I was disappointed to discover a lack of vegetarian Italian soups.  There were actually three listed:  Cioppino, Italian Fish Stock, and Zuppa di Mare, but these are essentially variations on the same recipe and (more important) traditionally served as a main course, not as the soup course.  Strawberry Soup would be a delicious vegetarian option, but it is hardly Italian (or even ethnic).
 
You may be thinking at his point (actually, you probably should be thinking at this point):  How could this possibly be important? 
 
Normally, it wouldn’t be, but I have been invited to help plan and prepare a multi-course Italian dinner for several dozen people – including several with known dietary preferences and restrictions.  The event will be a celebratory banquet for the invitees and their guests.  To maintain an appropriate level of formality, I prefer not to serve completely different plates for each course.  I prefer that everyone – vegetarian or not – enjoy essentially the same meal – except for the second plate (secondo piatto), which even in Italy is almost always a choice of meat or fish.
 
Italian Wedding Soup quickly became my primary choice for a soup.  I have served it to groups before.  It is very popular, easy to make in larger quantities, and allows me the opportunity to serve my all-time favorite cheese – freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.  It is, however, clearly not vegetarian.
 
It seemed reasonable that I could eliminate the pork meatballs and substitute commercial vegetable stock for the chicken stock.  Since I would be purchasing my first vegetable stock (ever), I had no way of knowing whether flavors differed from brand to brand.  It turns out that, at least among the three I sampled, the flavors vary rather dramatically (at least in the opinion of a non-vegetarian).  For the record, the three brands I sampled were College Inn, Swanson’s (Vegetable Broth, not Stock), and Pacific Organic.  The first two had similar flavors that I found to be very pleasant.  I found the Pacific Organic to be almost distasteful, however – definitely not acceptable for my soup experiment.  It was also almost twice the price of the other two.
 
While both the College Inn and Swanson broths provided an excellent start, I still hoped that adding fresh chopped vegetables would “freshen” their somewhat muted vegetable flavors.  I added chopped sweet onion to the recipe for some extra insurance this would happen.  I was not disappointed.  The vegetables, ceci (chick, garbanzo) beans, and a little salt and pepper helped create an amazingly similar – but vegetarian – version of the traditional Italian Wedding Soup.
 
Vegetarian or not, I hope you’ll try it some time.
 
Buon appertito.
 
P.S.  You may find the other menu items of interest.  In addition to freshly baked Ciabatta and Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Zucchini Carpaccio will be served as the antipasta course.  After the soup, the prima piatto will be Cheese Ravioli served with browned butter and sage sauce, and crushed Almond Cookies.  The secondo piatto will be a choice of Porchetta (subject of a future blog), Wisconsin Walleye (probably served with bass), or Eggplant Parmigiano – all served with green beans or asparagus.  Cassata, another of my favorites, will be prepared as the dolce (dessert).

I also reported that a plausible explanation for this is chef La Varenne’s 1651 book, Le Cuisinier François, considered to be the foundation of modern French cuisine.  This highly influential book was one of the first to set down codified, systematized rules and principles of food preparation – and, of course, names.  Codification required names, and all the names, logically, were French!

My good friend, former business colleague, and fellow foodie, David, reminded me that many foods are similar (if not identical) from culture to culture, but go by different names.  As he wrote, “One of my favorite examples is a wrapped pastry shell containing either savory or sweet filling.  In our local ‘comfort food’ restaurant here in central Texas, they offer them for dessert with such fillings as apple, cherry, blackberry, etc.  These happen to be fried, but some versions are baked.  Here they are called ‘fried pies’.  In Spain, we had the same things, except they were called empanadas.  In England, particularly in the southwest part of the country near Cornwall, they are called pasties, [and] in Natchitoches, Louisiana, they have Natchitoches Meat Pies.”  In Michigan, we call them pasties!
 
All that made me think of other examples:  Italian ravioli and Polish pierogi; Italian braciole and German rouladen; French mirepoix and Italian soffritto (or battuto); French bouillabaisse and Italian zuppa di mare; and the one that prompts all this – French fougasse and Italian focaccia!
 
A few months ago, I received a most appropriate eCard from my first college roommate, fellow foodie, and brother-in-law, Den.  The card was appropriate because in place of the usual platitudes it contained three cleverly animated recipes – the most interesting of which was called Olive Fougasse.  The recipe needed a little help (it was a greeting card, after all, not a cookbook), but the bread was delicious. 
 
