Archive for the ‘blogging’ Category
Finding Ravioli and Other Book Recommendations
Last week I received an awesome surprise in the mail from one of my very favorite artists and bloggers, Karen Cole of Artsortments (and I’m not just saying that because her self-portrait from her college days could’ve been done of P’s sister Pina):
That’s a copy of Laura Schenone’s The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family underneath Karen’s card, which shows one of her assemblage sculptures she made while in Cortona in 2006. Isn’t it gorgeous?
FYI, I’m loving the book so far; I’m only a couple chapters in, but I’m relating to so much of what Schenone went through in her search for family heritage vis à vis Genovese ravioli–from the basic lack of interest on the part of her American family to her pilgrimage to the Old Country.
Grazie mille Karen!
I’m also reading two other books that were sent to me by She Who Blogs blogging buddies:
from Karina of Candid Karina and Creative Karina
and
from Qualcosa di Bello of Piacere, Write Away, Dog Blog, and Snap 366.
These books are both *fantastic* reads (as are those blogs–check ’em out!). It’s taking me a while to get through all these books just for lack of spare time, but I’m truly savoring every stolen moment I have with them.
I can’t thank my book fairies enough–as I’ve mentioned a few times, English-language books are just not easy to come by around here.
But I even have an Italian-language book fairy! Back for my birthday Shelley of At Home in Rome sent me the Italian version of Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist (L’Alchimista), which I finished last week.
Ya’ll I read the WHOLE thing. In Italian! And it took me well under a year! Woohoo!
Plus? I *loved* it. I can’t wait to read the English version now too.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think?
And what are you reading now?
Come on! This is as close as I get to browsing through a bookstore these days.
World Nutella Day 2008 – Round-up Part 2
***Be sure to check out NutellaDay.com for the most up-to-date info!***
It’s finally here!
Twenty-four hours dedicated to honoring and enjoying the chocolaty hazelnut spread that warms our hearts and souls!
As you can see from the title of the post, this is Part 2 of the round-up, so head to Sara’s Ms. Adventures in Italy for Part I. All entries will also be listed at NutellaDay.com.
Also check out all the fabulous photos in the Nutella Day Flickr Pool. Haven’t added your photo yet? Go right ahead!
Sara and I have also decided that we’d each choose a “World Nutella Day Co-Host’s Pick” from each of our round-ups, and those chosen would receive two bars of Fair Trade chocolate from Modica, Sicily.
I’ll start with my pick:
Paola of In My Life combined one of my favorite desserts, cinnamon buns, with Nutella–and just look at those results. Indeed, these Nutty Nutella Buns with Tia Maria Glaze spoke so loudly to me I just had to award it my World Nutella Day Co-Host Pick.
Congratulations Paola!
Now before I get to more delicious Nutella creations, we had two entries that waxed poetic about Nutella:
(1) La Casalinga talks about how her midwestern American family fell in love with Nutella in In Honor of World Nutella Day; and
(2) TACE of All Kinds of Stuff wrote a tale about a “young woman lost her Nutella innocence in the parking lot of a Trader Joe’s” in Why Some People Can’t Have Nutella. You *know* you want to read that.
Now, back to the recipes:
Remember the Banana & Nutella cake I made last week? You can find the recipe here at Bleeding Espresso but you won’t find even a crumb of the cake anymore, which means it’s time for more Nutella recipes. Good thing we happen to have some handy.
Carrie of Carrie’s Cooking Adventures whipped up Butternut Squash Ravioli with Nutella Sauce with some help from Mom. I know that feeling–moms are the best! Especially when they’re bearing Nutella ideas!
These fabulous Chocolate Chip-Nutella Cookies come from Beatriz and her son Nicolas over at Suitcase Contents. Nicolas had previously come up with Crepes with Nutella and Banana, and I asked if he wouldn’t mind coming up with something for World Nutella Day. Boy did he deliver!
Amanda of Slow Like Honey created these decadent Almond Nutella Cookie Sandwiches. I love the mixing of the nutty flavors here, and Amanda wasn’t kidding when she titled her post “Nectar of the Gods.”
Check out this double dose of Nutella goodness from Marie at Marie Muses. She offers great, easy recipes for Nutella Sandwich Cookies paired with Nutella hot chocolate. Great for a cold winter day!
