We were hit with more rain and cold weather again! BASTA! Finally Summer has arrived. It felt like we were going to have a long wet summer with all the rain we have had. The cold which hit earlier in the year but so much agriculture at risk. I will be walking down the hill…
Finally Sunshine!
The constant rain was a little too much. It did turn the hills a beautiful green. The seasons are changing now in the markets and just in time. Now red is coming into season! My favorite time of year, both food and drinks! We see the poppies in the wheat fields in the hills as…
Corona Kitchen – Liberation
Monday May 18th, Italy moved on to the next stage in the Pandemia. We are allowed to leave our homes without a permission slip (papers we had to fill out and keep with us). We can also leave our towns and go to nearby towns in the region. In my village, our weekly market opened…
Frangipane for the Befana
After all the food orgies for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve if you can make it to January 6th, the sort of official end of the holiday feasting, you win! I am celebrating with an Italian-French Frangipane cake. The Epiphany is the religious holiday, celebrating the arrival of the three Magi with…
Eat Your Wine- Mangia Bevi
September is Wine month. There have been festivals all month long. I don’t go to them all, but have been to them all. The harvest is starting, first the white wine grapes for white wine. They also harvest the grapes to be hung and dried to make the dessert wine Vin Santo. Then the red…
Festival Foods: Catania- Sant’Agata February 5
I love festivals. Italy really knows how to party. Huge parades, lots of lights, often fireworks and costumes, but mostly FOOD. I was in Catania February 5th, Saint Agatha’s day. She is the patron saint of Catania. It was HUGE. They celebrate for three days. It coincides with the Candelora, which is the festival of…
Castagnaccio- Chestnut Love
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, brisk chilly mornings. Markets full with kale, cabbage and artichokes. Fall brings so much to the Italian table. It was unusually warm for a long time, then it exploded.We finally got fall here in Tuscany. Italy was hit with huge storms and flooding both in the north and the…
Taste Chianti | Gelateria Dondoli – San Gimignano
I moved out to Certaldo around 2002 and am only 14km from San Gimignano. We don’t tend to go very often as it is such a popular tourist destination. But I know how to time visits and often can arrive at my favorite gelato place and not find a line, which is rare. The man…