Crazy ice cream flavors have their place, just not in my kitchen. I can’t say I don’t enjoy a scoop of Ben & Jerry’s Fossil Fuel now and then but when I started making ice cream last year, I wanted to take pure, natural flavors and let them shine in new and interesting combinations. Buttermilk, [...]

As we prep for the celebratory Pizza Party (to celebrate 20 years of Frances and Ed in Cortona), I find myself in the kitchen with a sweet Italian man named Ivan and his robust and big-hearted mother, Domenica, who live just up the gravel road at the “House of the Sun.” Together, we make pizza [...]

As if we didn’t have enough food with 65 pizzas, endless bottles of wine, and a cake to feed 50 or more, Frances ordered up a whole porchetta from a friend who has a porchetta truck at the Saturday market in Cortona and also in the Porta Colonia parking lot every Wednesday p.m. . The [...]

Some of my favorite New Orleans sandwiches from Central Grocery, Casamento’s, and Parkway Bakery and Tavern.