What a wonderful find! I spent the last week perusing through my latest cookbook addition, Cooking with Italian Grandmothers, by Jessica Theroux. Jessica spent a year traveling around Italy, cooking with Italian women that were recommended to her as she traveled the country. The book nourishes the soul as she shares recipes and wisdom from a disappearing generation of women whose cooking is steeped in simple traditions based on an appreciation of and connection to their land and its rhythms.

Continue reading From Our Bookshelf: Vincenzo’s Broccoli and Pine Nut Pasta (Cooking with Italian Grandmothers) at Our Italian Table.

Ahhh, there is nothing quite like those first warm days of the season; that first meal prepared outside on the grill as the warmth of those first spring days fade to evening….with a black bear peering over your shoulder, perhaps. (Huh? A black bear?) Well – yesterday our local friendly policeman drove up my driveway to alert me that there was a black bear sighting very close to my house  – a mere 100 or so feet from my comfy patio.  

Continue reading From our bookshelf: Grilled Halibut with Salsa Verde (‘Seafood alla Siciliana’ Cookbook) at Our Italian Table.

I have followed Frances Mayes since I read that first chapter in ‘Under The Tuscan Sun’ in 1996. Her incredible writings transport you to hills of Tuscany (and beyond) as if you were harvesting olives or sipping wine or preparing dinner alongside she and her lovely cast of family and friends. I have read and re-read her books earmarking recipes that I then re-create at home. I was so very excited to hear that she was publishing a cookbook compiling her favorite Tuscan recipes.

Continue reading From our Bookshelf: Spaghetti with Lemon and Crab (The Tuscan Sun Cookbook) at Our Italian Table.