Fougasse was a new term for me, but a quick “Google” showed me that it was similar to focaccia.  The big surprise came when I found the following on the Wikipedia website (that recognized bastion of all truth):  
 
“In ancient Rome, panis focacius was a flatbread baked in the ashes of the hearth (focus in Latin).  This became a diverse range of breads that include focaccia in Italian cuisine, hogaza in Spain, fogassa in Catalonia, fugàssa in Ligurian, pogača in the Balkans, pogácsa in Hungary, fougasse in Provence (originally spelled fogatza), [and] fouace or fouée in other French regions and on the Channel Islands.”
 
Now, who am I to argue with that logic?  If this is indeed factual, this is one time when my beloved Italians were actually successful in naming something!  What more can I say (write)?  Nothing. 
 
So, I will move on to tell you that my latest recipe posting is for what I am calling Focaccia di Oliva (Olive Bread).  It is my version of the recipe from the greeting card (albeit electronic).  It is easy, requires no special equipment, and as I’ve already mentioned, is absolutely delicious.  I assure you, it’s worth a try – and it’s very Italian!
 
Buon appetito.
 
P.S.  Mille grazie, David and Den.

About forty years later – or however much time is necessary to bring us to Christmas 2016 – Grandma Karen and I were gifted a large box of fresh pears (mille grazie, Dennis).  Fresh pears are a delicious treat any time, but especially so in December in Michigan!  We began enjoying them, with fruit in hand, one bite at a time.  Then, in a fruit salad – mixed with some fresh apple slices, shallots, lemon juice, our best extra virgin olive oil, and poppy seeds.  Then – yep, you guessed it – in a Pear Tart!
 
It was a snowy day in early January.  Neighborhood friends (mille grazie Karen and Bill) invited us to dinner and accepted our offer to bring dessert.  Driving anywhere was problematic.  Consequently, the dessert was necessarily going to involve pears!  A picture of Julia’s Apple Tart came to mind, and slowly the apples faded into pears.  A plan was being born.
 
Sure enough, Julia has a recipe for Pear Tart (Mastering the Art of French Cooking, pp. 642-643), but it is part of a larger section on fruit tarts that covers nearly eight pages.  I was becoming intimidated again.  The recipes I found online did little to ease my growing discomfort, but the more I read the more I realized there are only four basic (and clearly important) steps to making a tart: the pastry shell, the base, the fruit, and the glaze.  Now I had a real plan.
 
The French call the tart shell Pâte Brisée.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the recipe for Pâte Brisée is the same as my (actually Alton Brown’s) posted recipe for Pie Crust if one substitutes butter for the lard.  Now I was beginning to feel comfortable again.
 
The base, or filling, actually is called frangipane, and consists of finely ground almonds mixed with several common baking ingredients.  No stress here.
 
Preparing the fruit is easy.  Especially so since I learned that if you call your tart “rustic”, there is no need to peel the pears!  Arranging the pear slices takes a little time, but once you’re comfortable being rustic, there’s room for arrangement errors, too.
 
The glaze also is not an issue.  I happened to have some pear preserve available, but almost any fruit preserve, jam, or jelly will work equally well.

All in all, I'm pleased to report, the entire exercise was worth the time, effort, and perceived stress.  Although I realize that preparing one Pear Tart does  little to enhance my limited knowledge of French cuisine, I was very pleased with how the tart looked and tasted.  Grandma Karen and our hosts that night agreed – enough, at least, to convince me to share the recipe and this story with you.
 
Buon appetito.

The subscription list to this blog site has grown substantially over the last three years.  At the risk of sounding somewhat melodramatic, I feel that my postings should contain information that is potentially helpful or informative – and perhaps most important these days – factual!  From the emails I receive, I believe that is important to you, too.  So rather than write for the sake of writing, I elected to “mark time” a bit until I felt I had something of possible value to report.  At the same time, I was never intending to be away for nearly six months.  The dawn of the new year prompts me to go with what I have.
 
I have mentioned before that I grew up in Olean, New York, south of Buffalo and a few miles north of the Pennsylvania state line.  My father grew up in Bradford, a few miles south of Olean in Pennsylvania.  Both communities have always enjoyed a substantial Italian presence, but if there was an award for the best annual Italian festival it would go to Bradford.  As a child and together with Grandma Karen, I have enjoyed a myriad of home cooked (read: prepared by real Italian grandmothers) ethnic treats at Bradford’s Festa Italiana, held every August.
 
