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Simple reflections of a month long trip to Italy

May 31, 2011 by Ersilia

I promised myself I would blog about my trip to Italy during the entire month that I was gone and I never got the chance until the evening before I leave, and once again time is short because off to dinner I go in a hour. There just never seems enough time to get things done here, and it doesn’t matter at all.  There is no stress, you just get used to doing less in the day. I wouldn’t change a thing because it’s not procrastination, it’s the way it is here. You just can’t jam as much in a day here as you can in the states. The reason is simple. Between the hours of 1:30 and 4:00 most people are not working. Though that is slowly changing, like most of Italy is….

 The 30 days went by quickly. I travelled from up in the very accessible towns in the north to remote villages of Calabria in the deep south. I took the train once roundtrip Parma-Milano. It was relaxing, easy and cheap. But getting around Italy they way I needed to required a car.  I put 2765 miles on the car… This time I rented a GPS. I programmed a male voice to speak to me in Italian. More than once it would say “tornate in dietro quando potete” (turn around and go back when you can) but without it I would have been hassling with MapQuest like I have in the past and would have made even more mistakes! From now on I will always have a GPS when travelling in Italy…

Most people looked at this trip as if it were a vacation. I am really wondering if my vacation days in Italy  are over. I come here to work now. Sure there is plenty of pleasure. Its ALWAYS a pleasure for me to be in this wonderful country. However there is plenty of work, not mention the driving I have to do.

I see Italy differently than most Americans, except probably those that live here. It’s another home for me. Wrought with her tribulations and splendid in her achievements, there is no place I’d rather be.  Many of my Italian friends see it differently and wish they could leave to a place where bureaucracy and taxes are less strangling on the economy and financial freedom. I remind them that leaving Italy means leaving an incredible culture that exists nowhere else in the world, and that in no time they would be looking to hook up RAI (Italian TV) on a satellite or to purchase MADE IN ITALY products in stores.

I posted a pictorial history on my Face Book fan page www.facebook.com/oliveoiloftheworld . Tell me what you think of the food that you see or the countryside that I visited. In the meantime I think I’ll relax back with a cup of coffee….

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My name is up in lights again :-)

March 23, 2011 by Ersilia
 
 

Marco Eagle 03/20/2011, Page B07

AT THE MARKET

EVOO from OOW

TAKE YOUR PICK OF EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OILS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

By Jenine Ouillette

Special to the Eagle
Winter or summer, autumn or spring, Ersilia Moreno, owner and chef of Olive Oil of the World, runs her business on a seasonal clock in sync with the olive trees that grow the fruit that is converted into liquid gold called extra virgin olive oil. Moreno is a vendor at Marco Island Farmers Market and a knowledgeable olive oil expert who travels to find countries that produce the best tasting olive oils and makes them available to her local and mail order customers.

“My goal is to have one extra virgin olive oil from each the 26-plus countries that produce it and one from each of the 16 olive oil producing regions of Italy, and one extra virgin olive oil from California, Texas and Arizona in the United States,” declared 

 

Olive Oil of the World owner and chef Ersilia Moreno is always happy to explain the benefits of extra virgin olive oil to customers Beth Phelan and Elizabeth Rechtin at the Marco Island Farmers Market booth.


Olive Oil of the World’s booth at the Marco Island Farmers Market displays a wide selection of extra virgin olive oils from countries around the world and the United States.

Moreno, noting that she has been searching her whole adult life, from a hobby that started in college to the present, to find the best tasting olive oils.

Related to that quest, Moreno said she’s always looking to add to her inventory and is planning to introduce a new varietal extra virgin olive oil from Italy at her booth sometime soon before the Marco Island Farmers Market closes April 13. Truly, a visit to her booth is almost like a tour through the olive groves. Moreno takes the time to cheerfully explain the obvious benefits derived from cooking with olive oil and really enjoys helping customers choose one perfect for their palate as well as their cooking needs.

“I only want to deal with extra virgin olive oil because it’s always from the first pressing when no c hemical solvents are used to extract the oils. Then, there’s the IOOC, the International Olive Oil Council that set the guidelines that reputable member countries adhere to, and they (countries) are the ones obligated to monitor the growers’ quality and whether or not they are actually producing extra virgin olive oil.

