Ciao!

I'm Clay.  My partner Perry started this blog almost for years ago, and like with many things, life got in the way.

Well, we're picking up where we left off: an appreciation of all things Italian while living in the mountains of Virginia, sixty-miles west of Washington DC.

We post regularly at the Imaginary Italian facebook page- follow us there to see what we're finding online as well as to get alerts to when we update this blog.  Grazie!

We're both learning Italian through the Duolingo program.  I've used several teach yourself systems- Living Language, Rosetta Stone and others- and I've found Duolingo the most accessible.  It's like an affordable version of Rosetta Stone and the gamification of learning provides a enjoyable diversion after a busy day.

Thanks to the magic of the internet, we're able to supplement our learning through multiple sources- radio, television, and news pages.

We listen to Radio Classica Bresciana (listen live here), because one nice thing about classical music: Mozart and Grieg are Mozart and Grieg in English and Italian.

I watch lot of cooking shows on TV Libera, out of Pistoia, which has become my imaginary home away from home.  With the live feed, here, I watch a variety of entertainment shows, as well as TG. (It's to my shame it took me... well, longer than it should have to realize TG meant Telegiornale -television/newspaper.  I mean, it was obvious it was the news...).  I'll be looking at the individual shows on TVL I follow in later posts, because there are a few, as well as programming from other sources.

My go to for learning news page is... Vanity Fair.  Yes, like the magazine.  I'm not too proud to admit it's easier to follow for many things than regular news.

Seriously.  Look:

Quattro su sei. Angelina Jolie, 43 anni, è arrivata – a sorpresa – alla premiere di Dumboin compagnia dei figli più piccoli: Zahara Marley, 14, Shiloh Nouvel, 12, e i gemelli Vivienne Marcheline e Knox Léon, 10 anni. E i cinque, a giudicare da queste foto, devono essersi divertiti un bel po’. L’attrice ha sempre detto di lasciare i suoi figli liberi, anche di indossare ciò che vogliono: così eccoli mescolare abiti da sera (per Zahara) a felpe e scarpe da ginnastica. E questo vale anche per gli altri (Maddox e Pax): «Sono sei persone forti, riflessive e ognuno ha la sua personalità ben precisa, sono molto fiera di loro», ha rivelato la star di recente.

I read with the comprehension of a six year old, but I can see that Angelia Jolie is at the premiere of Dumbo with her children.  Start with that understanding I can start to break the sentences down.  Learnin'!

We'll be looking at books that we're reading as well, either memoirs of people that have moved to Italy or Italian novels in translation.  And most importantly, COOKBOOKS!

Food is a universal language and we're going to become fluent in Italian.
Join us!

(Image snagged from TVL's facebook page)

Hi, I'm Perry, and I Have a Cookbook Addiction

Anyone who reads this blog for long will realize I have what can only be described as a cookbook addiction. Medieval, Appalachian, African, Mexican, I love them all! But, I've always had an affinity for Italian food, making that my cookbook flavor of no resistance.

In my travels searching for antiques for our business, I run across lots of used books and was happy to spot this 1975 copy of "Mama D's Homestyle Italian Cookbook" by Giovanna D'Agostino. Who wouldn't want to know how this lady made food or eat at her table, and the stained and dirty cover implied that this had been well loved by it's previous owner. At $2.50, I was willing to take the gamble, an excuse I can often use to buy ONE MORE cookbook.

 I wasn't even deterred when my partner Clay pointed out that it was published by the same company that published "The Pokey Little Puppy", Golden Books.

The endpapers suggested this would be more of a 1975 Italian American experience, more Long Island than Florence. But I'm good with that.

 A selection of color photographs make the food look good, and it seems like the kind of book that would get a workout in my kitchen, with simple recipes using readily available ingredients in my small Shenandoah Valley mountain town, and easy preparations for recipes like Braccioli, Anise Cookies, Almond Ricotta Cheese Fritters, Roast Lamb Sicilian Style, Zabaglione, St Joseph's Day Sweet Ravioli and more.

The table of contents shows the variety of recipes included.

And then there's the reminder that I shouldn't let incongruous recipes scare me away, something that's happened in the past. I have to confess that Hot Dog Stew and Chop Suey Italian Style didn't seem like the recipes I would have expected here,  nor do I recall ever eating or hearing about such Italian delicacies. I don't think soy sauce when I think Italian food. Or hot dogs. My Italian friends are allowed to cringe here and wonder what possessed me to buy this. It was the 70's, what can I say? And look at that cover photo, would Mama D steer me down that path too far the wrong way?

I try to not let the reviews others have given of a book influence my perception in advance, but I'll admit, it's fun to read them after I've formed my own opinion and see what others thought, especially folks who have had more experience with a book than I have.

Other owners of this book, (you can get your own copy on Amazon.com for .01 plus shipping), have mentioned it was a book they got years ago, with family favorite recipes that they've used over and over. Reading through, I'm not surprised. I'm a moderately good cook, and these recipes look exactly like the kind of thing you'd want to pull out and make when eating dinner was the goal. I find that sort of refreshing, there are just days I'm not up to tackling a twenty step recipe just to get dinner on the table. And, I have to point out again the smudge marks and stains. Someone used this book a lot.  I can't wait to try some of these recipes soon.

And now, a new obsession is sadly born. I just realized that Mama D has a whole collection of books that she wrote over a period of years. And yeah, I have to have them all. Eventually anyway.