Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Are You A Plant Lover? Are You Food Curious? Special Guest, Dr. Cassandra Quave, "The Plant Hunter," Reveals Her Search for Healing Plants & Her Inspiring Life

 Into the heart of brightness

One of the first impressions I had when I discovered Dr. Cassandra Quave Ph.D, is that she is so approachable ~ so girlfriend-ready!  The fact that she is a kind of plant polymath: a world-renowned scientist, author, speaker, podcast host, wife, mother, explorer who leads a group of research scientists studying medicinal plants to find new life-saving drugs from nature, and professor at Emory University School of Medicine was rather intimidating, to be honest.  Yet her genuine goodness is undeniably  crystalline. She is a force of nature!  Naturally 😀

I was in awe of her work as a leading ethnobotanist; I was keen to host her as a special guest for my Ladies Who Lunch Conversations videocast. Would she say yes? 

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

How to Build an International Food Brand: Inspiring Story from Natalia Ravida, Sicily's Award-Winning Family Olive Oil Maker

 

It was my first International Ladies Who Lunch Conversation. 

I pursued Natalia Ravida as a special guest to talk about her successful career in the food industry, building a global brand and her adherence to high quality.  From the first time I met Natalia as part of the European Union’s outreach here in the US where she joined two other key industry leaders as part of the Italian Consortium, CEQ Italia, along with the Spanish EVOO Association QVExtra! International.  I worked for the Consortium, and I couldn’t help but be impressed with her confident, cool-handed smarts and her cosmopolitan style.   

Natalia Ravida is president and owner of RAVIDA' Azienda Agricola, an Italian olive oil producer just west of Menfi and she linked in from her family’s farm estate. As part of the Ladies Who Lunch Conversation, I asked her about her career trajectory, and she explained how she left a career as an international print, radio and television journalist to develop a quality olive oil brand, RAVIDA, out of the oil produced on the family estate in Menfi, Sicily. Natalia works full time in her family’s olive oil business, combining brand promotion with farm tours, olive oil tastings and cooking classes.

I asked her about how she built her family’s brand “empire” - and she laughed a bit saying it’s not exactly an empire but rather a small business run by her and her sisters. I’ll add that I love it all even more knowing that a family team of women make this magic.  

Later I asked her how she fared in this business as a woman. You’ll be charmed by her description of how having no sibling brothers - the first time in 13 generations - contributed to her fearless prowess in business, perhaps.  

You’ll enjoy the background story of how she grew up and went to schools in Kenya, Rome, and London (hence her charming British “accent.”)  And how she convinced her engineer father to take over the reins of the farm from her grandfather when he wanted to hand over the business. The family farm at La Gurra has been in the Ravida family since 1770! All I could think was thank goodness Natalia and her sisters kept this jewel of legacy. Maybe not surprising, she tells how her engineer father made some modernizing upgrades to the farm’s operations. That and his love and respect for nature, especially for those old trees  - set them up for future success. When they finally won their first award - and Sicily’s first for olive oil, then he threw his full support behind the business.  And the awards never stopped coming.  Recently, Natalia and her sisters introduced a limited edition blend as an homage to their father: Nicolo’s Blend.  I can imagine the love that went into this special release and can’t wait to taste it. 

I asked Natalie what she knew about the olive oil business when they started their reign at the farm.  “Nothing,” she replied with a smile.  “But I knew I loved it!” she added enthusiastically.  (Olive oil, that is.)

She tells how in the early days she would always carry bottles back on the plane with her to London and friends would ask, “What is this?!”  The taste was so unique to them. Quite different from the store bought stuff, I am willing to bet.  Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s it was really the wine producers who started producing good olive oil.  When I asked how folks got their olive oil, Natalie described how in the south of Italy - people would go to the olive oil presses bringing their jars with them and would buy say, 50 litres  -  enough for most of the year.  So good olive oil was had at home in Italy but nothing for the  international customer. There were  just the cheap supermarket brands. This bad industrial olive oil paved the way for such product misunderstanding for so long that that the high-quality olive oil producers work assiduously to debunk - decades later.  

Estate olive oil like Ravida’s is grown on the farm, overlooking the beautiful and pristine Mediterranean Sea, in a sanctuary of preserved flora and wildlife, and hand-picked at the harvest - a process much like vintners growing grapes for their wines.

You’ll hear Natalia describe how important all this is for the taste of their olive oil - how a good quality olive oil will have a mild, medium, or intense grassy nose; a long peppery taste in the back of the throat and a beautiful, Ravida finish is very clean. Not greasy on lips. It tastes of fresh grass or leaves, lemons, salt and/or artichokes. 

Depending on the variety, olive oil and the extra virgin olive oil has its own distinct character – fruity or aromatic, sweet or bitter, with differing intensity of the spicy aftertaste. These extra virgin olive oils all have their own nuances, contrasts and flavors, but what they have in common is that their production has been closely controlled – from the flower to the bottle – with the main aim of providing the highest possible quality.
 

Did you know the terroir and the variety affects the taste of a good olive oil?  Again, like vintners, the soil and the climate affects the taste. Natalia made us all pea-green when she tells us their farm looks out on the Mediterranean - so there’s the effect of salt air in the olives.  They also grow in the mountains nearby and those olives have a milder taste. 

Do you know how long olive trees can live?  Tune in to find out :)  Natalie reveals the longevity of these astonishing trees - whose trunks can look like elephant feet. And describes the three Sicilian native tree varieties they nurture. 

I asked Natalia for some pearls of wisdom about a career in the food business. Hear how she explains her love of food. “As Italians, in Sicily, it’s a way of sharing.” Seasonal ingredients are the base of everything they do. And they don’t use a drizzle of olive oil. No, they let the ingredients take up that oil!  I can personally attest to this! “If the olive oil is a good quality, it adds taste & flavor,” she noted. Natalia gives a few of her cooking experiences before making her family’s award-winning olive oil ~ and after, in order to amplify the point. Some are funny ones we can all relate to.  I admire and respect that Natalia is a kind of her own focus group and test kitchen. Because she’s both a prolific and a good cook; she has the gravitas to teach us how to use the olive oil in the best way - to make our dishes and recipes soar.  

