La Spezia, Liguria (see map) – As we pushed open the osteria‘s dark green wooden door, lace curtains on the windows, our spezzina friend Monia asked us, “Ever eaten in a seafood…
Read Article
Back in our “farming years,” we’d ride our old Gilera motorcycle to nearby Bettona for peach-picking in July. I’d rather hoe corn, muck the pig stalls or even help on the haying…
Many scholars maintain that the late Etruscan life-sized bronze sculptural masterpiece, “the Orator” (now in the Museo Nazionale Aracaelogico di Firenze) was found near Tuoro on Lake Trasimeno. But you can’t convince…
We usually spend many a summer weekend at the Hotel Eden on the shores of Lake Bolsena. No free weekend this year yet – but we did slip in a lunch there…
In the rural cuisine of Italy, the family bread, no longer fresh, won’t ever go to the chickens. Bread is sacred and will be used in a variety of tasty dishes. One…
Hot summer days bring “panzanella time” to central Italy. This rural dish of la cucina povera (literally “cooking of the poor man,” ie humble cuisine), la panzanella (bread salad) is a perfect…
Si! Good things can come in fours: try this buonissima pasta sauce made with four cheeses: Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi Ingredients (for 5 – 6 persons): about 1/4 cup each of four…
We just picked our last fava beans for this year and some are now in the freezer. The other day, the fava beans highlighted a simple tasty, pasta dish, pasta con le…
In 1971, Alice Waters basically launched a California version of the Mediterranean diet when opening Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, promoting farm-to-table fresh local ingredients. Although I’d studied at UCB in the…
With hot weather, nothing more refreshing than pasta with a fresh tomato sauce. Why have a sauce simmering on a hot stove on a steamy summer day, after all? You might ask,…