There is nothing I love more than a market day! I live in Certaldo where we have the large market on Wednesday and a small market just a few food trucks, on Saturday. Where I teach, in Colle Val D’Elsa, the huge market day is on Friday. That pretty much covers it for me. With…
Wednesday Market in Certaldo
Tomatoes “Tonnati”
The horrible heat wave and drought we have been having has finally been broken but a couple of days of rain. Not really enough, but enough to drop the temps down to something more livable. As we feel summer slipping away, I am enjoying the last tomatoes. These huge tomatoes are more like a steak,…
Wordless Wednesday
Welcome to our Keeping Kitchen
Spring is arriving slowly here in Tuscany, the hills are turning a patchwork of velvety green with rolling hills of wheat and dotted with yellow colza plants. The vines are budding and trees are filling out with leaves. It is my favorite season,but also because our little vegetable gardens are coming to life. My friend Kate…
Cookies for Lent
Don’t ask me how cookies can be for Lent, but takes an Italian cook to create something sweet, even when one is supposed to be giving things up. The story goes that these dry cookies were supposed to help you while fasting during lent. Carnevale– is taken from levare carne– or to take away meat….
Salt- Cured Olives
The olive harvest began a little early this year, at the end of October, many people wait till November 3- something about numbers. When the olives are harvested for oil, some of them are still green, giving the oil here a peppery flavor. As we get farther into the season the olives ripen to black…