Nerocafé - lounge and winebar

A new lounge and winebar is open since two weeks in Adelfia (Bari). Take a look at the latest recension!

So far I can only suggest a Dec Espressino at the bar since I went there this morning with my father for breakfast;-)

But I will try to taste their wines and food also sometime next week.

Happy holidays from Bella Italia;-)

all you need is love...

....especially on xmas day...!!!

Today after two years, my over 80 grandparents made peace wishing merry xmas to each other, my grandfather kissed my grandmother on her cheecks wishing her a merry christmas and both of them started to cry;-) ...all you need is LOVE to overcome barriers in families. Merry Christmas to everyone...

Xmas in Italy 2009

Xmas in South Italy is totally different than spending Xmas in Switzerland...it starts with the strong catholic traditions of decorating the house with a nativity scene instead of a xmas tree, preparing typical xmas coockies made of almonds and having a definetely warmer temperature than cold and snowy switzerland. Instead of a xmas dinner on 24th, people here have a big lunch on 24th and 25th...with the high risk that you gain 10 kilos by end of all festivities. Merry Xmas 2009;-)

Jackson web services

Alyson is a very structured and highly professional web designer, an excellent project manager and implementer. She actively engages in the website development, giving good advice and feedback to your questions, ensuring the optimum outcome. One thing is for sure, with Alyson you get the desired result within the time frame that has been set!

www.jacksonweb.com

Weinmesse Basel

The Basler Weinmesse is always a MUST Event for everyone living here! I tasted different wines last night from south africa and Italy of course...but the winner was definetely

VINI D'AMATO once again, they have for me the best wines in town! I started from north Italy down to the south and the winners were:

the piemontese Dolcetto D'alba DOC 2008 for reasonable CHF 14.80 a bottle

the sicilian DonnaFugata Tancredi Contessa Entellina DOC, 2006 for CHF 32.50 a bottle

well what can I say, LIFE IS GOOD!

HBA Event - what is missing from your resume?

One of the most interesting presentation about how to enhance RESUMEs was held last night at Safran Zunft in Basel by the HBA Women Association.

The Lappin Company was founded in Boston as a general recruitment firm over twenty years ago. Bonnie Lappin is the company owner, if you get a chance to assist to one of her presentation sometime, I can only recommend it!

If everything is followed then by a nice pumpkin soup and a spätzli teller, even better;-)

Pumpkin soup - perfect autumn supper!

As soon as the colour of the leaves start to change into red, orange and gold, the autunm season is for sure here. 

Beautiful sunshine days and warm nature colours surround you with a feeling of cozyness and beauty. Every now and then you see farmers exposing the different shapes of pumpkins in different coloured patterns.

Perfect time for a delicious pumpkin soup with bread croutons. You can add potatoes if you want or just do it plain with lots of cream...hmm just wonderful.

Be careful of the calories though;-) 

Hotel Restaurant Krone, Weil am Rhein, Germany

For the cordon blue lovers like me, I can recommend this cozy and familiar restaurant in Weil am Rhein, Germany!

Hotel Restaurant Krone

Hauptstrasse 58

D-79576 Weil am Rhein

Much better value compared to switzerland;-)

web-visioncommunication will be launched soon!!!

Des Artes

there is no best thing such as a nice evening with the girls;-)))

Tuesday evenings are still IN at Des Artes, join us next time;-)

notte bianca@aqua

Eventough I just stayed for a short time, notte bianca in Aqua last night, must have been very good!

My friend Rosanna won the award of the Best looking white dressed female last night;-)

jogging...it's all about discipline!

since I moved to Grellingen I started with my daily jogging laps down the street where I live. There is a 500 meter tracking field for joggers and so every morning I started to jogg about 5 laps, 2 full and 1/2  + 2 full and 1/2 for the start - which makes a total of 2.5 k, my goal is to get to 5 k!

What is important is to know how to jogg, timewise or distance wise...I prefer to jogg with distance instead of watching my clock!

Someone has told me that the jogging field hasn't been used for a long time or maybe never, which is a pity!

I hope that people will watch me and start to get motivated to do the same!

The benefits of jogging are enourmeous, it relases endorphines and puts you in a good mood, it stretches your life spam and it helps you loosing weight;-)

sunday at the rhein

sometime one doesn't realize or appreciate his own hometown a lot...well, I can say now after all my travels  I always decided to come back to Basel for some reason -  my family, my friends....and what's even more surprising to me, I realized all of a sudden how beautiful Basel can be...I love to spend sunday afternoons at the rhein and enjoy this breathtaking view!