We then moved on from the exquisite taste to the health benefits of good olive oil.  This liquid gold checks all the boxes: high antioxidants, higher nutritional value, helps prevent heart disease and there’s studies about its effect on doing likewise for dementia.  She told us about her father “just knew” the olive oil had high levels of vitamin D; so she is planning to test this theory.  Wonderful!  I can think of many women and ederly folks who will very much appreciate knowing that olive oil can help support healthy bone density. 

Never one to sit on their success with “just” the olive oil, not too long ago, Ravida also started harvesting salt from the nearby sea and offering different flavors, including fennel and oregano sea salt as part of their collection.  Brand extension!  Again, Natalia focused on simple, natural, seasonal ingredients that she uses, i.e. olive oil and local salt, to add to seasonal fruits and vegetables especially, like chopped tomatoes.  See below for one of her recipes. 


I asked Natalia to showcase her book and she held it up, turning some pages to some of her favorite dishes, including sardines with pine nuts and salt and olive oil.  Sounded just heavenly to me.  Bill? Not so much.  Ha.   

In all seriousness, we are advocating that the publisher, New Holland, reprints her book, Seasons of Sicily 

Don’t you just love this tempting cover food art? Talk about “eating with your eyes first…” The book is brimming with Natalia’s simple, delicious family and regional recipes. 


Natalia then shows the viewer each of her olive oils from the Ravida collection. The bottles are as pretty as a still-life, too. Not unlike using their nearby sea salt, her family saw opportunity with their orange and lemon trees, Pressing and extracting  into their EVOO. You can mix with their marsala vinegar, she suggested or use the mandarin orange with duck, lamb, tomatoes. Or on mozzarella.  They go with so much.  She noted that the lemon EVOO just won an award in the UK. 

I am over the moon happy to share the news that at the time of the Ladies Who Lunch Conversation with Natalia, she broke the news that RAVIDA had just obtained GOLD at the prestigious New York International Olive Oil Competition (NYIOOC) ~ their 33rd award in 30 years of business.

In the Olive Oil Times, Natalia was quoted as saying, "Reaching the top ranks of the world’s leading olive oil contest confirms our commitment to offering the final consumer an excellent quality oil. It's a must have harvest! Grassy, peppery, elegant: RAVIDA at its best!” 

Where to Find Ravida's Olive Oil

You can shop the Ravida website for everything at www.ravida.it and in the US from www.Olio2 Go.com Williams Sonoma, Formaggio Kitchen in Boston and many other outlets coming up soon. Bill and I have long purchased our RAVIDA Olive Oil at Sickles Market when we are at our country house in the Garden State. Natalia promised that this year’s blends are excellent due to a great harvest!   

I sincerely hope you learn from the Conversation: about the different plants - olive tree plants and how they account for different taste characteristics, production methods and standards, benefits and the role of extra virgin olive oil in the Mediterranean diet, key elements in determining quality, how terroir influences flavor profiles, and how to cook with olive oil and EVOO. I also hope you will be inspired by a remarkable, successful woman...

Here is the link to the Ladies Who Lunch Conversations with Natalia 

And just as we were wrapping up, the tech gremlins had their way. Yet, not to be cheated out of a proper goodbye sign-off, Natalia demonstrated her attention to detail and the appropriate way to end a conversation by jumping right back on a linked call. What a professional! A truly inspiring woman...

I noted, “We are polite people,” and of course, wanted to bring Natalia back. 

So, just like in a novel’s dramatic resolution, here is the Denouement of my Ladies Who Lunch with Natalia Ravida - from her farm in Sicily ~ completing the part about the old tree varietals.  (Denouement means, “untying the knot” ~ the conclusion after a narrative. So it’s really a perfect resolution.)

We could honestly toast arrivederci and grazie mille/molte grazie..  

Too much for just one video conversation (ha!); please enjoy the two video Conversations with Natalia and me!  

Food News & Recipes

For her Happy May posting on her website, Natalia tells how she put together “a special sea salt gift to uplift your daily meals wherever you are. Be it a mango and avocado salad, a gently poached or fried egg, a sprinkling of natural sea salt combined with our wonderful, luscious olive oil can turn a simple meal into a gourmet affair.  Natalia recommends you “make sure to have this magnesium rich flavor enhancer in your cupboard alongside a fresh bottle of olive oil.”  Not surprisingly, she says it’s what she uses in her kitchen everyday.  On top of this, being a natural unrefined sea salt (with no additives), you need so much less to achieve your final flavor profile.

And did you know olive oil oxidizes in contact with oxygen, heat and light?

Natalia explains: “Olive oil is a delicate product that needs to be properly stored.

The high level of natural antioxidants (found in quality olive oils) will give it a longer shelf  life maintaining its flavor and taste.

Yet, she writes, that these wonderful characteristics will slowly disappear once the bottle is left open, near a source of heat, its top greasy with oil that has been poured out. Gradually, the oxidation process sets off destroying all those divine flavors and precious nutritional properties.”

To store olive oil in total absence of light and oxygen, back in 1993 we introduced the Oilbox to the world of olive oil. See where she keeps her Oilbox? Handy for all her cooking. Its spout is flexible and the box equally handy, she describes how she can readily pour oil on a slice of bread from her Oilbox.   I confess, as I was writing this and read Natalia’s tips, I had to take a break and go tear off a piece of my mother’s delicious homemade bread ~ now referred to as “Ginny’s Bread,” thanks to Wendy and Ken's sweet moniker.  I took a piece of the heel of the bread and christened the bread with some of Ravida’s liquid gold on it.  Mmmmmm…. 




Recipe          

Here is her favorite tomato salad recipe. Bright, red..the color of love. 

To make the salad, Natalia says: 

  • start by cutting half an onion into slivers and marinate 5-10 minutes with a cup of water and 1 tbsp of RAVIDA's wonderfully aromatic Marsala Wine Vinegar.

  • Meanwhile chop 8/10 sun-ripened cherry tomatoes in half or quarters.

  • Squeeze excess water from the onion, add to the tomatoes and season with a pinch of RAVIDA Oregano Sea Salt to taste, 2 tbsp of RAVIDA Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and a dash more RAVIDA Vinegar.

Enjoy Sicily on your plate!


Olive Oil Cocktail

And back in the “Before Times” ~ in 2018 to be exact ~ the year I first started working on the two-year project with the Consortium, I was inspired to create an olive oil cocktail as a delicious homage.  

The ingredients included in my crafted Olive Oil cocktail is made with blood orange infused olive oil,  Salerno, Aperol, orange blossom water, and either Pelligrino (or any other sparkling water).  


