Pea season is upon us. The beginning of the season is the best with the taught pods bursting with plump peas. At the end of the season, the skins will turn leathery and the peas hard and floury. The surprising sweetness of the young peas is the perfect match for salty prosciutto. This is the…
A quick and simple dish all children love: chicken Parmigiana
This recipe is a favourite with children the world over. We ate this dish with family friends on a scorching summer night in Modena. We dined in a town square watching the locals leaning out half naked from their windows desperate for hint of breeze. Between us we had 5 children who eagerly (and silently)…
Where in Italy is a great place for families to spend the Christmas holiday?
Venezia (Venice) has many names and faces. It is known as the city of romance, a UNESCO city of culture rich with breathtaking architecture and art, the City of Water with its canals crisscrossing the city, the City of Masks as shops display the city’s characteristic carnival masks year-round, as where the orient meets Europe…
6 easy recipes for a busy week
The euphoria of having the kids back in school has worn off and the malaise of homework and the PTA has set in. The premonition of free time has been a mirage. Meal planning looks something like this at the beginning of the week: Monday: braised veal with risotto Tuesday: beef braised in Barolo with…
3 Steps to Plan the Perfect Italian Holiday
Overcome the winter blues by planning a trip to Italy this year. Want to stay in a hotel characteristic of the area run by friendly locals who make you feel instantly at home? Nothing ruins a trip more than staying in a carbon-copy hotel in the wrong neighbourhood run by drones. Don’t miss out on…
Top 8 reasons to visit a forgotten corner of Italy: Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli-Venezia Giulia is an exotic part of Italy with a distinctive Slavic flair. The cuisine is unique in its extensive interweaving of sweet, savoury and spices such as gnocchi di susine (sweet plum dumplings) which are served as a first course, the same as pasta. The geography varies from crystal blue Alpine lakes and the…
One good reason to eat lasagne today
Today is la Befana in Italy, otherwise known as the Epiphany. It marks the last of the 12 days of Christmas which begin on December 25th (Christmas Day). It is also a feast day to commemorate the visit of the Three Wise Men (Magi) to bring gold, frankincense and myrrh to the birth of Jesus…
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…
Why do people from 180 countries come to a village in Lombardia on the same day every year?
Every year around the 24th of June, people from 180 countries around the world convene at Solferino, a tiny town of 2,000 inhabitants south of Lake Garda in Lombardia. Solferino is surrounded by farmland and has a beautiful Mantuan square, Piazza Castello (so named because there used to be an 11th century castle here). The…
The idyllic family holiday destination
We took the boys and my father on a tour of northern Sardegna and found it to be, like many places in Italy, extremely family friendly. The location was potentially even more appealing to us because living in a large metropolis like Hong Kong, we were sensory deprived. Our ears were full of the sounds…
