Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it’s all about food. Wait, okay…I take that back – it’s about giving thanks FOR the food. And family. And health. And anything else that makes your heart swell on this truly American holiday. We eat and drink…that’s it! No gifts, no religion. I love cooking the meal […]

Easter is the most important holy feast in the Christian religion and comes 40 days after Lent when we give up something we enjoy as a form of penance.  And in Italy, there are more than 3,000 celebrations from the north to the south including processions, religious rites, sacred representations, festivals and folk traditions. Entire villages […]

There’s a terrific cooking school in New York, the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), which along with its professional culinary program, offers hundreds of recreational cooking classes.  I’ve  enjoyed every class I’ve taken, but my favorite ones are Italian (surprise!). And my favorite Italian cooking instructor is Daniel Rosati who in addition to teaching at […]

Here in the Veneto, we celebrate the Epiphany with an ages old traditional bonfire called “panevin”. “Pan e vin” is local dialect which means “pane e vino” in Italian, and  “bread and wine” in English. The origins of panevin are rooted in the Christian faith and the belief is that bonfires were made to light the way for the Three Kings while […]