Please email me for the recipe. It's a delicious keeper.

*Images of Ravida Estate, Farm, Natalia in her kitchen and products are courtesy of Ravida web site. Screen shots and the beautiful Natalia and olive oil cocktail are mine. 

Friday, December 18, 2020

Holiday Gift Guide: Part 2 ~ Curated List of Artisanal Music, Books, Cocktails & Herbal Christmas Drink Recipe, Zoom Fashion & More

 

Welcome back! This is part two of my curated Holiday Gift Guide for this most bedeviling year: 2020.

I sincerely hope you enjoyed part one. The first chapter of the guide is more of a plant-based, green-theme to help you create a home oasis. A sanctuary. We all need a wee bit of that now more than ever…

As a kind of addendum, I just read that a national florist has named the sunflower as the flower of the year and the Red Maranta Prayer Plant as the plant of the year.

Cheerful and sunny is always cause for joy. And the prayer plant ~ well, who doesn’t need more prayers this year? The plant’s leaves fold at night looking like hands in prayer.

Plus the red and green leaves are just so perfect for the holidays.

In my previous Holiday post, I highlighted gifts for your home or loved ones that are high-quality and appropriate for this most uncommon “moment” in world history. Who wouldn’t appreciate plants, advent calendars, food, memberships in noteworthy, world-class cultural institutions - both local and international? And please forgive me, I am offering these gift guides to those who are not in that unfathomable circumstance of not being able to pay their rent or have access to food...

Moreover, I have to correct an oversight. I am embarrassed that I neglected to add City Harvest as a noble community effort to support; they pioneered food rescue in 1982. Mea Culpa. Most disconcerting as I am proud to be a City Harvest volunteer for many years. Please contribute and help if you can? Food security has never been more poignant.

Gift Guide 2020 ~ Part 2:
I think we all recognize this is not the year for the same old kind of gifts.

The world has changed. So too, should your gifts. A tie? I don’t think so. Socks. No. A fruitcake? Well, maybe. If you make it… I’m more drawn to panettone, just for the record.

Now, we are all feeling how much home and the celebration of family, nesting, and carving out our smidgen of glamour means right now ~ in this time of unprecedented pandemic and protest. We crave serenity. Peace. Beauty....

Here, I will expand my previous holiday gift list to include some unique, bespoke, artful items including music, cocktail culture, books, toys, and fashion. Cultural pursuits bring us joy and brighten our moods. And we all need more of that right now.

I got to thinking, what did I treasure this past year? What resonated? And what helped get me ~ and you ~ through this wild year? I follow so many great influencers on social media. You inspire me…

Music
Blame it on the Bossa Nova is pretty much spot-on. Music affects our mood, changes our perceptions and elevates our well-being. My research shows that music touches us in a most pronounced, literal way. According to the Max Planck, Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, “Scientists have... found that touch is perceived differently depending on the music being played. Think about that sexy Bossa Nova score and the more sensual experience when we dance or grab a lover. Music can evoke a positive group feeling, too.

Musical medics
According to Arnold Steinhardt, a founding member and first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet, chamber music audiences nearly always include many health care practitioners, "Everything from podiatrists to psychiatrists, since there seems to be a mysterious and powerful underground railroad linking medicine and music. Perhaps music is an equally effective agent of healing, and doctors and musicians are part of a larger order serving the needs of mankind. Perhaps they recognize each other as brothers and sisters."

Is there a doctor in the house?
Yes. Yes, there is. If you are passionate about your music but don’t know your G Clef from your Treble Clef. Further, if you’ve been despondent about missed concerts and performances, I have The perfect, artful gift that will have you humming a new tune.

James Popik, the talented, gifted, grammy-nominated musician - and I’m so proud to say, my favorite brother, has launched a timely gift site on Etsy. 
His MusicOfNote celebrates the long lost art of seeing our music in the fine art dimension. On paper. Perfect for framing. 
It's a music premiere! It's a Garden Glamour featured debut! In fact, you can say you "heard" about Music Of Note here first!  

Besides his first posted collection, he does custom pieces. Ask James to render your favorite, such as your wedding song, your child’s first concert, a lullaby, your engagement song or your dream song or your alma mater's school song… You get the idea.

Music marks our memories.

It’s really incredible to now have the ability to see your music as a printable, frameable piece of art. This is a classic way to celebrate a memory; a love; a hope…

James’ detailed, hand-drawn musical notes and scales are intoxicating. The printed art pieces are endlessly fascinating to view on your wall, as your own personal stationary, a calendar.

And just like every art of note (did I just write, “note?!” ha.ha.) In this case, it’s a musical note. A love note.

As James explains in the Etsy shop: “Handwritten musical scores are works of art. In the age of computer printing the hand drawn musical score is more and more rare. Take a close look and see the fine details and flow and shape of the whole work. Custom works done by request.”
Order your custom musical love notes and you’ll have your friends and family “singing” your praises…


Books:
While I wave my collectible bookmarks to recommendations from my trusted sources -- there are those endless top ten lists, the “Best of” lists and more. 
My list here is personal - meaning the books I’ve selected to highlight are written by my talented friends and colleagues, and those that have enchanted me with their stories and their timeliness this past year when escape and fantasy were more salient than ever.

As an author and writer, it won’t surprise you that I read every chance I get. And it’s never enough. My ultimate fantasy would be no deadlines and just an infinite amount of time to read.
I do that on my iPhone while mobile. I read on my Kindle while kinda’ mobile and in bed. I always buy hardcover cookbooks and garden books. And almost every book in our home library is autographed by the author. I’ve always considered that a sublime luxury.

Further, I cling to Cicero’s quote: “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need…”

Elevate your reading

Here’s my book recommendations:

Glenn Kenny: Shhhh, I purchased the latest of Glenn’s books best selling books for a sweetheart. You won’t believe it when I tell you that Glenn graciously and immediately agreed to send me an autographed signature that I can insert into the book’s title page, making this book even more special. (I’m not suggesting that Glenn can do this for everyone ~ the book is special enough ~ believe me.) I know and respect Glenn; I worked with him during the apex of the consumer electronics’ heyday. (Another time, ask me about dancing on the bar in Tokyo as part of an editorial press tour of manufacturing facilities… smile)

Glenn is a film and music critic. He’s been described on the book’s editorial review page by no less than Brian Koppelman and David Levien, screenwriters of Ocean's Thirteen and co creators of Billions as "... a scholar and a writer, and every bit the literary hit man that Tommy DiSimone was in real life." So exciting.



