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A Season of Reading - A Lovely Italian Adventure


This book is an Italy loving foodie's dream.  I definitely could not get enough of it.  It was like going on vacation whenever I picked it up, because I dream of being the woman who wrote this when I "grow up" :)  She writes with such poise and confidence and makes her meals sound like the most incredible experiences I can even imagine.

The recipes are so sumptuous, and every dish described can almost be tasted from the amount of detail.  Oh my gosh, I just wanted to jump in the pages and be sitting at the table with them!  I can picture myself with a glass of deep red wine soaking it all in sitting in a rustic, yet comfortable wooden chair around a table filled with laughter, candles and conversation.

I have been daydreaming about a trip my family and I are planning to Paris, Germany and Tuscany in the fall of 2015.  While that is only 2 years away, it feels like an eternity.  I cannot wait to be there, living in the setting of this book.  I miss living in Italy everyday and often times wonder if anywhere else in the world fits me as well as a small Italian town.  The beauty in simple moments is overwhelming.  The colors and smells and textures and flavors of Italy are overwhelmingly glorious to my palette, and I realize as I write this that a piece of my heart never left. 

This book just hugs you.  It really transported me back to Italy where life is a little bit slower paced and time stands still a little more.  People take their time and sit and talk and a meal takes hours upon hours and they just sit and enjoy each other.  I feel like this is something American culture lacks, the ability to just sit and enjoy a good meal and wine at a dinner table for a long time.  We are always in a hurry to get somewhere or watch something or on our phones distracted.  This book is such a refreshing reminder that there are places that exist in the world today that linger over meals and just enjoy food and wine and company.  That is how I want my home and life to be known. 

Who wants to help me accomplish this? ;)
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  1. AshleyNovember 2, 2013 at 5:39 PM

    I do. I think meals with your family, either at the Bridge or at the Elkridge House, are like hers. Your parents put detail into the food they serve, the wine they choose, and thought behind who they invite (if not everyone). Fall makes me miss crab feasts during Ravens games. Also, I've started to read more slowly now I'm nearing the end of A Thousand Days in Tuscany, not wanting it to end.

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