Recipes, style ideas, and tips for living a beautiful life the Italian way. La Dolce Vita!
Full disclosure: I have never been a fusilli fan. It reminds me of soggy deli pasta salads. And then I came across fusilli corti bucati. It's the same shape but smaller and hollow; more like a spring than a corkscrew. I figured, why not? If you cannot get over the fusilli hump...
Read MoreThe ocean is a lot like marriage. I thought about this as I prepared for my husband’s birthday this week. Kind and graceful, turbulent and dark. Refreshing and suffocating. Cold and warm...
Read MoreI can eat this satisfying and oh-so-simple dish any day of the week anytime of the year. And so we do. It helps that my boys crow for it, too. The creaminess of the beans highlights the subtle crunchiness of the sausage and shrimp, and the smoky paprika rounds out the savory party...
Read MoreAn authentic Florentine T-bone steak is cut from a Chianina cow and aged for about a week. Though Chianina beef is lean, it's prized for its rich flavor and balanced texture (perhaps due to the Chianina's grazing locale in Siena, Arezzo and environs). Since we do not breed pure Chianina cattle in the United States, purchase the best steak you can find. The meat should be 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick and weigh 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 pounds. Ask for a porterhouse steak as this is the larger of the T-bone steaks. It's essential that the steak is grilled over very high heat (charcoal is best) but a cast-iron grill pan works, too...
Read MoreI have a horror hangover. Fueled by the unnuanced vitriol of the Republican Convention to the killings in way too many places near and far, I wrestle with the weight of my heart, the stones in my soul, and the unanswered questions crushing my brain. All of which magnify the allure of the kitchen and cooking - and this risotto...
Read MoreCan food ignite memory? During the painfully infrequent visits to my dad (but that’s a story for another day), I contemplate him in his dementia-swathed solitude. I wonder what goes on in his brain. Is it a sunny place with clear visibility to the memories that enriched his life and that he is now keeping secret from us? Or is it a snowy landscape with flickering images that occupy his time to discern...
Read More