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buccellati

Buccellati Sicilian Christmas Fig Cookies

In December, holiday breads and desserts flood bakery shelves. Panettone may be the most popular Italian pastry served during the holiday season but I prefer homemade Christmas cookies especially nutty roccocò, chocolate covered mostaccioli and buccellati (Sicilian fig-filled cookies). Baked in a wreath ring or as cookies, the combination of figs, dates, nuts, raisins and sometimes candied fruits is simply delicious. In the […]

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Sicily-slide

Taste of Sicily in Boston

Nearly one year ago, I co-founded Casa Mia Italy Food & Wine with two culinary professionals. We set out to share our love of Italian food, wine and cooking with travelers in a joyful and convivial way. Casa Mia provides local culinary experiences, through delicious food walks and wine tastings, cooking classes and exclusive, food & wine excursions in and around […]

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beanscelery

Bean-Potato Stew from Ma’s Kitchen

It’s lovely, how I still dream of her. I’m happy to meet Ma in my dreams and celery cut in uniform miniscule squares on a well-worn wooden board and any kitchen knife. Her hands were always manicured but she never wore nail polish. Her nail length was uniform too. Like the cutting board, her hands […]

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ValCerasaWhite

Christmas Eve & the Feast of the Seven Fishes

As an Italian-American I grew up with traditions that arrived on the shores of Boston with my grandparents from Southern Italy in the 1930s. These traditions remained somewhat frozen in time and for that I’m lucky. My most cherished tradition – the feast of the seven fishes prepared for Christmas Eve – involves, family, food […]

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ravioli w sauce 2

Ravioli Making with Mom

I often wondered if it was normal to talk about food from dusk to dawn or at least that’s what it seemed like growing up in an Italian-American home. No sooner was the morning coffee poured than we were chatting about what we would conjure up for lunch and dinner. It’s no surprise that my fondest […]

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NFG-CHILD

Nyawa Funding Group (NFG) One Year Later

This post has little to do with Italy, travel, food or wine. I lead Italian wine tastings when I visit the U.S.. One year ago, I led an Italian wine tasting at the Nyawa Funding Group (NFG) fundraiser. NFG is a non-profit company that tackles measurable and achievable projects in Sierra Leone. Before presenting the wines, I listened to Jason Lamin, […]

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