I have always adored traveling in September. In Tuscany it is when all my favorite food festivals begin, which is why I love week-long programs starting now all through November. This week we started with our first dinner at the Porcini Mushroom dinner run by the city swim team as a fund-raiser, not bad, why…
Pleasures of the Season
When you live in Tuscany- there are many reasons to be grateful- today we went to an old favorite a tiny trattoria in a tiny village on a crest near our home. When the owner came to take our order, she was thrilled to tell us that the first white truffles of the season were…
First Signs of Fall
The vedemmia, harvest, of the wine grapes is sign that summer is over and fall is on it’s way. This year the harvest is a little late this year as summer was not that hot here. Work has been done in the vineyards, smaller bunches of grapes cut off and thrown away to allow the…
Summer Gold
field corn We have been rather blessed this year with a mild summer, except for an unbearable bit in July. The hills and fields stayed green for quite a long time, and no horrible fires which usually cause extreme damages. The lack of heat has caused the grape harvest to be put off until later…
SummerFood Fest -Tomatoes the Italian Way
When one thinks of Italian food, usually it evokes a image of food floating in tomato sauce, huge bowls of spaghetti and meatballs, sauce everywhere! Pots of sauce cooking for hours over low heat, bubbling away like molten lava. There is even a word for it in Italian ” pippare”, that slow, low heat cooking…
Italian Amaretti Apricots- Summer Food Fest- Stone Fruits
As peaches, plums and apricots hit the markets; both my husband and I risk stomach aches daily from eating too much fruit. But how can one resist when buying right from the farmers, still warm from the tree. With a simple white peach, pureed and served with Prosecco, Italy celebrates summer with the Bellini cocktail-…
Orto Updates– from my garden
Everywhere you go, Italians have snuck in a garden. I see them all along the train tracks as I go to Florence. If you have a home in town, you also have a piece of land where you cultivate your orto, fruit and vegetable garden. I sneek peaks into every tiny garden I see, how…
Summer Food Fest- HERBS
This week’s Summer Food Fest is Herbs, Beans and Greens. Right now my garden is slowing down, zucchini have pretty much stopped. The eggplant is still producing and am waiting for my watermelon to ripen. But like any good Italian, my herb garden is flourishing. I adore herbs and have the traditional: rosemary, sage, basil,…