Hi friends! Happy Christmas Eve! I know it has been a long time since I’ve blogged. Ten months. After giving my blog a small makeover at the beginning of February, everything came to a screeching halt within the same month. I didn’t intend to step away from blogging, but it became necessary. This year had several rough patches for me so I (reluctantly) gave myself permission to let my blog go dormant. I found myself struggling with anxiety and overwhelm–not only regarding my blog, but about several other Life Things. It was next to impossible to feel creative when I […]
cookbooks
Marcella Hazan’s Minestrone Soup
Happy February! I’m a few days late because my blog was getting a much-needed facelift and I had to hold off on publishing new posts while my web developers worked behind the scenes. I am thrilled with the changes and I hope you like them as much as I do! I can’t believe how quickly January went by, although I may be in the minority of people who feel that way. Last month, I saw many people complaining about how January seemed to drag–as though the month was like one long Monday. I know that feeling because I have felt that […]
Focaccia Pugliese
If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know about my unending love of making dough, and after procrastinating for longer than I care to admit, I finally learned how to make a beautiful and delicious focaccia pugliese. The inspiration and motivation to learn how to make this came from my new friend Carla who teaches cooking classes in Rome, and whom I had the pleasure of meeting last December when we traveled to Italy for Christmas. Carla takes photos of the food she makes at every class, and focaccia pugliese is often on the menu for her students to […]
Rice-Stuffed Tomatoes
The last time Peter and I were in Rome, we rented an apartment on Via Caulonia just off of Piazza Zama in the IX Appio Latino neighborhood, a few blocks up the street from my zia Franca, who lived in an apartment on Via Centuripe. She has since moved into her late sister’s apartment in another neighborhood to be closer to her nieces and nephews, but her former neighborhood will always be one of my favorite areas of Rome. It’s home to the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano and the catacombs of San Callisto, but it’s mainly a residential neighborhood with one apartment building after another […]
Chickpea Flatbread
Emiko Davies’ Florentine: The True Cuisine of Florence arrived in my mailbox earlier this year after much anticipation. I have enjoyed Emiko’s blog for several years, and I look forward to her informative articles about Italian food, history, and culture on Food 52. She also writes a food column for the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera and did a video interview for the publication’s Le Donne del Cibo series. Her Instagram feed is one of my favorites for its gorgeous captures of her daily life in Tuscany, her travels, her food photos, and her adorable daughter whom I’m convinced is one of the cutest kids on Instagram. Over […]