Leopard is here to stay!

Finally it’s here! Today, October 26 at 6 PM the Roma-Est Apple Store has opened its doors and a rush of people, including me, are allowed to finally enter and grab a copy of Leopard Mac OSX 10.5.

In a few seconds the store is crowded and peple are rushing to cash registers. Less than 15 minutes later I’m on my way home with the only intention to install my brand new copy of Mac OSX on my iMac from which I’m actually writing this post after an easy and smooth installation of Leopard.
Now it’s time to enjoy and discover each of the new 300 features available.
So everything is well and I’m ready for a long week-end with Leopard.

Cheers

Special Leopard launch event on October 26

Apple today announced that Mac OS X Leopard will go on sale Friday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m. at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple’s online store is now accepting pre-orders.

According to what an Apple employee has told me this evening, a special Leopard launch event is expected on Friday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m. (no matter the time zone) at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Soon an Apple press release should confirm this news.

Leopard is going to be sold for a suggested retail price of $129 (US)/€129 (euro) for a single user license.

See you at the Roma-Est Apple Store soon!

Open Colonna: menu a la carte

Antonello Colonna has introduced a menu a la carte in his new restaurant OpenColonna. It is an interesting menu with the best of his cusine including a very competitive wine menu with some great bottles at a very decent prices.

Have a try.

But remember that, during working days, at lunch you can always ask for the daily menu at the special price of 15 euro.

Buon Appetito.

Open Colonna, just another try.

Yep, even today I lunched at Antonello Colonna’s new restaurant in Rome named Open Colonna and based within the Palazzo delle Esposizioni.

As mentioned in my previous post the formula is quite amazing: 15 euro for a complete menu including first and second course, dessert, coffee, water and wine.

Actually there’s no menu a la carte: there’s only the menu of the day where you have can choose between 2 available first course, 2 available second course and 2 dessert.
For example today’s menu included: hand made gnocchi with pesto e ricotta cheese or a cereal soup, veal with green peppers or small cuttlefishes, panna cotta or cheese cake.

Ingriediends are fresh and genuine. Eating is a pleasure also for your eyes due to the exciting architectural feature of the building where the restaurant is hosted.

Antonello Colonna is spending most of his time doing PR or chatting and meeting collaborators in order to get things get going: the new adventure is just at the beginning and he has a lot of suprises in his chef hat!

Open Colonna: a new restaurant in Rome

Re-opened this week, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome is back after five years restoration with some interesting exhibitions dedicated to Mark Rothko, Stanley Kubrich and Mario Ceroli.

But my favorite attraction is the new exclusive restaurant named Open Colonna after the acclaimed chef Antonello Colonna who is responsible for giving the restaurant its particular style.
The restaurant is located within the “serra” or conservatory, which is an exciting new architectural feature of the building with striking impact.

Today, at lunch time, I’ve spent an hour with some colleauges trying for the first time the menu.

Well, the menu, in terms of quality and pricing, is really surprising and valuable for Rome, which remains quite an expesive and often dissapointing city for the quality of its lunch consisting typically in pizza, sandwiches and salads: so 15 euro for a first and second course, water, wine, dessert and coffee prepared by a Michelin starred chef is trully a bargain!!!

If you consider that this is the opening week, we can expect that the daily menu in the next days is going to get better and better; so my suggestion is: at lunch or at dinner it really worths a try!

And then don’t forget Rothklo and Kubrick: good food and art are a really great combination!

Monteluce Country-House

Another beautiful place I’ve visited during my last summer vacation is the Valley of Noto and the Vendicari Natural Park.

Now much have been said about Noto and the richness of its barocco; perhaps less has been said about the Vendicari Reserve, a wonderful natural oasis in the Siracusa province, halfway between Noto and Pachino.

Well, I recommend you spending a week at the discovery of the sandy beaches of Calamosche, Vendicari, Eloro, Cittadella; visiting the countryside and the nearby villages as Marzameni, Porto Palo e Pachino. Slideshow

My most valuable appreciation and reccomendation goes to the country-house where me and my wife stayed while we where in that area: the Monteluce Country-House.

By visiting their website you can get a better idea than any word I could spend in their favor.

Monteluce Country House offers guests the opportunity to sojourn in a peaceful villa immersed in an enchanting Mediterranean landscape featuring century old olive groves and citrus trees.

The individually appointed bedrooms and suites of the Monteluce Country House have been designed so as to offer the highest levels of comfort. The suites are veritable mini-apartments complete with kitchen and private terrace or garden.

The owners, a middle age couple, are very kind and affable. This is an experience that I reccomend even during the autunm or even in winter when the temperature is still mild in Sicily and the beauty of the sicilian country-side is at its best.