When the heat wave's coming, the only thing to do is to sit back, relax and chill on some cool, refreshing beverage.
A good choice could be an intensely aromatic white wine, just as Cantina Rauscedo's Traminer Aromatico Friuli Grave DOC (vintage 2018). And it'd be better paired with an equally powerfully-tasting dish like the one chef Jeffrey She created for it: his recipe is included in the 2020 edition of “Zhong Can Yi Jiu”, the culinary guide from the project “Chinese Cuisines meet Italian Wines”. So here we go with our fourth chapter into our feature story, especially devoted to this extraordinary journey through Asian flavours and Italian wines.

Crab, vinegar caviar and Traminer: a treat for demanding palates
Combining pork lard with crab meat isn't a feat for beginners. The lard's strong taste could overcome the dish as a whole, if not balanced in the right way. But Jeffrey She is a highly experienced and skilled chef who knows his ways, and can master apparently easy techniques which really makes the difference, when coming to an impeccable plating.
His recipe for Rauscedo's Traminer, the Creative Crispy Fried Crab (click here for full ingredients' list and method) include the preparation of decorative caviar drops made with typical Chinese seasonings, like soy sauce and rice vinegar, also adding a classical Italian balsamic vinegar (plus sugar and gelatine slices). It seems like an effortless thing to do if you look up his recipe, but hey... try it at home and you'll tell us!

A very unusual choice for Italian tastes, but very common in China and other parts of Asia, are water chestnuts, chopped and seasoned with fresh ginger and Kangle vinegar and stirred along with the crab meat. Kangle, or black vinegar is also a widely used ingredient in Chinese cuisines and is made with rice, wheat, millet or sorghum.
The Traminer's fruity bouquet really enhance this dish's richness, matching perfectly with the ginger and bringing a dry vibe in contrast with the pork's oily feeling: a flawless, relishing harmony on your tongue.

Jeffrey She, the King of Shangai
He's worked in five-star hotels for ten years and is now Executive Chef at the prestigious Intercontinental Ruijin Shanghai. Jeffrey She was born in Shangai and flaunts a high level carrier. As a kitchen management, food safety and cost control expert, he has been member of the state council for Asia Pacific for Marriott International, Greater China Central and Western Region.

He's been “visiting professor” at Shandong College of Tourism and Hospitality and was involved in the production of over 100 cooking shows.

About the 2020 “Zhong Can Yi Jiu” guide
It's the second edition of the guide, first published last year, which is part of a very interesting, wider project called “Chinese Cuisines meet Italian Wines”.
Promoted by the Italian Wine Bank and produced by The I Factor (organizers of the Italian Cuisine and Wines World Summits and of the Italian Wine List Awards), the program involves 24 talented Chinese chefs from Beijing and Shanghai and is implemented thanks to a collaboration with the Italian Sommelier Association's Club China and the Hong Kong Chinese Culinary Institute.

Photos taken from Zhong Can Yi Jiu website

What a better way to welcome summer, than turning weekends into endless, pleasant walks through the city? “Udine sotto le stelle”, in English “Udine under the stars”, is a joint effort by the Municipality and the city's businesses to help relaunch local activities (mainly shops, bar and restaurants) by making its centre car-free on Friday and Saturday nights, and on Sundays, from June up to the 31st October.
Some streets, including the very central Mercatovecchio but also via Poscolle, Gemona, Aquileia and Largo dei Pecile will be pedestrian areas from 18.30 to 23 on Fridays and Saturdays, and all day long (from 10 a.m. to 23) on Sundays during all 2020 summer and up to October. Streets and squares will fill up with tables and chairs, so that the city centre will become a huge open-air café!

History, architecture and beauty
It could be a good occasion for visitors to wholly enjoy Udine, a small city but full of astonishing buildings which are definitely worth seeing. Starting from Giardin Grande, a big park in Piazza Primo Maggio, one can descend to the old town centre both entering from the ancient city gate Porta Manin, or from the Castle and its paths and reach to one of the most beautiful squares one could ever experience: Piazza della Libertà. A feast for the eye, where the visitor's glance will be wandering eagerly one way or the other, as it's completely surrounded by incredible open galleries, like Loggia del Lionello and Loggia di San Giovanni, and sculptures: Napoleon's Peace Monument, Hercules and Cacus, Justice's statues.

From there, strolling up and down Mercatovecchio street through ancient palaces, the Cathedral or Piazza Matteotti are so close at hand in a few minutes, that it's really hard to believe so much beauty can be found at such a short distance!
And to get oneself into the swing of things, it'll be suitable to download “Udine Vicina” on the smartphone: a free, useful app that will tell you where you are, what to see and a brief story of every monument. But if you'll get tired of walking, though, then you can also hire a bike with UdineBike, the city's bike sharing service.

Having a bite and some good wine
Of course, good food and good wines are also at the visitors' disposal almost at every corner. A lot of typical osterie, but also pubs, bars, cafés and pizzerie are scattered all around the centre.

As to the best local dishes, we can advice some of our articles to select which to try, like the delicious frico or some hot musetto.
Then there are local products like the mavellous San Daniele ham or the Montasio DOP cheese, that are impossible to resist.

If you are more into sandwiches, then here you'll be able to stick your teeth into two of Italy's best “panino” at Mamm: their bread stuffed with finocchiona (a salami variety) and the other one with Parmigiana (a typical aubergine-based Italian dish) made it to the Top 50 outlined by the online guide 50topitaly.it.
About the wines... well, the choice is open and wide! Be it a white Prosecco or a red Refosco, here it will always taste really amazing.

