briciole

Hearthstone

the forest is my home because that's where my heart is Tomorrow, June 1, is National Trails Day and this is my invitation to go hit a trail, tomorrow and any day you can. I will probably go on one of my favorite trails in the East Bay, the Seaview Trail. In the meantime, today, I share an image from Humboldt Redwoods State Park, one of my favorite places in California (and the whole world). The beautiful landmark in the photo has an illustrious history: The California Federation of Women's Clubs Grove, located on the Avenue of the Giants 3 miles... Read more →

Pasta Please: il riepilogo / the roundup

It's time to showcase the pasta dishes that I have received as contributions to the May edition of Pasta Please, a pasta-centric event created by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes. The theme I chose was homemade pasta. Readers of this blog know that for the past year I have been on a mission to explore handmade pasta shapes from the Italian tradition. My wish in choosing the theme was to invite food bloggers to experiment with pasta dough at home. I was delighted to see that a number of them accepted the invitation. For each contribution, I will give you the official... Read more →

sagne incannulate con lenticchie al sugo / with lentils in tomato sauce

elegant shape I am not surprised that the authors of the book "Pasta by Design" were fascinated by the geometric shape of sagne incannulate. This pasta from Puglia, also called lasagne arrotolate and lagane incannulate, starts as a strip of pasta dough and ends as a long spiral that keeps its shape during cooking. On this page, you can see some lasagne arrotolate. Reading the description in Orietta Zanini De Vita's Encyclopedia of Pasta made me search for additional information and then run to the kitchen to make some eggless pasta dough. Zanini De Vita mentions the use of a round... Read more →

Snapdragon & Banana Split

Snapdragon Look closely at the kinetic sculpture and you will recognize things that in your house have residence in the kitchen. Eureka artist Duane Flatmo used them creatively for the joy of the crowd gathered as usual on the Arcata Plaza to watch the start of the Kinetic Grand Champioship the Saturday before Memorial Day. (Note: for the name of the sculpture, I followed the artist's words in the caption to this photo on his Facebook page). Race aficionados have come to expect fireworks (figuratively and literally) from Flatmo. This recent article shows some of his drawings that have become actual... Read more →

kifli / panini ungheresi / Hungarian bread rolls

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] my version of kifli When we start a new chapter of our trip across Europe using the alphabet and visit a country I have never been to, it's like arriving in an unknown city and researching a place to eat. I usually start with the wikipedia article on the nation's cuisine and see if anything catches my attention. In the case of Hungary (Ungheria), our current stop, my eyes were immediately drawn to the photo of crescent rolls on this page. Another wikipedia page told me a bit more about kifli and... Read more →

Black and White Wednesday: la galleria di foto / the photo gallery

Many thanks to all who illuminated my week by contributing their images to edition #84 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event. And a big thank you to Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook who created the event and to Cinzia of Cindystar who is now organizing it. Enjoy this week's show! Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums: Port And Cheese Straws Make Jack A Happy Man Sandra of ...indovina che viene a cena?: Fried Flowers Claire of Chez Cayenne: Tomatoes and Garlic Meena of Encourage Spice: Empty Bowl Haalo of Cooking Almost Anything: Merinda Pomodori Cinzia of Cindystar: New... Read more →

scone alle carote arrosto / roasted carrot scones

with the first pink rose from my garden I have sometimes thought about the menu of my own small café. I don't believe it will ever exist outside my imagination, but I enjoy adding to the list something that I think would go well there, like these scones — or the ones with red beet, apple and pistachios I made recently. I love scones, I always have, from the day, many years ago, when I tasted my first one during my first visit to the UK. They are flavorful and not sweet, nourishing and versatile. They prefer to charm you with... Read more →

pezze rigate / handmade pezze rigate

experimenting on the kneading board I am determined: One day, I will invent a new pasta shape. As an intermediate step, I have created an innovative variation of an existing pasta shape called fainelle. I decided to give my pasta a different name, because it is made quite differently from the inspiring one (see details below).1 According to my source, the "Encyclopedia of Pasta" by Oretta Zanini De Vita, fainelle are typical of Foggia (Puglia). The word fainella in dialect refers to the fruit of the carrob tree (in Italian, carruba), to which the pasta shape resembles. I was not able... Read more →

cartello al mercato / sign at the farmers' market

"I am a serious fellow" From my most recent visit to the Temescal Farmers' Market. If you are curious about the name Tomatero, you can read about it on this page. No tomatoes yet from Tomatero farm, but I bought strawberries. We ate some fresh and I roasted the rest to make frittata with roasted strawberries and strawberry lassi. This week, I have the honor of hosting Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event. created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar. Send your contribution at simosite AT mac DOT com, namely your... Read more →

Weekend Herb Blogging #383: il raccolto / the roundup

[cliccare il link per andare direttamente al raccolto della edizione italiana di WHB] As the host of last week's edition of WHB, I am pleased to present an interesting set of posts submitted by bloggers from various countries. For each contribution, I will give you the official information (author, blog name and post title) and a short quote or brief description that summarizes it, a teaser that invites you to follow the link to read the relevant post. Follow me: it will be an interesting tour. Janet of The Taste Space prepared a Mediterranean Beans atop Lemony Arugula "Contrasting the two... Read more →