Enjoy Basel;-)

Living room Upgrade

Of course it is very well known that female taste is just better than male taste;-) 

So I decided to take the lead on David's living room by shifting the two couches on the walls and the dining table at the window...the result of it was just fantastic! Suddenly much more space and atmosphere were brought in the new upgraded living room...

What is important tough is not to even dare to take away all your life partner's stuff...this will just end up in a fight!

Happy living to all co-habitants;-)

I'm moving to Grellingen - 01.09.2009

well well, time has come even for me to move to Baselland;-)))

No more city life and traffic noise starting at 07.00 am and ending at 12.00 pm, no more drinks out every night, no more bike losses, no more Coop@home delivery service, no more shopping on Thursdays evenings....but instead of that a real healthy country life style, with a beautiful man, living close to a beach volleyball field and jogging tracking field, cow smell and many forest walks on the weekends... ;-)))

Welcome to Grällige;-)

My self employment certificate

web-visioncommunication will start officially on January 1st 2010!

new website, e-mail address and business address will come soon...thank you for supporting my business!

Trani, a gorgeous seaport city

Trani is one of most gorgeous seaport city in apulia, southern Italy on the Adriatic Sea. The main monument of Trani is the famous  cathedral dedicated to St Nicholas the Pilgrim, a Greek assasinated at Trani 1094 and canonized by Urban II.

summer shoes for only 30-80 euros at Lagalante Shop!

This is a special summer here in Adelfia and Valenzano, two different villages close to the city of bari, my dad's shops are on a special SALE summer season, take a look at the beautiful italian shoes which have never been cheaper like this, starting from 30 euros to 80 euros...a really bargain price, especially compared to Swiss prices!!!

Ladies and Gents, email me or contact me on my mobile NOW, if you want to order your high quality italian shoes!!!

S Vittoriano celebration in Adelfia

always on the 3rd sunday in July the village of Adelfia transforms into a big summer celebration called San Vittoriano, who is the saint of the village.

All people get dressed and go outside to get a nice ice cream and have a long chat with friends and relatives they haven't seen for a long time, it is also tradition to follow the saint until they carry him in the church, for the really devoted ones;-)

bbq at Krish & Fred

if you want to get the best tender grilled lamb ever, you need to contact SHAHIM & KRISH, the two bbq masters of last saturday!
thank you for a very familiar and easy evening to all of you...

saluti from bari!

Chiara's home made lasagne

Best address in Bruderholz to get home made lasagne, brindisi style - which differs  from the classic lasagne only by one more added ingredient - the coocked egg!

Chiara Bolognini is a web specialist manager, self employed and very happy to get interesting web assignments, check her website - www.chiarabolognini.com

thank you Chiara & Roberto for the delicious dinner!

david with a sunburn;-)

and his matching red t-shirt;-)

Online Shop - www.thingswelove.co.uk

www.thingswelove.co.uk is a perfect online shop for all women interested to buy art, fashion, photography, interior deco, jewelvery etc. I personally love it really;-)

Funkyzeit Brüno!

I think I never laughed so much like last night when I watched Brüno!!! 

It's the funniest, outrageous, perverted, hilarious, provokative film of the year, I liked it much better than BORAT and I can recommended it to everyone that has lived or is living in a german mentality and is pretty open minded for MASSIVE provokation!!!

Pizza evening at Romano & Egle's place!

What a honour to be invited by this native naples couple who is living in one of the most gorgeous oldtown street of basel - leonhardsgasse - and taste the original naples self made pizza!

Thank you to Romano & Egle for a very friendly and tasteful evening;-)

Cous Cous with chicken and roasted peppers

Another delicious summer dish is cous cous with chicken and red/yellow roasted peppers!

All you need to do is following:

 - boil one glass of salted water

- add one tbs of olive oil 

- add one glass of cous cous

 - heat it with top covered for 5 min

- add a little bit of butter/cream/ricotta

and spice it up with red and yellow roasted peppers, chicken and curry!

A quick lunch for your summer days;-)

new sommer shoes to sell!

Trendy sommer shoes, size 41, high heel (7 cm), black leather, Navyboot, only a few weeks old!

Selling price: CHF 80.00

If interested, pls call me on 0794452677!!!

more working tools...

Check my flickr page for more ideas and tips on my working tools;-)

Blueberries on a yammy greek youghurt...

well, believe it or not, but for this wonderful creamy desert you only need following ingredients:

- 4 tbsp caster sugar

- greek yoghurt

- 1 box of blueberries

and that's it!

wash, rinse and warm up the blueberries in a pan with some water and 4 tbsp of caster sugar, but don't overheat them, they still need to keep the shape!

