Meaty day. Started out driving with local celebrity Chef Al to Mat Valley Meats where owner, Nate, who will be the star of a new Discovery Channel show, has generously offered his location for a salumi-making extravaganza. Our fearless leader is François Vecchio, a 3rd-generation Swiss master butcher/Salumiere. Today, François is working with the first [...]

A perfect day for me is waking up early, basket in tow and heading to a local market, like the one in Santa Barbara. I recently visited friends and we spent a good part of the mornings tasting our way through the various offerings–golden raspberries and local avocado honey, caviar limes (aka Australian finger lime), [...]

Here’s a quick video I shot while shooting with Frances Mayes in Tuscany this past October. We spent hours and hours cooking and styling for her upcoming cookbook, The Tuscan Sun Cookbook. Just when we were deliriously tired and didn’t know if we should laugh or cry, Ed (much more charming and handsome than his [...]

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 [...]

The Osteria La Maesta in Emilia-Romagna is a lovely family-run open-air eatery where the good life is made of simple, delicious bites and a bottle of Malvasia seco frizzante. Addictive fried puffs of dough called Torta Fritta…

I was lucky enough to spend the morning inside the Ghirardi Onesto production facility in Langhiarano as a guest of the Consorzio del prosciutto di Parma where, along with Elissa Altman and Rowan Jacobsen, we watched Paolo, the production manager, show us everything from salting the hams to showering (the hams) to testing with a [...]

Not only did Chef Rossetti pull out all the stops, he also has a tattoo of the prosciutto di Parma crown…on his thigh. He showed it to me on his iphone but would not let me get a photo.

Suvir Saran decided to toast up some chivda, “Indian Trail Mix” for our book signing at Sundog Books later this afternoon. Thanks to the NATIONAL PEANUT BOARD, we were spoiled with treats–everything from travel peanut butter snacks to delicious ROYAL OAK Peanut Brittle, a favorite of the participating writers. As he searches for spices, I [...]

From the moment I landed in Alaska, I have been overwhelmed by the abundant and majestic beauty of this other world, which explains why so many have come here from elsewhere and found a place to call home. I was fortunate to spend the day with Sue and Paul–former Atlanta residents–who fell in love with [...]

I was recently honored to write a guest Amazon review for the wonderful new memoir by Frances Mayes. Frances, a poet at heart, is one of the most gracious and generous people I know, and EVERY DAY IN TUSCANY (Broadway Books) is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. EVERY DAY [...]

Last summer, we held our first and very successful writing workshop in Seaside, FL. There were poignant stories, fish tacos, salted caramel cupcakes, wine, Champagne, the sea, a roving gourmand (aka Pableaux) who cooked up red beans and rice, twilight dancing, and so much more. I’ve received many requests to organize more writing workshops at [...]