Showing posts filed under: Tuscany Clear

Chef Fabio Picchi

Saporito. That’s how we could describe Tuscan food. It’s full of delicious salt, black pepper and red onion spiciness. Think Porchetta: A deboned pig, filled with herbs, salt and garlic, a condiment affectionately known as “sale aromatico” The roasted pork with herbs is sliced and put between two pieces of …

Recipe: Fave Crude e Pecorino

This is a spring salad that I would eat every year at Cibreo, my favorite restaurant in Florence. Fabio Picchi, chef/owner, would practically shell the fave into the bowl in front of you. It’s a simple salad but one that I eat with reverence now that Fabio has passed. February …

A Window into My World

It’s a perfect spring day and I’m drinking morning tea looking down Via del Corno from my Florentine palazzo. It’s Earth Day, April 22nd, 2018 and I am reflecting on my time here on earth. I’m writing from where I am at this moment, appreciating every twist and turn.

5280 Magazine: “Eat, Drink, Be Merry”

“Inside the kitchen of local culinary-tour maven Peggy Markel…Markel channeled the elegance and utility of natural materials typically used in kitchens in Italy, Morocco, Spain, and India into her floors (wood), walls (clay), and counters (marble). But she also incorporated functional items, like deep kitchen drawers and a farmhouse sink, …

Modena

An elegant city boasting the no.1 restaurant in the world, Osteria Francescana, the oldest Salumeria in Europe, Salumeria Guisti, and the oldest Balsamic vinegar, well over a hundred years old and used as medicine.( La Vecchia Dispensa being my favorite.)

Cibreo Vivaio, or Florentine musings

Fabio Picchi of Cibreo fame, has realized yet another dream ~ a small organic supermarcato + vivaio (nursery) on the terrazza next to mercato di Sant’Ambrogio. Love at first sight to see an unbelievable variety of fruits all named and spread artfully on the table. I wanted to pull up a chaise and lounge, paint or just study. Plants and seeds are available.