donated back. Bella has decided to take the concept of the popular advertising campaigns of buying a gift card at half off. Here is a new twist..for every $50 gift card $25 goes to the children. Every $100 gift card $50 will then go to the children.

Live Auction: Marilena & Shelly will auction off a chance to spend a week with them in Sicily this September… wine, food, cooking. The two will also be auctioning off the opportunity for you to host your own Pink Party. Your friends, your home, Cantine Barbera wine & Shelly will be your private chef.

About The Children’s Hospital

The Children’s Hospital has defined and delivered pediatric healthcare excellence for more than 100 years. Founded in 1908, The Children’s Hospital is a leading pediatric network entirely devoted to the health and well-being of children. Continually recognized as one of the nation’s outstanding hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, The Children’s Hospital is known both for its nationally and internationally recognized medical, research and education programs as well as the full spectrum of everyday care for kids throughout Colorado and surrounding states. With more than 1,000 healthcare professionals representing the full spectrum of pediatric specialties, The Children’s Hospital network includes its main campus on the Anschutz Medical Campus, 15 Network of Care locations and more than 400 outreach clinics.

Dining - Definition: Eating dinner as a social function.  Entertaining someone to dinner.

Whether you choose to dine out at a restaurant, or choose to entertain guests at home there are some things you should know… The whole premise of dining with people is to enjoy the company of others. I cannot tell you how often looking out of my kitchen into the dining room I can pick immediately the tables who are going to be a problem. Those would be the tables where the individuals do not have a smile located anywhere. They are not smiling, they are not speaking, and they are waiting for an excuse to vent their frustrations on anyone who walks by. Can you imagine complaining because the table next to you is to loud with laughter and joy? Can you imagine complaining because an entire restaurant is full of people who are dining correctly, they are enjoying their guests, the moment and life. Can you imagine not speaking to the person you are dining with through the entire meal? It happens all to often.

I like to personaly visit these tables in my restaurant to see if I can turn the moment around. I do my best at smiling when they are being nasty, nasty. If that doesnt work, surely a glass of wine or lemoncello might do the trick… there are many times people will realize they have full control of enjoying themselves and turn the moment around. There are other times I feel like I have left the safety zone of my kitchen and walked into a war zone. OK I will take that glass of wine now.

I know all our lives are busier then we would like. But I would like you to try something for me. When you meet friends at a restaurant or invite them to your home please celebrate the moment. Take this time to forget about the stress and problems you may have and enjoy the good things in your life. If you are going to be the nasty pants that brings gloom to the party maybe you should stay home. Enjoy the food whatever it may be. My friends sometimes will apologize and say we cannot invite you to dinner because you are a chef. I tell my friends, you order the pizza I will bring a good bottle of wine and lets just have a good time. We have too few of these moments. Enjoy every single one.

Spring is in the air. Here in Colorado we have had beautiful sunny days with the temperatures in the 70′s. What better time to start eating healthy. Many of you already are eating healthy. I congratulate you and encourage you to keep doing so. But there are those of you who are to busy, and frankly sometimes it’s really difficult… it’s you people I am talking to.

I was in line at the grocery store yesterday and I was shocked as I looked into the cart ahead of me. I guess you could call me a grocery peeping Tom. The entire cart was filled with nothing but processed foods. Not one fresh vegetable, fruit or herb. Everything was prepacked, prepared, canned or frozen. The woman whom the cart belonged to was dressed very nicely, I am assuming a professional woman of intelligence. Then why all the garbage in the cart for her family? I can only assume her life is very busy and at times we make choices that will just give us a few minutes in the day to relax.

How do I know this?? I own a restaurant where we take pride in using the freshest ingredients and making everything fresh. So my dirty little secret. With all of the freshest ingredients there have been days I have fueled my body with pure crap.The only good thing that went into my body was a good wine. Late night drives through Taco Bell and McDonald’s. I even have a photo of a Big Mac with a nice bottle of La Bambina rose’ wine that my dear friend Marilena produces. I think she was mortified I was pairing her wine with a Big Mac. The staff was starving after a very busy night. The last thing we chef’s want to do at midnight is cook for ourselves. 

So why am I telling you this? This week I started on an eating healthy campaign. If you choose to do this also one of the most important things you must do is have a well stocked kitchen. If you do not you will fail. Sunday I headed to the market and loaded my cart with the following: vegetables, fruits, herbs, (lots and lots and a large variety) proteins, yogurt, cheeses, grains and absolutely nothing prepared.

So my first test was last night. I was to busy once again to eat lunch it is approaching 9:00 pm and no dinner yet. My stomach sounded like a wild animal. One of my staff opened a bag of Doritos and I all I wanted to do was dive in and not look back. I chose to drive home and prepare a late dinner. Simple dinner because I was far to tired to do anything else. What did I prepare? Chicken Peperonata. I pan seared a chicken breast, to the pan I added a colorful blend of peppers and garlic. I poured a little of the Sancerre I happened to be drinking, a little chicken broth and a handful of fresh herbs.

I cannot tell you how delicious dinner was. How simple it was to prepare. And how much better I felt choosing to eating healthy and not eat garbage. What made dinner taste so good was the freshness of the peppers and herbs. There is nothing like fresh herbs. Every spring I head to Malara Gardens in Arvada and buy every herb that Chip has available. I plant either an indoor garden or an outside garden located close to my kitchen door. It is so easy to take your kitchen shears make a few snips and throw the fresh herbs into whatever you cook. And a whole lot more economical then buying the packages at the store….

So to you very busy people out there. I challenge you to start eating healthy. Prepare your own food and do not purchase foods that are prepared that have ingredients you cant even pronounce… Mangiare Sano! Eat Healthy!