About two years ago I had the pleasure of meeting distinguished cookbook author Toni Lydecker and her husband while visiting at the lovely Il Poggiolo, the country home and vacation rental of a common friend …

These days talk revolves around food (even more than usual) as everyone is planning their menu for the vigiglia di Natale (Christmas Eve). While a normal meal, especially in the South, is often object of …

Sing it: On the eigth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: eight live trouts, seven hares a jumpin, six rock crystal glasses, five barrels of olives, four eagles for hunting, three antidotes …

Many of you will know that, since May 2011, five of us have been writing a monthly post on a given topic and we call it the Italy Blogging Roundtable. Each month we decide the …

Living in Florence has its appeal, but Tommaso and I have always had a thing for Maremma, an area of Tuscany that remains “off the beaten track” due to its apparent lack of much to …

I can’t remember what my comfort food was before I moved to Italy, but I think the main characteristics of comfort food have been the same my whole life long: warm, starchy, and mushy. I …

The October post for the Italy blogging Roundtable was “Fall in Tuscany.” And what I really wanted to do for that post was a beautiful photo post of Fall colours… Like what Gloria did, but …

Dear Mom,
You must worry about me living in Italy at times like these. It’s hard to have a daughter in the place that is the object of international ridicule, for it’s hard to justify being here at all. It looks really bad from the outside. I must say that right now, it looks pretty bad from the inside too. The only thing that holds it together is the whole insieme of what put this country together in the first place…

Italians place a higher value on “pasta al forno” than “pasta asciutta” for some reason. Perhaps because making it “al forno” requires lengthier preparation and a bigger mess in your kitchen. But sometimes a good …

Crostata is my favourite dessert. I love the buttery cookie crust and the sweet jam. It’s a good heavy snack at any time of day (even an okay breakfast). Back in 2003, newly transported to …

See this sign? It’s the stop sign before a rotonda (roundabout) on my street. It’s a universal sign that means stop. You know that. I know that. And at least 32% of the people who …

Sounds like the title of a song: “Italians eat cookies for breakfast (and that’s okay by me)”. The “refrain” is an add-on, for it was not okay by me a mere decade ago.
Here is a …