Toscana

Reading sites about eating and travelling in Italy like DeliciousItaly make me want to go back to Italy now! Our honeymoon in Tuscany seems so long ago now!

From Roland's news item on the revival of lard in Italian cooking, it sounds like I thoroughly enjoyed chowing on tubs of Italian lard on our honeymoon. Let me explain....

Barb loved the lard when we were in Tuscany, while I personally could live without it! Check out this article for more about the lard resurgence in Italy!

As the unusual but very nice sunny, crisp and snowy days fade into the normal pattern of grey Vancouver rain, I start to dream about the Tuscan light and when I read articles like On the Fringes of Florence, Memorable Eating (found on the incomparable dangerousmeta site), I am once more back in Tuscany on our honeymoon and content!

One thing I particularly enjoyed in Tuscany is the bread. Unlike most breads, traditional Tuscan bread is made without salt. This makes for what some people describe as bland bread, but I like it because the lack of salt lets the yeast flavour shine through and forms a gentle backdrop for other ingredients that are served along with the bread. The omission of salt in this bread also allows it to go stale or dry out before it gets moldy.

As Vancouver weather changes to our winter subtropical climate of grey rain punctuated by brief moments of beautiful sunshine, I find myself daydreaming of our recent time in Tuscany.

Here are some of the Tuscan thoughts that fill my daydreams.

On our cooking day with Judy Witts of Divina Cucina, we made these easy and delicious ricciarelli.

Judy suggests adding candied orange peel to the dough, then dipping them into melted chocolate after they're baked and cooled. She also suggested making these with different types of ground nuts and making them into different shapes.

Our thanks to Margaret Cowan for organizing our culinary tour of Tuscany! We had a fantastic time at the three cooking lessons that she organized for us as well as a lovely stay at the tranquil and picturesque Vecchia Oliviera in Montalcino in Tuscany near Siena.

We highly recommend you contact Margaret if you are interested in an Italian cooking school holiday!