Newsletter recipients and Facebook fans will remember my recent Limoncello Challenge – where I took two extreme steeping rules and put them to the test. And I have to say … the results were surprising. To fully tell this story, I need to go back to when I first tried the homemade limoncello that knocked...Read More
Many of the greatest things in southern Italy are better experienced with a car. It’s true whether it is because you can see hard-to-reach ruins or castles, because you can experience the driving culture on our beautiful, albeit sometimes perilous southern Italian roadways or whether it is because a car offers travelers a certain freedom...Read More
I’m gearing up for my first Calabrian Easter celebration with my new bambino. Yes, my husband and I have done the traditional American Easter Basket vs. Italian Chocolate Egg thing in the past and we’re planning on continuing our Easter traditions, plus one. The weather is warming up and if it holds, we’ll spend an...Read More
Five years ago today I embarked on an adventure that would change the course of my life. Dramatic any? Oh yea. But it is also true. Five years ago today-on April 18, 2006-I bid a tearful goodbye to my mom, dad, sister, nephew and a culmination of 30 years of life as I’d known it....Read More
Although this is technically my fifth December in the bel paese, I’ve only celebrated New Years in Italy once … three years ago, where the Prosecco flowed like, well, Prosecco, our happy feet overtook the dance floor and Italian “Bingo” and Karaoke filled the evening leading up to the explosive fireworks that overtook our little...Read More
It’s Black Friday and nothing says Christmas like leftover turkey sandwiches, shopping lists and Christmas-season bargains … yes, even here in southern Italy. No, no, our Thanksgiving was quiet this year … just a small lunch with a couple of friends, and with any luck by the time you read this post, I’ll be at...Read More
I started this post last week as part of the “My Favorite Things” series on traditions I love in Southern Italy, but old memories kicked in and well, that post got long. So, last week I told you about my first aperitivo in Calabria and today I’m going to elaborate on the “Aperitivo Experience,” something...Read More
I’ve been running down the list of some of my favorite southern Italian traditions and have covered the long, leisurely lunch and the nightly passeggiata. Today, we’re returning to the table, but before I tell you about this pre-meal, appetite-inducing tradition, I need to go back-five or six years, actually, and tell you about my...Read More
A couple of weeks ago I started really thinking about the things I love in Calabria. I wrote about my favorite meal-time experience … the long, leisurely lunch and today, I’d like to talk about what we do after that. And no, I don’t mean sleeping (although that is a pretty handy southern Italian tradition,...Read More
I’ve been in Italy more than four years and lately I’ve noticed I’ve started to take some of my favorite things for granted. Oh, I still appreciate mountain views and still get tingly when I see Stromboli from our friends’ house across the province. But some of my favorite traditions, especially the southern Italian food...Read More
