One of our favorite things to do in Bari is eat fish. Domenico’s family’s home hangs out over the port, and as his mother often repeats: “siamo gente di mare,” we are people of the sea. She always te...
There is never a trip I can’t turn into an excuse to buy food. Istanbul, London, Barcelona. You name the city, and I will find a place to buy food within hours of landing.The same goes for places tha...
I recently discovered a new blog (at least new to me) in a round about way. I got a very sweet email from someone in Connecticut who was headed to Rome on his honeymoon. He wanted to surprise his new...
My favorite time of year. Roses at their peak, and tiny baby fruit just starting to form. I didnt think there could possibly be any cooking angle to this post (only pretty pictures), but my friend Ju...
This past weekend when we were in Bari, we took a walk through Bari Vecchia, the old part of town. Even though Bari Vecchia is a warren of small alleys, dead end streets and passages, I pretty much t...
One of the saddest pieces of news I’ve had in recent years was when I heard that Salavatore Denaro’s restaurant in Foligno was closing. His Bacco Felice was our favorite restaurant in...........I was...
I usually write up my blog posts at least a few days or even a week before I hit the publish button. And I had a completely different post planned for today. One that was (as is my wont) a celebratio...
I love my job.I get to eat, travel and write about it. Life is good.But when an editor asks me if I want to go stay in Francis Ford Coppola’s new luxury hotel in Basilicata, even I have trouble belie...
I admit it. Pasta scares me. Not cooking pasta. And certainly not eating pasta. But making pasta. Scary. You’d think that after most of my life spent in Italy in the food world that I’d be flinging s...
When I was invited to visit Francis Ford Coppola’s new hotel, Palazzo Margherita, in Basilicata I said yes real fast. A no-brainer, right? Of course the main reason was the chance to be one of the fi...
Remember last week , when I used Swiss chard greens to make gnudi? I promised that I’d be cooking up the Swiss chard stalks too, and sharing the recipe. Promise kept. For dinner last week I made a qu...
One thing I’ve learned about myself over the years is that I always buy too much food. This is especially true for the weekends we head up to our house in Umbria. I end up loading the car with food h...
Even though some of my favorite cocktails are classics, I’m ALWAYS one to mess around with a good thing. Give me a dirty martini and I’ll make it even dirtier in new and wonderful ways that probably ...
Vignarola is one of my favorite Roman dishes. I have a feeling there are versions of a spring vegetable stew all over the world, but the Roman version - with peas, artichokes and fave beans - seems l...
I’m never one to make it to the opening night of a restaurant. Or the opening month for that matter. I have colleagues who rush to the newest place and seemingly blog about it on their way home. I’m ...
Just in case you were unduly shocked by yesterday’s post on roasting a lamb’s head, today’s recipe is something totally, absolutely and 100% animal free. While I can easily get excited and inspired b...
I’ve mentioned in the past that I really love getting gifts. Books, jewelry, scarves....it’s all good. But what I really love to get is food. While a box of chocolates is nice, it’s always better whe...
If you’re my friend on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, then you know I’ve been indulging my inner artichoke lately. Yes. I’m talking about artichoke porn.My daily dose of carciofyness - from me to ...
You know how you can get obsessed about something? A song running through your head that won’t stop? Well, Domenico got a sausage stuck in his head two years ago, and it just wouldn’t go away.When we...
Slow Food’s Salone del Gusto is one of the major events of the food world. It takes place in Torino every two years and brings together over 900 food producers from 130 countries. During this amazing...
Yesterday was Rome’s birthday. While the mega concert on Via dei Fori Imperiali and the fireworks above the Campidoglio were hard to miss, there was is one tradition - a few thousand years older - th...
Just in case you’ve missed them, I’ve written a few articles lately: Travel & Leisure: Europe’s Best Neighborhoods for Foodies: Monti: RomeFood & Wine: Go List 2012: Rome Restaurants New Tak...
You already know about my obsession for finding old fashioned bars or pastry shops that haven’t been horribly ‘renovated’. I hope you aren’t getting bored with these kinds of places? I’m not. Which i...
I used to be super organized when it came to the holidays. Back in the pre-internet days, I would be ripping out magazine articles from special themed issues of Bon Appetit, Gourmet and Saveur a year...
Sometimes the best things to eat are the simplest. Good bread and great olive oil. The perfect steak, simply grilled. An August tomato, sliced with just a bit of salt.You know what I’m talking about....
While up in Florence for Taste a few weeks ago, a magazine asked me to be on the look out for travel stories. You know, new up-and-coming places to go to, things to see. My friend, (and incidentally ...
Sometimes I worry that I write about my own neighborhood too much. Is it that I’m lazy? That I don’t get out much? No. I do get out, and very far away , and quite often. It’s just that there’s an awf...
After all of the artichoke photos I’ve been posting on Facebook and Twitter for the last couple of weeks, I’m finally getting around to a recipe. But really. I couldn’t help myself with the picture t...
One of the most frequent questions I get - on my apps Eat Rome and Eat Florence, on this blog and over at Chowhound where I give free advice - is where can a vegetarian get a good meal? While many as...
Although I often complain about new things replacing old, I’m always happy when something brilliant AND new comes along. When I lead my Food Tours, I often have to gloss over the stores and vendors t...
You are no longer following . Undo?