LA CASA E IL GIARDINO: SPLIT PEA SOUP: "Split pea is one of our favorite soups. Who can resist the smoky flavor of the ham bone? The flavor of salty pancetta adds a wonderful punch!"
photo from La Casa e il Giardino
Today, in Northern California's Bay Area, is the first day that we can actually wear long pants because there is (finally) a chill in the air. I have a cold now that I've taken care of everyone else so what a better way to fight off cold and chill than to make split pea soup!
Che meraviglia! What splendor for my family when they come home from school and work.
My version of this split pea soup usually comes out like a porridge, served with bread and sometimes I slice organic, grass-fed hot dogs into the soup for my kids.
Summer vacation is just reaching its crescendo in California.
In Italy people eagerly save, plan and await the August 15, Ferragosto holiday. If anyone has been in Rome from August 15 onward, you would know that the streets are empty because of the mass exodus from the città eterna. Here are some vocab words (and a hilarious video) significant to this time of the year in Italy. Ferragosto
Ferragosto, 15 agosto, giorno festivo, chiuso per le ferie, l'esodo di ferragosto
There's a big beach culture in Italy and why not? Il tempo libero should be big on everyone's calendar at least once or twice a year.
la spiaggia, la sabbia, le sedia a sdraio, il mare, l'onda, l'ombrellone, il costume da bagno, la cabina, l'albergo, prendere il sole, il lungo mare
giocchi al mare: il secchiello, il pallone, la paletta
If anyone has ever been to #Naples- bella #Napoli -and the surrounding areas of Campania such as #AmalfiCoast , #Positano , #Sorrento , #Ischia , #Capri , #VietrisulMare (love this place for it's amazing people and ceramica) there will always be a cold limoncello at aperitivo time in Southern Italy or after dinner on a hot summer night.
vintage artisanal limoncello bottle
homemade limoncello
The limoncello may come from your host- chi l'ha fatto- in a beautifully decorated servizio made by localceramic artisansor...magari... handed down from your cara Zia Maria Giuseppa.
servizio di limoncello
I make limoncello by heart, so per voi, I include a very good ricetta - recipe- for those of you interested in giving it a try.
November, novembre in #Italian. Did you notice that in Italian you don't capitalize the months, the days of the week or the seasons? We write Fall and in Italian it's autunno- with a small "a".
Fall makes me think of Thanksgiving and food....I was inspired by this proverbo: Un maiale profondamente innamorato e` un prosciutto cotto. "A pig profoundly in love is a cooked ham!" And through inspiration I came across this great blog recipe, a butternut squash torta salata, this fantastic butternut squash tarte (French for torta) is like something I've never seen before. Posted by Ciao Chow Linda.
I'm going to make one of these for #Thanksgiving. It's important to have good tools for baking and I seriously prefer the tarte pans with the removable bottom then you can easily place your capolavoroonto a beautiful serving dish like this gorgeous #Deruta serving plate.
Buon giorno....today I am making this fantastic ciabatta bread posted by Chef John at Food Wishes--get well soon John! Watch the video and go to his site for the recipe, it is so easy! Ciabatta in Italian means "slipper"--yes, the loaf, it's shaped like a slipper. (photo courtesy of the Chef John at Food Wishes blog)
This recipe is soooooo simple and easy to make, just plan a day ahead. I started at 10:30 pm last night and we'll be having this beautiful bread for lunch today. I used 4 cups of all purpose King Arthur Flour, the recipe offers a variation. I was going pazzabecause I didn't have cornmeal in the house...hmmmm, that's right, I did make polenta (recipe) last week. I just want to mention here that I offer you links to my favorite ingredients ESPECIALLY if you can get them on Amazon Prime. I live a few miles from my local stores, so if I can save time and order online, I am so there!Now I have more time to write and cook. I look for recipes that are very similar to the ways that I prepare my food (since my methods are in my head) based on what I had learned while living in Italy many moons ago. I encourage you to give this ciabatta bread recipe a try today!
November, novembre in #Italian. Did you notice that in Italian you don't capitalize the months, the days of the week or the seasons? We write Fall and in Italian it's autunno- with a small "a".
Fall makes me think of Thanksgiving and food....I was inspired by this proverbo: Un maiale profondamente innamorato e` un prosciutto cotto. "A pig profoundly in love is a cooked ham!" And through inspiration I came across this great blog recipe, a butternut squash torta salata, this fantastic butternut squash tarte (French for torta) is like something I've never seen before. Posted by Ciao Chow Linda.
