Getaway to the Biloxi Coast
It's cool and pleasant here in Lexington, Kentucky and if we hadn't just spent several days on the beautiful coast of Mississippi we would have enjoyed the lovely weather. But my sister in law and I have just returned from our first visit to the wonderful white sandy...
The Hope Farm: Setting the Bar High
It’s not often that I find a restaurant so inspiring that I want to publish a feature article about it. On my most recent trip to visit my 104 year old Aunt Jule in Fairhope, I had the pleasure of exploring The Hope Farm. It was pure luck that I found this James Beard...
Curiosities From My Cellar
In 1994 I was invited to the Annual Blessing of the Grapes at the Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville. Robert and his sons Tim and Michael escorted their guests into the To Kalon Vineyard next to the winery, where we drank some of the previous vintage of Fumé Blanc,...
Turin: The Vermouth Capital of the World
Vermouth is an aromatized fortified wine, flavored with various roots, barks, flowers, seeds, herbs and spices. The most usual herbs are yarrow, chamomile, hyssop, marjoram, sage, and thyme; the spices: cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, juniper, ginger,...
Grenache Grenade
Normally not a fan of rosé, I was pleasantly surprised by the power of this Grenache rosé whose terracotta tint hints at its deeper flavor. Winemaker Jeff Emery of Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard feels that “Rhone varieties pushed into cooler California growing regions...
Simple Pleasures
Five of us recently spent an overnight at a friend’s apartment on the top of Russian Hill in San Francisco. In the morning we trekked down the Broadway steps to China Town and North Beach, where we foraged for appetizers at Molinari’s delicatessen. We came away with...
Limoncello: Italy’s most popular Digestivo
In almost all family-run trattorias in Rome and in southern Italy, when the restaurateur presents the bill at the end of the meal, he or she offers the guests a choice of digestivi. These are after dinner drinks meant to help digestion. Many, like grappa from...
Tasting Catalunya
In that moment, savoring, reveling, and taking in the accompanying menu and literature, we spied an upcoming club trip to Catalonia, Spain in June 2022. We were offered Albariño and Tempranillo, then, without pause, we joined Club Marimar and signed up for an adventure in Spain!
Aging Gracefully
When I visit my cellar in this time of pandemic, I look fondly on all of those old wines that I'd like to consume before my untimely demise. There's not a lot to do outside of the home during a pandemic, which has been a boon to the alcoholic beverage industry, and...
Anteprime Sagrantino e Amarone
ANTEPRIMAS AND ALPINI A SHORT PREFACE I took the train from Verona to Umbria to attend Anteprima [preview of] Sagrantino. People in the train wore masks over their noses and mouths and the air was infused with the fierce lemony-sweet scent of handwash. Hushed voices...
Getaway to the Biloxi Coast
It's cool and pleasant here in Lexington, Kentucky and if we hadn't just spent several days on the beautiful coast of Mississippi we would have enjoyed the lovely weather. But my sister in law and I have just returned from our first visit to the wonderful white sandy...
WHEN IN ROME, WHERE TO EAT LIKE A ROMAN
From the ancient Romans we’ve inherited the basis for modern civil law and city planning, a standard coinage, a system of weights and measures, plumbing, aqueducts, bridges, …and delicious food, represented best by pasta especially spaghetti alla carbonara or cacio...
Photo & Food and More in Verona
On January 27, 2007 the genial and indefatigable Piemontese entrepreneur Oscar Farinetti opened his first mega food store of exclusively Italian food products, Eataly, in Torino; now they are in 46 locations in 15 countries with several more in the planning stages. In...
Torrone’s Story: Italy’s Favorite Christmas Candy
When and where was torrone first created? No one knows for certain. Some connoisseurs say Persia; others Arabia; and still others China. A clue lies in its list of ingredients, which is short and sweet: almonds, honey, sugar, and egg white, although other nuts...
The History of Pumpkin Pie
THE HISTORY OF PUMPKIN PIE Pumpkin pie, an international symbol of harvest time, is a favorite dessert, especially in the United States and Canada, but also in Northern Italy, between Halloween and Christmas. Its custardy filling flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon,...
A NEW ERA FOR SLOW FOOD
The International Slowfood Movement was founded in 1986 by Carlo Petrini, political activist, journalist, author, and publisher, as a protest against the newly-opened McDonald’s near Rome’s elegant Piazza di Spagna, the first fastfood restaurant in Italy. Today the...
