Let's play catch-up!

No lame excuses. Let's just say that life got in the way of me typing 'round here.

The one thing that made me the most tickled was receiving my first check from examiner.com, where I have written about Italian food for months and months. With that money, I bought things that I have wanted forever!

I am truly allergic to buying single-use kitchen items, since I already am in dire need of space, but I decided to splurge with my examiner.com spoils, so here's what I got:

Pasta drying rack. I love it. Now, instead of draping my pasta onto floured counters, and then getting covered in flour myself, I can now neatly hang my pasta, and save on precious counter space.

Analog scale. I love this. It has a copious bowl, and it shall be filled with pasta flour.... oh yes it will.

Pizzelle press. Awwww yeah. I plan on making my first batch this very weekend. My house will smell like waffle cones. Who wants to come over?


Three tier cooling rack. This also will help with precious counter space. I can put my pizzelle on here to cool off, and this will come in handy for Christmas cookie baking time.

A really nice apron. I have needed one forever, as my oil spattered clothing can testify to. I look like such a pro now!

I still need/want eleventy million other things, but this will hold me for the moment. So happy!

Tuscan dreams

The radio bores me to distraction these days. It seems that the only artists that get any air time are Lady Gaga and that Beiber kid. No thanks.

So, the other day when I was at the lovely main branch of the library, I perused the books on CD section. I settled on Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. I enjoyed the movie based on the book, so I figured it was a good choice.

Thanks to this book, I am completely enjoying my drives to and from work. Sometimes I take a longer route just to listen about her farmhouse renovation, the lovely markets she describes, and the fantastic dishes she creates in her humble kitchen, using the simplest, freshest ingredients that I absolutely covet.

When she goes into the formaggeria, the cheese monger knows (before the even orders) that she prefers the buffalo mozzarella over the cow version. Oh to have that sort of relationship, and the products that she has just over the hill in Cortona makes me positively jealous.

Her imagery takes me back to when I went to school in Italy, in Perugia, which is not far at all from Cortona. I remember walking down the block to the pizzeria and ordering my favorite pizza with funghi and prosciutto. It was cracker thin with lovely flavorful ingredients, and I washed it down with my favorite orange Fanta. Perfection.

I am so glad I am reading this in the summer, because if I read this in the winter, when good, local fresh vegetables are non-existent, I would be positively depressed. I have decided that, since it is summer, I will go to the Farmers Market for the bulk of my shopping, and only visit the big box grocery when absolutely necessary. And, since I'll be so close to Germantown, I'll hop on over to Lazzaroli pasta for some lovely fresh mozzarella, and whatever else tickles my culinary fancies.

I can't wait for the clock to read 5:00, so I can get back to my audio book. I'm at the halfway point!

Summer time...and the livin' is easy

Oh hi hello dearest blog. I have missed you, and I will try to feed you with more words. Let's see...where to start. My cooking classes are on summer recess. It is just too hot outside to be in a kitchen. And there are far to many lovely country roads that me and my husband want to find in his convertible. I will be starting up my classes once again when the weather is more temperate - in the Fall.

I have been thoroughly enjoying the bounty of produce at the Nashville Farmers Market. Seriously I do not know how I will bring myself to buy my fruits and veg in a big box grocery store again. I bought the most pristine eggplant at the Market the other Saturday, and I made (what I called) a deconstructed ratatouille with it, served over brown rice. But don't worry, I had ice cream for dessert, to balance out the healthiness of my meal.

When I go to the Farmers Market, I also go to Lazzaroli Pasta, just a hop and a skip away from the Market in Germantown. The proprietor has the loveliest home made pasta, pizza dough, salami and cheeses. It makes my soul smile. I picked up some doppio zero flour for future pasta creations, and a bag of Italian pretzels, known as taralli. But, my main reason for visiting them on a Saturday is very important.

She makes mozzarella on Saturdays.

Have you ever had freshly made, warm mozzarella? It is a gorgeous thing. All I do is slice it and dress it with freshly cracked black pepper, and perhaps a drizzle of a good balsamic olive oil.

There is also a fantastic appetizer that I make with fresh mozzarella, that I call an Italian quesadilla. It is so simple. You heat up a large skillet with two tablespoons of canola oil. Place a flour tortilla in the oil once it is hot, and then add slices of fresh mozzarella to cover, but try not to get too close to the edges of the tortilla. Add a dash of salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Continue cooking until the mozzarella begins to melt, and then add a second tortilla, and flip it over in the pan, so that the tortilla you just added to the pan is now on the bottom. This is why it is important to let your mozzarella melt before you flip. Once the bottom tortilla gets golden on the edges, remove the Italian quesadilla to a cutting board, and cut it into wedges, and serve. It is so crispy, creamy and perfect, that you may be tempted to smack your guests hands away if they dare to take a wedge, but don't. Sharing is a Kindergarten principle y'all.

Where did April go?

I cannot believe we are almost to the end of April. What a busy month. I taught two classes of lovely, happy, hungry students. The April menu was as follows:

White bean dip with vinegar-spiked pita wedges
Chicken Francese
Carrots with parsley and garlic
Panna cotta

All of these recipes can be found on examiner.com. Today's recipe is for a lovely fresh spaghetti with pesto sauce. So so good!

