Jordie’s Addition to a Denver Feast (Feb 25, 2013)

2013 U.S. Tour, U.S. Cooking3 Comments

Young Jordie picked me up in Denver and on the drive to his family home for our class, his enthusiasm for cooking and Italian food prefaced a great night ahead. Mom Therese welcomed me to their home and Jordie and I set to setting out foods, pots and pans, cutting boards – and soon the guests started to arrive. The recipes called for a winter squash/sage pasta but shopper Jordie had found summer squash and zucchini and not the winter squash. Allora…
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Re-uniting While Cooking in Arizona (Feb 22, 2013)

2013 U.S. Tour2 Comments

This was my second “cooking reunion” with Maureen and her mother, Therese: we had cooked together two years ago in Phoenix and they were guests. Maureen, Therese and I had reunited over the burners two years ago in Phoenix, sharing memories of our touring times together in Umbria during a cooking class. This year, another ” cooking reunion”- and Therese and husband Marc hosted the class this time. Maureen and sister Megan joined in with their husbands, aunt and uncle and family friends in putting on a feast.
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Valentine’s Day Passion in a Chico Kitchen (Feb 14, 2013)

2013 U.S. Tour1 Comment

Tom summed up what my US cooking classes are about when he wrote me this note after our Valentine’s Day class at Corin’s: “Thank you for sharing your passion of cooking with all of us.” You zeroed in on the theme, too, Linda, when you wrote ,” …what a wonderful evening …the food, laughter, cooking with friends, with you was our leader! I loved your passion for the gift of cooking” But It’s not so much a “cooking passion”: it’s a passion for Umbrian’s rural food, rural life and rural tastes coupled with the desire to share the lore.
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Polly Want a Cracker? No, Grazie… (Feb 12, 2013)

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Actually, Patrick and Marilyn’s parrot is Roscoe and he loved the Sicilian cauliflower pasta with pinenuts and currants that we made at their cooking class this year. But Roscoe missed out on the rest of the goodness: the Sicilian stuffed tomatoes, the savory Sicilian chicken dish, pollo aglassato, the green beans with mint, the radicchio/walnut/apple salad and the baked apples filled with amaretti and almonds and topped with mascarpone.
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“Un Pugno di Sale” Adds to the Palos Verdes Class (Feb 9, 2013)

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Another great cooking group the other night in Palos Verdes, CA – and once again, my U.S. tour’s theme “cooking is connecting” came to life as old friends cooked together and new friendships were formed while chopping and mixing, stirring and blending…and learning that “un pugno di sale” (“a small fistful of salt”) is what most dishes for 12 or so will need.
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