Wild chili peppers - © Elisabetta Giacon 2020 - - By now I am sure, those of us who followed updated TV and radio news about the Corona Virus Scare, and those who received stay-well calls or messages from all over the world, will agree with me; we need a break from bad news in … Continue reading CHILI PEPPERS, CHOCOLATE MOLE AND TEXAS STYLE CHILI – FOR A CORONA VIRUS QUARANTINE DIET
Are you planning to celebrate Thanksgiving in Northern Italy? Take care of orders and ingredients at least a week before this year's 28th of November! Unless you live on an American base, or your hotel or "pensione" is run by Americans for Americans be aware that Italians serve turkey at Christmas and not at Thanksgiving! … Continue reading THANKSGIVING IN NORTHERN ITALY? PREPARE FOR IT! BEFORE THIS YEAR’S 28TH OF NOVEMBER
LA CIOCCOLATA DEI MISSIONARI - Bestiame, Frumento, e l'eredita' di Padre Kino nel Messico settentrionale e in Arizona - Storia e Ricette [Cover price Euros 22] This book authored by Elisabetta and published by Italian publisher Osiride features the passionate story of the Northern Italian missionary Padre Kino (Eusebio Chini) who between 1681 and 1711 … Continue reading LA CIOCCOLATA DEI MISSIONARI – Bestiame, frumento, e l’eredita’ di Padre Kino nel Messico settentrionale e in Arizona
Ferrara, once political center of the noble Este family, where Lucrezia Borgia daughter of Pope Alexander VI lived and was wife, mother and beloved duchess, has several places where to learn more about Northern Italian history and Italian regional cuisine. The city was also once the culinary test kitchen of Messisbugo, one of the most prominent … Continue reading FERRARA – CITY OF DUKES, DUCHESSES, COOKS, FOOD, CULTURE AND PALIO
Too often we take salt for granted, especially throughout Northern Italy where salt comes either from Alpine Mountains (salgemma) or from the Adriatic and Ligurian Sea (sale marino). It was not so during the Middle Ages; in fact, then it was called White Gold. Salt entered Northern Italian wealthy and poor households through merchants who … Continue reading AN ANCIENT EUROPEAN WAY OF SALT AND WINE
Large, medium, small, carved or sculptured, Halloween pumpkins have reached the Italian peninsula! "It's for fun..." say young Italians who like to dress up like witches, vampires, and zombies... On this I have often wondered how many of those young Italians actually realize that when they dress up as scary characters, ride the local Halloween … Continue reading HALLOWEEN’S PUMPKINS, ZOMBIES, OSS DE MORT AND AN AMERICAN THANKSGIVING IN ITALY
Washington D.C. is always interesting and exciting, whether the nation's capital is recovering from a wintery snowfall or preparing for an upcoming cherry blossom festival. WASHINGTON D.C.'s ANNUAL CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL: It all began between 1910 and 1912, during Taft's presidency, when Japanese Mayor Yokio Ozaki of Tokyo donated 3000 cherry trees to the nation's … Continue reading AN ALWAYS INTERESTING WASHINGTON D.C.
THE SOUND AND THE FURY BY WILLIAM FAULKNER (1928) ...Dilsey answered and ceased clattering the stove, but before she could cross the kitchen Mrs. Compson called her again, and before she crossed the dining room and brought her head into relief against the gray splash of the window, still again..."All right," Dilsey said. "All right, … Continue reading DILSEY, WILLIAM FAULKNER AND SOUTHERN BISCUITS
Home city to international shipping, to elegant coffee shops serving famous fine coffees, and to multilingual and multicultural people, today's Trieste has much to offer to visitors who travel by car, by cruise ship, or by train to see a region and city with Adriatic Baltic and Mediterranean ties. Regional capital of the Northern Italian … Continue reading TRIESTE – INTERNATIONAL PORT AND COFFEE CITY
Today's autonomous region of Trentino, part of Northern Italy along with a more northern portion of territory called Alto Adige, is a natural multicultural border territory between the Italic peninsula and the Germanic regions beyond the Alps. It has been this way ever since 1027 when the German Emperor Conrad II and the Holy Roman … Continue reading NORTHERN ITALIAN TRENTINO – A REGION OF GERMANIC ITALIAN HISTORY, LAKES, AND HEARTY DISHES
CULINARY ROOTS & RECIPES™ 