I'm going to make one of these for #Thanksgiving. It's important to have good tools for baking and I seriously prefer the tarte pans with the removable bottom then you can easily place your capolavoroonto a beautiful serving dish like this gorgeous #Deruta serving plate.
By the way, a proposito....everyone is looking, but no one is following. Please subscribe and/or follow. ~grazie
Fall has arrived and with the equinox- l'equinozio- the days get shorter, the nights cooler and the food is warmer and heartier. I just furnished my bed with my charcoal gray flannel comforter, che calduccio! Elisa Di Virgilio's blog LA CASA E IL GIARDINO has some great, simple good food recipes, easy enough for anyone to make. Green is my new favorite color and I especially covet this green dutch oven from Lodge. Buy your smoked ham hocks direct and fresh from your local butcher and keep the split peas stocked in your pantry shelves for the winter. These beautiful, non GMO split peas come in handy 3 lb. and 5 lb. bags and in a hardy 25 lb. version. You'll have several servings around for the winter. Dopo aver fatto la spesa, ora a cucinare! I decided to use Elisa's recipe for #splitpeasoup.
With Spring creeping into California, I'm already making my list of what seeds need to be
bought/started and planted for this year's Spring/Summer garden crop. Although I save my own seeds (semi), I am always looking for heirloom varieties and I really like the selection at Seeds from Italy. I just ordered "agretto"...avariety I can't wait to try.
I started looking for sweet Calabrese pepper seeds online because I hadn't saved the seeds from a previous year's crop...and if I did save them, I don't remember where I put them (I've had 3 urban gardens in 4 years!).
Eh...va bene...compro i semi quest'anno.I discovered Seeds from Italy in Rosetta Costantino's book My Calabria.
Whenever I traveled to Italy, I always brought back seed varieties of
the vegetables that I loved eating in Italy, but that were hard to find
back home. I remember dashing around Roma on our way tola stazione to catch our train to Lago di Garda, trying to find il fioraio where I had seen a stand of must-have heirloom seeds (semi antichi) and organic seeds (semi biologici) in vendita.
If you have seeds to share from "la patria", please contact me and share them!
orto in canoa
Condividere...to share....I wanted to share the ingenuity of the Italian people and their love of fresh personal produce; this article talks about recycling and planting, a movement, a way of life in an urban environment: Orto in Parco.
And here's something new that I'd like to share, it's an idea from the German culture and something I will try quando arriva la frutta di primavera. Preserving summer fruit for consumption in winter, instead of--or in addition to making jam, make fruit liquor:
Basic Recipe for Rumtopf
The following fills a 2-gallon crock. You can certainly halve or quarter this recipe and use a smaller jar. Select whichever fruits are in season where you live, but note that melons don't work well.
3 cups strawberries, hulled 2 cups each, 8-14 different ripe and unblemished fruits* 9 1/2 - 15 1/2 cups sugar (1 cup for every 2 cups of fruit) 2 liters organic dark rum or brandy, at least 80 proof
*Suggestions: apples (cored and sliced); apricots (pitted and sliced); beach plums (pitted); blackberries; blueberries (pierced); cherries (pitted); currants, red and black (pierced); figs (sliced); gooseberries; nectarines (pitted and sliced); peaches (pitted and sliced); pears (cored and sliced); plums (pitted and sliced); raspberries
Furthermore, with a few square meters (pochi metri quadrati) one can establish their own orto familiare (personal family garden).
And I just want to aggiungere qui that here in my beautiful California landscape, we have the absolute best climate and land for all kinds of farming. I'm planning a trip to Big Sur, CA in the summertime and I'm putting the Esalen Farm & Garden on my itinerary. I will take my Italian friends to fare questa bella esperienza.
Hopefully LOVE (amore) is
something that is honored and practiced on a daily basis, not just on
Valentine's Day. I have long ago shunned the commercialism here in
America behind Valentine's Day, February 14, as we know it from the
barrage of c-r-a-p in all the stores--you just can't escape it!
I
practice LOVE-based behavior on a daily basis asking myself---even when
I'm hurt and angry----is this loved-based behavior and will this
behavior heal and make things better for me and those around me?
