Brown Food, Yes or Not? | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

22 Jan 2013 14 Comments

by Valentina Author in Culinary Items, Design, Italian Food, Kitchen Design Tags: , , , , ,

In decorating, black is for grounding the room, white is for transitioning between one color to another such are usually trims and doors, red is for uplifting energy in a dull environment, green for calming and each of the rest of the colors in the rainbow have a dedicated function, but brown has never been a color that delight in kitchen décor.

Brown in cooking is a totally different matter. Cooking something brown is not that appealing, unless we talk about chocolate in the darkest form of brown, sweet, crunchy, luscious, decadent and even with a hint of salt. Brown breads and brown beers fall in the good brown category that give nutrition and pleasure, but brown steaks don’t. Meat at a fresh state starts with a bright red coloration and by the time is cooked, it should be pinkish inside to retain all the juices and flavors, but never too brown, risking to get a shoe sole.

Brown sauces sold in bottles are full of artificial ingredients and so much sodium. Aside from upsetting someone here who likes that stuff, I would say that brown sauces are good to stain food without personality. Fresh food do not need to be corrupted with brown or any other color sauces. It is clear I don’t agree with people who believe the best food is brown. However there are a few of the brown food I eat all the time: mushrooms, whole-wheat pasta, lentil, truffle and nuts. It is important to combine complementary color schemes when serving dark food – “the eyes want to take part of the feast too” – therefore if it appeals to the eyes it will appeal to the stomach. That’s a fact. Use bright color plates to make the brown food come alive, but don’t forget bright condiments as well.

Enjoy a couple of my simple recipes and colors.

Funghi Trifolati (sautéed)
Use any kind of mushrooms, but mostly crumini, the common dark button mushrooms. Wash them very quickly in cold water, pat dry, cut in half. In a skillet warm up olive oil and garlic, when the garlic is golden, throw in all the cut mushrooms, sauté until they have shrunk a little. Season it with salt, pepper or chili pepper. Add a hand full of fresh chopped Italian parsley. Serve with meat or fish and a robust wine.

Lentil Andalusia Style
For this dish I use dry lentils. Before putting lentils in the boiling water, make sure there are no small rocks inside the bag, as often happens. Boil them in salted water for about 15 minutes and season if necessary with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, chop finely the center core of celery because is tender and more digestible and 1 -2 oranges in small bite sizes. Plate the lentils, add both ingredients on top and a swirl of olive oil.

It cannot be any easier than this! The food in my slide show are all in my books. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinadesigns.wordpress.com

Val:FarfalleStampValentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking. She especially loves to design all those rooms with a “make me feel good” tag attached, such as kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms and entertainment rooms. She is a public speaker and a mentor. She is also the author of two Italian regional cuisine books and a book on colors, all available here in this site on the Books page and on
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

I Was In A Comedy Dinner For Six | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

29 Oct 2012 Leave a Comment

by Valentina Author in Culinary Items, Design, Dinner Table Design, Social Issues Tags: , , , ,

It’s Friday evening, I am dressed to the teeth, ready to enjoy a formal elegant dinner in a private home. In the casual Californian atmosphere, I am already wondering how was this formal dinner conceived, nobody organizes formal and sitting down dinners anymore. As I was approaching a highly decorated home for Halloween, I was expecting to see a herd of children, but only a mature couple, husband and wife lived there.
For this occasion, the wife was the chef, the husband was the waiter dressed in total black with a white napkins neatly  folded over his right arm, playing the part to the letter. Did he learn that in Italy?

The dinner table was elegantly made in a 1930s style, crystal glasses, silver tableware, embroidered tablecloth and fabric napkins. I counted the plates and there were six places set, but we were eight counting the hosts. There is something wrong with this picture, I started to ask myself. The small cup style champagne glasses really caught my eyes, so dainty, well etched, so different from today’s fluted glasses and so short, one sip and the champagne was gone. And so was the mind of some of the guests.
It took only a few bubbles to lose composure. Oh dear, non-senses were already being spoken and we were only at the hors-d’oeuvres, what was going to happen until the end of the dinner?

