Babyccino Milan » For Ourselves

Orangorilla

admin — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:36:51 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I discovered the cutest little shop here in Milan. Orangorilla is owned by Marta who will welcome you with a gentle smile and guide you through all the nice things she has in her shop.
Orangorilla sells a variety of products ranging from children’s clothes and shoes, to handmade jewellery, plates and frames. Everything is chosen by Marta either because it’s useful or because it looks good.
My favourite pieces were part of the collection from the the shop’s original brands Orangorilla and Tototti (the nickname of Marta’s 3-year-old daughter). They are mainly simple and classic designs made with Liberty prints (and not the most obvious ones) together with cotton and linen. The quality and the care in the making are great, and on top of it all the pieces are nearly unique as she makes just one per size in all her styles. The Orangorilla brand also offers stylish polo-shirts for little boys, in nice colours or stripes.
She also sells a few other brands like Eddie Pen and the Portuguese Laranijnha, and she stocks very cute and inexpensive canvas sneakers which will be perfect for summer.
The shop is located in the very trendy area of Corso Sempione, near the Sempione Park and close to some cool aperitivo spots (and is facing my very favourite sushi place in Milan). Definitely worth a visit!

-Michela

Panpepato

admin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:39:37 +0000

Panpepato is a lovely little shop that faces Parco Solari, a small but very child-friendly park in Milan. This tiny space overflows with trendy clothes, cool jewelery, scarves, hats, bags — anything but shoes! It is the creation of Martina and Giulia who, after a degree and a few years behind a desk, decided to make their lifetime dream come true and open a shop. This shop is not ordinary in that it sells the products of over 50 artisans, making everything you buy original and often unique. They also stock clothes from small young producers like skunkfunk and Lo Spaventapasseri.
Next to the women’s collection of clothes and accessories they also sell baby and children’s clothes. They are all handmade by Monica and Roberta (both WAHMs) in a simple timeless style with nice colourful fabrics and often decorated with big matching fabric-covered buttons. They do not normally have a huge selection in stock, but if you see a style you like you can pick the size and the fabric and they will have it done for you at no extra cost.
The shop is not easy to spot, so look out for a pink wooden bench — it’s their sitting room and on sunny days many friends and locals alike stop by for chat. There is a good chance you’ll find me there with one or two of my children. Why? Because Martina is my sister!

-Michela

Marinella

admin — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:36:06 +0000

Ties made by E.Marinella must be the most famous Italian ties. This family boutique opened in Naples in 1914 by Eugenio Marinella and it has been in the same family ever since. This family, now for nearly a century, has been the synonym of elegance and style first in Naples and now all over the world. The first historical shop in Naples is on one of the best sea promenades you can find, the second one is in Milan. You can now find a selection of Marinella ties in some of the boutiques of luxury hotels, but nothing beats the atmosphere of their flagship stores.
The shop in Milan is in a very old and elegant building, the décor of the place is antique and classic yet airy and not stuffy at all! You will find many tables covered in big wooden boxes full of ties, all of them quite classic, but never boring and you can always find ties in the season’s fashion colours. Very smart looking shop assistants will help you pick the right one, so do not be put off by the reputation.
My husband thinks they are superior in the quality of the silk, the cut, the make and also the prints — although I must say that the prints he picks look all very similar to me.
Even if you do not trust my husband you should definitely trust the endless list of famous people who have chosen Marinella over the decades — including all American presidents since Kennedy!
They must be really excellent if even my very sober father bought two of them in the last 4 years, one to wear at my wedding and one at my sister’s.
Just one suggestion, try to avoid the week before Christmas if you can — it’s just mad!

-Michela

Panettone, not just for Christmas!

admin — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 22:28:06 +0000

Although it is now the symbol of Christmas lunch and dinners all over Italy, Panettone is the ultimate Milanese Christmas dessert. Its origin is the subject of many legends, but what is certain is that it dates back to the XV century. It is shaped like a cylinder with a rounded top, it can be high (30cm) or low (15cm), and in its original recipe the dough contains eggs, butter, raisins and candied oranges. These days you can find it without candied fruit or raisins, or with chocolate chips and custard cream. But, as any true panettone lover would say, those may taste good…but they are not the real thing!
Italians normally have it at the end of a special meal (lunch or dinner) together with coffee or a sweet wine. When one feels really indulgent you can have some fresh mascarpone cream on the side.
Panettone should not be heated before serving, but does, especially in the winter, benefit from a few minutes in a warm place, like in front of an open oven or on top of a radiator. Left-over panettone makes for a very delicious breakfast. You can find loads of industrially produced ones, and some of them are quite good but nothing beats the panettone which comes from one of the traditional patisseries in Milan.
My all-time favourite is from Marchesi, a patisserie that has been around since 1824 and whose atmosphere still has the power to bring you back in time, to the beginning of the last century. Right before Christmas, as soon as you enter their shop, you will immediately notice the table with the big pile of panettoni wrapped in white with a red ribbon. If you stay in the shop for a few minutes you’ll see this pile disappear quickly, as many people enter the shop just once a year and for the sole purpose of buying their lovely 1kg panettone.
Luckily now panettone is produced almost all year round, with the exception of the very warm months of July and August. So any time you are in town you can pick one up to take home!