The Book of Two Ways, Jodi Picoult. Actually, I’m reading this novel now. The writing is incredible! I find myself re-reading paragraphs just to indulge in the beauty of the author’s words. And the story is about life-changing choices. And who among us hasn’t considered those kinds of questions especially in this this life-altering year?

Jordan Grace Robinson: Jordan is an artist with so much talent it doesn’t fit neatly into one genre. Here, her anthology of poem books: Like Flowers We’ll Bloom Again, and Melancholy Mey Zee remind us why we need poetry and hope. While exquisite unto themselves, Jordan’s artful offerings also include her textile designs, handbags, and more.

Richard Powers, The Overstory of Trees, I worship this book. And the author’s telling of a “climate-themed epic,” and “the wisdom of trees.” I always knew it…


The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben, narrates how these majestic creatures feel, communicate and live. Technology has allowed us the first opportunity to better understand and document their heretofore secret world. The book “explains that trees use scent to talk, ‘agree’ to bloom together and take communal action against pests.” Again, I always knew it. I am in awe of these tree books (see a pattern?!); they are akin to being the Rosetta Stone of these plant sages.



Bloom, The Overthrow, Kenneth Oppel. This book is a fantastic, terrifying thriller; a plant-based sci-fi adventure. It’s also about friendship. This YA novel is for kids of all ages. And the first in a trilogy. Can’t wait for Hatch. I have it on pre-order.
Code Girls, Liza Mundy. I liked these brave and smart dames so much, I recommended the book to my 95-year old Mother, Virginia, who got her copy in large print from our library. Mother would’ve made a stellar World War II code breaker. As it is, she signed on to be a registered war nurse.RN.
Screamers, an action thriller and fantasy, authored by my friend, Frank Vizard
Next Year in Havana, Chanel Cleeton
Barkskins, Annie Proulx 
The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

One audio book: H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine,” as read by the incredibly verbally animated, Kelsey Grammer.
Weather, Jenny Offill. The novel features Lizzie Bensen, a librarian, who has stabilized some family issues, who gets a request from her former mentor, Sylvia Liller who has “become famous for her prescient podcast, Hell and High Water, and wants to hire Lizzie to answer the mail she receives: from left-wingers worried about climate change and right-wingers worried about the decline of western civilization” and climate chaos.



Speaking of Podcasts I find they are an excellent audio storytelling platform: topical, compelling, and easily digestible (no pun, as most of my Podcasts are, not surprisingly, related to food and drink.)

Podcasts work especially well when I’m knee-deep in my client’s gardens. I can multitask while listening.
I like them all the more because the storytelling in some ways can’t help but remind me of all the bedtime stories my beloved father would create and tell me…

Overall, downloads of podcasts were up nearly 50 percent at the end of October, according to Podtrac. I see no signs of this trend abating.

Some of my favorite podcasts are: Radio Cherry Bombe, Blindspot -The Road to 9/11, Modern Bar Cart, Soundstage by Playwrights Horizons, A Taste of the Past, The Sporkful, The Splendid Table. Wish I had more listening time. The stories are so great. 

I can’t leave the book category without mentioning my latest book! Indulge me, thank you.
Art of the Garnish.


Art of the Garnish is such a lovely, charning, and dynamic book; I am forever honored to have been asked to write it. Thank you, Cider Mill Press and your spectacular team.
In addition, special thanks to: Doug Young, the brilliant photographer who worked tirelessly over two days to capture some of the best images featured in the book.
Incredibly, I shot many of the photos included in the book ^:^ ; you can see our home backdrops in some of those styled cocktail compositions.
Also, I very much thank the brands and mixologists who so generously contributed their drink creations, as well as their very professional photo images.
The cocktails and their glamorous garnishes resonate with every season.

I had to update this Post after I read the feature about the elixir Chartreuse in yesterday's Times. 
I have long been intrigued by this spirit. Curiously, Chartreuse has been made by a very ascetic order of Catholic monks for more than 900 years from a recipe they perfected from an "alchemist's ancient manuscript for a perfectly concocted medicinal tonic of about 130 herbs and plants: the 'Elixir of Long Life,'" according to the Times' reporting.  Further, and astonishingly, there are only two monks who know how to make the full 130-ingredient recipe. Scary brand trust... 
I love that it's made with local herbs and plants. And oh, that vibrant green color!  And the taste is unique ~ very herbally. A bit spicy.  How to describe it?  I love this characterization: the Times notes that in "Brideshead Revisted," Anthony Blanche compares it to ingesting a rainbow. And a Baltimore bartender, Brendan Finnerty, says it tastes like Christmas in a glass." 
In that spirit of holiday cheer, I offer you a recipe gift from my Garnish book, contributed by the London-based mixologist, Valentina Carbone, at Nobu Berkeley St, London. She named it English Rose. The featured ingredient is the magical Chartreuse. Perfect for a Christmas in a Glass!


Ingredients:
  • 2 oz Gin
  • 1 oz rose simple syrup
  • 1 oz yuzu or lemon juice
  • Barspoon of Chartreuse 
  • Slice of Lemon, lime, grapefruit 
  • 1 Strawberry, 2 Blueberries, 2 Raspberries
Method: 

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously. 
Strain into a cocktail glass. (I prefer this drink in a Coupe)

Garnish ~ Finishing Touches:
Rose petals.  The rose petals are also medicinal.  Rose petals are mildly sedative, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-parasitic. They're also mild laxatives, a good supportive tonic for the heart, and great for lowering cholesterol.
A big plus for this garnish? The Red Roses is a symbol of love... 
Cheers.

If you would like a signed copy as a Holiday gift, please email or DM me and I will send you an autographed book.
Which brings me to:

Cocktail Culture:
Clearly, we are all spending more time at home and so what better pursuit than to embellish our cocktail carts and bars and cosmopolitan cocktail-inspired home designs?
Did you view or participate in my Spring Facebook Live cocktail parties. If not, you can see the garden-to-glass cocktail parties on the Garden Glamour Facebook page

For some classic cocktail culture, think Nick and Nora and their equally iconic, martini-swilling pooch, the loyal Asta in Dashiell Hammett’s “The Thin Man” series that chronicles the boozy detectives.
Then, there’s the classic Topper film starring Cary Grant (later a TV series).
George and Marion Kerby ~ a rich and reckless couple are ghosts who emerge from their car wreck (see, drinking and driving don’t mix) determined to free their friend, Cosmo Topper, a bored bank president who buys George’s flashy sports car after the accident. Soon he meets the ghosts of his dead friends, and immediately they begin to liven up his dull life with drinking and dancing, flirting and fun.
Trust me, it’s a classic adventure, filled with boozy antics. Shake up a cocktail or two and watch the film - it’s a perfect pairing. And it will transport you from the pandemic.


