Our Italian Table is going to Tuscany! And to my beloved Montalcino no less – woohoo! Back in August when my dear brother came to visit, I mentioned that I might be scooting over to Montalcino for a quick visit in the fall. Given my brother’s newly acquired freedom having just left his big corporate job, Joey piped up ‘Maybe I will come along.’ Perfetto! So the brother, sister team are leaving the significant others behind and heading to my beloved little village of Montalcino to unwind, relax and cook up a storm! And the plot thickens …. I am helping with a fund raising effort with my friends in Montalcino who belong to the small neighborhood group of Pianello and one of those efforts involves contributing recipes to a cookbook they are producing on the food of Tuscany, Montalcino and modern Tuscan recipes (that is where we come in!) So we will be spending the week cooking with the women of the village, testing out some recipes in the magical little house named Casavigneto I rent when there (see photo), and plotting the future of Our Italian Table over copious amount of Brunello.
I have so much more to tell about our fundraising efforts …. the magical history of Montalcino and Pianello, the soon to be launched effort on Indiegogo, the cookbook project, the generous help of our dear friend Debbie, a caterer in San Francisco, who is joining us for the trip, Lorenzo and his blue shoes and the secret garden. I promise to do so in the weeks ahead and hope you will join us virtually as we head across the sea in mid-October.
But for now, as we move to our next region of Italy, we leave the beautiful sea and mountains of Calabria and focus our efforts next on the magic of Tuscany. Here the philosophy of ‘cucina povera’ embodies all that we so love about Italy, its people and its cuisine – the ability to take the simplest yet freshest of ingredients and with a bit of love, turn them into a feast fit for a king. So please pull up a seat and join us at our table as we head to Tuscany!
Much love,
Un bacione,
Michele
Can’t wait to read about your adventures. The cook book project sounds like a ton of fun – and cooking with the locals?!?!? How great is that! Have fun and keep writing…I’m pretending to be there, too! LOL!