We’ve been playing hide and seek for six months now with Luigi’s molars. Every few weeks he gets the telltale rash, starts drooling to beat the band and gets irritable. But then, the symptoms disappear and still no molars. At his age, some kids already have molars and are even starting to get their canine [...]
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Dear Diary…
Many, many years ago, when I was a senior in high school (and it is truly many, many years ago), my AP English teacher assigned us a daily diary. Every day we were expected to write something in our diaries and she would periodically collect them. Now, this was a lot of work for her [...]
At least once a year
Yesterday was All Saints’ Day, a holiday here in Italy. Traditionally on this day, people head to the cemetery to leave flowers on the graves of their loved ones who have passed on. Many may do this only once a year, using the holiday to travel to their hometown. Some have many stops to make, [...]
Pasta with speck
When I first saw “speck” on a pizza menu on my first trip to Italy I had to wonder just what in the world it was. After all, the word isn’t Italian at all. Of course, I had to try it too and was pleasantly surprised to find a dry, smoked ham. Fast forward to [...]
White fish with olives and capers
When I eat fish, I tend to prefer it cooked rather simply – baked or grilled, or even sauteed. It’s fairly common to cook fish in tomato sauce around here which is tastier than I expected it to be, but I wanted to jazz it up a bit, so I added some olives and capers. [...]
The Pigeon House
Back in January we moved into our present apartment and we love it. It’s much bigger, has lots of light, stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter, etc. There’s just one problem. (Cue ominous music now). This building. It’s right in front of our place. Now, we’re on the fourth floor (and [...]
Take me to the fair
Up until the age of 8 or 9, growing up in the greater Philadelphia area, I really didn’t know much about fairs, but then we moved to a more rural area where there were county fairs every year, namely the Greene-Dreher Sterling Fair and the Wayne County Fair. I remember looking forward to them every [...]
Tomato-Bread Salad
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that during the hot weather the last thing I want to do is cook or even eat something hot. When you add that in together with a glut of tomatoes and some day-old Italian bread you come up with a dish that’s simple and tasty. According to [...]
That’s good stuff
We headed out to the “farm” the other day to pick some tomatoes. I use the term “farm” loosely because it’s just our piece of land outside of town where we have some fruit and olive trees and where we have our vegetable garden. The plans are to put in a more extensive garden and [...]
What’s cooking…Bow Tie Pasta with Parsley Walnut Pesto
I have to admit that the first time I ever tasted pesto I thought it was pretty nasty. Of course, it was some pre-made stuff and who knows what they put in there. Even over here the pre-made stuff has odd ingredients in it. True pesto is pretty simple: basil, garlic, oil, pine nuts and [...]
