I’ve been hearing about the Garden of Ninfa since I arrived in this part of Italy. It is a beautiful garden that thrives and blossoms on the ancient crumbling ruins of Ninfa, a settlement with a temple dedicated to Nymphs. Nymphs are mythological maidens said to inhabit beautiful mountain regions and lakes.
We live in Nettuno, a beach town one hour south of Rome. The only thing Italians love as much as sun tanning on the beach is sauntering up from their sun beds into the Borgo for a steaming plate of mussels and pasta.
I currently live in Italy and this recipe for Tiramisu has become my new “go to” recipe for making a dessert for company. It is prepared the day in advance, it’s easy and always a hit! Whenever we have guests arriving from the US we always make this dessert and it woos them everytime, but even my Italian friends love my recipe and rave about how authentic it is, high praise indeed!
This is a great warm Autumn salad, especially when you want all of your veggies but don’t want to eat something cold on those chilly days. The warm roasted cauliflower, spiced chick peas and creamy tahini dressing really will warm up your Fall menu!
I love living in Italy and trying ALL the delicious food that is available here. However, you can take the girl out of California but you can’t take the California out of the girl. I am used to a multi-cultural cuisine and I still get a serious craving for food that is NOT Italian. Tonight I am craving Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef Salad!
I love the taste of Almond Roca and its so easy to make! I decided to whip up a batch for those moments when you just want something sweet but don’t want to commit to eating an entire dessert. I’ve made this Almond Roca three times since I have been here in Italy. One time it was to give away to friends in small gift bags and all of the girls loved it! Italian don’t really have this type of candy so it’s a real novelty!
I’m still trying to catch on to the true “Italian Style” of cooking and it often eludes me. I especially have been baffled on what to make as a “Secondi Piatti” or Second Course when I have people over for dinner. This Saturday morning I walked to my local grocery store around the corner and was amazed at the spectacular choices available and it dawned on me that I have been shopping at the wrong time! Saturday lunch is traditionally the biggest family meal of the week.
Italy has started to whisper her secrets to me, I am starting to peel back the layers of the onion and learn what it means to cook the Italian way. “Sto imparando, piano, piano” (I am learning, slowly, slowly)
Most of us in the United States don’t know much about the Cotswolds, instead when we think of a holiday in Great Britain we think of Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and Big Ben. If we think of the countryside we rush off to Bath or Stonehenge without a passing thought of a beautiful place called the Cotswolds.
So our three months in Italy has come to end much too soon. We have felt the temperatures drop as late summer became autumn and now autumn is turning to winter. The summer clothes have been safely stowed away until once again we are imagining ourselves frolicking on the beaches and strolling through town in flip flops. We have replaced those days with sweaters and boots and hats and scarfs. We are learning how to dry clothes without a dryer when they no longer dry on the line. Now we hang them on the wall heaters and heated towel racks and hope for the best.