Speaking of basil....I went absolutely wild a few weeks ago buying herbs. My dear husband and I were at the Nashville fairgrounds for an event, and I noticed that the Herb Society was having a sale. So, when we were done with our event, we visited the Herb Society sale, and breathed deeply. It smelled positively gorgeous in that building! Mark grabbed an empty flat, and I started filling it with three varieties of basil, oregano, chives, lemon thyme, lavender, sage, mint, and I even picked up catnip for Scooter the cat. I have made some very pretty meals with the bounty now potted on my deck.

Ahhhh this weekend. Although it is supposed to rain, Saturday is a day where there is no agenda. Therefore, I feel the need to make something fantastic. But what? Oh I think some fresh pasta will be on the menu, but I as to the main course I have no idea. Something to ponder.

So let's talk about May! My May classes will be all about fresh pasta! The menu will be as follows:

Bruschetta
Fresh farfalle (bowtie) pasta with tomato vodka sauce
Fresh crab ravioli in a creamy shallot sauce
Zabaglione with fresh berries

I will be offering classes on May 15 and May 29, starting at 10:30 a.m. Price is $45 per person, or $35 if you are a member of the Little Black Dress Club. First come, first served!

Pasta pasta pasta!

I've been having so much fun making pasta! Yesterday I went to the grocery store, and perused the pasta aisle. I didn't pick up any dried pasta, because I knew I could make a more delicious product in my very own kitchen.


I've written articles about my pasta creations, and I can't stress just how easy it really is, as long as you start with the correct flour to egg ratio. Italians are on the metric system, so it seems natural to me to think of the ratio in grams. 100 grams of flour to one egg equals one serving of pasta. So, if you are making pasta for four, simply bump up your flour for 400 grams, and four eggs. You place your flour on a working surface, like a board, make a well in the center, and crack the eggs into the well. Scramble the eggs, incorporating flour from the walls of the well, until you have something you can work with your hands. Then you just knead, knead, knead until you have a smooth ball of dough. Wrap the dough in cling film, place in the fridge for 20 minutes, and your dough is ready!

You will need a pasta machine of course. Please don't get those plastic atrocities. Invest in a lovely metal, hand-crank pasta machine. Mine is made by Marcato Atlas, and I love it.
Hello my lovely!

Once you have your pasta cranked into thin sheets, you can make whatever shape you want. I decided to make farfalle (bowties) above, and I served it with a delicious pesto sauce.

My next classes are pasta heavy, so I cannot wait to teach my happy, hungry students how fun and rewarding it is to make your own pasta!

Goodwill hunting

I love going to the Goodwill store. I call it "going on safari," because it is like a hunt, and you never know what you will find.


My mother went to Goodwill this past weekend, and she picked up a cookbook for me. It is a fabulous, old-school Italian cookbook. All of the classics are there, but that's not the great thing about it.


There is humanity in the book.


The previous owner obviously used the cookbook, because there was a torn out recipe from a flour sack for a spice cake, an old business card for a realtor in Las Vegas, perhaps used as a place holder to get back to the pollo fritto recipe (fried chicken). Who wouldn't want to make that?


But I'm saving the best for last. This picture was also in the cookbook:

This polaroid was sandwiched between the recipes for Broccoli Florentine and Manicotti Tuscan Style. I wonder .... were they the cookbook owner's Nonni (Grandparents)? Did they perhaps send this to the owner, after moving to Las Vegas for the warmer climate? Did he ever remove that hat?


Were the cookbook owners Nonni like my Nonni? Did they accuse each other of cheating when they played cards or Rummikub? Did her Nonna hate onion? Did her Nonno do crazy things to make the famliy laugh? Mine did, and I am so thankful for the random memories.


On the back of the polaroid, someone wrote "Gess hoo" in phonetic English, just like my Nonna Rita would have done. So, I will keep the polaroid, comfortably nestled in the Tuscany section, between the Broccoli Florentine and the Manicotti Tuscan Style. I'm "gessing" that's where they would like to be.

Boot is off....gloves are on!

I am so so glad I can now wear a whole pair of shoes now, rather than a walking cast and a shoe. I feel liberated, although I am still careful about making sure my left calf muscle is adequately stretched before walking for any distance.

And I am so so happy that I can finally get back to cooking properly in my kitchen, although I have enjoyed the soups and panini I have made...I am now extremely tired of quick cuisine.

I have my first cooking class since my injury coming up this weekend, and I am completely looking forward to it. We're going to make some classics, and my kitchen is going to smell like heaven!

With the spring weather, I have been giving thought to bringing my herb garden to life once again. It is such a joy to go out to the patio and snip whatever herbs I need for cooking. After my class on Saturday, I plan on getting herbs and dirt, and shall transform my patio into something lovely with green sprouts. Can't wait!

Thankfully, although I haven't been able to properly cook, I had an arsenal of delicious, well-loved recipes to share on Examiner. Stop by if you haven't already!