Summer markets bring us the best of the season. Right now I just can’t get enough of fresh fruits. Starting with the cherries in June. Right now we have several kinds of peaches, plums and apricots. Most of the time, we end a meal with a simple piece of fresh fruit. At home, it’s not…
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…
Panna Cotta – My Favorite Dessert
Panna Cotta or as I refer to it, Jello for grownups, is one of my favorite desserts. Since I was a pastry chef, that is saying a lot. When I go to a old school trattoria , if Latte alla Portughese or Creme Caramel is on the menu, I will order it. These are both…
ExtraDolcemente Pisa
There is a lovely artisanal sweets fair in Pisa yearly. I participated in creating a dessert using olive oil for one of their online events. I created a sweet sformata, a flan sort of a cheesecake, based on a friends savory dish. I have been making olive oil gelato since I first heard about it…
Sweet Tuscany- Frittelle
Tuscany has been dark and grey, wet and windy this past week. The hills are saturated with water, mudslides blocking the roads near where I live, rivers overflowing near Pisa. We did receive a small window of sun and a reason to celebrate. March 17th is St Patrick’s day, but although it is said he…
Comfort me with chocolate
When I was 10 years old, funerals became a huge part of my life. Our family was not large to begin with. My mom had one brother. He was the first to die prematurely, followed by my mom losing a baby at birth. My brother and sister and I were sent to live with other…