giugno 1, 2011
When Domenica asked me to take part to the Food bloggers pasta party to celebrate the launch of her brand new book, The Glorious Pasta of Italy, I was deeply honoured and excited. Why? Just have a look at Domenica’s blog, at her light-hearted yet professional recipes, at her enjoyable and sensitive writing, at her positive look at life and you’ll easily understand why I was so happy.
Domenica, as her name foretells, grew up in an Italian family: her mother was born on the hills around Chieti, on the Adriatic coast. She spent her summer holidays in Italy with her mother’s three sisters, all great cooks. She has a true passion for simple, honest food. You can almost touch this great respect for ingredients and traditions in her recipes and through her words. I was captured by her work, by this genuine love for food.
As Italian pasta lover, I couldn’t help but leafing through her new book for hours, lingering on beautifully photographed and well described recipes. A special mention to the fresh pasta chapter, enriched by step-by-step instructions and plenty of variations on the classic egg pasta. Thank you Domenica for being such a brilliant Ambassador for the authentic Italian food abroad!
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Books, First course, Pasta, Summer 
17 Comments »
maggio 30, 2011
It’s tea-time, a few minutes of quiet in the mid-afternoon since I can remember, a break from my homework to be spent with mum, grandma and Claudia. Often an elbow was leaning on my books, the Greek translation or the marketing manual, while the other was struggling to have space on a colourful place-mat between a cup of tea and some biscuits. Those minutes have always been precious, to spend some time together and talk and comment on our day so far. But the tea-time has a meaningful sense even when I’m alone, just my cup of tea and me, following the drawings of the sun on the kitchen floor, to clear up my mind and recharge myself with new energy, dreaming about what would have happened if…
…what would have happened if she had pursued her dream and had turned the tea-time, the moment that she preferred in the day, into her life, to live a never ending tea-time, to stop the clock at that moment when the kettle whistles, your eyes go through the many teas on the shelf to find a suitable flavour for your mood and the cake looks inviting on the table.
Follow me in this story written for La Ciliegina and her contest E’ sempre l’ora del tè, along with a recipe for a sweet and fresh lemon cake and a cup of fruity tea.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Baked Good, Cakes, Chocolate, Desserts, Spring, Summer 17 Comments »
maggio 26, 2011
I saw her. She was running after a lonely firefly, wandering in a field of wheat in the point of turning from green to golden-yellow. She was smelling the wet earth after a sudden thundery shower. She was lying on the white table, back in the garden from now till October. She was playing hide and seek in the silent hedgerows along my country road.
I saw her, Summer has arrived a month ahead of schedule! As soon as summer arrives, I give new birth to all the rituals I’ve kept dormant for many months in a drawer. At the first sunny days that drawer begins to quiver, my summer habits push to gain life and freedom, to stretch their legs and enjoy the season, as lazy lizards on a stone wall.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Desserts, Lunch box, Summer, Vegetarian Recipes 9 Comments »
maggio 24, 2011
“As everybody knows, there is only one infallible recipe for the perfect omelette: your own”. Elizabeth David
Mayonnaise, carbonara, a quiche, shortpastry, pastry cream, eggnog, sponge cake, rice with egg, clafoutis or drinking them just as they are: a solution better than the other to enhance the freshness of my eggs. But I made an omelette! I reckon that it is just an omelette, four beaten eggs and a little more. What is there of so striking special as to justify a full post here?
When I get lost in these questions, two important women come to my mind. The first one is Paola, my elementary school teacher, I kept on calling her Teacher even when I was in college. She’s a great woman, she’s able to give you smart and light-hearted advice on any occasion. I truly appreciate our friendship and surely I owe her my love for reading and writing. One of the most significant events took place during the Italian class. To respond to our complaints about the lack of ideas for a description, she picked up a pen – I still remember that pen, it was one of those long, thin, yellow and black striped pen, with a red cap – and said: you won’t never run short on ideas to describe an object. Take this pen, for example: I could write ten pages about it, telling who gave it to me, what I have written with this pen, what I feel when I keep it in my hand… the possibilities are endless.
The possibilities are endless. This is a concept that in a 8-year-old girl opens unthinkable scenarios, and even now when I lack of inspiration I go back to that red pen. I do not think that at the time she realized the deep sense of invincibility that she had given to a shy child.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Appetizers, Main Course, Quick Recipes, Spring, Summer 13 Comments »
maggio 23, 2011
Four of the freshest eggs of the day: this is what I came home with last week from a visit to an agriturimo near Siena, where we are organizing cooking classes for tourists. Smooth to the touch, of a pinky-white and innocent colour, they were the freshest eggs in my hand in years. What would you do with them? Tomorrow I will tell you what I made for dinner with these freshest eggs.
Posted in About me 2 Comments »
Cappelletti. Fresh filled pasta
content rss
Recent Comments