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Bolzano - Italy WorldCup Victory!

I found it! Here's a video of the festivities at Bolzano when Italy beat France! I was in Bolzano when Italy won, and it was AMAZING!!! Watch the video and enjoy! I want to go back! Forza Italia!

Recipe: Grilled Purple Carrots

When most people think carrots, they think orange. However, there are many different colors... orange, yellow, red, purple, and white. If you want to impress friends and family at the next bbq, pick some up. The purple ones are shown below... purple on the outside, orange on the inside.

Grilling vegetables is easy, fast and very healthy. When you grill a vegetable on the bbq, the juices are kept in the vegetable, so the flavor intensifies. It's extremely easy to do, and you can basically use any vegetable you like. Some great choices that I've used are broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, peppers, fennel, and carrots. Anyway, since I started talking about purple carrots, I'll give you the recipe on how to grill them, but keep in mind that you can use any of the vegetables that I mentioned.

1) Wash the carrots.

2) Cut the carrots in strips, not rounds.

3) Lightly coat with olive oil.

4) Put the carrots on grill.

5) When grill lines lightly appear on one side, flip to the other side.

6) When carrots are all grilled, you can serve as they are, or season with salt and oregano.

7) You can serve the carrots warm or cold, whatever you like.

Enjoy the recipe and try it out with any vegetable that I mentioned.

Montreal Restaurant Review: Roberto's

Roberto's is a nice place to have a gelato, a coffee, or something to eat. It serves authentic Italian cusine with flavors from the old paese.

Roberto's is divided into three parts. The first part is a small store where you can buy Italian products, from cheese and prosciutto, to cookies. The second part is the cafe/gelateria. The gelato is great. Gelato is not ice cream, it is made differently, and I find better. The flavors are really good. You have a lot of choices: tiramisu, cherry, pistachio, zuppa inglese, melon, nocciola, coffee, orange/peace, mint, baci chocolate, and much more. What's nice is that you can order the copetta (a cup), where you can mix up to 3 flavors, which is a great way to try different gelati.

The third part of Roberto's is the restaurant which is on the second floor. I have tried the food before, and it is very good. What's nice is that after you've eaten, you can always grab a nice gelato for dessert.

This is a great place to have really good gelato. On nice nights, you sit on the sort-of-terrasse, which is nice. Go try it, you'll want to go back.

Roberto's is located on 2227 Belanger, in Montreal. Their phone number is 514-374-5653.

June Flowers

Nature at its best...

Montreal Restaurant Review: L'academie

L'academie is an Italian-French fusion restaurant. This restaurant is one of my favorites and I've never been disapointed. It's a great place to eat out at, and I'll tell you why.

The restaurant itself is very nice. I've been to the one in Anjou many times and once to the one in Laval. There is also one on St-Denis. They all have two floors and offer very comfortable seating arrangements.

Now let's talk about the antipasti. I've had salad, escargots a l'ail, and coquille St-Jacques. The salad was very good. Escargots were tasty and I'd recommend them. However, the coquille St-Jacques is simply the best antipasto they have. It's delicious. This is a must have and you should really try it, I quarauntee you'll love it. It's also quite filling, so you might want to choose a lighter primo piato.

The primi piati are amazing and served in big portions. I've had moules et frites (twice), gnocchi con gorganzola, vitello a pepe rosso, and the salmon with basilica sause. I recommend all of these dishes. The gnocchi con gorganzola are really good, but a little heavy. This is a northern Italian dish (northern dishes aren't as well known as their southern counterparts but always just as amazing). However, its really good, and I challenge you to finish the entire plate (I couldn't!). The vitello a pepe rosso was very good. The vitello is served with a red peppercorn cream sauce with some linguini and vegetables. Very good. They have 10 different types of vitello dishes so you really have options. The salmon with basilica sauce was very good. its served with some vegetables. The fish surprisingly goes really well with the basilica. Now for my favorite... moules et frites. There are around 10 different types of dishes for moules et frites. I've tried three and loved it every time. The first time I had the mussles with lobster sauce, the second time the sauce was cognac with green peppercorn, and the third time with leeks. You really get a lot of mussles and fries. And what's good is that the mussle sauce is so good, you can dip the fries in them. I absolutely recommend the moules et frites, you'll love it.

Another very important feature of the restaurant is that it's a bring-your-own-wine place. This is always an extra and makes the lunch or supper even better.

One little beef I have with the restaurant is its popularity. At supper time, there are line ups to get it. If you are over 4 people, it can be difficult to get a table without waiting a little bit. I've waited up to 45 minutes to be seated. It can also get a little loud during these times. However, after you've eaten, you tend to forget about this.

L'academie is one of my favorite places to eat out. You can bring your own wine, the food is great, and it has a nice ambiance. If you haven't been, go!

The L'academie in Anjou is located at 7275 Boul. des Galleries d'Anjou. The phone number is 514-798-8222.

Montreal Restaurant Review: Adega

Adega is a Potruguese restaurant. The restaurant specializes in authentic grilled Portuguese dishes, which are superb. Note... because I don't speak Portuguese, I will give Italian words to the dishes to make it sound nicer than the English translation (which I will also give you). :p

As an entree, I had sardine grigliate (grilled sardine). These sardines are definitely not the same kind that come out of the can. They are quite bigger and more importantly, quite tastier. The entree was quite generous, with three fish. The fish tasted very similar to acciuge portoguesi (Portuguese anchiovies), that I've had once. Anyway, besides the spine (little bones that all small fish have), the fish was very good and I highly recommend it. The plate is also nicely presented with cubed yellow and red pepper.

Other entrees that friends had were calamari grigliati (grilled calamari). I never had grilled calamari before, only fried, but they were very good. Interesting, but definitely worth it. There are many other entrees, but let's move on to the main courses...

My main course was salmoni grigliati (grilled salmon). I've had salmon many many times before, and I consider myself a quasi-expert with fish... and I must say that it was really good. The salmon was perfectly cooked... nice and moist on the inside and grilled on the outside. It was also served with rapini, mushrooms, salad and fries. All I can say is that this dish was perfect.

Other main courses were the bacala (cod), mixed meats, chicken, steak, calamari, sardines, veal, etc. The nice thing about this restaurant is that some of the main dishes are blown up entrees, like with the calamari and sardines. Everything got good reviews and looked really good. I'll give a special mention to the mixed meat plate. You get Portuguese sausage, quail, chicken, steak, and I think another meat... all grilled to perfection. Definitely a must-have, and I will order it next time I go.

Adega is a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, which claimes to seat 30 people, but I think less. However, it's a cozy atmosphere and great place for a get-together with friends or as a couple. Simply, the food is great and you will definitely enjoy your meal.

Adega is located at 3124 Beaubien Est corner 9th Avenue in Montreal. The phone number is 514-725-6285.