Nothing can stop Spring from coming. We may be blocked in our homes, going out just to shop for essentials, but life goes on. Italy is just really opening up the vaccinations, there have been so many holdbacks. We are still in red zone until after Easter and then in orange zone until the end…
The Best Gift
Here we are, we made it to the Christmas and then end of the year. I keep saying, I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. But something changed. LIGHT. Perhaps it is because we just passed the winter solstice and have a little more light now daily. Perhaps because at the…
Easter- Home Alone
In Italy, there is a saying. Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi Christmas with your family and Easter with who ever you like. This year that meant spending Easter alone. Lent, the 40 days before Easter, took on a whole new meaning.In Italian Lent is called Quaressima. Originally the Quaratine, was the 40…
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…
Easter | Torta Pasqualina
Ligurian Easter Savory Tart Buona Pasqua, Happy Easter, Passover and April Fool’s Day! This year it seems like we are always having something to celebrate. Spring came in on March 21 and in Florence we celebrate Tuscan New Year’s on March 25th. This year Easter is early. April fool’s day. I am wondering how…
Culinary Inspirations- Always Learning
My cooking in Tuscany is seasonal. Dishes that bring me great joy when they come back into season. The anticipation of a fresh peach or tomato. Often, it is also repetitive cooking regionally. Not being Italian, I don’t feel the obligation to always cook Tuscan, nor Italian. Summer is when I really like to travel…
Certaldo Alto- My Hood
I am a real city girl or so I thought. After 20 years of living in downtown Florence, the noise and air pollution got to me and we moved out to the countryside. We actually bought a tiny 1/2 of a country house to restore. Did I tell you I am NOT FRANCES MAYES? The restoration…
Taste Chianti- New APP
2016 has started off with a bang. Doors closing but new doors opening. I closed my teaching space to concentrate on my weeklong programs and offer “Divine Day Trips” Custom tours of the market, day trips into Chianti or lessons at your villa. I spent the past winter recreating my app, which Sutro had…