The Coffee Frappe in Greece is often described as a way of life. The drink is so ubiquitous with the culture that you can almost not think of one without the other. This being the case, there are often as many opinions as people on what is the correct way to make it – sweet, bitter, light, dark, etc. My take on it, not being Greek and therefore not having any real stake in it, other than enjoying it, is that it is up to personal preference. This recipe is as I enjoyed it in Tarpon Springs, light sweet and frothy! Read the rest of this entry »

Il Caffe’ (eel caf-eh)—Coffee
I don’t know if you guys like coffee, but I sure do. I like to grind my own beans for the best flavor, but that by no means qualifies me as a junkie. I have a friend in Vermont who we call the Coffee Queen. She not only knows everything about coffee, but she roasts her own beans in her house, makes the best lattes and even has won coffee art contests (you know where they make the fancy designs out of the coffee foam – the picture included in this post is one of her design from this morning’s latte). Man, I really miss her lattes and beans!
But the good news is, she has started selling them from her own blog! Read the rest of this entry »

We have started a tradition of Sunday Dinner at our house. We thought it would be a great time to sit down, relax and enjoy delicious food, some nice wine and good conversation. Yesterday it was my turn this week to be the cook. So I decided I wanted to do something challenging. I am the type of cook who likes to use as little dishes as possible. It is an unwritten rule of mine, a goal, as I like as little clean-up as possible. However, I also decided when I had time on my hands, after moving to FLA and having the pace of a slower life, I would challenge my cooking skills and try more complicated dishes that had many steps, lots of ingredients and was a slow process all around. Kind of spend the day the way my Grandmother used to—in the kitchen! It took me 3 hours to do everything, but I had the best time and man, was it good!
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Gelato (gel-ah-toh)—— Ice Cream

(And some freebies)

Nocciola (no-cho-la)—–Hazelnut
Sorbetto (sor-bet-to)—–Sorbet
Gelateria (gel-ah-tour-ia)—Gelato parlor

Gelato has got to be one of the best things to come out of Italy. For me, that is saying a lot as I am a big fan of most things that come out of Italy. To call gelato, ice cream, is almost not fair. In my mind, being a fan of both, they are altogether different. Read the rest of this entry »

As soon as I got to FL I started my quest for where to find a good gelateria. Luckily my search was not a long one, for we found one an hour north in Gainesville. The Gelato Company is a cute little café located on SE 1st avenue. Read the rest of this entry »

Hazelnut gelato, or gelato alla nocciola, is one of the most common ice cream flavors in Italy. The creamy texture of the gelato coupled with the nutty earthy flavors of hazelnuts and this will quickly become a common treat in your house too! Read the rest of this entry »

222The Food Network is becoming a more diverse place. Instead of just featuring so-called master chefs, iron chefs, executive chefs and the like, the Food Network has also started featuring just really good cooks.
One such cook on the Food Network is Giada De Laurentiis, otherwise known as “Sorriso a 64 Denti” in my family. Read the rest of this entry »

115 Prosciutto is a cured paper-thin ham. The most well known is the kind from the region of Parma in Italy. It can be used for sandwiches, in omelets, on pizza or in Antipasti (appetizers). In this recipe it is paired with fresh figs, a sweet, soft fruit found all over the Mediterranean region.
Serve this as an appetizer with some crusty bread and cheese, like a good parmigiano reggiano and a glass of wine.
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I am a HUGE foodie. Food is as important to me as life. It is sustenance, it is delicious, it is beautiful and the right foods can be emotional as well. I am an emotional cook. I put love into my food. I grew up in a big Italian American family learning from my Grandmother and my mom how to cook. So essentially, I grew up cooking and to me, it has become second nature.

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