Are you burning out on what to fix ? Here in Italy, many of us are still out of work and at home cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner. Both my husband and I have been vaccinated now, He gets his second pfzier next week. But work won’t start for me until Italy opens up to…
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…
Leo’s Artichokes
I adore shopping at Leo Piazzesi’s stand in the Mercato Centrale. He carries only a few products, all displayed as if at Tiffany’s, each tomato shining, melons cut open for tasting, their profume calling out “Assaggiami…taste me” and the season’s best. Right now, I go to Leo for carciofi, artichokes, layed out like rare flowers on…
Charcutepalooza- First project- Duck Prosciutto- DONE
I came home from my pizza workshop in Rome with Gabriele Bonci and the first thing I did was to check the duck breasts!!! They have been hanging under the attic and were not ready when I left. They were PERFECT. I adore learning new tricks and the challenges from the Charcutepalozza will be a …
My First Saffron Harvest-2010
This August I did a cooking class for an Italian friend at her fabulous villa in Chianti and one of the guests at the class brought a lovely hostess gift for both of us; 20 saffron bulbs. He gave me instructions for planting…. and I was so excited to see my bulbs sprout and flower….
Nocino- Nocillo
A local liquor, made both in Tuscany, Emilia Romagna and in Campagna with unripe walnuts, picked on June 24th,St John the Baptist’s day. He is the patron Saint of Florence and during the old pagan calender June 24th was the summer soltice! The walnuts are picked before they form the shell on the inside so…