Thank you dear readers. May 2013 be filled with love, prosperity, good health and joy! The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 51,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this … Continue reading
This Strufolli recipe is for Anthony. Anthony commented on my Struffoi recipe…and gave me a great laugh. I ordered the Struffoli balls and didn’t make them… for Easter. Now it’s Christmas and time to make them again. Anthony’s Comment: “They look wonderful, but there’s no recipe! Go to an Italian bakery and BUY them? That’s … Continue reading
Struffoli, strufoli, struffoli—Italian Honey Balls! A Neapolitan dessert my Grandma Micaletti brought to every Easter Sunday family celebration I can remember—since I was a little girl. Grandma Micaletti, my dad’s mom, didn’t cook. She was a bakery girl. There never was a Struffoli recipe handed down in our family. My mom’s family was from Abruzzi. … Continue reading
Call it my Italian Spring thing. It begins with forsythia’s bright yellow star-shaped flowers, then childhood’s marshmallow “peeps” everywhere and before I know it I’m heading to the bakery for a Lemon Slice aka Lemon Square, Lemon bar— the same bright yellow shimmying pastry —but I’ve been using the wrong name. And I just got … Continue reading
Olivia started it with a gift of a beautiful Spanish fan and a pair of fine leather Spanish gloves. A vial of Spanish saffron from Laura and Miguel with the promise of Miguel’s Paella recipe…. A red and black Spanish apron from Nancy and John with more polka-dots and ruffles than a Carmen Miranda movie! … Continue reading
Two more days. As some of you know through email, I entered the PAM Cooking Tips Contest. I’m a contender. In the top 19 this morning. I used the tip of using PAM to spray the pan and ice cube trays for easy release of the stars. From my blog: Stars and Stripes Desserts and … Continue reading
Nancy and John had a Chili and Cornbread Cook-Off. There were three categories, Chili, Vegetarian Chili, and Cornbread. What an aromatic… and filling. Fun and easy! After 4pm people started arriving with grins, boxes, pots, slow-cookers, beer, wine, and kids. A serious competition. This group is serious about their Chili. Pierre, The 2010 Rib Throwdown … Continue reading
Broccoli is a super food, packed with nutrition and very few calories. Cauliflower it’s country cousin seems to “pale” by comparison. More subtle in flavor— but full of it’s own virtues. Healthy? Add a garlic mist to the cousins kiss and I’m talking Super foods. With or without cranberries this Wreath of Health is easy … Continue reading
My grandmother made pizza the day she made bread, making an extra batch of dough for that night’s pizza supper. She spread the soft elastic dough out on a large rectangular baking pan with her fingers and the production line began. First ladling spoonfuls of homemade sauce. I sat around her the big round table … Continue reading
To celebrate Summer, her beautiful garden and her Leo birthday, Flora gives a Garden Party for her friends, varied as the flowers in her garden. A gargantuan effort of a party bursting with sunshine, guests, flowers, umbrella-tables, wine and food. “What can I bring?” “A fruit salad would be wonderful and would give us a … Continue reading
Italian Handful 