Corn Harvest, Past

Like bent over old men, dried cornstalks stand forlornly in fields joining our farm land. The corn has been picked and who knows if it has been pulverized for chicken feed or for the corn mash which will fatten the pigs, turning their rear thighs into tasty prosciutti? Then again, the corn might have been ground for corn flour for polenta or brustengolo, one of the few sweets which highlight Umbrian rural cuisine.
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‘Open House’ at Umbria’s Olive Oil Mills

Umbria, called “Italy’s green heart”, is green all year thanks to the non-deciduous live oaks blanketing the mountains of our region and the silver-green of the olive trees which cover our hills. The superb olive oils of Umbria (and particulary those of the Assisi/Spello area) – considered the best in the world by Alain Ducasse, famed French chef – are celebrated in the Frantoi Aperti (best translated “Open House at the Olive Oil Mills”) festival from the end of October to early December…
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Passione in the Italian DNA

Passione is in the Italian DNA: Each has it. No one can fight it (and why do so anyway?) Passione for his craft is in the heart of the gelataio as he arranges his ice cream flavors in sumptuous mountains in a beauty pageant display of creamy colors – and flavors.

You can feel the passione of the townspeople of Bevagna for their medieval history as they prepare months ahead for their late June festival, the Mercato delle Gaite.
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Arrivederci, USA…til next year

“Thank you for a very special evening. What a great final event for us to host in our D.C. home!” wrote Linda G after my last 2010 cooking class – at her lovely historic home in Washington, D.C. on March 20th. That wonderful “wrap up” cooking class was preceded by a tour through the home with Linda’s husband Tom who filled us in on the “bed-and-breakfast” past of the house, just recently sold. Our cooking class for their family and friends was to be the closing of happy years together here for Tom and Linda.
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