Why is it that zucchini’s are so prolific? Luckily in Italy, they have more zucchini ideas to use up the gut from the garden. Yesterday’s zucchini from the garden were a mixed batch. Some just blossoms and one lovely HUGE blossom with the tiny zucchini still attached. My first fried zucchini blossom was served like…
More Zucchini Ideas
Worth 1000 Words- Foto Wednesdays
Updates from the Orto
I think EVERYONE in Italy has an “orto“, a small vegetable garden, if not at their home, somewhere. As I take the train from Certaldo into Florence, I see thousands of vegetable gardens all along the tracks, some on real gardens others it looks like on confiscated land. Nothing is more important than food in…
Learning the Moves
Not being born Italian, but rather adopting Italy as my home and being adopted has been a fabulous experience. I was just asked today if I taught my students Americanized Tuscan food.WHAT??? NO WAY—- I want my students to go home and create better Tuscan food than a restaurant, since they are learning to cook…
Sex and Zucchini- a 101 on blossoms
Recently the question of which blossoms to fry for zucchini has come up on twitter and facebook conversations. Few people know that the blossoms without a zucchini are male, those with a zucchini are female. On the left side are girls- with zucchinis attached- and on the right boys- stems only Look inside Girls have…
Summer is Here
To me, the first sign that summer has arrived is a craving for a big dish of Tuscan Panzanella. A celebration of summer made with fresh sweet red onions, ripe tomatoes and cucumbers with crumbled bread and basil. An edible Italian flag, red, white and green. It is seasoned with rich unfiltered Tuscan olive oil, tart…
Day-Tripping: Rome
Rome’s Unknown Soldier’s TombI love day-tripping- although it can be exhausting- when I can, I go. This trip was to visit my friend from Paris, David Lebovitz, who was in Rome doing Gelato tours for Context and a book signing party for the release of his new dessert cookbook. I couldn’t make it down for…