The hosts invited us to sit down and I soon noticed the missing keynote people, them, the hosts. The host offered this dinner for six at a charitable event. One of the women in the group won the ticket and chose five people of her liking to appear in this charade dinner. I didn’t know anyone in the group and was excited to meet new people, neither did the hosts know anyone. Apparently in this type of style dinner, the hosts cannot sit with the guests, only serve them.
I truly felt awkward being served by an older couple and not having the pleasure to converse with them at the table. In Italy, my native country this will never happen.

Seven courses were waiting to be consumed, mind you, the portions were very small, but some of the women felt intimidated, when they heard about several courses coming and fell stuffed before even trying them.
In one of the many forums I belong, it was said that seven courses is too much to offer, considering that people don’t eat that much any more, but then, how do we explain so many overweight people in our society? Yes, people do eat large quantities mindlessly. These women in the group were no small examples either.

(Shoe off from Carla Coulson.com)

Did I see a pair of shoes loose under the chair of the woman on my left? Oh my, this is really promising! The woman directly across from me, an artist, asked the hostess in which order she should have used the flatware. Clearly, she eats with plastics everyday.
Then, like in a film, I incredulously saw everyone turning the plates over to see the trademark and where the dishes came from. I tried to stop them by talking about the design in the front of the dishes, it seemed very much a John Sanderson’s design, neo-classic fretwork of the middle 1700s. Well, the two women on both sides of me, just came out with a simple “really?” and still looked at the back side of the dishes, the rest of the guests were in their own “cookie wonderland“. Hard to make conversation with shallow people.


After the first course, a starter of small baked pumpkin filled with mozzarella cheese, the woman next to my left, started to unravel some of her clothes layers. She would have taken off her bra, she admitted. I asked her what she does in restaurants, but I received no answer.
I was envisioning this dinner as the same version of the funny film Hollywood Party with Peter Seller. I don’t know if I was amused or disgusted. I could not get up and leave, I was beyond being offended already, so I observed in silence, thinking of it as a good subject for my blog.

The highlight of the dinner was the changing of wines with each course. Strange as it sounds, I like this old fashion way of pairing wines with food, but the women, not being wine connoisseurs, could only flash heat waves on their skin, with increasing bawdy attitude and loud talking. To think they all started the conversation in a softly and lady-like manners. What happened to their initial genteelness?

In the next scene, one woman tipped the wine glass full of white wine over the embroidered tablecloth and another one pinned her long hair up with a huge clip looking as she just came out of the shower. This disaster dinner is really getting good!

The palate cleanser arrived, a well-balanced peach sorbet. Oh yes, some of them thought we were having a dessert and questioned where did the rest of the courses go.

The conversation was boring, I was a spectator in pain and amused at the same time. Dinner was simply prepared, even though sounded heavy and complicated. It went on as the host planned it, I enjoyed every bite, appreciated the host’s culinary efforts and did not exclaim “no food for me for the next three days”. This movie was winding down with the doggy bag shocker scene. You heard it right. A few of these classy women asked for a doggy bag for their leftovers. Clearly they had mistaken a private home for a restaurant. Once people learn bad habits, they repeat them to nth power.

The women present at this dinner were not professional actresses, they just made their own funny and impromptu comedy. I would have liked to record it for my divertissement later.

Lesson learned:

1. Never go out to dinner with unknown people, unless you make an effort to get to know them before the event, which is not always possible.

2. If you are hosting a sit down dinner party, never serve more than four courses. Not a good idea to keep guests as prisoners attached to the chairs, forced to listen to unpleasant shallow people.
No more than 1500 calories should be served, all together through the entire dinner.

3. Wines do not need to be paired with each course. Find a red for meat and white for fish and vegetables, or find one that can be served interchangeably with all the food.

4. Offer food in the right quantity, previously tasted and appreciated to avoid the “doggy bag” situation.

5. If you can, distract guests from turning over the plates, with a talk on the special dishes designs, or table setting decorations.
Witty conversations are of great help in keeping the attention of guests and drive them to a more proper behavior.

