Adding grains into salads kicks it up a notch in my book. Farro is a favorite grain that works well in salads. I learned how to make a great Farro salad in Vinci, Italy. I was all set to send you to a link in my blog with this salad adventure and realized that I
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This month’s five favorites start with a great memory I wanted to share while we were in Italy last September. We ran into Phil Rosenthal, the writer and producer of the “Everybody Loves Raymond Show,” star of “I’ll Have What Phil’s Having,” and also “Somebody Feed Phil.” He happened to be filming a segment for
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Well, I have to say the trip from the Portland area to Seaside takes about two and a half hours. Our trip took us seven. Why? Because we ate and drank our way across the city and countryside winding our way through the mountain pass and down to the seashore. We left at a reasonable
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Everyone has their own perception of paradise – I’m particularly partial to most all areas of Italy (no surprise there if you’ve read any of my travel blogs). Some prefer Hawaii or France, or home, or even just a quiet moment in the day. And yes, we should consider our homes our favorite paradise. But
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Visiting Bologna, Italy several times has left me with many beautiful memories of the meats, cheeses, pastas, wines, the city of Bologna, and the countryside surrounding the city. It’s where I had my first experience of making tortellini and tortelloni by experts in the field. A previous blog chronicled this visit. If you want to
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Figs may not be a favorite fruit for most people, but to an Italian whose family generated from Southern Italy, it’s like “Fruit of the Gods” for me. Stuffed figs are a popular Pugliese treat. Traditionally, Italians will dry the figs in the sun at the end of summer or early Fall, stuff them, cook
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Sad to leave Florence today. We were up and packed, then took a nice long walk around the neighborhood after our coffee knowing we’d be sitting for the 15-hour plane trip home. We said our goodbyes to Claudia at the BNB, and Maria (Antimo’s cousin and artist). Maria’s husband Ciro drove us to the airport
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M.G. Designs was our first stop today. I wanted to pick out a few of Maria’s beautiful pottery pieces to add to my collection. We figured out I could pay her with PayPal (since we don’t have credit cards until we return home). Otherwise, I would have had to go home empty-handed. (This is just
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A lazy start to our morning – so unusual for us – it was great. An older man was mopping the entrance floors and the stairs when we were going out – navigating wet stairs before coffee was fun. But wait! We left our room around 10:30 and returned at 10:45 because I forgot the
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Woke up this morning literally with a very cold shower. Apparently last night there was a gas leak in the apartment building and the gas was turned off at some point. Even though Antimo got up and turned it back on, I wasn’t able to get any warm water. Oh well, I moved a little
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The last day of our Roman adventure. And what an adventure it has been! Pyramid of Cestius. We took the metro to meet Luigi, an architect who lives in Rome near Piramide. He was coming with us to Ostia Antica. He told us about this pyramid which looked new against the backdrop of the ancient city.
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To strike or not to strike, that was the question (trains, buses and the underground metro). But really, the question was how many hours to strike? At first it was announced as 24 hours, then 12, then 8, and finally this morning before we left the apartment, we were told 4 hours. We planned on
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