Living abroad in Italy is exciting and exhilarating. I met Mr. Italicano here. I have made extraordinary friends here. I started my business while living here. I love the challenges and adventure that each new day brings while living in il bel paese. I am grateful and I am thankful each day, yet…I miss Thanksgiving!
I miss the smells from the kitchen mingling with the sweet candles burning. I miss the chaotic sounds that fill the house: the clinking and clanking in the kitchen, kids laughter in the play room and lively shouts coming from the living room after a touchdown.
One of my favorite Thanksgiving Day foods of all time is thisCONTINUE READING
I absolutely adore hummus. It’s one of my favorite go-to recipes when I entertain guests as it’s the perfect appetizer for everyone: vegans, vegetarians, non vegetarians, lactose intolerant, gluten-free.
I also love having it in my fridge for a healthy snack or to garnish my dishes to instantly add a good source of vegetable protein :: proteina vegetale and fiber. In short, hummus rocks.
The word hummus is an Arabic word meaning “chickpea.”Do you know how to pronounce “chickpea” in Italian?Test your knowlege or learn a new word by watching this short video: CONTINUATE A LEGGERE
This poached monkfish with brown butter, lemon & caper sauce makes quite an elegant little dinner for two or a posh meal for a special party.
Monkfish :: coda di rospo is probably one of the ugliest fish around. With an enormous head and oversized mouth filled with razor sharp teeth it comes as no surprise that “sea devil” is another preferred name. Yet, what this grotesque fish lacks in beauty, it makes up for in its CONTINUE READING
On a side note, for all you Italian language learners out there, my title should really be “bruschette” because you change the “a” to an “e” to make it plural, yet I never know if it’s better to use the real word or the Americanized term so people get what I am talking about. Bruschetta=1,bruschette=more than one. Final note, the real way to pronounce bruschetta is like this: “brew—sket—ta”. Here’s a trick to remembering this pronunciation: “you are drinking a brew, when out jumps a skeleton from the closet who yells ta-da!” brew-sket-ta. Random, I know, but these little tricks help with remembering languages at the beginning, at least for me. 🙂
Back to those lovely little tomatoes I was telling you about. Italians are experts at growing and conserving tomatoes for the entire year. Some of the most popular ways to conserve tomatoes are CONTINUE READING
I love eating raw almonds by the handful, they are one of my favorite snacks. But, sometimes raw almonds aren’t satisfying enough. Sometimes I want something creamy and smooth, like almond butter, to spread on toast, mix into a delicious smoothie bowl or eat by the spoonful.
Peanut butter is finally found in most normal grocery stores in Italy (hurray!), but it’s hard to find other nut butters. Almond butter has a more delicate taste in respect to peanut butter and has more Omega 3 fatty acids that are important for a healthy heart. It is also high in vitamin E and magnesium. The only place that may have almond butter was a little organic store on the other side of town. So, I got on my bike and headed on a bumpy ride through the cobble stone streets. When I saw the little glass jar my eyes lit up, I grabbed it off the shelf and caught a glimpse at the price: 10euros! What? The jar was tiny. Miniscule. I checked out the ingredient label: almonds and cane sugar. Sugar…sugar…sugar….Ugh. Enough with putting sugar in everything! It was settled. I would make it myself.
Although the bag of organic raw almonds still cost meCONTINUE READING
One of my favorite Thanksgiving Day foods of all time is this CONTINUE READING
