Archive for 'Uncategorized'
San Lorenzo Posted by Serena on Aug 11, 2009
Ieri era San Lorenzo (yesterday it was San Lorenzo’s day) and questa notte (last night), as is traditional here in Italy, I went out looking for una stella cadente (a shooting star). In fact la notte di San Lorenzo (San Lorenzo’s night) is also known as la notte delle stelle cadenti (the night of the…
Ricette Italiane col Basilico Posted by Serena on Aug 8, 2009
As promised, here are a couple of essential Italian recipes that contain il basilico (basil). The first one is the famous Pesto, which takes about 15 minutes to prepare. The quantities given below should make enough pesto for four to six (Italian!) people. You will need: 100g di foglie di basilico (100 grams of basil…
Il Basilico – L’Erba Regale Posted by Serena on Aug 2, 2009
It’s difficult to imagine Italian cuisine without il basilico (basil). The name basilico derives from the Greek word basilicòn which means ‘royal’, and in fact it was the Greeks themselves who introduced this most archetypal of Mediterranean herbs into Europe, importing it from its native habitat of India. For the Romans, besides being an important aromatic ingredient…
Ciliegie e Amarene Posted by Serena on Jul 21, 2009
Questa è stata un’ottima estate per molti tipi di frutta! This has been a great summer for many types of fruit! The first fruit to ripen in our village are le ciliegie (the cherries), which are fairly small and dark but very sweet, and they appear at the end of May. There are lots of cherry trees…
Tiramisu’: a healthy version! Posted by Serena on Jul 6, 2009
It’s time for another recipe, and as we are in the middle of a sultry summer here in Italy, in the period known as il solleone (the lion sun), what’s better than a nice, cool, refreshing dessert? Tiramisu’ is probably the best known Italian pudding in the world, but perhaps not many people are aware of the…
A visit to Portovenere Posted by Serena on Jun 15, 2009
Last week my husband, my uncle and I went for a day out to Portovenere, a little jewel on the Riviera di Levante (the Eastern Riviera) in Liguria. Portovenere is a medieval fishing village situated on the southern tip of the Golfo di La Spezia also known as Il Golfo dei Poeti (the Gulf of the Poets), which takes its name…
I Vivai di Pistoia Posted by Serena on May 28, 2009
Pistoia is probably one of the old Tuscan towns least visited by tourists, largely because of its rather industrial setting. However, the few intrepid, or ‘accidental’ tourists who penetrate the ‘cement jungle’ of the periphery, including the extremely misguided attempts at ‘modern’ architecture which my mother described on a recent visit as “una grande schifezza”, will…