In creating her recipe for Hazelnut Nutella Pound Cake, Daphne of More than Words wanted to let Nutella shine and keep the rest simple. From the looks of her photos, it certainly looks like she succeeded. Looks great!
Sarah of What Smells So Good? offers up a recipe for Nutella Fibre Bread as well as one for Hazelnut-Espresso Frosting. You know I’m all over that espresso part!
Jennifer of Bake or Break combined brown sugar, toasted hazelnuts, and Nutella to come up with Hazelnut Blondies. Just look at that gorgeous dollop of the good stuff on top!
Robin of My Melange contributes Nutella French Toast–a delicious combination of eggs, bread, honey, Grand Marnier, Nutella and more. Seriously sinful.
Eryn of Cappuccino Chit-Chat made this Nutella Trifle to help cheer on her beloved New York Giants in the Super Bowl–and it worked! Do I sense a new tradition?
Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar made Chocolate and Hazelnut Ravioli with a Chocolate Raspberry Sauce without even knowing about World Nutella Day–she must’ve smelled all the Nutella in the air!
My fellow American in Calabria Cherrye of My Bella Vita whipped up, quite literally, this Nutella Chocolate Chunk Mousse. Looks great but as I asked Cherrye, why aren’t they served in the handy dandy Nutella drinking glasses?!
I never thought I’d see the day when babka met Nutella but Jessica Su of Su Good Sweets has done it. And look at those results! If I had anything to do with it, Nutella Babka would be in bakeries everywhere.
Meredith of Poppy Fields laments the fact that her girls won’t even give American peanut butter a try–they’re hooked on Nutella! Check out Meredith’s Nutella Sandwiches.
Erin of The Olive Notes came through in a big way with her Italian Nutella Toasts with Pear Compote, showing, “No oven? No problem!” And the pears make it healthy, right?
Christina of Artichoke Heart contributes this Nutella and Banana Whole Wheat Pizza, again combining some of my favorite things. Check out another version at NYC/Caribbean Ragazza‘s place where she has Banana and Nutella Dessert Pizza.
Jenn of The Leftover Queen took some inspiration from our friend Gina DePalma’s Dolce Italiano and came up with Nutella-Date Pudding Cupcakes. Don’t go over there hungry. Consider yourself warned.
Jill of Simple Daily Recipes shares her family’s favorite way to enjoy Nutella in what she calls “American + Italian = Pure Love.” Yes that’s peanut butter in there folks.
Jen of A2eatwrite created Nutella Cheesecake Cupcakes using just a handful of ingredients including chocolate wafers to line the bottom of the cups for a crust, and adds that ricotta can be used as a substitute for the neufchatel cream cheese in the recipe.
Angie Musci of Taralucci e . . . is a self-proclaimed Nutella purist and says “panennutella, forever and ever! ” which, of course, means Nutella on bread–homemade bread if possible, and Angie promises to let us in on how to make it soon (in Italian).
Stacy of Texas Espresso found a 3-ingredient recipe and ran with it to make these Nutella Sandwich Cookies–pay special attention to Stacy’s flour warning! I’m loving all these sandwiches!
If there were a prize for most international recipe, Ricky of Blog001 would probably win it for his Mexican Nutella Crepe. It’s Mexican! It’s Italian! It’s French! It’s delicious.
Another great recipe with international flair comes from Wandering Chopsticks with Chocolate Mochi with Nutella Filling. Just look at that Nutella all happy inside the chocolate Japanese sticky rice cakes! Yum!
This is a photo of one of the ingredients of the “Kind of Tiramisu style cake to make with the kids and a HUGE jar of Nutella” submitted by Laure of Food like when I was little. From the sound of this so-called “Cake With No Name” you’re going to want to try it out and get your own photo.
Linda of make life sweeter! is clearly a girl after my own heart. She shares a recipe for Nutella Espresso; like me, she doesn’t have a fancy machine, but I’m betting the stovetop version does just fine. And I will soon know firsthand.
And here is a treat from Peter of Kalofagas – Pursuit of Delicious Foods. It’s made with Nutella’s sister spread in Greece called Merenda–a grilled Merenda sandwich that can easily be made with Nutella. Thanks for playing even without Nutella Peter!