One of those special treats many years ago was an eggplant sandwich prepared by one of my second cousins, which she sold from her parish church’s food stand.  It was a portable version of her equally special Eggplant Parmigiano – perfectly breaded and cooked eggplant slices, a rich and spicy tomato sauce, and the requisite Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.  I still remember the intricate flavors and textures.  Sadly, despite desperate pleas and outright bribes, she steadfastly refused to share her secret recipe.
 
Walking by a huge table of freshly picked eggplant at my favorite Italian market (Cantoro’s in Livonia, Michigan) a few months ago, I decided to recreate my cousin’s recipe.  Armed with a half-dozen melanzani, my vivid memories, and some online research, I ventured forth.  After several trials, I learned that the breaded eggplant slices could be baked or sautéed with nearly equal results.  (I prefer the sautéed version because it is faster and involves extra virgin olive oil.)  I used my favorite tomato product, 6 IN 1 brand Ground Tomatoes, as the basis for my sauce and was not disappointed.  Seasoned with some onion, garlic, oregano, and crushed red pepper, it enhances the subtle flavors of the eggplant and cheese without overpowering them.
 
So, with a certain measure of pride and relief, I have added my version of Eggplant Parmigiano to this recipe collection.  It is not my cousin Almeda’s recipe, to be sure; but rather it is my way of recognizing her culinary talents and Italian stubbornness; plus, she helped me end my blogging drought!!
 
Buon appetito.

Being a descendant of southern Italians, tomato sauce is my favorite “dressing” for all pastas.  By far, the most appropriate cheese to serve with a southern Italian style tomato sauce is Romano cheese – specifically pecorino Romano cheese, a salty cheese made with sheep’s (pecora, in Italian) milk.  As one might expect, Romano cheese originated in the areas surrounding Rome – in the Lazio region of Italy.  There are written reports of Romano cheese-making dating back nearly 2,000 years.

Unlike Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (which is produced by many cheese makers in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, but marketed using just one name), there are multiple brands of pecorino Romano cheese available today.  Several decades ago, my father introduced me to Locatelli brand pecorino Romano cheese, and I have been buying and using it exclusively ever since.  My children and my grandchildren expect to see it on the table whenever they’re served pasta with tomato sauce.  With this pressure, I begin to get withdrawal symptoms whenever there are less than two chunks of it in the nearest refrigerator.  Consequently, my visits to Cantoro’s or Galucci’s always involve purchasing several pounds of cheese, all graciously wrapped and vacuum packed in single pound chunks to preserve freshness for months.

During my most recent visit to Cantoro’s, while I was ordering more Locatelli cheese, the manager recommended I consider the Fulvi brand pecorino Romano cheese.  She offered me a side-by-side tasting – Locatelli vs. Fulvi – and, incidentally, both at the same price.

The Locatelli was, of course, a familiar taste – a sudden burst of saltiness followed by the luscious flavors of the cheese, which become more pronounced as the saltiness dissipates.  The Fulvi cheese produced almost the exact opposite experience.  The initial sensation is the rich cheese flavor that persists as the level of saltiness steadily increases to its peak.  The salty “explosion” occurs at the end, rather than the beginning – at the back of the palate instead of the front.

I liked both.  Actually, I preferred the Fulvi, but the perceived guilt of abandoning my long-term friend was too great.  Then the other proverbial shoe dropped!  I was told, “Fulvi is the only pecorino Romano cheese still made in Lazio.  Locatelli is made in Sardinia.”

That gave me the excuse I needed to bring the Fulvi home; and I am pleased to report that Grandma Karen, after comparing the two pecorino Romano cheeses side-by-side, agrees that while neither is arguably better than the other, each produces a distinctly different taste experience.  Our personal cheese supply now includes both the Locatelli and Fulvi brands.

Finally (and changing the subject entirely), in my last blog, The Ten Commandments of Italian Cooking, I agreed with the quoted author’s second commandment:  “Flat-leaf parsley, rosemary, sage and basil are invariably used fresh, but oregano is always used dried.”  This prompted several readers to ask:  Should I stop growing fresh oregano?

The unequivocal answer, of course, is no!  Fresh oregano is a wonderful herb and adds incredible flavor to many dishes.  At the same time, drying oregano concentrates the flavors probably more than any other herb I can think of.  For me, this means dried and fresh oregano are really not substitutes for each other.  They each have equally important uses in the kitchen.  I consider them to be two different herbs.

