Italy

Dreaming of Summer and a Tuscan Tour

March 6, 2013

Spring isn’t yet sprung ~ in fact, snow, wind and ice are happening my corner of the world. But I don’t care. I’m looking ahead to summer. I am throwing open the virtual glass doors and stepping out on the veranda, into the sun. A few weeks ago I got a surprise in the mail, [...]

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Q&A With Olio2go’s Luanne Savino O’Loughlin ~ and a Book Signing in Fairfax

September 18, 2012

I’m pretty sure I have more olive oil than blood running through my veins. I cook with it and consume it every day; in fact, it is in the biscotto on which I am munching at this very moment. And yet I find the whole subject of olive oil confusing, not to mention disheartening these [...]

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The Cheeses of Anversa

July 30, 2012

Anversa degli Abruzzi sits on a ridge overlooking the Sagittario River gorges in the National Park of Abruzzo. The medieval village is home to about 430 inhabitants and the ruins of a Norman castle that dates back to the 12th Century. It is also where some of Abruzzo’s best cheeses are made. Anversa was the [...]

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Strawberry Granita: The Sweet Taste of Summer

May 28, 2012

There was a small gelateria around the corner from my aunts’ apartment in Rome. It was nothing fancy, no gilt mirrors or polished marble bar top. If it had a name, I never knew it. It was not the kind of place that would have made any Best Gelaterias in Rome list. The chairs were [...]

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Spring in Tuscany: Giulia Scarpaleggia

March 27, 2012

Giulia Scarpaleggia of Juls’ Kitchen I had such a lovely time visiting with Frances Mayes, that I have decided to extend my virtual soggiorno in Tuscany for another week. Today I am dropping in on Giulia Scarpaleggia, author of Le Ricette di Mia Nonna (My Grandma’s Recipes) and of the Italian food blog Juls’ Kitchen. Although [...]

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Frances Mayes’s Tuscan Table

March 15, 2012

Virtually everyone who has traveled to Italy can describe a moment in which they were transported by food—whether a platter of plump, cheese-filled ravioli bathed in butter and sage; a silky, paper-thin slice of prosciutto draped over a warm puff of fried dough; a glossy cone of hand-dipped gelato. For Frances Mayes, author of the [...]

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Dicembre Dolce: La Cicerchiata

December 20, 2011

Fabulous photo by France Ruffenach for Chronicle Books Fried dough pellets glued together with honey to form a ring. That, in essence, is la cicerchiata, a traditional dessert from Italy’s Abruzzo region. There is nothing subtle or sophisticated about it. And yet, it is impossible to resist. Here is what will happen if you set [...]

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Cavolo Verza {Savoy Cabbage}

November 28, 2011

That beautiful specimen you see in the photo is a head of Savoy cabbage. Italian cooks do wonderful things with this cabbage, which they refer to as cavolo verza. (The name Savoy refers to the historical region in northern Italy in which the cabbage thrives, and also to the House of Savoy, which ruled newly unified [...]

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Stendhal Syndrome, Farmers’ Market Fever, and a Rustic Fruit Crostata

July 21, 2011

Years ago when I was a newspaper reporter, I came across a wire story that described a rare, peculiar illness. It seemed that certain sensitive souls, upon being exposed to the glorious art of the High Renaissance, were so overcome by the beauty before them that they literally went mad and had to be carted [...]

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Spaghetti al Farouk: Abruzzo circa 1975

June 17, 2011

I’m pretty sure it was my dad who ordered the Spaghetti al Farouk at that restaurant on the beach. It was like nothing we’d ever had before—silky noodles tossed with fresh Adriatic seafood and cloaked in a creamy, golden saffron- and curry-laced sauce that was spiked with ginger. This was a long time ago, more [...]

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