I am seriously obssesed with gelato. To me strolling around a piazza with a gelato in my hand is the quintessential Italian experience. If you aren’t able to hop on a plane, you can still recreate a bit of that experience at home. (more…)
One of the most important words in understanding how Italians view food is ‘tipico’ or typical. Want to learn how to pronounce it? Click HERE
In Italy, each region, each town and sometimes each family has recipes that are ‘typical’ of that area and based on traditions passed down through generations. In reality, Italian food doesn’t exist. Instead there is the food of Sardinia or Rome or Piedmont. In a world where food traditions are disappearing and the same fast food is available from Kansas City to Cairo, I find it comforting to know that food that speaks of a place, that is typical of a region, still exists. (more…)
Sometimes we all feel like hanging a sign on the door and going fishing. Here are some of my favorite pics from Sicily of fishing boats, delicious seafood and gorgeous ocean views to have you wishing for a seaside escape! Check back tomorrow for a versatile and easy Italian recipe using fresh fish
Traditional Sicilian fishing boats
The perfect Italian word to learn as we head into a beautiful summer weekend? It’s ’bellezza’ or beauty. Want to learn how to pronounce it? Click HERE
‘Bellezza’ is more than just an adjective. Learning to create, embrace and appreciate beauty in even the simplest of things is a way of life in Italy. So this weekend, take the time to set a beautiful table at dinner or to arrange a vase of zinnias from your garden. Pick out the most beautiful peach at the farmer’s market and appreciate how it smells and tastes. Go for a walk and really take the time to appreciate the beauty of a rock formation or a tree. Make space in your life for beautiful music, beautiful art and beautiful food. Life if full of ‘bellezza’ if we take the time to slow down and appreciate it.
Nothing moves me like beautiful music. Here is one of my favorites, Maria Callas singing ‘Vissi D’Arte’ live in 1958 in Paris. Even if you aren’t an opera fan I think you will be moved by the incredible power and expression of her voice. Enjoy! Click HERE to listen
The perfect Italian phrase to learn in preparation for this long, lazy summer holiday weekend? It has to be ’dolce far niente’ or the total sweetness of doing nothing. Want to learn how to pronounce it? Click HERE
So this weekend…embrace your inner Italian. Don’t get the house repairs done. Don’t catch up on work. Set aside time to slow down, sip a glass of cool prosecco and just relax in the sweetness of doing nothing at all. I think that this picture sums up the feeling!
drifting on a boat....enjoying the little pleasures!
“Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are”- Antheleme Brillat-Savarin
In Italy, when it comes to food there are rules. Strict rules. Rules about which food to eat in which season. Rules about what time you should drink your cappuccino (never after 11am!) and when you should grate cheese over a pasta that contains seafood (on pain of death). These rules might seem strange to the average American. After all what harm does it really do to order a cappuccino after dinner? To illustrate the level of passion that this can ignite, I once posed that very question to a group of Italian men….who responded that the mere thought of that was “like a knife to their hearts.” They then proceeded to gesture wildly as they heatedly discussed how this would affect digestion for the next 20 minutes. Again, this might seem a bit over the top, but for an Italian, these rules and are sacrosanct and represent millennia of culinary traditions. Recipes have been passed down and perfected over generations….so why mess with perfection! (more…)
I will admit it. I am seriously obsessed. I have always had a bit of a thing for pistachio gelato, but Dolce Gelato in my family’s hometown of Bagheria has turned this into a full blown obsession. My cousins have been willing accomplices in my obsession….and it seems perfectly reasonable when they suggest that we have a gelato stuffed brioche for breakfast or a gelato for Sunday dinner. While having gelato for breakfast would not be socially acceptable here, in Sicily it makes perfect sense! (more…)
As I prepare for my upcoming Yoga & Wine retreat to Sicily in August, I am excited to introduce the pleasures of ‘la dolce vita’, or ‘the sweet life’, to my students! In Sicily, and in Italy in general, taking time to enjoy the little pleasures of life is something that happens on a daily basis. From the long, leisurely lunch with family on a Sunday afternoon to the evening walk through the piazza, eating a pistachio gelato with someone special…it is all about the simple pleasures.
One of the pleasures that we will be experiencing is a visit to renowned winery, Donnafugata in Marsala. Donnafugata is one of Sicily’s top wineries, known for creating wines that express the emotion of Sicily as well as for the iconic image of the ‘fleeing woman’ on their labels. I spoke with Stefano Valla, winemaker at Donnafugata winery in Sicily to learn more about the winery, ‘la dolce vita’ and his passion for winemaking. (more…)
Growing up with a Sicilian father, my introduction to the world of wine came very early on. By age six or seven, I was allowed to have a few sips of wine, sometimes mixed with a bit of water, to taste. The bottle of wine was as important a part of the dinner table as the loaf of crusty bread or the plates of steaming linguine alle vongole that filled the table on Sunday nights. Special occasions called for a bottle of wine to be brought up from our little cellar, but most nights, we drank something more simple, usually a Sicilian wine. At the time there were very few Sicilian wines available in the States and what was available tended to be mass produced and one dimensional. Despite that, my father was always happy to have something that reminded him of home on the table.
Times have definitely changed in Sicily, where the last 10-15 years have seen a revolution in the quality of Sicilian wines as well as a crop of new, modern wineries. Nowhere is this more evident than at Arancio Winery, known for good quality wines that use modern techniques on ancient grape varietals to create wines that reflect the new wave of Sicilian winemaking. I spoke with Lucio Matricardi, winemaker for Arancio Winery in Sicily to learn more about his background, his experience working as a winemaker in Sicily and his winemaking philosophy. (more…)