6. Keep some windows open to recirculate fresh air.

There is so much to learn when sitting at a dinner table with people, I hope to have amused you.
To me, breaking bread with people is an honor, having good manners at the table shows respect towards the host, the guests and the food so prepared well. Ciao,
Valentina
Designs http://www.Valentinadesigns.com
Blog: http://valentinadesigns.wordpress.com

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola has been a lifetime designer in fashion and interiors. Her extensive knowledge of colors and materials led her in both directions successfully.
She was featured on Vogue Italy as the guru of staging in the theatrical way. Among designing and remodeling homes, designing custom-made furniture and writing books, Valentina is now teaching etiquette, table manners, table setting and life style.
Her new book on the subject of colors is published. Red-A Voyage Into Colors in available here on this site on the Books Page and on
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

Ice Cream Party | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

13 Aug 2012 4 Comments

by Valentina Author in Culinary Items, Design, Italian Food, Italian Life Style Tags: , ,

I tasted the most delicious truffle limoncello ice cram yesterday at an Italian restaurant in San Francisco. The day before, at my house, I prepared gelato affogato as an after dinner for some foreign friends vacationing in California. After two consecutive days of ice cream, which is something I don’t do often, I am now in the mood of organizing an ice cream party for adults and kids, before the autumn falls. Among all the parties, ice cream party is one of the least pretentious and inexpensive parties we might be involved with. It takes very little planning, very few ingredients and backyards are just perfect.

Set the mood and decide on a particular era into which to set the scene of the ice cream party.  Ask your guests to come dressed up in costume of the era designated and choose the music to go with the theme. I would suggest to discard the present time, we are already living in today’s time and we know how this reality is, but setting up an ice cream party in a nostalgic era, will give us a chance to live, relive or fantasize it our way, without the challenges that came with any given era.
 (Photo Source: Zaharako ice cream parlor and museum. 329 Washington St. – Columbus, Indiana 47201)

Do you like the party to be set in the ‘20s or ‘30s? You will find plenty inspiration in the roaring age, flapper girls’ fashion and Charleston music. You might like the more modern ‘50s and ‘60s era, in which also you will find a lot to play with the sophistication of the ‘50s and the rock and roll of the ‘60s.  Perhaps, you like to experiment or relive the ‘70s and the concept of the hippies’ era, bohemian style and flowers kids.

In the history of costume, there is a lot to chose from and I think it’s always the right time to dress up in style for any theme party and not just for Halloween.

Decorations and invitations should follow the theme of your party. Hand written personal invitation cards reflecting the theme of the party will make an impression. Your guests will know to have been invited to a real “scoop” of something tasty.

(Photo Source: BH&G)

For an ice cream party we don’t need much, only a great attitude towards food and a few ingredients. Don’t worry about diets, just go to the party and enjoy the moment, tomorrow is a different day. We need first an ice cream machine to help making all the ice cream, gelato and sorbet we need in a quick time. The machine in my photo is sold at Neiman Marcus for less than $200.00. W Furthermore, we need a fruit variety for making both sorbet and ice cream, many varieties of toppings such as nuts, chocolate chips, edible flowers, paper or waffle cones, ice cream glasses, spoons and saucers.

Designate areas for toppings, fruits, garnishes, cones, all the ingredients for making various type of ice cream; then designate a different area for all utensils and one more area for all the drinks. This way, the traffic will flow harmoniously and your guests will not be on top of each other preparing their own ice cream.

(Photo Source: BH&G)

I suggest some fun drinks for the adults: sparkling wines mixed with any kind of fruit juice, strawberry, oranges, cranberry, blueberry, pear, pineapple, apple, peach juices, or anything else you like. Decorate each drink with a berry or a slice of the fruit used as a mixer. Pink champagne is especially good as palate cleanser between ice cream tasting or right after, but don’t spend lot of money on the most expensive champagne, the fruit and the champagne must compliment each other and not fighting.