A soft touch of simplicity in the kitchen, combined with elegant intensity in the glass. A triumph of taste is the key to the recipe created by chef Kevin Li and paired with Cantina Rauscedo's Sauvignon Friuli Grave DOC (vintage 2018).
Here's the third chapter of our feature story devoted to the 2020 edition of “Zhong Can Yi Jiu”, the culinary guide from the project “Chinese Cuisines meet Italian Wines” in which Li's recipe is included.

Crab and Sauvignon, culinary elegance at its best
Some of our readers may already know Kevin Li for its Do Ville's recipe and this time, too, he tested his skills with seafood. For Cantina Rauscedo's Sauvignon he realized an exquisite dish: steamed mud crab and Chinese yellow wine. Once again, according to the Huaiyang style, he chose to put freshness and simplicity first, with few but extraordinary ingredients, no spices and a low-temperature cooking method.

When going to the grocery store with the list in your hand, ready to buy everything you need to try it at home, make sure you'll find there the dish's main flavour: Huangjiu, or the renowned Chinese yellow wine.
A legendary drink whose origins could be traced back as long as four thousand years ago, Huangjiu (meaning “yellow wine” in Chinese) is brewed from fermented boiled grains of rice or millet. There are hundreds of variety, depending on the method of production and fermentation. Despite its name, the colour may vary from light yellow to orange or brown and some brands let the bottles ageing up to 20 years.

Chinese people use to serve Huangjiu warm, so it's perfect for cooking: it leaves some sweet traces in the mouth and as the crab meat's sweet too, the pairing with Rauscedo's crisp Sauvignon is just a match made in heaven. Also of a yellow colour, yet Sauvignon brings in different nuances like sage, green pepper and fresh fruits, making it a good counterpoint to chef Li's dish.

A legendary wine: the story of Huangjiu
The Chinese yellow wine could be as old as the hills, according to the many legends surrounding its alleged origin. Its creation is generally credited to Du Kang, the divine patron of winemakers in China.
The most popular tales identify Du Kang with Shao Kang, the son of Xiang and the sixth Emperor of the Xia dynasty (17th– 15th century BCE). One of the many stories about him goes that, after his father was killed in a battle against the Zhou dynasty, he had to flee along with his uncle to escape retaliation. But they got caught by a local landlord who forced them to work in the fields for him: as his uncle fell sick, Du Kang began saving part of his grains' ration, and putting it in a hollow tree. There, he would later find the wheat and millet mix had turned into a scented pulp, from which it dripped a miraculous yellow nectar: by drinking it, Du Kang's uncle recovered from his illness completely. Huangjiu was thus born!

But there are countless version of Huangjiu's origins and, by the way, Du Kang can hardly be dealt with as a real historical character. There are many doubts about his actual personification: some sources identify him with a Han period (206 BCE-220 CE) governor, some others with a granary official of the Yellow Emperor (2.700 BCE). Being a well known character of Chinese mythology, he appears in many popular tales as well as in celebrated poets' rhymes. According to a famous saying, “one bout of Du Kang's fine wine can make you drunk for three years”.
Want to know more? Here's a very interesting reading: “Chinese Wine” by Li Zhengping, Cambridge University Press.

Photos taken from Zhong Can Yi Jiu website and "Chinese Cuisines meet Italian Wines” Facebook page

The state of bathing waters in Italy is simply... excellent. It's what the latest reports say, according both to the data gathered by the EEA (European Environment Agency) and the Italian ISPRA (High Institute for Environmental Protection and Research). And Friuli Venezia Giulia in particular really stands out of the crowd, according to the national reports by ISPRA and by the regional Arpa (Regional Agency for Environmental Protection).

The data were collected for the National System for Environmental Protection (SNPA) during 2016-2019 bathing seasons. The Oriental Alps District, which identifies FVG coastal area, is one of the three best bathing sites in Italy, along with Sardinia and the Central Appennino zone (central Italy): the three of them have top quality, clean crystal waters to dive in! And, what's best, also inland bathing waters (rivers and lakes) in FVG are all ranking as “excellent”.

Overall European coasts boast a vast majority of “excellent” ratings as to water's quality, based on the constant monitorings and on the very strict standards imposed by EU environmental laws. Italy is doing pretty well, as nearly 5.000 out of its 5.539 bathing waters were classified as 90% excellent. A good result, considering it represents the 25% of the whole European bathing zones.

High peaks and deep, blue sea

Though often many think of Friuli as a mountain region, it actually has a 78 kilometres-long, almost nonstop string of beaches facing the northern part of the Adriatic Sea, overlooking the Gulf of Trieste. Some of FVG sea cities have been holiday destinations for, well, centuries and have long been beloved summer spots especially for foreign tourists, mainly coming from Northern Europe. Thus meaning they're fully equipped for tourist accomodation and leisure activities, so that you're not going to bore yourself there even during some random rainy day.

Lignano Sabbiadoro and Grado are among the most renowned seaside resorts, but Trieste and Duino-Aurisina also share likewise beautiful waters. And extremely clean, too: 60 of FVG bathing sites were rated as “excellent” by Arpa FVG, leaving out just a very few of them (only six got merely the “sufficient” or “good” status).
So if you haven't booked anything for the summer yet, this could be a huge hint for a deeply relaxing and playful holiday. Where else could one find fine beaches and also close, breathtaking mountains for a walk? And let's not forget about wines and dines... A good chance indeed to have a great time.

By clicking here you'll find a map of FVG coasts and bathing sites, while here you'll find a map of bathing waters in Europe. And just click for more info on Facebook on Lignano Sabbiadoro and Grado.

Grado's photo by vonlucius, taken from Pixabay