The Cholesterol Rowing Regatta & Sardines with Onions

Glorious springtime Italian Style, has finally arrived in Venice, just in time for the first social regatta of the year.

La Regata Del Colestorolo (The Cholesterol Rowing Regatta) is held at the rowing club Canottieri Giudecca, on the island of Giudecca, and is the crazy invention of our friend Claudio who's nicknamed “Puffo” (which means smurf in Italian). It is a sporting event with a twist, as the diminutive and very wicked Puffo has decided not only should we engage in the customary eating and drinking AFTER the race has finished, but there should be a delightfully rich lunch, immediately BEFORE the race starts!!

the end of the razor clams

Knowing this, I have prepared the classic Venetian boatman's dishes of Sarde in Saor and Scampi in Saor (Sardines with Onions & Scampi with Onions) for appetizers. Our friend Massimo (the self proclaimed king of the barbeque) downs a glass of wine after putting the finishing touches to some freshly caught grilled cape lunghe (razor clams), served with lemon wedges. Also on offer, are pizzetta, omelette, a pasta dish, barbecued meats, free flowing wine (obligatory), followed by coffee and fiery home made grappa. Being the Cholesterol Rowing Regatta, fatty, artery blocking sausage and salame are used as liberally as possible, even the salad had chopped up grilled sausage in it!

carb loading before the event!

one for the road...

The last grappa is downed, 10 wooden rowing boats are lowered softly into the sea, followed by 20 overstuffed, oar wielding, athletes of all ages and both sexes. After three false starts, because Massimo, usually a very skilled gondolier, and rowing instructor, is not able to get his boat pointing in the right direction, the race commences. 

Almost immediately, the first collisions happen, threats and much swearing would be the norm if this was a real regatta, but in todays event, it's just smiles and jokes about the strength of the grappa. Eventually, the stretched bellied boatmen reach the half way stage, Dino with his partner Luca, take advantage of an entangled group of boats in front of them, and move from sixth place to fourth, and stay that way until they come puffing past the finish line. In Venetian rowing races, tradition dictates that only the first four positions are awarded prizes, so by coming in fourth, my weary limbed husband and his  partner  have won themselves a blue flag for their twenty-odd minutes of punishing paddling. The not so sweaty but definitely  thirsty, Massimo and his partner finally come in last, he's been telling jokes, and singing opera for the entire duration of the race, and claims victory, saying, in this type of regatta, last place is actually first. 

massimo heads for the bar

Go to the Sardines with Onion recipe

The Launching of the "Angelina" & Bean and Pasta Soup

Today was a very special milestone in the career of my paddling husband, it was the day of the launching of his brand new gondola. Tradition dictates, that a new boat takes on a female name, and with no pressure at all from me, he's called her the "ANGELINA". 

Usually the name is engraved on stainless steel bands at the front of the Gondola, which are screwed in, and therefore can be just as easily unscrewed, if a name change is required. Not my Dino! He's had my name brazenly carved into a wooden section at the stern, like a sailors tattoo, never to be removed, now my friends... THAT'S AMORE. 

never to be removed

It took place at the squero (boatyard) of Roberto Dei Rossi, one of only 4 remaining master boat builders left in Venice. He has been building these flat bottomed time machines for over 40 years. Roberto needed roughly 500 hours to cut, fit and assemble all the 280 pieces it takes to construct this wooden venetian jigsaw puzzle, making what is, one of the oldest surviving forms of transport in the world. 

Dino christens the "Angelina"

As I tried to keep everybody's glass full, people would congratulate me (for what? I didn't do anything) I received kisses on both cheeks from relatives and friends. A group of salty old gondoliers said the "Angelina" was a real beauty. "You talking about the boat, or the lady?" I  responded, like some sort of Venetian Mae West. 

Paolo test drives the "Angelina"

The priest anointed her with holy water, then Dino christened the new-born boat with a foamy whack of a Prosecco bottle especially made by a friend, for the occasion. The "Angelina" was lowered into the sea for the first time, and glasses were raised to her health. Every social gathering in Italy is always accompanied by food and drink, and today's celebration was no different.

All the usual suspects were on offer, various panini, pizzette, pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans), hot musetto (sausage) with mustard, home-made cakes and venetian biscuits served with plenty of wine for the grown-ups (there's no driving in Venice) and water for the kids. 

Go to the  Bean and Pasta Soup Recipe