I started baking for the holidays, hoping to participate with my friend Cata on a blogging event, but life got in the way and I couldn’t arrange for us to actually meet to hand-over some gingerbread dough for the blog event, aggiunge un Blogger a Tavola, so decided to just post the recipes I try…
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….
Sicily Sinking In
After I get back from a trip, I need some down-time for things to sink in. Sicily is overwhelming.It is a melting pot of cultures, due the the invaders which came and went, leaving traces in the cuisine as well as in the art and architecture. We saw Greek ruins and learned to make cous…
Sicily – It’s the People
When I offer culinary weeks besides the food, it is the people we meet that really make the trip. When you go home, having made new friends is a gift that never ends, the memories of time spent together, sharing a new place. This week in Sicily we are very lucky, we have made new…
Celebrating Oil- Simply
There is something about new oil– everyone wants to share theirs and compare. I just went and bought my first new oil and have been served the new oil already in three restaurants as Fettunta- Tuscany’s olive oil drenched bread. Toasted bread, rubbed with garlic while still hot, then given a generous drizzle of the…
It’s All About the OIL-
Living in the middle of olive orchards and next to a frantoio ( olive oil mill) there is nothing like the anticipation of new oil. I was thrilled to be invited to an evening with the Maestro dell’Olio Fausto Borella, offered by Voiello pasta. Fausto opened the evening explaining the importance of extra vergin olive…
Slow Food and Fast Cars
I am truly blessed to work with food and wine in a place like Italy, where it is almost a religion. The passion for what we eat and drink by both the producers and the consumers is really contagious. Fall is probably my favorite season for traveling and sharing food and wine, as the cooler…
Pork, Pasta and Parmesan- pigging out in Emilia Romagna
Thanks to those of you that voted for me in the Project Food Blog contest- I didn’t make the cut for the next session—- so back to regular postings! Great timing as I just returned from a week in Emilia Romagna with the Slow Food convivium from Kansas City, headed by Chef Jasper Mirabile of…