Open View Gardens

Most foodies would be thrilled by the prospect of doing their weekly shopping, even in winter, at an outdoor Italian market. Two years ago when Barbara came to visit me in Bologna in December, I remember taking her to the Mercato delle Erbe, a huge indoor market selling just about anything you could want in […]

It’s fascinating how drastically the concept of “Italian food” has changed in the United States. The other day I was talking with my boyfriend about Mario Batali’s Eataly in Manhattan, which I visited for the first time just two weeks before returning to Italy, saying he would be shocked to see such a tribute to […]

It’s been three weeks since I moved back to Bologna and already my body is complaining. From time to time, we’ve mentioned Dr. Alejandro Junger’s Clean Program (see our post on gardening for optimal health and our recipe for delicious gluten-, dairy- and sugar-free cookies) — a holistic detox program that has helped both Barbara […]

It’s only been a week and a half since I arrived in Bologna and already I miss the variety of ingredients I was able to find in the United States. How ironic to be surrounded by traditional, local ingredients yet search for products that are anything but common in Italy. Suddenly, the Italian staples I […]