What to sip those fabulous cocktails in? For you and/or that cocktail-loving aficionado on your list, look to It’s Not Just Cocktails. I’ve happily purchased their vintage barware and decor that celebrates the cocktail culture. Available directly, on Etsy or Pinterest, you can even find a superb collection of curated cocktail glasses to delight every drink ~ even those hard-to-find, Nick and Nora glasses!

Earlier this year, I wrote and posted on the blog, How to Curate and Style a Home Bar Cart: The Essentials and Glamorous Accessories. It was extremely popular and I thank all of you who read, shared, and gave feedback. I raise my glass to you.
Since that posting, I added a Le Bois Lélė Swizzle Stick to my cocktail at-home bar collection on the recommendation of one of the key contributing mixologists to my book, Art of the Garnish.
He is Los Angeles’ Josh Suchan, Ice and Alchemy. Josh is not only incredibly talented and knowledgeable but fun ~ and a very good teacher ~ with abundant style and respect for the art of the cocktail.
When Covid first landed, he quickly pivoted to offer virtual online cocktail classes.
I immediately signed on.
Bill and I loved our sessions. Josh’s online classes are fun and the next best thing to sitting at your local watering hole.
Honestly, while we are so blessed to have a truly gorgeous home bar, entered by a secret door to our downstairs speakeasy, that was designed by moi after ones I’d seen ~ and dreamed of ~ after I visited Havana. (I’ll showcase it soon in a Post.)
And now, Lucky you! Because you can gift a subscription to Ice & Alchemy Zoom lessons. 
Or treat yourself.
I promise you that your Ice & Alchemy cocktail “classes” will be hands-on instructive and oh-so-fun. You can ask as many questions as you want.
Further, it’s a real pleasure to meet the other “students”/aficionados on Zoom. You can talk to them too. Next best thing to sidling up to the neighborhood bar.
It’s even fun getting the ingredients ready in anticipation. Josh sends you an ingredients and prep list beforehand.
You can sign on via Josh’s Instagram: @ice_and_alchemy or online at Eventbrite, as well as the link I provided above. You can order a subscription for dates and times that suit you and/or your giftee. It’s an extraordinary value. You will be richly rewarded.

No matter your home space, an at-home bar design offers a glitzy fantasy and a sense that you’re not just filling a wine glass or pouring a drink at home. A kind of counterintuitive cocktail…
I believe the point is that you should consider a space that allows you to indulge in the art of the making of the drink vs. or as opposed to just pouring or having a drink. It’s more about the experience..

The cinema references I noted above made the cocktail hour glamorous just because the setting was sigh-worthy; the process of shaking, stirring and sipping - over elevated cocktail conversation, of course.
The glamour of the accessories, and the accompanying conversation made the time special.

As I note in my Art of the Garnish book, cocktails not only have their own “time of day” but their own “rooms” and furniture, including the cocktail table, cocktail chair, couch, and carts.

So what if your cocktail bar is a repurposed closet?
The bar cart can be everyone’s go-to home decor essential now.
There are a myriad of looks to suit every budget.
Gifting one is, well, so very thoughtful this year… The carts range in price from modest to monied.

Further, there are more bar accessories than you can shake a cocktail shaker at.
Please ask me if you have a specific question, after reading the May Post.

Don’t overlook one of the best gifts ever and always, including: bottles of wine, spirits, bitters, and simple syrups. My list of recommendations on this include so many brands ~ most often sourced from local, artisanal makers and the spirit makers I adore. MacchuPisco is at the top of my list. I recommend Modern Bar Cart for a curated collection of mixers and tools. And they have a great Podcast ~ I was honored they scheduled me as a featured guest! (see above.)


Zoom Fashion
This is the year that’s allowed most of our others to “zee” us on Zoom from just the waist up.

While I did buy a few pairs of shoes early in the pandemic, I figured that shoes, as much as I love them, could be put on hold until after May (Given the early reports, I thought we’d be out of the coronavirus’ worst times by September…)

But now, I’m past that kind of schedule and thinking tops. Whether it’s “Tops” or “Blouses” or Shirts, I think this is the year to give you or someone you love a fabulous Zoom-worthy Top.

One that can take you from business casual to friends and family time. Please, please say goodbye to sweats. Never a good fashion choice.
As a fashion enthusiast, and former fashion careerist; (I earned my AA at the American College of Lucerne in Switzerland. Please indulge me when I share that it’s one of life’s true pleasures to still be friends with this group of special, fashion-talented men and women.)
I was a Bergdorf Goodman buyer. I owned and managed a boutique. I still ooze fashion ~ even if much of my wardrobe is now yoga and gardening looks. (wink)

Back to the fashion on Facebook Live or Facetime or Zoom because this is how we live and communicate now, I recommend flattering, non-revealing tops/shirts/blouses (no cleavage, boys and girls, unless it’s your Covid Cocktail friend’s Happy Hour), and at that, a look that your ringlight will amplify.

I’m partial to the romanticism of Ralph Lauren. I’m smitten by lace blouses and tops right now. I also favor off-shoulder, or traditional button down shirts that are very ironed or organically dry-cleaned, turtle-necks and mock turtlenecks, v-necks, and one of my favorites: the cowl neck.

Go big on makeup! And your hairstyle. Mitigate the severe pulled back ponytails or man-bun. 
Go for a true hairstyle. A professional approach. For men, you can indulge in that facial hair look that you’ve been considering. Ladies have tried some colorful hair colors (pink?! blue!) if your profession doesn’t frown on it. Let’s all just have some fun with this moment. Trial the look, please, before you Zoom :) 

And lipstick for Zoom is an indulgence we love, especially as face coverings all but obliterates the chance to embrace one of life’s true pleasures.

