We’ve had record breaking heat in Seattle this summer. Until yesterday, it had been over 80 degrees for over 2 weeks. We North westerners are not equipped for this. Most don’t have air conditioning, so we start to get surly from lack of good sleep. We start dreaming about renting a hotel room, so we…
Category: vegetarian
Can You Have Too Many Tomatoes?
If you garden in Western Washington, you know that you can never count on a big crop of tomatoes. You feel lucky most years if you get any to turn red at all. So, when my mom hauled down 15 tomato plant one day last spring, I didn’t get too excited. In fact, I though…
Cauliflower Soup
I just can’t eat enough soup in the winter time. It’s fun to make and most of the time it’s a guilt-free meal. I grew up eating mostly chicken based soups and chili’s, but after marrying an Italian, I got to experience a whole new spin on soup. Italians eat soup as a first course…
Happy New Year
The holidays are over, at least for a while, and now we’re back to all work and no play mode once again. That sucks and I always find January a little bit depressing, without much to look forward to, except of course, a good meal. Dinner is to me a little celebration every night. We…
I Love Red Peppers
Here’s a shot from our trip to Venice last weekend. It sounds so cliche, but it’s a magical place. Everyone in my family is happy when we’re there and believe me, that doesn’t happen very often. We don’t even care that we usually end up paying way too much for a mediocre meal while we’re…
The Lentil
So small, but so mighty. They are easy and quick to prepare. They are versatile and are extremely healthy, full of protein, iron and fiber. As I was doing research, I came across an article that proclaimed the lentil “the world’s healthiest food”. You can’t beat that can you? Now I know some of you…
How to Dress up a Green Bean Real Pretty
Green beans are something that almost everyone likes. Even as children, we tolerated canned green beans and the slimy ones they served with school lunches. And who can say no to green beans at Thanksgiving with all those yummy crunchy things and soup concentrate in them (actually, I can). Here in the north of Italy,…
Yes, you can!
You like the picture? That’s a castle, there’s a lot of those here. This particular one is on the island of Ischia and I think its fascinating the way it was built right onto the rock like that. The picture has absolutely nothing to do with what I’m going to post about, but I thought…
This is my Mother in Law
I figured I should start at the beginning. I have always loved food and cooking, but it wasn’t until I met my hubby that I learned to appreciate how the ingredients of a dish should be the true star of the show. And my hubby didn’t teach me that, his mother did. Before we were…
The Farmer’s Market in Bolzano
Last week I took the train to Bolzano to go see Otzi, the iceman at the Museum of Archeology. That was pretty cool, really, but since this is a food blog, I’ll instead tell you about the market they have daily in Bolzano’s Piazza dell’Erbe. There was stall after stall of fresh, beautiful and seasonable…
italiansimplicity 