You are always connected. You are constantly sharing pieces of your life. Is there an end to all of this? How is it influencing the way you live your life? a man asked me last week, while I was speaking at a conference on the influence of Social Media and…
It has been a year since we began a tour of Tuscany with Ventura. For you it has been a virtual journey, scented with spices and nuts and done through local and traditional recipes. For me it has been a real journey made across Tuscan villages and cities, a journey of growth and knowledge, during which I met…
That winding road kept me away from Volterra for most of my life. A little less than half an hour that has always seemed an eternity. As a grown up, car trips have ceased to be a problem and I discovered how that winding road was actually a journey through time, through woods,…
Ri-cotta (re-cooked): twice cooked, given that the whey left behind from the cheese production is heated up once again in order to make ricotta. Ri-bollita (re-boiled): the soup made from bread, beans and Tuscan kale, which is boiled for the second time, the next day. Bis-cotto (biscuit: literally in Italian, cooked again), meaning…
Here we are at the second leg of the tour in Tuscany with Ventura to discover traditional recipes made with dried fruits and nuts. We are in Florence, well known as the cradle of the Renaissance, but for me it’s the city which I fell in love with before and which…
You can say what you like, but I believe in the magic of Christmas, and I have proof. In the 10 days leading up to Christmas, the proof that this period of time really is magical has been evident for the past four years. Great things happen, leaving their mark,…
We are entering a weekend when we are bound to roll up our sleeves, get into the kitchen with a martial look, ready to tame sticks of softened butter, bags of flour and heaping tablespoons of sugar. Gift-wrapping some home made cookies is a most genuine gesture which will sweeten your friends' Christmas day. Everything began ten years…
Recently I pick a cookbook from my bookshelf and sit on my sofa reading. Nothing out of the ordinary, this is something I've been doing constantly for years now. What has changed is the theme of the books I choose. Until a few months ago I would pick books written…
Preserving is also one of my favourite way of procrastinating. When I am busy with deadlines and projects, this is when I try to steal time to preserve.