While you undoubtedly have your favorite brand and color, I’m just all supportive and giggly about SHESPOKE, a makeup brand that “represents the freedom, playfulness and joy that comes from using makeup as a tool of self-expression.”
Amen. 
We all feel like we’re that kid again, playing dress up. 
Plus, the best part is SHESPOKE creates a custom, one-of-a-kind lipstick color. It’s so you!

Earlier this year, pre-pandemic, I was sent a pair of amazing 4 carat Diamond Veneer stud earrings. 
I confess that I’ve pretty much worn them every day since then.

Most everyone can agree with the maker, Diamond Veneer, that many women (and some men!) stay away from wearing Cubic Zirconia jewelry because CZ is so white it looks too fake. But Diamond Veneer solved that issue with a revolutionary process of treating cubic zirconia with a veneer of carbon diamond particles, crystallizing around the entire stone, which results in a flawless “G” color on the diamond color scale! Now you can wear diamonds every day with no worries about the faux. I appreciate that I can wear them gardening and working and not worry. They are beautiful.
 
The CZ earrings are a perfect stocking stuffer, too.

Games and Toys
Home games ~ think Monopoly, yoyos, Slinky, Mr. Potato Head. Did you know that Mr. Potato Head was the first toy advertised on television and, not coincidentally, it sold a million kits in a year? At 98 cents. And you supplied the potato...

Puzzles
At this point in the pandemic, I think we all know that Jigsaws are good for stay-at-home fun. Early in March, I was considering what activity would be best for my Mother. Learning Bridge? Too other-dependent, I determined. Then, shazam. I thought of jigsaw puzzles. We ordered a few modest ones online and purchased a few at the local pharmacy. I thought I was the lone wolf on this. It wasn’t till May that news reports were touting the overwhelming popularity and increasing shortage of jigsaw puzzles! I now see why. It can be a solitary or shared activity,

But did you know, there’s a dopamine hit every time you put puzzle pieces together.“

Could puzzles be better for you than CBD?

My Mother has become our “Puzzle Princess.”

Jigsaws are also a kind of art. We’ve framed some of Mother’s recent puzzle completions
.
We’ve alo appreciated getting re-purposed puzzles from neighbors and my garden clients .
My niece Lauren has gifted us artful puzzles that when completed, we’ve framed. We also love the the special ones from Rifle Paper Company And Ravensburger’s Krypt Series

Stocking Stuffers:
Straight away, please consider seeds.
So many sources were completely sold out by April this year due to you know what…
It seemed everyone wanted or needed herbs and vegetables,so for Mother’s Day, I decided to put together a gift package that folks could order from me and I’d send via the Post or hand deliver.

Therefore, in anticipation, and In order to avoid any disappointing lack of seeds in the spring, why not gift this most popular, sought-after home item now? You can source from:
John Scheepers, Grow at Seed Balls

There was also an acute lack of garlic. We shared some of our treasure with some garden clients we love. We have always sourced our variety of garlic from the Maine Potato Lady. The best source.

And I know you love food (especially if you’ve read this far) so if you are a foodie in or near the Chapel Hill, Greensboro area in the Tar Heel state, or have family there, be sure to order Holiday meals from the award-winning Beau Catering You will not only delight in the “Beau Show” but will also sink into a scrumptious food coma … and resource.

Accessories:
In my last Holiday Gift Guide post, I noted the happy note cards with seeds embedded in them ready for planting, from Hydrangea Home. What could be better?

And then, from KinkaNYC I got these incredible seed-bearing Lollipops!

If you didn’t know, KinKa curates THE best plant, food and art gifts.
After receiving such an extraordinary gift package, including the seed-bearing lollipops, I fainted with pure joy. Pick me up off the floor.
Sourced from Amborella Organics, the treat is to enjoy the simple pleasure of the lollipop - we all surely need more of this childhood pleasure now.
Then you plant the biodegradable stick in the soil and watch your garden grow!
I will be joyfully growing marigolds from the peach and marigold pop candy, sage from the sage and marshmallow (plus I’ll be harvesting my homegrown marshmallow root!), Baby BLue Eyes hibiscus from the vanilla and hibiscus pop, and the favorite: basil from the strawberry and basil treat. The plant-based ingredients live on long after the last lick. #EatPlantLove

I hope you enjoy and appreciate my heartfelt and personal list of suggested, curated gifts for this most unusual yet blessed holiday..

I sincerely wish you and your loved ones a healthy, safe, holiday season.

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

What is the Legend of the 7 Fishes & the Recipes to Make


Do you wonder what is the history and legacy of the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve? And do you know how to cook this special dinner celebration?

If you’ve been baffled about the history and significance of the Feast of the Seven Fishes that’s celebrated on Christmas Eve -- and what to serve - Chef Marisa Iocca - the country’s foremost proponent of authentic yet playful cucina Italiana will explain and demonstrate.

What’s the Seven Fishes lore? Is it the seven days of the week? The seven sacraments? The seven hills of Rome? It’s all a mystery.

And yet…

Chef Marisa - is the award-winning chef and owner of Spigga restaurant who can interpret the La Vigilia - the never-ending fish feast celebrated by Italian Americans.

Do you prepare linguini and clams? Scungilli, calamari, anchovy? Or ...

Chef Marisa cooks with the best ingredients: especially high quality EVOO from Europe.

There are a number of other Meditierranean Holiday dishes, including, fried vegetables, fried potatoes, fried artichokes, fried squash blossoms, and more.

Not surprisingly, there are quite a number of fish dishes featured in my first book, The Hamptons and Long Island Homegrown Cookbook - my love letter to artisanal growers and the chefs they inspire to create seasonal, market-driven menus. After all, Long Island is surrounded by some of the best fishing waters anywhere.  T

There’s Arctic Char filets with miso, grapefruit, and yuzo; PEI Mussels; Rakmacka - contributed by Homegrown chef Joe Isidori.

Arroz de Choco (squid with rice) - contributed by Homegrown chef, Rosa Ross

A Spiced Fish and Vegetable Stew is a happy new take on traditional 7 Fishes meal; the Monkfish with Stewed Leeks - are both from the incomparable Chef Eberhard Müller, now of Satur Farms fame. And making this a “hat trick for Chef Eberhard, I also recommend Chef’s Tuna Tartar with Radishes.

