There are tears of joy, sorrow, disappointment, anger, crocodile tears and even chopped vegetable tears. These are traditional tears, a subtle alchemy given by chopped onions, wooden cutting board and a sharp knife. Before blenders there was this ancient ritual of hand-made battuto - vegetables minced by hand on a cutting board that year after year [...]

Posted in Books, Vegetarian Recipes 11 Comments »

On Monday I had one of the first cooking classes of the new season and we made cecina, also known as torta di ceci, a Tuscan chickpea cake. My American guests loved it and gave me a lot of fresh new ideas about pairings and other occasions to use it beyond our usual street food [...]

Posted in Vegetarian Recipes 12 Comments »

If I was not stuck by the snow in Pisa airport last Friday, which for me that I’m writing is actually tomorrow, I should be now in Belgium for the last day of a mini Christmas holiday, a long weekend with friends to discover a part of Europe that I never had the chance to [...]

Posted in Appetizers 6 Comments »

The books moved in. At the beginning I meant to bring just one box to have the feeling of having something mine into the house and to see how my Ikea white bookshelves would look like with something colourful on the shelves. Then the boxes became two, then three … Then I fell into a [...]

Posted in Main Course, Side Dishes 13 Comments »

London has a strange effect on me. It makes me feel at home, one among many others, it gives me that extra pinch of freedom as to be completely myself. In London I can buy a mustard yellow coat that maybe here would have been gray. I wouldn’t dare so much. On the other hand [...]

Posted in Side Dishes, Travel 14 Comments »