Entries from gennaio 2012

Picnic at Beachy Head

Date gennaio 26, 2012

More than a week has passed since I first came to London and in a few days I’ll be back in my mansard over my family kitchen overlooking the woods and fields, waiting for the wheat to turn pale green to announce that the spring has finally arrived. You may wonder what I have been [...]

Mum, could you buy me a rice tartlet? The Italian rice pudding tartlets

Date gennaio 23, 2012

I like San Gimignano in the early morning, when it is still not crowded with tourists, when you see the local people passing along the streets almost incredulous to have San Gimignano for themselves, yet still for just a few more minutes. I like it when the footsteps echo on the cobbled shady streets, resounding [...]

Cosy winter soup: spelt and roveja with thyme

Date gennaio 19, 2012

Hello from London! Today I’m sitting in a cosy kitchen in London, the sky as you can easily imagine is leaden gray and it is also fairly cold. What am I doing here? let’s step back a few months… As soon as I knew that my contract wouldn’t have been renewed I bought a ticket (a return [...]

Cocoa pound cake with swirls of lemon custard

Date gennaio 16, 2012

Mum has a sweet tooth for whipped cream. Sweet tooth may be simplistic to describe her relationship with whipped cream and the speed with which her spoon speeds under my eyes when I make a cake, returning to her full of whipped cream. This said, she loves simple and traditional desserts: tiramisu, mantovana, rose cake [...]

Acquacotta, the Tuscan stone soup

Date gennaio 14, 2012

During those old times the vagabonds were still crossing the country, living by their wits to get once in a while a hot meal to give them strength during the long and frozen moonless nights. In those days a witty vagabond was wandering near to the village, spending lonely hours at the edge of the forest and [...]