Fluke Crudo - created by Chef Gretchen Menser

Pistachio-Crusted Halibut and a fabulous Grilled Octopus (one of my true favorite dishes) are recipe contributions from Chef Mitchell SuDock

Oysters - hands down, my favorite, especially when they are farmed locally. This pure, is from Cuvée Bistro & Bar owner and chef: Deborah Pittorino. And the classic Long Island Oysters with Mignonette Sauce - this is how I serve my oysters - from the oh-so-creative Chef Kevin Penner. I’m afraid for the “Out East” shellfish farming and the Peconic Bay oysters. I hope I’m wrong…

Speaking of Peconic Bay, these Bay Scallops with butter and lemon is pure joy from Nick & Toni’s chef Joseph Realmuto

Baked Seafood Sagaponack from our dear, late chef, Anna Pump. I adored her, her culinary creations, her indomitable spirit and generous support… And don’t get me started on her famous Lobster Salad that we made at on of the Homegrown booksignins at her Bridgehampton store.

Chef Starr Boggs - a beloved and true culinary star of the Hamptons created the Softshell Crabs with Southern Succotash recipe - after all, chef Starr originally hailed from what many recognize as the crab capital - the eastern shore of eastern Virginia. Chef Starr also contributed the recipe for the Basil-Crusted Swordfish

Striped Bass Grilled with Six Spices - from Greenport’s incredible chef: Robby Beaver

& Striped Bass Montauk - pan-roasted is a favorite - from Chef Michael Rozzi

The Grilled Swordfish Montauk Style with picatta-style sauce is a classic from Shelter Island’s Vine Street Café’s Chef Terry Harwood

The Tuna Crudo is also from chef Kevin Penner’s collection.

All dishes are made with local ingredients -- and love…

If you don’t already have access to the recipes via your much-used, sauce-stained pages of the Homegrown Cookbook, please reach out to me and I can share the recipe(s) you are hungry to make.

BUON NATALE A TUTTO IL MONDO

Sunday, June 15, 2014

The Best Father's Day Gift: "Alive & Cooking" Cookbook - Healthy & Delicious Homegrown Recipes made with Local Ingredients & Love



“It was with love for my father that I became obsessed with cooking and recipes,” wrote Alive & Cooking cookbook co-author Maryann De Leo.

It’s an era of unlimited gift possibilities For Dad, (close to 80 million hits via a Google Search for Father’s Day Gift Guides and what to buy for Dad)
There’s tech toys, manly BBQ equipment, and surfer dude shorts…
Tie jokes are a perennial Father’s Day gift cliché.

Why it’s portrayed as anything of a challenge to choose a gift to celebrate a Father – every child’s hero  - is a complete mystery.
In fact, knowing that Dads will buy something on their own if they really want it – the best Father’s Day gift is an obvious one: your time and love.

And what better way to share some quality time than cooking for Dad?

Shared shopping, meal prep, cooking, enjoying some great local wine or craft beer all through to the dining and sit down meal, is a surefire way to bring together food, drink, and fun. 
And kindle homegrown memories for a lifetime and generations to come.

Don’t know what to cook?
The answer lies in a cookbook.


This book is the perfect Father’s Day gift to be used as a lifestyle guide to good, healthy living AND as a cookbook brimming with family heritage recipes. 
Pick any of the hundreds of food and drink recipes to make together on Father’s Day.
And every day. 

Curated recipes from the authors’ family are so named for the mother, aunt, uncle, son or daughter who passed down or created the recipes.
These monogrammed recipes are charming and delicious: e.g. Helen’s Grilled Salmon, Junia’s Beef Stroganoff.
Who wouldn’t love Grandma Violet Terranova’s Fried Chicken? 
Violet claims she invented “Shake and Bake!” 
Then there’s Amanda’s Mexican Salad recipe and Gibbons’ Guajillo Chili, co-author Addison’s son  - who developed this recipe while in law school.

All the recipes make the Alive & Cooking cookbook feel like a sophisticated and informed version of a traditional church or community cookbook.

Written with deep-felt love as an homage to the authors’ fathers and family, the book fairly percolates not only with valuable, expert nutrition information (why cinnamon is key, or how detox cleaning is good, and did you know plums support the liver because they are rich in Vitamin A, iron, copper, zinc and fiber and can lower cholesterol, and plants "are masters at cleaning certain toxins from the air" and boost happier, more positive attitude) but also offers delicious, good-for-you recipes and practical, hands on tips.
One can’t help feeling you’re listening to a grandmother or friend describing the recipes -- as in, “Do not frost until cake is cold”), as well as the family food stories that will inspire and reward the reader for a lifetime.

I challenge anyone to not get a tad weepy -- and cooking motivated - reading the chapter “The Manicotti Lesson” that, not surprisingly, reads like a screenplay - and is all about making artful, family food connections. 
The Manicotti chapter boasts opera, the Beatles, Mother Dorothea singing, and her family’s culinary stories and cooking lessons on making manicotti with three cheeses inside shells.

How pretty that pasta comes in so many nature-inspired shapes, no?!

If for no other reason, buy Alive & Cooking for Dotty’s Manicotti.
It is a classic example of what makes this cookbook extraordinary. 
The recipe is a detailed, tour de force family heritage recipe the Food Network would promote like crazy.  
The food memoir head notes alone are fascinating short story. 

But wait, there’s Dotty’s Potatoes and Green Beans.
And Dotty’s Stuffed Artichokes. 
And more.
Clearly, there needs to be a Dotty Cookbook, I think you will agree.

For anyone who fails to see how the rather prickly, pointed artichoke could possibly be anything more than still art, (not to put too fine a point on it but art IS part of this edible beauty’s moniker.) there is Dotty’s easy to make, delicious artichoke recipe.

Dotty’s Stuffed Artichoke recipe will change your palate.

Ingredients:
4 large artichokes
2 c. Italian bread crumbs
1/3 c. tablespoons Locatelli cheese, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ c. fresh parsley, washed well, dried, and chopped
1 8-oz. can plum tomatoes

Directions:
1.     Cut off any brown parts from artichokes
2.     Wash artichokes and dry well
3.     Trim artichokes so that they sit flat in pot
4.     Mix breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, parsley, and enough tomato to moisten the stuffing so that holds together.
5.     Gently separate and pull apart artichoke.  (Don’t break off the leaves. The artichoke will be whole when it’s cooking.)
6.     Stuff each artichoke leaf with approximately 1 T. stuffing
7.     Site artichokes in the pot with a little water and a little tomato to steam
8.     Steam approximately 45 minutes

Variations: Use any grated cheese, Maryann’s family likes Locatelli.  She writes: (My parents had an ongoing debate about whether Locatelli was a region, a brand name, or a type of cheese. I don't remember if there was a winner.
Note: The tomatoes make the stuffing moist and hold it together. 
Serving size: 4 servings.

