Hotel review - Holliday Inn, Naples, Italy

First of all, this hotel is more like a 2 star instead of 4.

Typical hotel for the tourist loaded buses.

As in the majority of places in Campania, they ask for your car key if you want to leave the car in their parking.

We found another guarded parking just down the road (200-300 m away from the hotel), named  "Sergio", where they do not insist on getting your car key.

Honey mustard chicken with rice - recipe (including photos)

Ingredients:

• 500 grams of chicken
• 200 grams of rice
• 4 spoons with honey
• 4 spoons with traditional mustard ("a l'ancienne")
• 1 onion
• 1 bell pepper
• a bit of olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• thyme
• laurel leaves

Boil the chicken for 10 - 20 minutes.

Mix the mustard with the honey and through in the chicken. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

Put the chicken in a tray and cook it in the oven at medium fire for 40 minutes or until the meat is tender.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil add the chopped onion and let it cook for a few minutes.

Add the rice and let it cook for a few minutes. Add the water in which you boiled the chicken and let it cook for 10 more minutes.

Add the chopped bell pepper, thyme, the laurel, the pepper and the salt and let it cook for another 5-10 minutes at moderate fire.

 Enjoy!

The original recipe can be found here

Trip to Naples, Italy - part 1

We were advised that we should really visit Napoli, because it is very pitoresque.

It's not - it does not stand out with anything from any coastal town. Moreover, it is quite dirty and streets seemed full of shady people.

 

Hotel review - Mercure Hotel Villa Romanazzi Carducci Bari, Italy

Nice room, although a little soulless, good breakfast and free parking places..

All the rooms are smoking, but we received a newly renovated one, so there was no smell of tobacco.

Good breakfast (hot items to order included in the price), free parking places and free internet access.

You will not stay in the villa they led you to believe on their website, but in a standard hotel building.  

Two cookies in Naples, Italy - Antico Forno delle Sfogliatelle Calde Fratelli Attanasio, Napoli , Italy

Good and fresh, probably the best you can eat in Naples.

Located just off Piazza Garibaldi, near the central train station.

Eating out - Mimì alla ferrovia, Naples, Italy

The best ... tourist trap.

The worse part is that the restaurant has been recommended by some locals.

At the end you will have to pay for sitting at the table and for the fact that the guy brings you the plate.

The food...nothing out of the extraordinary, except the price. Don't order any kind of pasta whatsoever - it's a disgrace.

Don´t go there, it´s not worth it!!!!

Apricot almond tart - recipe (including photos)

Ingredients for 6 - 8 persons:

• 200-250 grams of apricots
• 160 grams of wheat flour
• 150 grams of butter
• 150 grams of sugar
• 110 grams of fresh cream
• 30 grams of almonds 
• 5 eggs
• 1 vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• a bit of salt

 Preheat the oven at 180 Celsius degrees.

Mix the eggs with the sugar, the vanilla sugar, the melted butter, the salt and the fresh cream.

Add the flour previously mixed with the baking powder and mix well.

In a baking tray pour half of the composition, then add the apricots and then add the remaining composition on top.

On top spread the almonds.

Put it in the preheated oven at 180 Celsius degrees for 30 minutes or until ready.

Enjoy!

The original recipe can be found here

Hotel review - Holiday Inn Express Bologna, Italy

It was a pleasant surprise.

The room was spacious and the bed was comfortable. Good breakfast (including hot items).

Free parking places and close to a shopping center.