ROSSANO BOSCOLO: CHEF, HOTELIER, TEACHER, and COLLECTOR
Born in Chioggia in 1956, the second of chef/hotelier Bruno Boscolo’s five sons, Rossano is a chef, pastry chef, hotelier, professor, and collector of kitchenware and cookbooks, as well as the founder/owner of “Garum”: The Library/Museum of Food, inaugurated on May...
HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY “BACI”!
“Baci” Perugina chocolates, a genuine Made-In-Italy icon, are celebrating their 100th birthday this year. “Baci” means “kisses” and their birth and history is the product of a secret love story between their creator Luisa Spagnoli and businessman and politician...
THE LENTEN COOKBOOK
During the past five years The Sophia Institute Press has published three cookbooks, The Vatican Cookbook (2016, $34.95), Cooking with the Saints (April 2019, $34.95), and The Vatican Christmas Cookbook (September, 2020, $34.95). I’ve reviewed all three for...
Fast & Fabulous: low sodium, high fiber, fresh vegetable lasagna with parsnip purée
Recipes in this arena abound but you won't find one that substitutes parsnip purée for half the ricotta! This ups the fiber while lending the cheese sauce a nutty heartiness.The parsnips will need to be cooked and mashed; adding fennel and caraway seeds to the boiling...
TREVISO’S RADICCHIO ROSSO: THE VENETO’S WINTER VEGETABLE
TREVISO’S RADICCHIO ROSSO: THE VENETO’S WINTER VEGETABLE Treviso isn’t a destination on a traveler’s first itinerary to Italy, but only a half-hour train ride from La Serenissima it’s definitely worth a day-trip especially enjoyable for medievalists, poets, and...
MERRY CHRISTMAS AT NEW YORK’S MORGAN LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Traditionally every holiday season the Morgan Library displays Charles Dickens’s only original manuscript of his novella A Christmas Carol. In drastic financial straits Dickens wrote the five “staves” or chapters of this iconic tale over six weeks at the end of...
Practical Tips for Holy Year Pilgrims to Rome
In 1300 Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the first ordinary Jubilee or Holy Year, with the Papal Bull, “Antiquorum Habet Fida Relatio.” Since then, they have taken place either every 50 or every 25 years. 2025’s Holy Year is the 27th. It will begin on Christmas...
Via Appia Antica: Directions, Sights, and Gastronomy
THE APPIAN WAY: DIRECTIONS, SIGHTS, and GASTRONOMYOn July 31 UNESCO proclaimed the Via Appia or Appian Way Italy’s 60th World Heritage Site. Running about 300 miles south to Brindisi, originally paved with large lozenge-shaped basalt cobblestones, and lined with...
JEWISH ROME: EUROPE’S OLDEST COMMUNITY
Today, Rome’s Jewish population counts some 15,000 people and a dozen Orthodox synagogues. The liturgy of the largest and ornate Il Tempio Maggiore follows the Orthodox Italki rite as practiced by Italian Jews since early Roman times. In fact, Jews have lived in...
VISIT VENICE, BUT YOU MAY NEED TO REGISTER FIRST
On March 19 Sergio Mattarella, The President of Italy, inaugurated the new headquarters of the Foreign Press Association in what had been the Roman residence of former Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi. Some three weeks later the key speaker at the Foreign...
Getaway to Fabulous Virginia Beach
My sister in law and I entered our wonderful hotel room at the luxurious Hyatt Virginia Beach and walked over to the beach view from the window. The curtain were closed so we opened them and our mouths literally dropped open at the fabulous view. We knew our room was...
Memorial Day Missive
Travel, even Epicurean travel, will inevitably lead you to some somber places. I have been to Normandy in search of Calvados and cheese only to find myself visiting World War II battlefields and cemeteries. I explored Manila and came upon another sobering military...
The Vatican Museums Extend Their Summer Hours
On April 14th, in the late afternoon, the press office of the Vatican Museums sent out notice to Vatican-accredited journalists stating that again this year, for the tenth season, the Museums would be extending their hours on Friday and Saturday evenings until October...
Laura Bosetti Tonatto: Italy’s Most Famous “Nose”
You are a "nose"; what exactly does that mean? "Nose" is a nickname for a perfume maker; a person gifted with a particularly developed sense of smell, who is capable of combining mentally different smells to create unique essences and perfumes. A "nose" is both an...