Babbo Natale the Christmas Thief Santa Claus has a distant relative in Italy called Babbo Natale and he can be seen shimming up drainpipes, sneaking into houses and hanging off balconies all over the place. Babbo often works alone, but can occasionally be seen with one or two other Babbo’s. He enters houses through a … [Read more…]
Markets can tell you a lot about a town. Whenever I travel to a new city, I make a point of finding the fresh food market. The vendors, products and patrons all contribute to a story about the cuisine and culture of an area as well as the quality and quantity of local food producers. … [Read more…]
In the days before the annual pilgrimage of the cows arriving on our mountain for the annual transumanza the pastore arrive to prepare the road by tying a thin white string along the roadside from Paschero to Morinesio, both are small hamlets in the area called Stroppo. Somehow a string that I could snap with my … [Read more…]
The first time John and I traveled to Barbaresco it was for only one night. We met up with our good friends Cathy and David before heading south to Perugia so John could photograph a cookbook on Umbrian cuisine. Cathy Whims was the food stylist and David and I were to play the role of … [Read more…]
Sunday is the longest day of the week in our small corner of Italy. Shops are closed. Friends spend time with their families. Sunday lunch in Piemonte is often a long, drawn-out eating extravaganza that keeps you full until the following day. While we’ve had more than our share of these long gluttonous meals, the thought … [Read more…]
Hey! John just added this new gallery on his website! Our friends Stephanie and Phil Kimmel have a sweet apartment in the village of Nyons, France.
I need to listen to John more often. Frequently he will become obsessed with an idea, or place, or food and two or 10 yeas later I’m reading about the same topic in the news. An example of this phenomenon is cider. About 10 years ago John started talking about cider more often than normal. … [Read more…]
Before moving to Italy, I would have long conversations with the very nice people at the cheese counter at Pastaworks in Portland, Oregon. They knew so much about the processes, altitudes, breeds of cows, sheep and goats. Cheese was one of the exotic flavors that brought me to Europe. The agricultural society where small … [Read more…]