Pour the bluberry sirup in a separate container and cool the berries off!

In the meantime mix the greek yoghurt with caster sugar and place the mixture in desert glasses for you and your guests or partner;-)  on top of it add the blueberries and as a final touch add a little bit of the blueberry sirup, not too much though since you don't want the youghurt to go too creamy!!!

et voilà  - spoil your lover with this sensual desert;-)

la schiava di babilonia

is a Salento red wine from Puglia that I received as a gift today! This friend of mine he is from Taranto where they have a 2 hectar winery whit this special wine. The old winery is called "la schiava", the slave!

It has a very energetic red and bright colour, the nose is manifested with intense red and black fruits, pepper and licorice, lots of velvet tannin in a costest of great structure.

Ideal temperature is 18°C!

Salute;-)

It is recommended to put the bottle for one hour in the fridge before serving at this temperature!

what to do with egg noodles?

what to do with spare egg noodles? Instead of the typical swiss german butter and cheese version, why don't you try to mix & match them with following ingredients? I can guarantee the taste is very nice!

Take a high pan (one that looks like a wok), put in some olive oil, half fine cutted onion, some little pieces of speck and let it fry for ten minutes.

Afterwards add some cherry tomatoes, some fine cutted zucchini and let them soften for a while, towards the end add some red curry and basel leaves.

In the meantime the egg noodles are soft, pour them into the wok and mix everything...this nice meal tastes absolutey hot and spicy!

Arab Moussaka at Aladin's

Surprisingly to me I had last night for the first time an ARAB version of MOUSSAKA, I only knew the greek version, which looks like an italian "parmigiana". 

In fact Moussaka has various origins...there is the greek (best- known) moussaka, the turkish moussaka (is not layered like the greek one and it has green peppers) and last but not least the arab version, which looks more like a salad and it served cold as a mezze dish!

What's more, the new management of the ALADIN restaurant in Basel is really good, I like the new fresh image on their menu cards and on their website, as also the better service than before. Prices are reasonable and the atmosphere is nice!

Tip: Also recommendable as catering service for parties!

virginia's rice salad

the rice salad recipe I am presenting today is from my friend neighbour Virginia! 

All what it takes is following for 8 persons:

500 g riso gallo for rice salads (available in Manor)
400 g cherry tomatoes
2 big grilled and skinless red peppers

250 g of high quality tuna in a can
3-4 tbs ofextra vergine olive oil
1 little bag of safran
20 g of Pantelleria cappers in a can

fresh basel and parsley as much as you want

also possible to add pickled gherkin or pearl onion as you feel..

rice to be boiled in salted water , add safran while boiling.

Pour off the rice and let it cool off shortly under cold water, add olive oil and all the rest of the ingredients mentioned above.

Put the rice bowl in the fridge for one hour, add more basel leaves and other kind of herbs before serving!

Enjoy this wonderful summer dish with your friends;-)

my new basilico plant!

I always wanted to have a basilico plant on my terrace, especially now with the summer season it is the best way to decorate your Caprese plates  - tomato, mozzarella, extra vergine olive oil, aceto balsamico and on top of it a couple of basilico leaves!

What a fine fresh taste!

coco avant chanel

I was so positively amazed by this fantastic true story of Gabrile Chanel before she became famous as Coco CHANEL...

Everything starts in the miserable stage of Gabriele's life at the age of 9 when she and her sister were sent to a orphanage and the fascinating way of how Gabriele had to make her way up in life to become what she was. Thanks to her outspokeness, always telling what she thinks!

Audrey Tautou plays a magnificent role in this film, and also the fact that the film is in french with german subtitles makes it even more true and real.

The film is not just a story about Coco's success, it is also about her struggle to fit in a society that differed so much from her own opinions about her losses and heartaches and what mostly amazed me was how this little woman has changed fashion in these days with her individuality and modern anticonformist thoughts in a society where a WOMAN still didn't know that she could wear trousers;-)

Schmale Wurf, Rhein, Basel

if you want to get a nice plate of spaghetti bottarga in basel, you need to go to the Schmale Wurf down at the Rhein!

It is a very busy restaurant so make sure you book your table at least one day before, especially when the weather is nice...and if possible get a table outside with the Rhein view!

Once you get the table, the absolute must is to order a nice plate of pasta...they have a wide choice of different pasta types, I went a bit adventurous this evening and I ordered the "spaghetti alla bottarga" which I never had before!

The bottarga ingredient is found in north africa, greek and provençale food but its most often associate with italian coocking, particulary that from sardinia! 