For example, my recipe for Frittata with Fresh Herbs calls for fresh oregano.  Dry oregano would overpower the other herbs.  My Italian Tomato Sauce, on the other hand, calls for dried oregano.  I’ve tried using fresh, but it just doesn’t work.  As a further example, I offer a new recipe that I’m calling Baked Trout with Fresh Herbs.  It’s a very easy method for preparing almost any fish fillet, and also makes perfect use of the abundant fresh herbs available this time of year (at least in Michigan).  Oh, and I do not recommend substituting dried oregano for fresh in this one either, but I do hope you’ll try it sometime soon.

Buon appetito.

Before we continue with this, you may benefit by pausing to read the original post.  Just click here.  I have comments about each of her ten “commandments,” but I will not reproduce her material here in its entirety (for brevity, and to avoid violating any copyright laws).

Ready?  OK!  Here we go.  Author Conte’s Ten Commandments are:

I.  Buy the best ingredients.  I absolutely agree.  I was fascinated to learn that “according to a 2008 Washington State University survey, the Italians spend $5,200 per person per year on food, while the British spend $3,700  – lower than the Germans, French, Spaniards and most other Europeans.  To emulate an Italian in the kitchen, you need to prioritise flavour.”  I was unable to find this particular report, but another 2008 WSU study reported Italians spend 14.4% of their annual income on food, more than any other European country except Portugal, and over twice what Americans spend (6.8%).  [Score: 10/10]

II.  Use the right pan.  OK, but that’s not only obvious, it’s certainly not unique to Italian cooking.  [Score: 6/10]

III.  Season during cooking.  Yes, absolutely.  I presented the same argument in my blog on the proper way to cook pasta – Preparing Perfect Pasta!  Again, though, probably not unique to Italian cooking.  [Score: 9/10]

IV.  Use herbs and spices subtly.  “Both are added to enhance the flavour of the main ingredient, not to distract from it.  Flat-leaf parsley, rosemary, sage and basil are invariably used fresh, but oregano is always used dried.”  I couldn’t agree more.  [Score: 10/10]

V.  Make a good battuto.  Battuto is another new term for me.  Fortunately, Ms. Conte explains that it “is a mixture of very finely chopped ingredients, and varies according to their use.”  She mentions two common battuti: onion, carrot and celery; and parsley, garlic, and capers or olives.  Apparently, they can be prepared hot or cold, and typically are served with vegetables, meats, and fish.  It all sounds interesting and tasty, but I have never seen a recipe calling for a battuto.  If I find one, I will certainly let you know.  Perhaps more importantly, if you have one, you can let me know!  [Score: 4/10]

VI.  Keep an eye on your soffritto.  Soffritto is not a new term to me, but I didn’t know it “is a cooked battuto”, and I wouldn’t think of taking my eyes off of it while it’s cooking – even in the midst of a terramoto (earthquake).  Seriously, I’ve been sautéing onions, carrots, and celery for years (while doing several other things I hasten to add) and have never burned a batch!  [Score: 7/10]

VII.  Use the right amount of sauce.  “Italians like to eat pasta dressed with sauce – not sauce dressed with pasta.”  While this is generally true, and the way pasta typically is served in Italy, most Italians will enjoy their pasta and sauce the way their grandmothers prepared it.  Mine, for example, dressed her sauce with pasta!  [Score: 8/10]

VIII.  Taste while you cook.  “Food in Italy is mostly cooked directly on the heat and not in the oven.  The cook is perpetually tasting and adjusting.”  I’m not sure what to think about this one.  Tasting and adjusting is important regardless of where the food is – and “perpetually” is a very long time!!  [Score: 7/10]

IX.  Serve pasta and risotto alone.  It’s not just the pasta and risotto; it’s all courses – as I explained in a blog about Italian feasts – Dinner Italian Style.  [Score: 9/10]

X.  Don’t overdo the parmesan.  “There may be a bowl of grated parmigiano reggiano on the table when pasta or risotto are served, but the usual amount added is not more than 1-2 teaspoons, so as not to overpower the flavour of the main dish.  Parmesan is not added to fish or seafood risotto, apart from some varieties with prawns.”  Most importantly here, parmesan is not another name for Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese – regardless of what you might read in many recipes.  Except that both are made from cow’s milk, they are otherwise completely different cheeses – and hardly comparable.  (The word Parmesan actually is prohibited in the European Union.)  Furthermore, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is seldom used (by Italians) with pasta served with a tomato sauce.  [Score: 4/10]

So while I give great credit to Ms. Conte for her very clever article – it did, after all, prompt me to promote it via this blog – I can only give her a final score of 74 out of a possible 100.  And that’s without any deductions for failing to mention Italian wine, Italian bread, Prosciutto di Parma, extra virgin olive oil, Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena, and the importance of adding salt to the pasta water!  We all know they are keys to Italian cooking, too.  Right?  Right!

