As I look forward to my 2012 February/March coast-to-coast U.S tour, memories of my memorable 2011 tour flood in. No single event takes the stage. Each one was unique, each one was highlighted by an unforgettable moment (and laughter!) - and each one connected me with such a wide array of amazing people. read more...
My stay in the Washington, D.C. area was a perfect wrap-up to a memorable 7-week (almost!) coast-to-coast U.S. cooking lessons/lectures tour. It synthesized what my annual U.S. tour is about: connecting with family, old friends and former tour guests via my lectures or cooking classes of Umbrian rural cuisine. In the D.C area, five superb cooking classes were the gran finale: such an interesting variety of people involved in stimulating and interesting work (consider the area!). I learned much in conversation with many of them while cooking... read more...
If you catch on to the concept un pugno di sale (or "small fistful of salt"), you're on your way to mastering Italian cooking. Kathy and Steve's late March Washington D.C. cooking class quickly became experts at judging the salt quantities needed in each dish... read more...
Kathleen and Bob's Arlington, Virginia cooking class was a celebration of Bob's birthday - but the gifts were for all of us! All the "chefs" in this festive group cooked in Italian-flag aprons with sharp (in all senses!) new paring knives... read more...
"Q.b." for quanto basta ("as much as you need") is the most common annotation in Italian cookbooks. It's a secret I like to share at the start of each cooking class, whether here in our Assisi area farmhouse or at U.S. cooking classes each winter. Paulette and Jim's group really took the quanto basta to heart when we cooked together in Ft. Washington, Maryland, at their home in mid-March, 2011. When anyone asked me about the right amount of olive oil or wine or salt or vinegar needed in the recipes, my most frequent response was "q.b."... read more...
No one would want to hear me "sing for my supper" but many at a delightful cooking class in Rockville, Maryland certainly could have done so! Starting with hosts, Dick and Mary - and their co-host, Lyn (who opened her home to us, along with husband Larry): last September, Dick, Mary and Lyn reveled in the Berkshire Choral Fest week of Umbrian hilltown touring (how great to guide this wonderful group!) and singing (voice study in the afternoons, with their conductor)... read more...
Jenny and Steve, Liz, Roseann and family, Karen, Katie and Sue, how good to renew the "Umbria connection" over the preparing of an Umbrian feast in Karen's house! We certainly brought it all together, inspite of seeing the baking sheets of toasted bread for our bruschetta slide to the floor! read more...
Che bello! to cook once again with Mark in Massachusetts. It had been a few years since we first cooked together and he had a new group of friends to this class. Mark's enthusiasm, though, was just as infectious: "Second time better than the first! Love it - forever a tradition - don't stop!" he wrote to me after our feast... read more...
What better way to reunite with family then over the burners? My cousin Brian hosted a memorable cooking event near Boston - and my aunts were his sous-chefs, doing all the prep work! Not only: this was the first cooking class ever with four generations joining in.
"'The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it' Ralph Waldo Emerson," reads the plaque near the entry to the home of Kathy and Bruce in East Haddam, Connecticut. No better words to describe their home as those two quite simply embody hospitality. read more...
Agenzia Viaggi Stoppini in Assisi handles all technical support for my guided visits (bus transportation, organization of meals, etc)