It is a silver mullet roe which once it is salted, the roe is cured and dried to perfection.

In its block state it doesn't look very appetising, but once grated or sliced (like in the picture above), this curious ingredient reveals a red-gold colour, granular texture and amazing flavour: rich and intesely savoury. 

It is a highly recommended dish to everyone that loves mediterranean flavours;-)

all my secret working tools

to get a deeper insight into my working tools, products and materials I have set up for you a flickr page to look at anytime you run out of ideas!

Enjoy cooking;-)

where is their vote?

download this jpeg on your facebook account if you have one and help our iranian friends!!!

Go on www.facebook.com, register as a new user and use this picture as your profile picture, everyone can help!!!

Domstübli, Arlesheim (BL)

It has been now almost two years since I haven't been to Domstübli in Arlesheim, so last sunday we decided to go there for dinner.

Since we had already eaten quite a bit, we only wanted a pasta dish, so we ordered "trofiette alle vongole" and "risotto agli asparagi"...I enjoyed my trofiette with vongole (clams) a lot, everytime I go there it reminds me of my home region Puglia!

Unfortunately the owner Peppino was not there on sunday, but we still received a nice table outside in the garden and enjoyed the Church bells every quarter of an hour;-)

The only unsatisfactory point was the high bill at the end, we ordered 3 pasta dishes, one mineral water and two proseccos for way too much money!!!

But worth to go again for a good pasta dish from Puglia;-)

Congratulations...

....to D&D on their first month relationship together;-)))

citybeach Messe Basel

it was the perfect temperature and perfect time, right before sunset when we met up with our friends on top of the carparking of the Messe Halle in Basel...the citybeach is a fantastic work!

You  just feel to be far away on a holiday destination and you just have to imagine that there is some beach and you will find yourself in a new dimension;-)

Citybeach offers over 4000 Cubic meter, 1000 tonnes of sand, three bars and three beach volleyball fields, one swimming pool and one whirlpool. Of course this is only possible when the weather is nice and hot...just make sure to go pretty early and reserve your spot otherwise you will just be standing around and watch people;-)

enjoy your holiday destination at citybeach!

Art 40 Basel 2009 / Art Unlimited Preview / Part 1/2

Art 40 Basel 2009 / Art Unlimited Preview / Part 1/2

This year’s Art Unlimited exhibition of the international art fair Art 40 Basel in Basel, Switzerland, marks the tenth edition of Art Basel’s sectorfor large sculptures, and installation and video art. In the first part of our exhibition walkthrough we have a look at works by Elisabetta Benassi, Yoshitomo Nara, Beat Zoderer, Sislej Xhafa, Ayse Erkmen, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Fabrice Gygi, Surdashan Shetty, Farhad Moshiri, Jesús Fafael Soto, Sterling Ruby, Laurence Weiner, Franz Erhard Walter, Steven Shearer, Nedko Solakov, :Mentalklinik, Natsuyuki Nakanishi, Stephan Balkenhol, and Matthew Day Jackson.

SCOPE had troubles to showcase in Basel

"No Scope Here" read the angry protests of disgruntled Swiss residents inscribed on the field where Scope Basel hopes to hold their art fair. Neighbors aren't happy their children won't be able to use the park during the course of the fair, which runs from June 8-14th to coincide with Art Basel. According to local newspaperBasler Zeitung, it appears city law may work in their favor: Not only does the city stipulate the necessity of residential playgrounds, but it has also declined Scope's request for permits because the art fair did not specify what the public space would be used for. Scope has since sued the city, but three weeks out they still have no permission to build their tent. Art shipments are arriving to an empty field.  According to Scope's exhibitor's contract though, the fair is under no obligation to pay any damages incurred through the shipment. Scope Basel could not be reached for comment.

spontaneous lasagne evening

what's better than having your closest friends over at your place for a spontaneous lasagne evening?

my way of preparing lasagne is like this:

 - take a pan and put some OLIVE OIL extra vergine and fry it with one chopped onion

 - take 300 gr minced beef and cook it until it turns brown

 - add one bottle of passata di pomodoro and spice it all with pepper, salt

 - add one chopped carrot to take away the sour flavour of the tomatoes

 - cook it on a medium heat for about 1/2 hour

in the meatime prepare the beschamelle sauce:

 - warm up some milk

  - put some soft butter in a bowl and some flour

 - add the warm milk and whip it on a medium heat until it gets thick enough 

place the lasagne layers in a container

 - buy the hard or soft lasagne sheets ( I personally prefer the soft ones) and place them in a container, if you have the hard sheets you need to break them if they don't fit

- after the first layer, add the tomato beef sauce

- add some pieces of mozzarella or mortadella (whatever you like best)

- fresh grated parmesan cheese

- and cover again with a new layer of lasagne 

- repeat the process until you have three layers

on the top cover it with the beschamelle sauce and grated parmesan cheese

- put it for 1/2 hour in a 200 degrees oven

when finished, take out the lasagne and decorate it with some cherry tomatoes on top and some basilico leaf!

