Don't tell me it is too early to start thinking about Christmas. Sometimes, in order not to get caught up in the anxiety and thus spoil the festive atmosphere, a bit of organisation and bland planning are the only way to enjoy those days before Christmas, which otherwise always pass…
How do you learn to cook? How do you approach a new cuisine? Usually there is a number of basic ingredients that keep coming back in the recipes you’re going to make. Have them at hand, know how to use them, when and in which proportions, learn to combine them…
I came back home, after an hour spent at the local swimming pool, wearing just a light jacket, with slightly wet hair and bare ankles. In the parking lot, you could hear the crickets singing, and you could see the stars peeping through the pine trees. I had on my…
Autumn is the season when I finally get the hang of my life again, when I understand something of the chaos that the good season has left behind. After a tousled summer, I'm patiently collecting what I had lost on the way. I started baking again with my sourdough. Sooner…
During high school, every day, for almost five years, I brought an apple from home as a snack for our short break. There was a stall that would sell snacks - sandwiches with ham and cheese, with sausages, pizza and focaccia - but there were so many hungry students waiting…
We adopted a morning dog. After the first couple of months of shared anxieties and mutual adjustment, Teo is proving to be a cheerful dog, full of energy, especially in the morning, in the very early morning. While Noa yawns with sleepy eyes and we pretend not to hear him,…
This year the end of summer brought a mixture of nostalgia and relief. They have been exhausting months, not only for the heat and for the long working hours spent in the kitchen. The arrival of Teo, a two-year-old white Spinone dog that we adopted from a rescue house, has…
It was the beginning of June, summer was nothing more than a promise in the air. Tommaso and I drove to Val d’Orcia to meet Sabrina and Barbara, the two sisters who own Villa Pienza. It was our first time there, though we felt at home as soon as the…