briciole

quattro per sette ventotto / four times seven is twenty-eight

Recently, I tagged Marta, An Italian in the US, with the "six random things" meme, so it is quite fair that she returns the favor, with interest, in the form of 28 questions (that looks rather random to me) to answer. Since this will be a longish post, passo al sodo (I'll cut to the chase): 1. Last movie you saw in a theater? "The Band's Visit" (NY Times review) 2. What book are you reading? "La luna di carta" (The Paper Moon) by Andrea Camilleri (available in English translation). I am actually reading this Montalbano novel for the second time,... Read more →

torta Opéra / Opéra cake

When I read the name of the recipe for the May Daring Bakers' challenge, my reaction was a big question mark: what's an Opéra cake? What I learned was that it is a cake made up of five elements: a joconde to make the layers, a syrup to wet the joconde, a buttercream for filling (ripieno), a ganache or mousse for the top layer, and a glaze (glassa) over it. I read that and I started to enumerate all the possible ways in which things could go wrong for me. The result was TMTC (i.e., too many to count). Don't worry,... Read more →

gelato all'anice stellato / star anise ice cream

A little while ago, I had dinner with Marta, An Italian in the US, at her new place. In the kitchen, I saw a small bag of anice stellato and then and there I decided I would try and make gelato with it. I saw a few recipes where star anise was paired with vaniglia (vanilla) and that made sense, so I did the same. The basic plan was to use less vanilla than I usually do in my gelato alla vaniglia, infuse the milk with both vanilla and star anise, but keep the former for a longer time, to balance... Read more →

Edizione speciale: Novel Food #4 / Special Edition: Announcing Novel Food #4

I know what you are thinking: how did this happen? Do you mean it is almost summer? I believe it happened naturally and indeed, a new season is around the corner and that marks the return of Novel Food, the culinary/literary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I co-launched a few seasons ago. As in previous editions of the event, we are looking to find culinary inspiration in literary works. Hence, we are co-hosting the fourth edition of Novel Food, which makes it an event for all seasons. In case you missed the previous editions of the event and you... Read more →

porcellana / purslane (or porcelain)

From a December 1992 article in Agricultural Research: It's known as purslane - a plant that is a troublesome weed in many U.S. crops, especially vegetables. But recent research findings confirm that purslane is also a rich source of fatty acids, vitamin E, and other key nutrients - making it a prime candidate as a new vegetable crop. There are about 200 species of purslane, the common name for a group of plants known as Portulaca. Scientists have focused on one annual species, P. oleracea, found around the world and in all 50 states. It is known for its persistence -... Read more →

Cucina in California / California cuisine

My second contribution to Francesca's blog is my first restaurant review ever. The restaurant in question is Chez Panisse Café, located upstairs in the same building that houses the celebrated restaurant. Talking about Chez Panisse means talking about Alice Waters and her role in the the culinary history of North America, so you will find a bit of that in the post (which is in both Italian and English). Read more →

sei cose a caso / six random things

Peter of Detectives Beyond Borders tagged me with the "six random things about yourself" meme in this post. I hereby comply with the meme's request. Randomness does not really apply to this selection process, because I don't have a jar full of things about myself from which, with eyes covered, I can pick six items at random. Still, I tried to let chance (il caso) guide my choice (scelta), at least to some extent: I picked six things from my hyper-chaotic desk to tell you something about myself through them. As a child, I wanted to learn to bind books (rilegare... Read more →