This cookbook is a food “hat trick”  (sorry, Ranger fans) that combines food stories and health and nutrition recommendations, along with recipes and tips.

For example, the Recipe chapter launches with this wise admonishment: “One of the most important instructions for preparing food is to taste it as you are cooking.  Adjust salt, pepper, spices, herbs, liquids, and ingredients as needed.”

Cooks and bakers note: Be fearless. Be bold.  

And break some rules. Recipes and menus are not tied to the clock.

De Leo writes: “Lunch can be the main meal of the day.  Often at mid-day my father had the best appetite and he could eat a big meal.”

In an excerpt from the Alive & Cooking cookbook. De Leo offers a love note / head note for this sweet recipe that clearly delighted her father who was then battling emphysema.

Recipe for Brie And Chocolate Sandwich

To make this easier for my (Maryann’s) Dad to eat, I cut it with scissors into small pieces. When I went to see if he liked it, there were hints of chocolate at the corners of his mouth and the plate was empty

Ingredients:
2 slices bread, whole grain, baguette or sourdough
Sliced Brie cheese (enough to cover a piece of bread
2 T. bittersweet chocolate chips
Directions:
1.     Toast bread lightly in a pan (No butter is necessary)
2.     Place slices of Brie on one side of the bread.
3.     Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.
4.     Place the other bread slice on top, and place the sandwich in a pan.
5.     Grill, pressing down and cooking until brown on both sides.

Serving size: 1

What makes this a special Father’s Day gift is the spirit of fatherly adoration and love that fills the book. 
In the Acknowledgements, De Leo sets the table for the reader: "Inspiration has come from my father many times… This cookbook, too, was inspired by my father. I wrote it for him and to him and I know he’d be happy to have me share what I learned with many others.”

Cooking is empowering.

With subtle authority, the book seamlessly and joyfully makes the connections to cooking, nutrition, health, food and family, especially to our revered elders: parents and caregivers.

The two authors are passionate about those connections and the forces that circle out to family, community, and beyond. 
Maryann is an Academy Award–winning filmmaker for The Chernobyl Heart.
Her latest film was nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlinale in Berlin, Germany. She is a teacher at the School of Visual Arts, a UN representative for the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom, and a home cook.

Nancy Gibbons Addison is the author of How to Be a Healthy Vegetarian
A Board–Certified health practitioner with the American Association of Drugless Practitioner, certified by eCornell University in plant-based nutrition and is certified for Basic Intensive n Health-Supportive Cooking at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health in NYC, among many other accreditations.
  
The authors’ personal stories and narratives are love stories – for their fathers – for their family, and their love of food

“It was the love for my father that I became obsessed with cooking and recipes,” wrote Maryann.
She describes how she and her family changed his recipes and the quality of food and her father’s health problems disappeared.  He was able to regain ten pounds; his doctor calling him “miracle man.”

The book describes how the authors came by their passion for delicious, healthy food, fueled by homegrown ingredients. 
Not surprisingly, Maryann’s father, Dominic tended a garden.  Her mother, Dorothea, tended the heart of the home – the kitchen.  
Who needs anything else to build a happy, healthy home?

“Highest quality food is the best”, notes Addison.
Grandmother De Leo passed this on to future generations long before it became trendy with today’s locavore chefs:  “Cook with the best quality ingredients you can find; that is what makes the best dish.”

So, take Dad to shop ingredients at a local farmers market. 
Karen Seiger’s Markets Of New York Father's Day Picks recommends fabulous, curated markets and maker finds.

I was so very honored to have been asked by my talented cousin Maryann to write the Foreword for Alive & Cooking: An Easy Guide to Health for You and Your Parents. 

Here is the tribute to the book’s mission to feed our bodies, our souls, and our families.
Rereading the Foreward for this Father's Day tribute, I am happy that it captures the essence of this important book.

Food is love.
Embraced by the earth, caressed by the sun, and kissed by the rain, nature respectfully shares her passions with us. 

Food is art  
The art of food fuels our imagination and creativity.  We create homes, traditions, culinary triumphs and comfort through our interpretation of food’s ingredients, preparation and presentation.  There is the saying, “The eyes eat first” with the food beguiling our sense of sight – flirting with us before seducing our other senses of smell, touch and ultimately, taste. What other art form takes hold of us so? Food is powerful. But it is also markedly tender, nurturing and sincere.

Food is a metaphor.
It is a tool, a weapon, a constant garden where love is growing, waiting to be shared. To be served, given away with abandon.

Food is a journey. 
It takes us to distant countries and far-away places. It takes us across time and generations.  Food penetrates our hearts. And our memories.  It is a passport to other cultures; a portal to our own unique past.

This book is transporting. 
It reveals -- or rips back the cover on the extraordinary connection to our families; our selves. 
You could say the food stories and nutritious recipes are lessons. 
Reading them, it’s almost as if our lives depended on it. 
It does.
The food chronicles here reveal an intimacy that can only be found in family heritage cuisines that are deeply and genuinely experienced: over generations, over the dinner table, over a lifetime of cheers’, salutes’, and amen’s. Our happiest, fondest memories are over celebrations of food and family. Big holidays and achievements. Romantic interludes. And quiet, tender, heartbreaking, private tributes.

My series’ of Homegrown books and writings explores the connection of master chefs to their inspired growers: the vegetable, duck and honey farmers, oyster growers and fishermen.  My talented, sensitive artist cousin, Maryann – and her co-author Nancy -  have taken this concept of eating inspired local food to the next level. Naturally.   While the concept of the book was sparked out of heartbreak and loss, let there be no doubt the book is one of enduring hope and love.

What could be more intimate and inspired than preparing nutritious, delicious food for family?  Time spent talking and working in the kitchen. Meals shared. Traditions and heritage passed on in the glow of serving home cooked meals with full plates and brimming glasses.

The recipes here are natural, healthy, organic and prepared with sustainable ingredients. of course. 
You will be inspired to cook them because each of the family recipes – our family – have been tested by time – and love.  And in the end, they are truly the best ingredients.  

Enjoy.  Cheers to family – and food!