Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month, the Italian Food Wine Travel bloggers are kicking off the final quarter of the year with the first of three big Bs of Italy. Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm is hosting the first month when we focus on Brunello. November will look at Barbaresco with Robin of Crushed Grape Chronicles ; the year will wrap with Barolo with Li of The Wining Hour . If you are reading this early enough, feel free to jump in our Twitter chat on Saturday, October 2nd at 8am Pacific. Follow the hashtag #ItalianFWT and be sure to add that to anything you tweet so we can see it. Here's the line-up of the articles about Brunello... Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla pairs Riso Venere Nero + La Palazzetta Brunello di Montalcino 2016. Gwendolyn of Wine Predator.....Gwendolyn Alley offers Brunello di Montalcino: Chianti’s Burly Brother Paired with Vegetarian Stuffed Mushrooms . Terri of Our Good Life serves up Pumpkin Ravioli with Sausage and Amaretto Cream Sauce and a Not-So-Brunell...

We haven't been cooking around the world recently. And Dylan has let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I need to get back in the saddle. Fine. So, while Jake took Riley to his mandolin lesson, Dylan and I got busy with the pots and pans. Tonight we traveled to Brunei by tabletop. Brunei, officially 'Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace ' is a small sovereign state on the island of Borneo and completely surrounded by Malaysia. I read this etiquette guide (from wikipedia) to the little boys last night before dinner: Eye contact - In Brunei society, some conversations between males and females have a very little contact, unless necessary due to religious reasons. However, most people maintain direct eye contact to signal interest, and staring in Brunei society is considered as extremely rude and should be avoided. Physical contact - It is best to avoid physical contact and touching between members of the opposite sex while conversing in public. Communication styl...

I went through a phase when I sought to read books that had been banned; if a book were controversial, it was probably on my nightstand during that period in my life.  So, when I glimpsed a bag of "Forbidden Rice" at Cornucopia in Carmel a few years ago, it went straight into my shopping basket.  It's been a family favorite ever since. Called 'forbidden' because originally, in China, it was considered the Emperor's rice and was forbidden for anyone else to eat it.  Black rice is an heirloom variety and is extremely high in nutritional value including iron.  It is a deep black color when raw and turns deep purple when cooked. I use it just as I would any other rice.  Tonight I served it with a shrimp-pork stir-fry with wilted arugula.