And last but certainly not least, a fabulous photo of the Nutelleria in Bologna sent to us from Neil Recommended:
Buon World Nutella Day 2008!
Thanks so much to everyone who sent in entries–you’ve made this a very special World Nutella Day for everyone. Also, a special thanks to Sara for inviting me to participate as a co-host this year in light of our amica Shelley‘s blogging hiatus. Ciao Shelley! You’re here in spirit!
P.S. If you’re in America and in a Super Tuesday state *or* registered through Democrats Abroad, VOTE!
P.P.S. And if you’re one of my paesani from the Coal Region, Happy Donut Day (Happy Shrove/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Pancake Day to the rest of you)!
Whew! What a day!
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[tags] world nutella day, nutella day, nutella[/tags]
1st of the month featured bloggers: february
When I kicked off the new BleedingEspresso.com a couple weeks ago (is it really only a couple weeks ago?), I told you I had some new ideas. One of them is:
1st of the Month Featured Bloggers
While you can always find my favorite blogs in my Links page (just click “links” in the above bar), I also want to take time each month and point you to particularly wonderful places that I know you’ll enjoy.
I’ve chosen two fabulous artists for February’s featured bloggers. Their work always amazes, inspires, astounds [insert more similar adjectives here]; I can’t tell you how often I’ve smiled, laughed, cried, etc., while visiting their blogs because they transmit so much energy and emotion with their words, images, and creations. The blogosphere is truly lucky to have them.
* Seamus Kearney of Shameless Words *
The first blogger is none other than the fearless (and shameless) leader of the Shameless Lions Writing Circle, Seamus Kearney, who blogs at Shameless Words. Remember the part of the collective short story I wrote some months ago? It’s still going on, so check it out here.
Seamus is an Irish Kiwi, i.e., a New Zealander with Irish heritage, who does just about anything artistic that you can imagine–and does it fabulously. He writes, paints, takes photographs, plays the piano, and also composes.
Recently Seamus posted a collection of his photographs of Ireland set to one of his original piano compositions entitled “The Magic of Ireland.”
I truly don’t have the words to describe how beautiful, moving, and simply gorgeous “The Magic of Ireland” is. I tried to embed the video here but it’s not working without messing up my columns even when I adjust the size (I always have this problem with YouTube–it’s not you Seamus!), so you’ll have to head to Shameless Words to see it.
Go! Enjoy! And read lots of his fabulous short stories too!
And tell Seamus I sent you!
* Debbie Egizio of Debbie Egizio’s Creatively Inspired Blog *
I found Debbie’s site through my good blogging buddy somepinkflowers who never, ever steers me wrong. Debbie is an artist, designer and owner of The Beat of My Art shop in Naperville, Illinois and she always has such wonderful creations on her site like these Artist Trading Card heartfelt messages:
Visiting Debbie is the virtual equivalent of brewing a cup of Earl Grey and curling up by the fireplace with the doggies. Indeed, sometimes I do these things *and* visit Debbie. So wonderful!
In a twist of blogging fate, Debbie has just awarded me with a “You Make My Day” award. Thanks Debbie! I think it goes without saying that you make mine as well.
I hope you’ll visit Seamus and Debbie and enjoy your time with them as much as I do–and I’d love if you would choose some bloggers to feature on your blog as well–why not start a 1st of the Month Featured Bloggers at your place? (No penalties if you post on say, the 2nd or 3rd or 14th this time around!)
We all only have so much Internet time, so it’s great to get recommendations from bloggers we read regularly as well.
Or, in other words, share the blog love peeps!
Buon weekend!
i know all there is to know about the writing game
My dear blogging buddy Jen of A2eatwrite has organized an amazing project called “The Writing Game.” You may have noticed the button over there on my sidebar? Well here’s what it’s all about:
Each person who wants to play sends Jen story ideas, character descriptions, and a conflict. Jen then randomly swaps these lists among the participants so that each person has a blogging buddy and writes something based on his or her buddy’s ideas.
I was matched up with one of my favorite bloggers who I can’t wait to meet in person when she moves to Rome and who gave me a fantastic set-up, characters, and conflict. Grazie mille NYC/Caribbean Ragazza!
