Potatoes and peppers play heavily into the cuisine of Basilicata and the region’s vast landscape of rolling hills contain large fields dedicated to growing both staples. A marriage of the two vegetables makes for a satisfying lunch or a perfect side for grilled or roasted meats. To prepare, boil peeled Yukon Gold potatoes until tender. [...]

All I have to say about Calabria is Wow! What an amazing region. The one drawback are the roads – they are either winding and steep Or blocked with sheep! But don’t let this stop you from visiting the region. The region has a lot to offer from National parks, to ample coastline, and some [...]

I have a serious addiction to figs.  Not so much to the ones back home at our market for a dollar a pop that are soft and over ripe. But to figs that are plump and dripping with juice, picked straight from the tree.  Southern Italy is saturated with fig trees and driving through the [...]

The southern tip of Sardinia Porto Ferro – Northwest Sardinia Sand dunes on the way to Porto Ferro beach

We are visiting our very first farm in Sardinia named Sa Mandra, which is located in the northwest corner of the island.  This is the epitome of a true working farm with pretty much everything served to guests coming straight from their land. The owners, Rita and Mario, came from a long line of shepherds.  [...]

There is nothing better than summertime in Connecticut, especially out on the waters of Long Island Sound. We have a seventeen foot motor boat that’s perfect for cruising around the Sound’s islands and inlets. All summer long we fish, swim and hang out on the boat.  In August, when the water heats up, we like to [...]

Melissa’s father, Fran, grew up mushrooming with his father and grandfather, who brought his passion for foraging to America when he immigrated here in the early 1900’s from a small village in the Campania region of southern Italy. Fran in turn has been teaching us the finer intricacies and secrets of finding delicious mushrooms growing [...]

I moved to Rome after college with not much of a plan but to try and learn the language and find some type of work to immerse myself in Italian culture and I got really lucky.  Two brothers who owned a small furniture restoration shop in the heart of the city (Campo dei Fiori) took [...]

We recently returned from a much needed, culinary inspired, vacation to Madrid.  Neither of us had been to the Spanish capital and we wanted a full immersion into the pulse of Madrid’s vibrant city life and to live and eat like a local for a bit.  We rented an apartment with high hopes of checking [...]

In our time spent living in Italy, Easter never brought out adults dressed as a bunny or baskets filled with that annoying plastic grass, or sickly sweet yellow marshmallow candy. Easter in Italy means a celebration of family and life and a time to get together and eat what they have always eaten in Italy [...]