My answer will always be yes...and if it's not...I will correct it to make it so.
fu morto il 14 febbraio 273
vescovo e martire cristiano
The
Italians (and most Europeans for that matter) have come to celebrate
[St.] Valentine's Day like we do here in America. This LOVE-ly
holiday is a great excuse for love-centric Italian vocabulary words and
images!
Let's start with San Valentino. He is the patron saint of lovers (patrono degli innamorati) and he was martyred in Rome (Roma) Feb 14, 273 :
So that's how it all started...dying for love!
Now let's get to the good part.
In Italy, the term I LOVE YOU is commonly asserted as:
I WANT THE BEST FOR YOU: ti voglio bene
but also,
I LOVE YOU: ti amo
Ti voglio bene assai (I love you so much)
Tesoro ([my] treasure) innamorarsi (reflexive verb: to fall in love) fidanzarsi (reflexive verb: to get engaged)sposarsi (reflexive verb: to marry)
la fede (wedding band/ring) Amore mio (my love).... which brings me to Jovanotti's Serenata Rap:
Comunità Italiana USA: Cucinare è arte: Cooking is art! That's what the tab says above and there are centinaia di people making a living at sharing their passion for Italian ...
Hopefully LOVE (amore) is something that is honored and practiced on a daily basis, not just on Valentine's Day. I have long ago shunned the commercialism here in America behind Valentine's Day, February 14, as we know it from the barrage of c-r-a-p in all the stores--you just can't escape it!
I practice LOVE-based behavior on a daily basis asking myself---even when I'm hurt and angry----is this loved-based behavior and will this behavior heal and make things better for me and those around me?
My answer will always be yes...and if it's not...I will correct it to make it so.
fu morto il 14 febbraio 273
vescovo e martire cristiano
The Italians (and most Europeans for that matter) have come to celebrate [St.] Valentine's Day like we do here in America. This LOVE-ly holiday is a great excuse for love-centric Italian vocabulary words and images!
Let's start with San Valentino. He is the patron saint of lovers (patrono degli innamorati) and he was martyred in Rome (Roma) Feb 14, 273 :
So that's how it all started...dying for love!
Now let's get to the good part.
In Italy, the term I LOVE YOU is commonly asserted as:
I WANT THE BEST FOR YOU: ti voglio bene
Io sono cine-filo! Is that a real word? I love watching movies and when I get a chance, I watch Italian movies! I don't need English subtitles, so I can watch obscure Italian movies- if I find them. The most recent film I got to see, all by myself, without having to interpret or assist in linguistic navigation of the film, wasLa Grande Bellezza (Great Beauty in English) - nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Foreign Film.
This film is fresh, visually marvelous and to the point of absurdity. The main character Jep Gambardella is so self-assured of his importance in Roman society and at the ripened age of 65, his swagger and charisma is undaunted. One of many great lines in the film, he asks a woman, "che lavoro fai" and she answers, "sono ricca"--brilliant banter! Jep Gambardella is the epitome of essere convinto, in the trailer above, I love the line: "Non volevo essere sempliciemente un mondano, volevo diventare il re` dei mondani." See this website for more brilliant one & two liners from La Grande Bellezza (in Italian of course).
La Mia dolce vita
La Grande Bellezza reminded me a lot of La Dolce Vita, in fact it may as well serve as the new cult film of the millennium. The panoramic cinematography of Rome used in the film, along with the musical soundtrack that everyone can relate to, takes your breath away. Any tourist to Rome could only dream of seeing Rome like this for the first time.
I
love Christmas-who doesn't?! The celebrations, the preparations and the
merry-making that comes with this end of the year festivity have roots
far earlier than European Christianity. It is believed that ancient
Romans celebrated the winter solstice by decorating evergreen trees
(symbolic of the spring to follow winter) with garlands of laurel and
candles. The Scandinavians decorated their evergreen trees with
apples. There are so many symbols associated with Chrstmas time that I
decided to make a list. Having said that, I raise my cyber glass to you
and toast this beautiful end of the year holiday.
Today I offer Christmas vocabulary words for my students of Italian:
Buon Natale, la vigilia di Natale, Buone Feste, Babbo Natale, la stella, la lista, gli ornamenti
la corona dell'avvento
il calendario dell'avvento
il panettone
il panforte
il ceppo di Natale
il regalo
il giocattolo il pupazzo di neve
la ghirlanda
il presepio
il bambino Gesu', la vigilia di San Silvestro, il Capodanno, la Befana, l'Epifania
