12 Dec Garlic and Sapphires
No matter how ravenously, how fervently my howling stomach begged for food, my hands were submissively glued to Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise....
Food Writing
11 Dec Truffled Dreams
Like many Americans, my first encounter with something called truffles was of rich and decadent chocolaty sweets. As a child, I craved those little nuggets of luscious chocolate, perhaps because they were forbidden to me, as I then had low blood sugar....
11 Dec Out of the Mouths of Babes
I was born in late 1960s Italy, when the economy was booming and people had forgotten the ravages of war and their rural past....
08 Nov Making Peace with Polenta
Going to my aunt and uncle’s lake house meant a lot to me as a child. It meant that summer was finally at an end, school would be starting in a matter of hours, and I would be facing a dish of polenta before the sun went down....
28 Oct Blessed Are the Cheesemakers
Pour yourself a glass of tawny port and plate a wedge of your favorite blue cheese, and settle in to enjoy a sumptuous, magical novel about the many shades of love — and the delicious sensory experience — involved in making world-renowned cheese....
11 Oct Ruminations on Roots
We here in America have deep roots which extend all over the world; we have brought our roots with us and transplanted them in the fertile soil of the west, and continue to explore them. ...