We were back in Liguria again this year just in time for the beginning of the olive pressing season. Last year we arrived to find a depressing situation- olive trees suffering from leprosy with sparsely hung olives, mostly malformed or infected by fruit flies. 2014 was the first year in generations that Italian families that…
4 unmissable towns in Umbria…and what to eat
Umbria has amazing light. The landscape is a patchwork of green, yellow and brown. The vineyards, fields of yellow sunflowers, hay bales dotting the plains, brick towers and cypress trees jutting towards the sky, white and yellow wildflowers line the country roads and fallow fields lie in between the shimmering olive groves, creating a stunning…
Bologna: A food lover’s heaven
Bologna is a food lover’s idea of heaven. Piazza Maggiore is the heart of the city and ground zero for food sightseeing. Even Eataly (the Italian gourmet food emporium) has opened a branch on one of the major food streets leading off the east side of Piazza Maggiore (Via degli Orefici). Along the streets of…
Looking for a healthy, versatile dish with a long shelf-life?
Now imagine a healthy dish you can pull out of the fridge on a hot summer day with no need to prep. It gets better, you can serve to even your most dietary restricted friend. (You know, the one that is vegan and gluten-free, who has to bring her own hummus to dinner parties.) Now…
What to cook when it’s hot hot hot
Love food but don’t want to turn your home into a furnace during the summer? Looking for quick and easy, healthy ideas for a picnic or dining outdoors with friends? Here are three recipes I created based on dishes I ate in Italy last summer. The first recipe is a summer take on everyone’s favourite…
The surprising secret ingredient to making the perfect focaccia
I admit, I have been obsessing for years over perfecting my focaccia recipe. This is partially due to nostalgia for long days at the beach in Liguria and partially due to my 5 year old son’s love for all things Ligurian (which I view as a cosmic link to his Ligurian godmother). I was pretty happy…
The fairy tale origin of Pastiera: the quintessential Italian Easter tart
Pastiera is a traditional Easter dish and is one of the most famous dishes in Naples. The story of its origin begins with a fairy tale, that the Neapolitans made offerings to mermaid named Partenope to thank her for her beautiful voice. They offered flour and orange blossom water to both symbolise the wealth of…
Why is this week full of love, gossip and lies?
I remember this same week in 1995. I decided to go to the seaside town of Viareggio in Toscana with a friend. As we were young students at the time, we went expecting a bit of a parade with prospects of a street party. I was walking down the street, watching enormous comical floats go past when an elderly…
When is it Smarter to pause?
Follow my blog with Bloglovin Sometimes you need to take a pause to reflect on everything going on. This is one of those weeks with all the saddening events which have occurred and so many questions in mind. In times like these I like to regroup and think how to rebalance the sadness; to contemplate…
Where does the best olive oil come from?
Now is the season in Italy when the olives have the highest content of oil, have a lower acidity and a milder flavour. This is precisely when they are picked and pressed into olive oil. Olive oil is used throughout Italy. This golden elixir has been held in high esteem since ancient times not only for…
