Musings Archive

« Older Entries

Gina DePalma and Copulettas – Half-moon pastries from Sardinia

Posted October 6, 2015 By Adri


Copulettas - Half-moon pastries from Sardinia


Greetings to all. It’s been months since you have heard from me. Life and my home remodel have conspired to keep me out of the kitchen and away from my computer. This post, however is not about me. It is about Gina DePalma. Gina, for those of you unfamiliar with her, is one of the stars of the Italian pastry world. She was the pastry chef at Babbo and Enoteca restaurants in New York for many years, and she is the author of numerous articles and Dolce Italiano, one of my favorite collections of Italian desserts. Read more… »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
96 Comments so far. Join the Conversation
Filed in Books, Dessert, Musings, Personalities | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The White Widow – a Punch Abruzzo cocktail

Posted February 16, 2015 By Adri

It seems to me that this coming summer everyone will be in Abruzzo.


White Widow-a Punch Abruzzo cocktail


Some friends are traveling to visit their ancestral villages and towns. Others, like food writer Domenica Marchetti, are leading culinary tours – taking hungry travelers through this pastoral land, sampling local cuisine and visiting artisanal food makers along the way. Travel to this largely undiscovered region is picking up, and that can only be a good thing. The cuisine, rich and borne of the land, is at once hearty and delicate, nuanced and bold. Cheeses, wines, olive oils and truly divine pastries – Abruzzo has it all. Some of Italy’s finest dried pasta comes from there too. And so does one of my favorite liquors, Punch Abruzzo. Read more… »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
96 Comments so far. Join the Conversation
Filed in Beverages, Cocktail, Musings | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Coppette alla Crema di Ricotta

Posted December 27, 2014 By Adri


Coppette alla Crema di Ricotta
Got Panettone? If you have Italian friends, then I bet your answer is a resounding yes because some of those friends must have given you some panettone as a Christmas gift. As good as it is right out of its pretty box, or toasted with a bit of butter at breakfast time, at my house there are always entire loaves that remain unopened once Christmas is over. Read more… »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
101 Comments so far. Join the Conversation
Filed in Aperitivi, Dessert, Musings, Panna Cotta Diaries, Recipes | Tagged: , , ,

Averna e More

Posted September 15, 2014 By Adri


Averna e More


I know. It sounds like Averna amore, but that’s what’s been going on around here. I have been drinking a lot of this Sicilian amaro lately. I am accustomed to consuming Averna neat (undiluted, at room temperature, no ice) or straight up (with ice.) Then I came across a cocktail called a Blackberry Smash, a bracing mix of Meyer lemon juice, ginger beer, orange-flavored vodka, muddled blackberries and Averna. Read more… »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
98 Comments so far. Join the Conversation
Filed in Beverages, Cocktail, Musings | Tagged: , , , , , ,

Late Summer is Tomato Time

Posted September 7, 2014 By Adri


Roasted Tomatoes with Burrata


People are talking about fall. But it is not fall in Los Angeles. Not by a long shot. I know this because in gardens up and down my street, tomato plants continue to produce a riot of unmatched end-of-summer color.


Tomatoes


With a glorious profusion of red, yellow, and white currant tomatoes, as tiny as your pinkie fingernail, to the slightly larger grape tomatoes, right up to two pound beauties like Gold Medal and Mortgage Lifters of all stripe, the plants continue to produce with remarkable abandon. But the question persists. What to do with all these tomatoes? Read more… »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
86 Comments so far. Join the Conversation
Filed in Dessert, Exploring Tomatoes, Musings, Recipes | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Averna, 2 Homes and an Army of Workmen

Posted September 1, 2014 By Adri


Averna and Citrus Cocktail
You need one of these



Starting the Demolition
If you have one of these



When a blogger disappears for a while one of two things may have happened. Either she has been engaged to write a cookbook or she has been traveling, trekking through Abruzzo on the trail with five hundred sheep. Oh no wait – that trekking thing, that was my friend Linda of Ciao Chow Linda. And as for the book, no publisher has come knocking yet. Read more… »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
96 Comments so far. Join the Conversation
Filed in Beverages, Cocktail, Musings | Tagged: , , ,
« Older Entries
Content Protected