Moreno noted she is a sponsor of an upcoming Taste of Home Cooking School show being held in West Palm Beach. She invited readers, who may in the vicinity at the end of March, to come visit her booth at the cooking show presented live at Northwood University in West Palm Beach on Thursday, March 31. The pre-show takes place from 5 to 7 p.m., followed by the cooking school from 7 to 9 p.m. For information about the show please call Moreno at (561) 386-0756.

Another show Moreno is looking forward to is the Festa Italiana 2011 Peekskill where she will have a vendor booth and will be conducting cook ing demonstrations with her son and partner Rasheed, a graduate chef of Florida Culinary Institute. The traditional second annual Italian street festival, held Aug. 12 to 14 in Peekskill, N.Y. draws exhibitors and crowds of participants worldwide said Moreno, adding that even more information can be found though a link on her Website oliveoiloftheworld. com. In addition the site is a valuable resource for finding information about the company’s gourmet food items and gift baskets as well as the olive country tours Moreno will be conducting in October and November 2011.


Olive Oil of the World also offers a variety of organic fruit jams at the Marco Island Farmers Market booth.

 
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Olive Oil truly IS a cure-all

March 17, 2011 by Ersilia

It wasn’t long ago that I lived in the Middle East, where my son was born. If your hands or feet were chapped you used olive oil to moisturize, if you had an itchy skin rash it was olive oil that brought relief, if your muscles felt tight or cramped massaging with olive oil was the answer. Inhabitants of all of the countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea all have similar homeopathic remedies calling for olive oil.

Today living in South Florida I never imagined that I would discover that olive oil can cure plant disease. For years I have been using olive oil to remove my mascara and as a facial and body mosturizer. Recently while watering my plants I noticed that the fig tree I have been nuturing out of its native environment for 3 years was in terrible shape.

Part of the tree had completely died and the buds that should have been sprouting into leaves seemed suspended in growth and were taking on an ieery brownish color. Worse, the remaining branches were white and not brown like they were supposed to be. My fig tree was on the brink…Looking at the tree made my heart sink because I felt that my pest and disease ridden Florida lawn was finally having its way. The tomatoes and eggplant I have tried to grow always did very poorly and even my 2 lemon trees – which are supposed to grow easily down here- fight for their existance. I should add that I have always refused to use chemicals. But this time I was seriously contemplating taking a picture of the tree and going down to the Home Depot Garden center for advice on what poison to use that wouldn’t kill the tree…

Then it came to me : go get the Oro Verde Lucano (the EVOO I use for my skin and everyone else uses because of its light buttery taste) !!! So I took the half remaining bottle and then using my hand slathered the tree branches with the olive oil massaging the bark.

Three weeks later not only did the buds recover , the tree is full of green fig leaves and it seems to :-) at me. I won’t be around to enjoy the figs this summer since I’ll be up running my stand in New York, but my fig tree is thriving once again and that’s all that matters.  I need to write to Dina who makes that wonderful olive oil !

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To blog or not to blog…

March 13, 2011 by Ersilia

For the longest time I’ve thought I should get it together and update my website so that it would become more interactive. So its finally up and so is the “blog” section. I’m not going to blog about just anything. The central focus is going to be about the wonderful world of good food , where to find it and how to prepare it. I’m also going to try and keep readers updated about what is going on with Big Ag and their attempt to take over the entire world’s food supply.

Food has always been one of my favorite subjects. To this day my parents joke to me that as a child and a young adult my letters home from my travels (whether from Girl Scout camp or overseas) always seemed to be centered on the food. Whether it was good or bad and if it was foreign what was in it.  Its all about the ingredients and where they come from that makes what we eat so special.

I’ve never embraced eating bugs or really bizarre foods (ie a la Andrew Zimmerman), but I’ve always been open to trying new things for the most part, and OH! how I love to cook and bake. I’ve been known to post a picture or two of food I’ve eaten or prepared on both of my Face Book pages just to get people thinking about what they might eat that day or just to make them hungry !

So now I’ll do it here as well. Should anyone read this besides my mother feel free to comment and share your ideas because food is meant to be shared. If its good we moan, we drool , we talk endlessly about it. If its bad we say so and we should say so….

buon appetito ! :-)

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