-Michela

Park and aperitivo

admin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:23:45 +0000

Milan is not a city full of spaces for great outdoor activities; people just make the best of what is available! The biggest park in the center of town is Parco Sempione, bordered by the Sforzesco Castle, the Triennale, the Arco della Pace and the Aquarium. It’s no wonder it has been central to Milanese leisure time activities since its creation in 1888.
So even if it’s not comparable to the beautiful (and unique) London parks, it constitutes a very good and effective outlet for kid’s energy. They can run, ride bicycles and play football, and on the side nearer Arco della Pace there is a nice playground with big climbing structures that will appeal even to the most experienced kid. Nearby there are kids’ electrical motorbikes and cars — the dream of every preschooler, and a cute (and old) electrical train that will be the joy of the younger ones.
If you go in the afternoon then, when everybody is in need of a break, you can indulge in what Milanese excel at: aperitivo! The park is in fact surrounded by very cool and stylish bars that around 6pm get ready for the big “happy hour” crowd. Happy hour in Milan does not mean cheaper drinks; it means free food!
Arriving early, and having booked a table, means you can enjoy a drink even with children in tow. The counters are normally covered in trays of food, maybe not Michelin-starred, but of the type children love. There will be carrot and celery sticks, pizza and focaccia squares, little bruschettas, chunks of salami and mortadella, tofu cubes, a warm pasta, little sausages, meatballs, cheese cubes, sometimes fruit and, if you are lucky, raw fish… and all of this is on free buffet. These places become busy once office people set free, which is normally around 8pm, so you will have plenty of time to enjoy the chilled-out atmosphere before calling it a day and taking your kids home!
There are a few nice bars around the Arco della Pace and my favourite place is Living, just on the right of the arc, especially in the summer when they have nice tables on the pavement with great views of the park trees just in front of you.

-Michela

Handbags’ paradise

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:54:27 +0000

I recently took a stroll in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the only covered gallery in Milan that connects the Duomo Square to the La Scala Square. It was built in the second half of the nineteenth century and traditionally it was considered Milan’s ‘good sitting room’. It used to be lined with luxury boutiques and nice cafés, and they all had black signs with gold writing. Then in the 1980s the quality of the shops fell and the Galleria wasn’t a shopping destination anymore. The central octagon still hosts a MacDonalds (with a very sober black sign!), but now the wind has changed and in the space of 50 meters, under the same glass volts, you can find Tod’s, Prada, Gucci and Luis Vuitton. So if you need a handbag you know where to go!
Prada has been there for ages, Tod’s and Gucci for a few years and Luis Vuitton has opened quite recently. The Gucci store sells only accessories but they also have a small café with a terrace in the gallery where pastries and pralines come engraved with the double G!
Another pleasant addition is the reopened Savini restaurant. It is probably the most famous of the traditional restaurants in Milan and it was closed for over a year for refurbishment. The ground floor is now a regular café with a bistro, and if you have your cappuccino at the counter it will not even cost you much!

-Michela

Ice cream season is now open

admin — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:22:40 +0000

Spring is here! Days are longer and warmer… which means more ice cream to me.
I’m very lucky to live a short walk from one of the best ice cream makers in the world. I’m talking about Grom.
Grom is a pretty young company, started by two thirty-somethings living in Piedmont and already active on the wine scene. They noticed that there was a gap in the market — nobody applied to ice cream making the same attitude that top restaurants have with cooking: buy the best and freshest ingredients. So they started their business venture and it’s going very well. They make a delicious and extremely balanced ice cream using high quality ingredients: Guatemalan coffee, Venezuelan cocoa beans, vanilla from Madagascar, Syrian pistachios, lemons from Amalfi, hazelnuts from Piedmont… They make sorbets using just mineral water and ice cream with fresh high quality milk. Each month you can choose from about 20 flavours: some classics, a flavour of the month and a few seasonal fruit sorbets.
I just love it; it tastes like nothing I have ever tried before. Not too sweet, not too intense, quite genuine I must say. One would think it’s ice cream like it used to be made, except nobody has ever put so much care and attention toward delivering a consistently good ice cream like they do. They even bought an organic farm to produce the best fruit to use in their sorbets.
There are a few shops in northern and central Italy, but they also have one on the upper west side in Manhattan.

-Michela

Vai A. da Giussano 1 (metro Conciliazione) Tue-Sat 12pm-11pm, Sun 11am-12am.
Via Santa Margherita 16 (metro Duomo, Cordusio) Mon-Sun 11am-12am.

Is there light (Starbucks) at the end of the tunnel?

admin — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 12:56:48 +0000

Italians invented espresso and cappuccino. Fantastic! Humanity will be grateful forever. Then we stopped there.
Why is it that every other country capitalized on our inventions, and now have more choices when getting a hot drink than the average Italian could ever dream of?

Our range is limited to espresso, espresso macchiato, cappuccino and caffelatte. No choice regarding the size, the type of milk or even the container.
I could possibly agree that what we have is the best, but I’m sure that there is space for some product proliferation (I’m a microeconomist after all, I know these things). More choice could not hurt the average Italian bar customer.
Starbucks is now present in so many countries (even Romania) but does not dare to enter the Italian market, fearing rejection from the espresso-purists. In the last couple of years Lino’s Coffee , a chain that offers a large variety of coffee drinks (using flavours even!), has started opening cafés in many Italian cities.
Who knows, if they are successful then maybe Starbucks could be convinced to step in as well?!

The day may not be too far away when, stepping out pushing the Bugaboo, I will find my fix of tall-skinny-hazelnut-wet-latte with just two pumps of syrup right around the corner!

-Michela