Daily Archives: March 12, 2011

Coming in from the Cold in Chicago (Mar 5 – 6, 2011)

Snow flurries arrived in Chicago about when I did. Icy roads, slippery sidewalks and cutting chill outside. But I only felt warmth during my four days there… and right from the moment of arrival: Rich had read my articles on Italian Notebook and had written me about a possible 2012 Chicago cooking event as a benefit. We decided to meet to discuss all…
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Houston Cooking Class Escapes the Evil Eye (Mar 1, 2011)

Never put a loaf of bread on the table upside down: porta male (“brings bad luck”). Everyone will jump up to turn it over, making the corna sign (“horns”) against the mal’occhio (“evil eye”). Bread is sacred. Never throw out leftover bread. Porta male. Countless Italian dishes with breadcrumbs as well as bruschetta and panzanella (old-bread-cold-salad) solve the challenge of what to do with stale bread.
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