Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

It is hard to believe we have been married 23 years, but harder to realize we have been together for 29 years! I met Andrea the year after I arrived in Italy.

Next year, I turn 60 and celebrate 30 years in Italy- half my life.

It has been a wild ride, I have consulted on the opening of a Swedish Bistro in Aosta for friends, connecting them with a chef and artisan food purveyor. I am helping with R&D, research and development, for restaurant chefs, which means traveling around eating and drinking, getting inspiration from the BEST in Italy.

What’s up for 2014?
I have some great custom programs already booked, March in Sicily for the Festa di San Giuseppe and then staying on to start my birthday celebrations with a week in Sicily.
I have 2 weeks in Sicily with a client and her students from her cooking school in USA. Return clients coming for a custom program in Puglia. Slow Food Kansas City is coming back in September and we are exploring Maremma.

Stay tuned for more fun—-

Thanks for following along in this insane wild ride called Life in Italy!!!

Buone Feste!

there is always something to celebrate……

Try adding this lovely light salad to the holiday table.

Sicilian Orange Salad, this version from Mariano in Ortygia, Sicily.

Mariano’s Insalata di Arance with Acqua Pazza

1.Use a potato peeler to peel two large navel oranges,the town of Ribera in Sicily is famous for their Navel Oranges. I prefer the blood oranges, but they turn red after the first cold spell.

2.Roughly cut into big bite-size pieces.

3. Prepare the salad dressing, acqua pazza, in a small bowl or jar. Mix 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil with 1/4 cup of water and salt to taste.( I like to use a jar and shake to emulsify).

4.Pour on the oranges and sprinkle with chili pepper flakes, chopped parsley and thinly sliced green onions, the white part and the green part.

This salad is fabulous served with simply grilled large prawns, if you go to Sicily look for the red prawns from Mazara del Valle.

You can use this as a base, many people make an orange salad with orange and fennel adding toasted almonds, green olives and oregano.