divina

oh yeah. frozen peas in the back... from when a lady fell and hurt her wrist! always prepared!

here is the before shot. Since I have my cooking school studio right in front of the market. We shop everyday. But looking at what I have is scary! I have 5 containers of capers.. FIVE! some in vinegar some in sea salt, some appetizer size, the larger seed pod size and various smaller ones for cooking. in the door is a basket of french butter. then we get to the chili! I have N'duja the calabrese chili lard.. sort of sausage that they use to spice up their dishes, I love it just on bread. then we have the Mostarda di frutta, the Candied fruit from Cremona with a kick..the mostard essence in the simple syrup...t o have with boiled meats or cheeses. More chili in sauces, some from my friend Rita ( PepeRIta) in maremma from her organic farm. the freezer has 5 kinds of chili's from my last trip to Mexico which I am hording. there is also a container of tobiko from the last trip to the states. The small Duomo Bottle in the freezer is homemade limoncello and is in front of the vanilla ice cream.. never know when you are going to need a limoncello shake!

I ALWAYS make almond flour but i have a small swedish nut grinder I bought at Williams Sonoma in 1979 when I became a pastry chef. it does just that grinds them into flour with no heat... no oil.

at the port in Livorno, something nice and hot to warm their souls.. is must! Here the market is also up early, the trucks arrive from 4am on , the market opens at 6am some of the drivers sleeping the the trucks. By the time they get in, they are ready for a shot! I remember in my younger days... we went to Tenax for concerts and would finish around 3am or later and stop off at the larger wholesale market which had their bar divided in two, one for the workers who were just arriving and for us on our way to bed! some of the BEST cappuccino's and pastries! There are still some pastry shops that will sell hot pastries while they are working! Love those late nights!

I took the foto today... but forgot to download it! will do later. funny as I was looking at it.. it is EMPTY except for all my chili stuff! have been on the road, so not teaching. Was away for a week with Ecole Chocolat, I created a fabulous workshop for chocolate masters with the masters... then to Torino for Salone del Gusto... dinner with the Kansas City convivium and their leader Jasper Mirabile of JAsper's. Then when they came down here we toured for 2 days..and did a dinner at Teatro del SAle and one at SoloCiccia with Dario. tomorrow is the reopening of the kitchen! I don't even have any parmesan!

more Tuscan thoughts based on reading.... I toured the Mattei Biscotto factory,... they do not cook their biscotto twice.. so really are not BI-s-COTTI cooked twice. They also make one of my favorites Brutti ma Buoni, ugly but good, which I may have to whip up for the blog. Spinach being "florentine".--back to Catherine de MEdici bringing her chefs to France when she got married. up until there there were really no cookbooks for the people. The French codified the recipes they saw and gave them names. Florentines eat spinach or chard with everything hence the name. Here in FLorence, Veal Florentine.. has peas!

Since when they are alive both the hare and the rabbits have livers... they are finely chopped and added at the end to the sauce. Yes, anchovy and capers ( I also like the vinegar the capers are packed in) added to my chicken liver crostini. Quite traditional.

Love the rinds! we fight over them all time. When we make our minestrone, that is where they rinds go! cut into small spoonsize pieces. they are also great grilled... talk about grilled cheese! it has been to warm to think about soup yet..a little cold front started to come in and then changed it's mind! I can't wait

actually I think it makes it easier to eat. There is a new bag too it hold 's the sandwich and catches any juices protecting your arms from getting soaked!

Most Italians buy oil when it comes out and let it sit until at least April before they start to use it. Some of course is consumed right away for the bite that new oil has, but not for everyday. Good oil, made from good olives last easily for 2 years. I find that lots of the commercial oils are really already rancid as they are made with olives that were overripe, and starting to ferment before crushing. There is no truth in labeling laws yet. so noone knows WHERE the olives are coming from although mayb e crushing in Italy. I buy where I can taste!

ok hard to believe but I am getting hungry! here is a sandwich from NERBONE! I get mine with everything. It is a boiled beef sandwich ( not corned beef) and then thinly sliced, if you would like he dips half the bread ( inzuppata) and tops with the meat. Salt, pepper, salsa Verde and or chili sauce. topped with the other bread and wrapped for you to go!

Whoppee I am the guest egblogger this week. so join me... I am working this week so will be three days of classes. Dreaming about new oil, white truffles, wild boar.... and my desserts too! on my site there are TONS of recipes for you to try! Minestrone Ribolitta... even panforte and riccarelli!!!

I am at Internet Train on via Faenza. right behind my place in Florence. hubby went to the house in the coutnry to feed the cats and take care if some business so am on my own tonight!

no blood oranges yet. I did get my first mandarin oranges ( clementines) and that is dinner!