Buon appetito.

[Note:  all words and phrases in quotes above are taken verbatim from Ms. Conte’s online article.]

P.S.  I can’t conclude without mentioning at least one new recipe.  This one is a ragu prepared with duck legs and thighs and porcini mushrooms.  It can be served over almost any pasta – especially the heartier varieties such as rigatoni, tagliatelle, and pappardelle.  It's also delicious with Gnocchi.

I chose “Stuffed Baked” as the title for this blog to celebrate my family’s version of Pasta al Forno.  As a child, and through my high school years, I remember eating (and enjoying!) some form of pasta every Thursday and every Sunday – more often than most folks, but not often enough to accumulate leftovers for baking a casserole.  Rather, my mother and father created something that became a family treat – a dish that we would prepare together as a family for special occasions two or three times a year.  We would cook rigatoni and then individually stuffed each noodle with pieces of our Italian Meatballs.  We’d then alternate layers of stuffed noodles with Italian Tomato Sauce and freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese in a large casserole, which would be baked until it was hot and bubbly.  We called it simply “Stuffed Baked.”  The recipe I posted here is called Stuffed Baked Rigatoni.

No discussion of baked pasta would be complete without mentioning lasagne.  For the record, the flat noodle used to make lasagne is called lasagna (singular) in Italian.  The casserole containing multiple layered lasagna noodles is called lasagne (plural).  In the United States, the dish is always spelled lasagna so I will use the technically incorrect spelling, too.

Lasagna is another baked dish that can be prepared with a huge variety of previously cooked ingredients.  The only real difference between lasagna and Pasta al Forno is the use of the traditional flat noodle.  Lasagna also can be made with or without meat, and with either (or both) tomato sauce or béchamel sauce.  As you will see in the posted recipe for Lasagna, my preference is for meatballs, Italian sausage, and tomato sauce, but that’s because my roots go directly back to southern Italy!  Be assured that other combinations are equally tasty.

Finally, in this twenty-first century, it is highly unlikely that anyone reading this will serve pasta to their family and friends multiple times in one week just to accumulate leftovers for Pasta al Forno!  If, however, one prepares a batch (or two) of sauce and meatballs, and has one or two Italian cheeses on hand, preparing any of the three baked pastas featured here is rather easy.  All that’s required is the additional steps of assembling and baking the casserole.  [Sidenote:  Grandma Karen and I had fun making all three dishes for pictures for this blog over a long weekend.  Fortunately, we were able to use the food for multiple social events.]

As any Italian grandmother (and at least one Italian grandfather) can attest, baked pasta dishes provide nutritious and delicious meals as well as opportunities to create wonderful family memories and traditions.

Buon appetito.

P.S.  You may have noticed the Recipe page has been redesigned.  The food categories have not changed, but the presentation of individual recipes now includes pictures and brief descriptions.  Hopefully, this will make it easier to find specific recipes.  (Remember, too, that the Search feature is a convenient tool for finding particular recipes, or recipes using specific ingredients.)

Also, there is a added item in the page banner called New Recipes.  The New Recipes page will be used to display recipes posted since the last blog, or posted without being referenced in a blog.  This should help periodic visitors to the site identify quickly the most recently added recipes.

As always, if you have any further suggestions for improvements to any part of this site, I welcome your feedback.  Simply post your ideas using the Comment icon.

I have more favorites, but I'll save them for a future blog.  In the meantime, should you decide to try any of these suggestions, I know you’ll be pleased.

Buon appetito.

P.S.  You may have read that Italy’s olive harvest in 2014 was one of the worst in history.  The Italians called it “the black year” (l’anno nero).  Bad weather, an infestation of the olive fruit fly, and a disease sometimes called “olive Ebola” were responsible.  Olive oil production fell by as much as 95% in some areas, and 40% in others.  Fortunately, the latest harvest was much better, but still below the levels seen in 2013.  All this means there is still less good Italian olive oils available, which then translates to higher prices – if and when we can find them.

