Food, Travel, and Cooking!
As I write this I am looking at my pristine final issue of “Gourmet” the Magazine of Good Living from November 2009. And per usual, a crispy, brown roast turkey is on the front cover in time for American Thanksgiving tables. If you think I have come late to the party, well you might be right! This […]
The last time we were in Volterra was in 2008, spending time with friends in Tuscany and Umbria. One day we planned a day to visit Volterra followed by a trip to San Gimignano but liked Volterra so much that instead of heading on to San Gimignano, we spent the day in Volterra checking out some of […]
Our fourth trip to Italy included Rome and Tuscany. Tuscany was a bit poignant for us. We spent our first two weeks in Rome and were thrilled to be heading back to Tuscany where we had rented an apartment in Panzano in Chianti for two weeks but we also knew that it was unlikely we would return to this part of Italy again only because there are other […]
It’s our first Monday in paradise, aka. Chianti! Wonder what we’ll do today and especially, what’s for lunch?? Let’s just head towards Castellina in Chianti and check things out there, i.e. Enoteca Biologica on via c. Borgheri, where we bought some amazing Vin Santo a few years ago? The upshot being that the place seems […]
Some months ago Judy Witts Francini posted on FB that she had gone to pick up some Cinta Senese pig products from a “farm” near Castellina in Chianti, I knew we had to go as we would be in Chianti in May! If you have never tried Cinta Senese prosciutto and get the chance, it’s […]
If we’d had a bucket list, a visit to the Mate` winery would have been on it! Our first introduction to Mr. Mate´ was through his utterly delightful, books about moving to and living in Tuscany; “The Hills of Tuscany” and “A Vineyard in Tuscany.” If you haven’t had the pleasure, treat yourself! I can’t […]
What can I say, this is delizioso! A ragu that can be served with fresh pappardelle or fettucccine. If we feel like having pici (a thick, long Tuscan pasta) and I don’t feel like making it, I substitute a dried pasta called Strangozzi made by De Cecco di Filippo, or good quality Chitarra pasta. Ah…how […]
Barbara Fairchild, former editor of Bon Appetit Magazine, wrote an editorial about summer eating and an appetizer she enjoyed when she was at Ristorante Da Delfina, in Tuscany “her favorite place on the planet.” When I read that comment I thought wow, us too! I sent her an email telling her so and said that […]
No doubt about it, my husband and I have Italian souls and I think that it was always lurking there just waiting to burst forth! The beginning of our first return visit to Italy took us to just outside Lucca, arriving in Pisa from Rome in a small, propeller airplane! Oh my God, I am […]