Make sure your guests are hungry;-)

B&B Santo Stefano, Polignano a Mare, Bari

this is a wonderful historical beach place called Polignano a Mare, about 20 minutes away from where I come from.

Two summers ago I have recommended this place and the lovely b&b owned by my friend Rosa to my friends Martin and Monika coming from Switzerland. The B&B is called Santo Stefano!

The speciality of this bed and breakfast is that the hotel is placed in the historical part of the village, in a little street corner that takes you to one of the most breathtaking balcony overlooking the sea, the perferct spot for a romantic kiss à la "gone with the wind", since it is also very windy up there;-)

This is a convenient holiday, the room cost max 90.00 euro in the high season (August) and the many fish restaurants around it make you don't want to leave the place anymore.

What is important though - you need a car, as it is known that public transportations in south of Italy is a mess! 

You can visit many locations around Polignano, like Alberobello with its special stone houses, The caves of Castellana with its impressive stalactites and stalagmites!

Enjoy your holiday - make this year South of Italy your holiday destination!

Melenos Lindos, Rhodes, Greece

Another great holiday experience was the bed and breakfast hotel Melenos in Lindos on the island of Rhodes.

The hotel is placed on a rock overviewing the beautiful  aegean sea and on its back there is one of the most spectacular acropolis, giving you the feeling that Apollo is still there;-)

But what most impressed me was the unique architecture of this place, a mix of Byzantine, Medieval, Arabic and Ottoman influences...

OPA;-)

One and Only Royal Mirage, Dubai

My one and only experience holiday at the Royal Mirage in Dubai in 2004 was so fantastic that I can't forget about it.

After arriving at the airport in Dubai with Emirates, we have been picked up with a black limo to the resort on the jumeirah beach.

We have been welcomed with a gong as soon as we stepped out of the limo, the lobby was huge and plenty of light and flowers. 

After receiving our room with seaview, we went on to the terrace for breakfast...everything was so precise and in detail, the waiters playing lots of attention and indulging us with good food...but the best part was the pool.

As soon as we placed our towels on two lying chairs in front of one of the main pool, the so called "beach boys" walking around in their white polo shirts and bermudas have started to come around every now and then to clean our sunglasses, bring us cold towels to refresh or watermelon with ice...

what an unforgettable holiday!

I can recommend it to everyone who wants to indulge themself for one week of relax, shopping and good food!

One and Only Royal Mirage - the one and only experience!

Susan Boyle loses Britain's Got Talent

After so many years Susan managed at the age of 47 to perform her biggest dream ever singing  - I Dream a Dream  

Unfortunately she did not win last Saturday's competition, but I think she reached her biggest success with herself ever anyway!

Congratulations Susan!

Pantani - the PIRATA!

Marco Pantani was an italian road racing cyclist, widely regarded as being one of the best climbers of all time in professional road bicycle racing. The zenith of his career was winning both the Tour de France and theGiro d'Italia in 1998. The bandana he often wore and his attacking style of riding led to him being dubbed 'Il Pirata' (the pirate) by the adoring fans. However, his career was beset by drug abuse allegations, following his failure of a blood test in the 1999 Giro d'Italia. He died of a cocaine overdose in 2004.

what most impresses me is the power of the press once again and their ability of making someone like Pantani feeling a looser. 

For four years I've been in every court, I just lost my desire to be like all the other sportsmen, but cycling has paid and many youngsters have lost their faith in justice. All my colleagues have been humiliated, with TV cameras hidden in their hotel rooms to try and ruin families. How could you not hurt yourself after that?

AfroPfingsten festival in Winterthur

if you like to spend a different saturday and walk between thousands of different sparkling colours, cultures and spices from africa and arabia, this is the place to go!

Each Pfingsten weekend, Winterthur offers this african cultural festival, called Afro-Pfingsten offering different shows, bazaars, food and products coming from africa an not only!

The contrast of a city like winterthur hoasting so much southerness and colourfullness is quite impressive...but the most amazing thing is how the overcrowded swiss people seem to be interested in exploring new cultures.

Guete Pfingsten!