Ciao Deborah! I live in NYC and in Italy so I see both peppers. I buy shishito peppers at the Japanese grocery store by me in Soho, and we plant the frigarelle in our orto in Italy. Slight difference but basically the same thing: delicious!
And now that I think about, when I was in culinary school in Italy, one of the Japanese students was trying to tell me about the peppers. When your only common language is bad Italian, lots of things are subject to interpretation! Didn’t matter, we fried and ate a lot of them, quite happilyl

A valid argument for cooking at home. There are so many factors in play here.
Generational loss of cooking skills means people don’t know the fastest, easiest way to peel carrots or chop vegetables.
Frustration could be a factor if food isn’t turning out looking like it does in a magazine.
Relentless marketing use of the words “Quick” “Fast” “Easy” have the effect of making us think cooking is difficult and slow.
You are right, we need to embrace and revel in the pleasures of the kitchen.

Anonymous... I’m too scared to try a pressure cooker at altitude! When you open a can of coffee, the coffee literally explodes out of the can. Think of a bottle of soda shaken for 10 minutes and then opened.
Cannot even begin to comprehend how to adjust the time/temp/pressure at altitude!

4-6 depending on the size of your ramekin...and yes, it is yummy!
Ciao, Sarajane!

Bit of advice: make more than you think you need these potatoes vanish!
I dry roast mine until the skins get a bit crackly and toss with a basil/garlic dressing.

Brava Johanna! You’re open to learning and to listening...to your son.
Take a butchering class if you can, you can pick up some good tips.
And Barcelona...lucky you!

PS A good pair of kitchen shears are worth their weight in gold.

Freezing stuffed pastas works also works very well. And if you can get a deal on 2 blast chillers...count me in!

Singin’ the prasises of polenta...brava! And singing the praises of stirring! Well done.
In central Italy, it’s frequently served with a red game sauce like wild boar. Delicious!

Great questions, Mike! Very interesting, particularly the question about the era of ingredients and celebrity chefs. Can’t have the ingredient upstage the star, can we? Or do we even need a celebrity chef to prepare what is already uniquely delicious? Great food for thought. Thanks Mike.

Ciao Nicole! Tap the top of the egg with your spoon, then peel off an entry hole for your spoon. There should be divine little strips of toasted bread sitting on the side, these are called ‘soldiers’ and you dip your soldiers in the yoke, add a sprinkle of salt and crunch away. Finally, dip the little spoon inside the egg and scoop out the yummy white. Good soldiers make all the difference!

Please don’t blame the French, or the Italians, for that matter. Blame it on living the Restaurant Lifestyle, the Holiday Mindset.
In Italy, it’s a small breakfast, with a snack around 11:00, a balanced lunch and a light dinner. Why, it’s practically a Zone Diet!
Hope you are feeling better!

Lardo is a wondrous thing of beauty. $36 bucks a pound...wow!!! Lucky for me, it’s a cheap treat here in Italy. Tissue paper thin on a warm piece of crostini. To die for.

By any chance are you at altitude? I was cooking at around 8500 ft and after 2 days of simmering the beans were still hard. Think the problem is the higher you are, the lower the water temp and at certain height/temp the beans will just never cook.

Sure! That would be great. Can someone let me know when it’s published? Grazie mille, Judith

My grandmother’s pumpkin pie is the tragic lost recipe. The pie was shallow, the crust sweet and crispy, the filling had a light texture. She always made one whole pie for me, that I did not have to share and I never asked her for the recipe. What a fool I am.

I was curious what people would say about these glasses. My initial reaction is that it was a fun take on a standard, but after using them, I have to agree warm hands and finger prints aren’t so good.
In our house, we serve our house red in a big goblet, I believe it does taste better in the bigger glass, and it makes the evening wine more special.
But, ans Ms. Karwa says...viva la difference!

OH...how could you hate celery?? My heart is broken.
Just try this: make a good, garlicky, blue cheese salad dressing, thinly slice up the dreaded celery and toss with the garlic dressing. Crunch meets blue cheese, what could be bad?? LOL!
Vesperflight: wish you were nearby.... anchovies are pure magic.

Ciao. I’ve become a parchment paper addict, I may need treatment.
I’ve used parchment paper under roasts and it really helps with clean up. Last night I tried it under a white lasagne and I should have gone with the Silpat because the paper got a little too soggy. It didn’t fall apart, it was just a little messy to deal with.
I wonder why Silpat’s always have that slightly oily feel to them, you keep thinking that you didn’t get the mat clean, but according to the literature from Silpat, it’s supposed to feel like that. Odd.

Brava Maggie!! That sounds like a truly heroic effort. Its so much fun to read about your enthusiasm and passion. Keep at it!

It’s all about the Vita Mix! One other problem with the Vita Mix is that it’s too heavy to carry around to cooking gigs. (Forgetting to reset the machine to low does produce spectacular messes.) What is does to soup consistency is amazing. From time to time you can buy a refurbished Vita Mix, poke around on the Vita Mix website and you can find them.