Below is just a taste of my story entitled For Love or Garlic.
Go here to read the rest of my story on The Writing Game blog and see NYC/Caribbean Ragazza’s original ideas. And don’t forget to let me know what you think either here or there (or everywhere)!
Also, while you’re over at The Writing Game, take a look at the rest of the stories (each with different plots, themes, ideas) from this edition of The Game, and start thinking about your ideas to join up next time!
For Love or Garlic
I can’t believe it’s 2 a.m. and we’re stuck within nose-shot of the garlic capital of the world, thought John as leaned back against the front bumper of his Mercedes. He zippered up his new lightweight jacket, one that was never meant to weather any actual weather, and crossed his arms in front of him.
“It’s not my fault, you know,” Melinda yelled through the passenger side’s open window. They had been together for 10 years and she knew what John was thinking by the way he sighed as he looked toward the sign pointing the way to
She pulled her head back inside the car and wrapped her scarf a little tighter.
The studio head didn’t agree, though, and John had to endure finding cloves of garlic on his desk for many months after he suggested the idea. Of course those silly pranks were better than his eventual reward of a brand new although garlic-free desk at a different studio with a boss 15 years his junior.
With the young buck to compare himself to, John increasingly felt as if his own 45 years were speeding toward the half-century mark like a getaway car.
Getting away from what was the question he struggled to answer.
The mere sight of the
Besides, there was definitely something pungent in the air.
* * * * *
Be sure to click through to read the rest of my story For Love or Garlic.
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[tags] the writing game, fiction writing, writing, gilroy, garlic[/tags]
Banana & Nutella Cake for World Nutella Day 2008
***Be sure to check out NutellaDay.com for the most up-to-date info!***
Well you had to know that a What’s Cooking Wednesday recipe with Nutella was coming up . . . World Nutella Day 2008 is less than a week away!
Don’t forget to post your entry on your blog and send the link and photo to nutelladay [at] nutelladay [dot] com by February 4th to be included in the big round-up!
Yesterday my co-host of World Nutella Day 2008 Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy posted her experiment with Nutella and a variety of fruits. Go see Sara’s recommendations on which fruits “go” with Nutella and which are, ahem, better off as just friends.
Sara’s post got me thinking about my own World Nutella Day contribution from last year, which was a very understated slice of banana on a Nutella-coated cracker sprinkled with nutmeg.
I wanted to bake something this year but I still love that banana and Nutella combination, so I turned to my trusty Louise’s Banana Cake recipe that I posted a while back and kicked it up a notch. With Nutella, of course.
Banana & Nutella Cake
1 c mashed bananas (2 medium, overripe)
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c vegetable shortening
3 eggs
3 c flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 c sour milk (add 2 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar to sour it)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c chopped nuts (optional)
1 small jar of Nutella (drinking glass size!)
Mash bananas and set aside.
Mix together sugar and shortening, and then add eggs and beat until pale yellow.
Mix together the dry ingredients, and then add them to the sugar/shortening mixture, alternating with sour milk and vanilla. Batter will be thick.
Add bananas and the nuts if you’re using them, and beat until blended.
With this batter, I made a loaf cake and about 20 mini-cupcakes. First I filled half the loaf pan with batter and then spooned Nutella length-wise down the middle, swirling it with a toothpick as such:
Then I poured more batter on top until the pan was 3/4 full and repeated the Nutella swirling process again. FYI, this used up about half the jar of Nutella. If you like more Nutella in there, by all means, go right ahead and swirl away!
For the mini-cupcakes, I filled the cups 3/4 full and then put a dollop of Nutella on top and swirled it around così:
Bake at 325°F (162°C).
If baking a 13 x9 cake, it should take about 45 minutes; my loaf pan took about 45 minutes as well. The mini-cupcakes took about 20 minutes at this temperature, but always be sure to test–remove when the tops springs back from the touch and/or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Buon appetito and remember to send your World Nutella Day entries to nutelladay [at] nutelladay [dot] com by February 4th to be included in the round-up!
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[tags]nutella, nutella day, banana cake, recipes, baking, what’s cooking wednesday, bananas[/tags]
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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