Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  This month, the Movies & Munchies group is watching Big Night . Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm is hosting. This is one of my all-time favorite movies. Hands down. We own the DVD and have probably watched it a dozen times. Big Night tells the tragically realistic truth that you can sell amazing food and still go under. This is the story of two recent Italian immigrants - brothers - who own a restaurant called Paradise. Primo, played by Tony Shalhoub, is the talented chef while Secondo, played by Stanley Tucci, tries to keep their restaurant afloat. But Primo is unapologetic in the way he cooks and serves food. Early in the movie, a customer orders risotto and, then, is disappointed that it doesn't come with a side of spaghetti. She tries to order the pasta. When Secondo tells Primo who is ordering the spaghetti, he refuses to serve two starches together. He cries, "She's a philistine!" And suggests that maybe she wants mashed potatoes on the other side...

Limoncello is one of those sips that instantly transports you back to where you first tasted it. In my case: sitting on the beach on the Amalfi coast with Jake during a three week trip to Italy just before we got pregnant with R. It reminds me of sunshine, sand, and a carefree time in our lives. Each time I make it, it's a delicious remembrance that one of these days we'll be kidfree and carefree again. Sooner than we think, actually. Well, maybe not the carefree part - that's a luxury of the young and  naïve - but both of our boys will be launched at the end of the summer. And I will certainly lift a glass in celebration that we did it: We raised two boys who have grown up to be good young men who will make the world a better place! But this is about limoncello... This particular batch was inspired by a lemon event at a local organic farm where we tasted three kinds of limoncello - one regular, one limoncello cream, and one with lavender. I picked a ton of lemons at the fa...

I am finally catching my breath and getting on top of my blogging deadlines! Oh, it has been a crazy time. I have cooked things for events and just didn't get around to writing it up. I hate that. I wasn't missing out on this book though because I adore him as an actor and recently discovered his travel documentary Searching for Italy. For the April-May selection of Cook the Books , Deb from Kahakai Kitchen invited the group to read Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci. Read her invitation and join the fun, if you wish, because you still have a month before the deadline. On the Page Stanley Tucci is an Italian-American actor who has shared the magic of his family meals in The Tucci Cookbook  and The Tucci Table . And, as I already mentioned, he has a travel documentary series called Searching for Italy .  Taste: My Life Through Food  is a memoir whose tone reminds me of others I have devoured. Think Comfort Me With Apples: More Adventures at the Table by Ruth ...

  Today the Sunday Funday group is writing about and sharing Roman recipes. Thanks to Stacy of  Food Lust People Love , Sue of  Palatable Pastime , Rebekah of  Making Miracles , and Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  for coordinating this low-stress group.  This week, Sue is hosting. She wrote: "Choose a recipe that is Roman or Italian to celebrate the month of August and pay tribute to the 1st Roman Emperor, the namesake of August." Here's the line-up... Authentic Italian Meatballs by Making Miracles Herbed Whole Wheat Piadinas & A Sandwich by Sneha’s Recipe Honey Glazed Pork Loin by Amy’s Cooking Adventures Lasagna Bolognese by Karen's Kitchen Stories Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe by A Day in the Life on the Farm Spaghetti Carbonara by Palatable Pastime Supplì al Telefono and a Quintessential Roman Pasta by Culinary Adventures with Camilla If you've been following my blog for awhile, you'll know that I lived and w...

    #ItalianFWT Writers Look at Ramato Wines I am stepping in to host the July #ItalianFWT this month. The theme: Ramato wines. I wanted to give folks a little more latitude, especially since this invitation is a little late in the month. You still have about two weeks to pour and pair, but typically we have longer than that to source and prepare.  So, though Ramato wines will be our focus, the writers might be sharing a favorite Ramato or  any  Pinot Grigio if they can't find a skin-fermented Pinot Grigio. I'm even taking an Italian dish with origins in the northeastern province of Friuli Venezia Giulia or travel memories from that area, too. And if they want to be completely out of the box, they may have found a wine made in the Ramato style from anywhere in the world.  The Line-Up Another BIPOC Celebrity Wine that I'm anxious to share with you by A Day in the Life on the Farm Bibimbap and Pinot Gris Ramato, Sort Of by The Quirky Cork Fregola Sarda Con...

This month, and next, Simona of Briciole assigned the  Cook the Books crew 97 Orchard: An Edible  History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman *. This is a bi-monthly book group, so you have till the end of July to read it and join the party.  You can read her invitation here . On the Page   This book looks at the immigrant experience through the lens of five different families, all residents of the tenement apartments at 97 Orchard Street. Irish, German, European Jews, Polish, and Italian families give Ziegelman a framework on which to hang her narrative. From the crowded apartments and the dimly lit stairwells, immigrants gathered and balanced their new lives with preserving culinary traditions from their homelands. Ziegelman explores the immigrants' food cultures in their native lands and examines what did or didn't transfer to the United States or, even more fascinating, how the synthesized or adapted to what was avail...

  This is a sponsored post written by me in conjunction with the #TannatDay event.  Wine samples were provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links.   I am thrilled to be part of #UruguayWineWeek and, especially ,#TannatDay. I have long admired the grape varietal since I was first introduced to it when the Wine Pairing Weekend crew focused on wines from Uruguay. Back in February 2019 I paired the Bouza 2016 "B6" Tannat with Brined Quail .   So, when I  received a package of two Tannats from Viña Progreso via Uruguay Wine*, I  was excited to learn more about the winemaker and the wines. I also received a bottle of his Viognier, but that will be the topic of another post. Viña Progreso by  Gabriel Pisano I didn't need to look much farther than Amanda Barnes'  South American Wine Guide's IGTV channel   to learn more about Gabriel Pisano and Viña Progreso. Amanda pointed me to her terroir talk with Pisano. IGTV is a n...