marzo 16, 2011
Cèad mìle fàilte!* My love for Ireland was so strong that I even wanted to learn Gaelic. Looking back, I’ve realized that I’m a person who constantly needs to have a visceral passion for something that takes you to read, study, dream, commit… during my University years my deepest passion was Ireland.
I used to listen to U2, the Corrs, the Chieftains. I even listened to unknown Irish folk bands, as long as the music had that special verve that made you get up from the chair and start dancing! I used to read W. B. Yeats’ poems and many Irish writers such as Roddy Doyle, Nouala O’ Faolain, Joseph O’Connor, Frank McCourt, Cecilia Ahern… I still have a soft spot for Cecilia Ahern’s novels and right now I feel a urgency to read again Pete McCarthy’s McCarthy’s Bar. If you haven’t read it yet, go searching for it and be ready to laugh to tears!
* It means a hundred thousand welcomes, and this is the only expression I have ever learnt in Gaelic!
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Posted in Autumn, Main Course, Meat, Spring, Winter 
18 Comments »
marzo 15, 2011
I’m very happy to introduce you my article written for Hones Cooking – The new flavor in food, the new international on line culinary magazine with the ambition to truly change the face of online food media.
I’ve always lived in the Tuscan countryside, between Siena and Florence, near the Chianti area, in the same house where my father was born and my grandma was born. I am a country girl to the core: I love my quiet village, the woods changing colours as the seasons change. I love to be awakened by the birds singing jolly tunes. I even love the hard side of the country life, cold mornings in the winter and 10 km to the nearest shops.
I see autumn coming when the leaves change colours, putting on fire the woods. I smell the winter coming: the smell of burnt wood in the fireplace welcomes me home more than a steaming cup of tea. I hear the summer coming from the relentless buzz of bees and insects in the fields. What about spring?
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Posted in Baked Good, Desserts, Tuscan Recipes 12 Comments »
marzo 11, 2011
Luckily, I’ve never had to deal much with hospitals, nor for me nor for my dear ones. However, when Claudia was still a puppy, she was nearly 5, she spent 15 days in the children’s hospital in Siena for a totally not-to-worry-about tonsil infection. There was absolutely nothing to worry about, but a fortnight in the hospital – especially for a tiny hyperactive puppy as she was – was nevertheless a critic moment to deal with.
I still remember her open mouth heartily laughs when the hospital volunteers used to spend some time with Claudia, to entertain her. a few moments, two chats and a smile were enough to switch the bored look in her face into a shining and sparkling smile!
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Posted in Autumn, Chocolate, Desserts, Spring, Winter 18 Comments »
marzo 8, 2011
Today is the last day of Carnival, Mardi Gras. In my own julsian calendar (that is the calendar made in my image and likeness) this means that there are just a few hours to go before I can say with granitic confidence that Spring is here! Yes, methinks Carnival has always been the last obstacle that stands between me and the spring, the flowers, the warm and scented air, the picnics in the garden and the nice walking in the Florence city centre, when the air takes that indefinable colour that makes you say that, yes, there we are, we’re living the sweetest time of the year.
Although I’ve not been celebrating Carnival in the last few years, I can still remember that time when I used to come back from San Gimignano Carnival parade or kid disco dance with confetti everywhere, even in my underwear! Looking back, nine times out of ten I was sick at home instead of wearing fancy dresses, but I can still draw my own personal top five memorable Carnival fancy dresses.
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Posted in Autumn, Baked Good, Desserts, Muffins and cupcakes, Spring, Summer, Winter 10 Comments »
marzo 3, 2011
Tomorrow I leave. I’m going to Germany with my blonde baby bird – if she reads I’m calling her baby bird she will definitely try to choke me. My sister is going to study in Stuttgart for a semester and I want to be with her for her first days there.
I accompanied my sister to the kindergarten, when she used to wear a green checkered smock. I accompanied her to the elementary school, saying ‘blow your nose‘ when leaving, as my mum used to say with me – and how much I hated that! I walked her to the school bus on her first day at the middle school, admiring her courage to go to a new school in a new town. I was with her on her first day at high school, feeling slightly less lost trying to find the right way to her class, both for her and for me. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in About me 11 Comments »
Véronique's crêpes with salted butter and raspberries
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