Buon Compleanno Maestro: Happy Birthday Michelangelo!

Today is the birthday of Michelangelo Buonarotti, born here in the village of Caprese Michelangelo in 1475. So famous was he, that the village officially added his to their name in the early twentieth century. In his honour, I am publishing a reproduction of the Doni Tondo, a depiction of the Holy Family currently in the …

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panna cotta

Panna cotta allo zenzero e arancia rossa (recipe)

Panna cotta needs no introduction, unless you’ve been on the moon for the past fifteen years. Like the other Italian dessert, panna cotta has a relatively short history, it being generally accepted that it has its origins in early twentieth-century Piemonte. However, that still makes it more than twice as old as tiramisù, which is …

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Quote of the week

Lunch was performed in the traditional three acts: the ‘primo’ consisting of pasta or risotto, the ‘secondo’ of meat or fish, and then the dessert. Preceded by a prologue of ‘antipasti’, the curtain came down after an epilogue of coffee, espresso of course, cappuccino strictly reserved for breakfast or elevenses. — From ‘How we Found our Home.’