The last quiz asked, how many different coffee creamer lids were produced for Ticino. The complete collection features 30 different motifs and look as follows (thanks to Chantal and Andreas Herzog for making this picture available). Please mail us, if you want to have the picture in its original size (2 Mb).

Correct answers came in from Esther, Armin, Charlie, Eric, Felix, Karo, Peter, Rene and Ruedi - congratulations, you’ve won a bottle of Argentinan Malbec from the Las Marias Estate.

Close enough were Greth, Felici, Fredi, Johnny, Philip and Romeo; they get a glass of house wine or any other bottled local drink/beer of their choice.

The SHTF-answer was well-meant but despite our endeavours; Ticino is not THAT popular  just YET to convince Coffee Creamer producers to print approx. 20′000 different pictoral motifs. Anyhow it qualifies for the loser-of-the-day beer.

All winnings have to be collected by May 31st, 2010, as afterwards we will be on our annual vacation!

….Intelligence is like underwear. It is important that you have it, but not necessary that you show it……

Life is uncertain - eat your dessert first !

Another mind-boggling pictoral evidence on your right reached us from the Middle East where the Spaghetti Polonaise are available at approx. THB 260.

Our Spaghetti cost THB 220, arguably not an “original Polish delight” but a Bolognese Sauce according to La Nonna’s recipe, home made from fresh veggies, minced lean beef, condiments, herbs and spices; then simmered for hours.

And if you show up Wednesday evenings, then you can enjoy our entire Pasta range at 20% discount, i.e. Spaghetti Bolognese is yours for a mere THB 180/plate. This makes a “Western Zhajiang Mian” (Chinese for Spaghetti Bologese) definitely a Polish bargain!

The last quiz question “What kind of Ticino cocktail is a Bianco Sporco” (bianco = white, sporco = spotted; i.e. off-white) proved to be more difficult than expected. René was the only who knew the answer. Mix 30% Campari with 70% Prosecco Sparkling wine (which can be substituted with white wine) on ice results in a refreshing “Bianco Sporco”. Congratulations; the bottle of Malbec is his.

In Switzerland the protection of environment and recycling resulted in having the Swiss collecting (almost) everything, be it glass, paper as well as aluminium and they have a point. If latter also applies to collecting coffee creamer lids I more than doubted though. Well, the industry became more innovative and started to print advertising messages and pictures onto these lids; even Ticino had its own series of coffee creamer lids. The Swiss even founded Clubs, Associations and Collectors Exchanges on the subject of Coffee Creamer Lids (this is no joke!).

Today’s quiz: how many different Ticino pictures were produced? A sample is shown on the left hand side. Every correct answer until April 30th, 2010 wins a bottle of Las Marias Estate’s Malbec.

Ticino started risotto cultivation over 20 years ago; the recipes however reached Ticino much earlier from nearby Italy. Risotto Vialone Nano - used by us - comes from Northern Italy and hence is original.  To the left you see how our risotto grows and to the right the three stages of harvested, milled and polished risotto!

To make this delicacy more popular we are launching the Risotto night; every Sunday evening we knock off 20% on all risotto dishes. You may choose from risotto with saffron, boletus mushrooms, tomatoes or Merlot red wine which comes with a pan-fried thyme-seasoned Chicken breast. For seafood lovers we feature white wine risotto with shrimps or New Zealand mussels. This promotion stands alone, cannot be combined with any other promotion and applies only on bills which are paid in full, either cash or credit card - vouchers are not eligible.

Pizza is - regretfully - not a protected trademark. Hence we came accross the most gruesome interpretations when it came to what some people call Pizza - a particularly challenging example of a kitchen accident is shown to your right and NOT available at Ticino.

To us, pizze are wafer-thin, crispy, made of Italian pizza flour, homemade Sugo (tomato sauce), shredded mozzarella cheese plus the toppings of your liking; a selection of classic combinations or the “Pizza Yourself”; what we offer can be found by clicking PIZZE TICINO. And to your left there is the proof, that it can be done right - the Ticino-style.

To taste THE REAL THING; the Pizza Aficionados will be delighted to learn, that as of April 1st, 2010 (no April Fools’ joke) every Thursday is Pizza night; alle Pizze (including the Alsacian Variation of “Tarte Flambée”) enjoy a 20% discount all night long.

This promotion stands alone, cannot be combined with any other promotion and applies only on bills which are paid in full, either cash or credit card - vouchers are not eligible.

Buon Appetito a tutti!

Well, last year we were asking about the Spaghetti tree in Ticino, which was possibly the biggest TV hoax ever broadcasted by the BBC’s Richard Dimbleby in commemoration of April Fools’ Day 1957. In those days many people knew only “Spaghetti in a can”, fresh homemade pasta with home cooked sauces were not popular yet.

Fact is though, that Spaghetti are still available in cans, as the picture - recently taken in a local supermarket - proves. The taste is …. well, we do not want to know!

If you want to taste THE REAL THING; here’s the news for Pasta Aficionados - as of April 1st, 2010 (no April Fools’ joke) every Wednesday is Pasta night. We knock off 20% on all pasta dishes (including ravioli or lasagne).

Our selection of pasta can be found by clicking PASTA TICINO. This promotion stands alone, cannot be combined with any other promotion and applies only on bills which are paid in full, either cash or credit card - vouchers are not eligible.

Buon Appetito a tutti!

…..manyfold and hence all answers did win a Ravioli Dinner for two:

4 x 1/4 Red Wines stands for:

FOUR different red house wines, i.e. all wines area available by the glass. Hence Ticino is the only restaurant in east Pattaya offering you such a choice of Italian wines. We furthermore promise that you can forget about Aspirin, Paracetamol or any other “morning-after” remedy as we sell exclusively good quality wines.

You are invited to choose from: 
- Negroamaro Salento (2005), dry 
- Branciforti, 100% Nero d’Avola (2007), dry
- Merlot Superiore (very pleasing to the palate) and
- Ticino Rosso (smooth, mellow)  
apart from a Selection of hand-picked red wines in 7 decilitre bottle

1/4 stands also for the availability of all above wines by the glass or then by the caraffe, be it 1/4, 1/2 or  1 litre caraffe. In addition, the Merlot is sold in the Ticino-specific Boccalino and you may take keep the Boccalino to take it home. We thank all those who participated and congratulate them for their imaginative inputs!

Dietrich Friedrich Rennig ROSELIUS was a very heavy coffee drinker and  his two sons Friedrich and Ludwig assumed a possible caffeine poisoning as the cause of his death in 1902. They  are credited with the development of commercial decaffeination and successfull marketing of decaffeinated coffee under the name of Kaffee HAG.  
In France the product was sold under the name of “Sanka” (depriving short version of “sans caféine = without caffeine). Kaffee Hag was confiscated by the Alien Property Custodians after World War 1 and sold to an American Firm, whereby Roselius lost not only his company, but also the American trademark rights to the name. In 1926 he re-established his product by using the Sanka brand in America. Today the brands belong to Kraft Foods.

Roselius’s decaffeination involved steaming coffee beans with a brine (salt water) solution and then using benzene as a solvent to remove the caffeine. Due to health concerns regarding benzene, this process is no longer used commercially and was replaced with more modern technologies no longer using poisonous solvents (like benzene).

Ticino is sofar the only restaurant on the east side of Sukhumvit Road serving, apart from Espresso and other freshly brewed coffees also Decaffeinated Coffee at THB 60/cup. Hence our guests can enjoy the full flavour of excellent coffee without staying awake all night long. Greth Riedo was the first one with the correct answer and wins a pasta delight for two; congratulations.