Internet first. I am at an internet place now... so I pay by the minute for fast service. that is ok. But at home in FLorence with my regualr phone, I was only getting a 35K connection! that is horrible! At my home in Certaldo I get 54K. I was paying for theISDN line which allowed me to get phone calls and be online at the same time and was supposed to double my speed! no luck so I had them remove it. I won't be going to San Ambrogio for work sorry! I shop San Lorenzo. I did however already take a pumpkin shot for you. Monday is a slow day at the market so there was not a whole porchetta ( I get mine at PORKS) and will also show you the pig parts! After my presentation at IACP last year with Fergus Henderson... I am the Diva of going whole hog, there are some great shots and recipes on my whole hog blog.. We will got for tripe of course and a lesson in bodyparts! not for the weak!

welnoo, I don't eat at Nerbone weekly myself but we do stop there on my tour of the market and I offer a sandwich to anyone that wants to try, either the boiled beef or the Lampredotto. I do ADORE eating there! But when you are teaching a full on menu, hard to fill them up first.

nakji, water by the glass. But if I went to buy a bottle of the local stuff it would be from 35 to 60 euro cents for a liter and a half. Punch is a liquore from Livorno sold HOT. With a lemon twist. I will have to have Claudio make us one! with cold mornings like we are getting now, it is perfect to kickstart the days! As for students. I get mostly people with a passion for food. Some professionals as I was a chef it is fun to come have the market right there and a kitchen!!! But since I take so few students ( 6 max) we really cook! already the ladies today have their eyes on the wild boar ( pasta sauce or stew?) potato gnocchi, grilled pumpkin, some lovely salads with the new oil and tradtional balsamic vinegar. I decide the menu's daily with the students so who knows? That is what makes it fun for me, every day a new challenge. Tuscan Iron Chef?

As part of work today we toured the town some and then toured the market followed by lunch. We started with snacks at Pork's, a Sicilian run bar, with lots of great eggplant recipes. I will post foto's tomorrow with some of what Benita makes. Lunch was at a simple little fish place near me called LOBS, looks like a fish shack from back east. our meal was: Pasta with fresh salmon and pesto Pasta with fresh swordfish and porcini Spigola in Acqua Pazza with Potatoes. We drank dessert! Sgroppino a venetion recipe, lemon sorbet whipped with prosecco and vodka lemon/Basil sorbet with vodka when you serve any ice cream or sorbet with alchol, it is called corretto.. or affogatto. We stirred it up so it was like an icey vodka margarita? or Granita with a kick then a lemon marscarpone tart

Starting my day at the Market.. having a fabulous cappuccino and a ciambellone ( donut) at Claudio's today. Claudio had been a professional waiter in the town of Viareggio and Montecatini when that is where the "Signori" hung out. It was a seasonal job. He heard about the stand being for sale inside the Mercato Central when going to donate blood for a friends sick uncle. The Bar belonged to the uncle. Claudio and his wife Alma have had the bar from 32 years, and although claudio is of legal age to retire... the bar is his life! here is the price list. one Euro is about $1.30 US

Prego! As Hathor said.. blogging in a computer illiterate country is challenging! In FLorence, where I mostly work, I usually go to the internet cafe... but have recently disocvered WIFI connection under my house... that sometimes I can pickup! we will see! working on the first market and lunch shots.

Hathor.. the COOP near me, invested money to build the olive press and have tractors in common. they then press the oil, usually leaving oil in lieu of payment. When I go to buy my oil, then the mill receives their money for running the place. no govenment involved in this one. Very small. When I go on the weekend I will get more info on this. But you bring in your olives and get your oil back. Not like one of the larger Wine coops where they crush together and then sell under one label.

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11627957...3841_202556.jpg View from my window. how is this for close to the market?

I worked for 7 years at the Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco CA, which was 5 stars, There I started my passion for food. It was run by Jim Nassikas and back in 1978 already had a wood burning oven for hte main dining room! they were trend setters. Fabulous REAL European food. Lot's of French, but also Greek and Italian. I found my way into the kitchen as a pastry chef, decided that food could take me around the world. I had gotten the travel bug right out of high school and I was addicted! Italy.. who knows? I never liked ITalian food in the states, deep dish pizza. green ice cream? So I arrived first in France in 1984, and did a month checking out places that I could come back to when I KNEW I wouldn't like Italy. I chose Florence to study Italian for a month so I could travel around doing research. It was love at first site!

I am regular American girl, all mixed up. My mother was raised in China with a Russian mother and a Father that was born in Paris with a turkish Father and an English mother. My mom lived in Shanghai, Japan, Okinawa etc... before escaping when the communists came in and then lived in NY and DC. She ended up in San Francisco marrying a normal English Irish guy and here I am! First born.. in Memphis Tennessee??? ( they transfered for a year) I learned nothing from my mom's side of the family. My grandmother made Russian donuts for us( toasted bagels with halvah on them) My grandfather made us french pancakes. My mom made a great beef stew, curry and stirfry. So I quess there is a predisposition for travel.. will that mix in my blood!

Welcome to my life! The short and sweet of it is that I moved here from San Francisco in 1984 and opened a cooking school right in front of the Central Market in 1988. My web presence started with my first site in 1997, with a dining guide for Florence and Chianti as well as recipes online. This is a work week for me so bear with me. I am meeting students for a walking tour and lunch, then three days of cooking and a Friday day trip to Chianti. The weekend I will be in Certaldo ( near San Gimignano) and catch a local market and visit my neighbors, the Coopertive olive oil mill that is in full swing! Join us! Right now I am off to have breakfast at the market.. (My husband and I have formed a team and he helps me with the cleaning etc so by the time I get up... the kitchen is already cleaned and he is ready for a second breakfast!) more later! this is great that the Italy food board is also doing Tuscany this month. Bon Appetito!