Autumn anywhere in the culinary world is always a wondrous time.  The harvest brings us the joys of fresh mushrooms, cranberries, various types of squash, and of course pumpkins.  In America we usually signify pumpkins with Jack-O-Lanterns and the traditional Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, but it was in Italian cuisine that I became enamored with the [...]

I’m sure we’ve all had these moments.  I found a great recipe in a magazine for Shrimp Piccata, and I figured it would be worth a try.  I picked up some fresh shrimp, capers, lemon, and was all ready to make the dish, when I was hit with some finicky requests: No flour, no wine, [...]

Despite that the movie has been in theaters and now on DVD for a while, I finally got around to watching Julie and Julia (God bless Netflix). Director Nora Ephron was correct in how she made the food part of the cast. Throughout the movie, the viewer is not only given a glimpse of the [...]

I was flipping through my copy of Culinaria Italy, and early in the book the authors told of Friuli, a region up in Northern Italy. I read an interesting story of polenta and how it came to be in Friuli back in the 17th century. It was a tale of an oppressive Venetian government and [...]

Yes, I know the title sounds a bit perverse, but it’s my blog and I can have fun with you any way I choose. So you’ve been out at that little cafe or restaurant one day, and see a selection of yummy paninis and sandwiches on the menu with ingredients you normally don’t have sitting [...]

This all started when I was watching an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, where Guy Fieri went to San Diego to visit a local spot called Blue Water. While the grilled fish sandwiches and fish tacos looked appealing, it wasn’t until they introduced their variation of what’s called Cioppino that I was drooling.