There’s more!  Bloomberg News reported recently that they found cellulose (wood pulp) in several brands of grated Parmesan cheese sold in the United States.  The news article states:  “Cellulose is a safe additive, and an acceptable level is 2 percent to 4 percent, according to Dean Sommer, a cheese technologist at the Center for Dairy Research in Madison, Wisconsin.  Essential Everyday 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, from Jewel-Osco, was 8.8 percent cellulose, while Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Great Value 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese registered 7.8 percent, according to test results.  Whole Foods 365 brand didn’t list cellulose as an ingredient on the label, but still tested at 0.3 percent.  Kraft had 3.8 percent.”
    
I’ve never understood how real cheese could be sold as an unrefrigerated product (i.e., grated and in a bottle or box), but maybe now I know!

Since beginning this website two years ago, I have published two blogs about olive oil – specifically extra virgin olive oil, or EVOO.  The first, Why I Love Olive Oil, appeared in February 2014 and extolled the virtues of this wonderful food.  I also reported then that 75% of the EVOO sold in the U.S. is imported from Italy, but most of that oil actually is produced in other countries – primarily Spain, and then exported to Italy for bottling and re-export.  The second blog, “Extra Virgin” Olive Oil, was posted the following May – prompted by Tom Mueller’s book, Extra Virginity – to report that the oil in the can or bottle on our store shelves frequently is not what is described on the label.  When the label says EVOO, many times the oil inside technically is not extra virgin – and sometimes not even olive oil.

Now, sadly, it is necessary to raise the issue of EVOO yet again.  Earlier this month, this time thanks to the CBS program, 60 Minutes, I learned the situation with counterfeit olive oil is much worse that I had imagined or reported.  Since I have been, and will continue to be, an outspoken proponent for extra virgin olive oil, especially the Italian and Sicilian oils, I think it is necessary and appropriate to share at least a summary of the latest disturbing news with you, too.  You can view the full CBS report on YouTube.

To be a bit melodramatic, the byline for this report could be, “The Mafia Strikes Again!”  In fact, in Italy it’s called Agromafia because of the extent to which the Mafia has infiltrated the food industry there.  And it’s not just olive oil that is suspect.  Italian wines and cheeses also are often mislabeled and sold as higher quality, and higher priced, goods.

CBS reports that late last year, 7,000 tons of counterfeit EVOO from North Africa was seized by the Italian authorities.  In the last two years, 59 thousand tons of mislabeled or adulterated food has been confiscated before it could be sold in Italian markets or exported.  Not surprisingly, Tom Mueller was interviewed as part of this news report.  Mueller estimates that 75 to 80 percent of the oil exported from Italy to the United States and sold here as extra virgin does not meet the technical qualifications for that classification.  Stated more personally, when we buy Italian EVOO, there is a better than 3 in 4 chance that we are being cheated!

Some of you will say, “Then don’t buy Italian oils!”  Frankly, and very sadly, you’re probably correct.  I’m not quite ready to throw in the proverbial towel, however – but I’m close.  To be clear, my passion for Italian oils is driven mostly because of my heritage, and not because Italian oils are better than others.  Authentic Italian (and Sicilian) EVOOs can be superb, but the same can be said for EVOOs from many other parts of the world.  My personal list of non-Italian favorites are produced in Spain, Greece, and California.  I also have experienced extraordinary oils from Lebanon (thanks to a Kalamazoo purveyor of middle eastern products).

This was not the first time I’ve cooked with grandchildren – always an incredibly delightful and satisfying experience.  We’ve done that many times before.  This time was different, especially for me, because of their obvious level of confidence in what they were doing.  Their menu also was unique in that they selected some foods I had never served them previously, and a dessert I had never prepared before.  Consequently, they caused me to discover and create new recipes for them – and as of this posting – perhaps for you, too.  So it is with great pride that I share these photographs of some of their creations with you.

To them I say, "Mille grazie, Kaitlyn, Abigail, Christopher, and Alexander.  You helped make our family Celebrazione one of the best ever!"

To everyone:  "Felice Anno Nuovo e buon appetito!"

P.S.  Grandma Karen has been making gingerbread houses for nearly fifty years.  Our daughter and son still are responsible for its final decoration – with plenty of help now from their children and spouses.  I think you will enjoy seeing the results of their efforts this year.