I know the kids will like to drink all kinds of sodas and bounce from wall to wall for all the excess sugar, but it will be better to serve them something simpler and healthier: mineral water mixed with any fruit juice of their liking. They will have the impression of drinking champagne like the adults.

Organizing theme parties is fun. Perhaps, next time I will elaborate on a champagne party, or omelet party. The holidays are just around the corner. Ciao,
Valentina

http://valentinadesigns.wordpress.com

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer since 1990 and a former Fashion Designer.
She blends fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients with designing, teaching style and table manners, party organizing and public speaking.
She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual.
She translates colors into excitement. Valentina’s new book on colors will be in the market soon: RED-A Voyage Into Colors. 

Check out Valentina’s books on Amazon: http://tiny.cc/pkoo0

Happy Birthday America | By: Valentina Author and Designer

04 Jul 2012 Leave a Comment

by Valentina Author in Culinary Items, Design, Holiday Decorations, Holiday Food, Kitchen Design Tags: , , ,

Every year celebrating this historic birthday event is my way of showing my gratitude to this country, which adopted me so kindly a few moons ago. I came as tourist and ended up staying for work, leaving behind family, friends and my roots. I must admit it hasn’t always been easy, but I worked hard and took all the opportunities offered to me. One of my business coaches once said that when people walk on gold, it becomes pavement and they don’t see it anymore. He referred to the local people who often don’t see the beauty, the generosity, the abundance and the open doors this country offers, because they have been used to have it all and at their convenience, whereas emigrants coming from hardship and difficult lives somewhere else in the world, do see opportunities in this country with a different eyes and embrace them with open heart. They do what it takes to succeed and I am one of them. I have a beautiful design business, very nice clients and my books soon to be three on the market are doing well.

Today, I deserve to celebrate my hard work with good food and good friends. I made roasted zucchini, simply sliced and flavored with a mixture of olive oil, mint, garlic, a very small amount of sharp cheese and breadcrumbs. Salt & pepper to taste and in the oven for about 20 minutes. This simple dish can be prepared in advance and served at room temperature. I don’t ever serve food cold, unless is an ice cream, a cake that needs to be refrigerated or a chilled wine. Food kept in the refrigerator for a long time change the molecular structure and the taste suffers a little.

My pièce de resistance is the apricot salsa with grilled salmon. I have three apricot threes overloaded with fruit I can’t even eat. Every year, I make a large amount of apricot marmalade, pies and tartlets to store for the winter, I eat apricots even when I sleep, give a lot away, the wild birds visiting my garden eat them too and still have so much left falling on the ground. This time I tried my apricot salsa version to pair with grilled salmon caught wild around the coast of Alaska. I must say I well succeeded.


Apricot Salsa

All the measurements are to your liking, but if you like one ingredient to come forward, use more of it.

Apricots diced small
Jalapeño pepper diced
Garlic and ginger minced
A hand full of basil leaves
Spring onions
Lemon juice
Extra-virgin olive oil
Add salt to taste and a small pinch of sugar.

Mix well and let it macerate until the salmon is ready.

So many good food and various ideas are showing up on my Pinterest boards. I will make a patriotic Sangria according to punchbowl.com recipe.

Sangria
Strawberries, sliced
Blueberries
Pineapple, cut into star shapes
2 bottles dry white wine
1 cup Triple Sec
1/2 Cup berry-flavored vodka
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup simple syrup

Combine the ingredients in a large pitcher and stir. Chill in the refrigerator for at least four hours. My way will be only with dry white wine, no other type of alcohol.

I don’t know what my friends are bringing, I am sure it will be a tasty surprise.
Celebrate beautiful America and have a very Happy 4th of July. Thank you America for all you have made possible for me. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com  

http://pinterest.com/vcvalentina/

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Robert Taitano, a Valentina’s friend and business associate says: “Valentina – an International Professional Interior Designer is now giving you an opportunity to redesign your palate”.
Check out her books in this site on the Books page and on Amazon:   http://tiny.cc/pkoo0

Easter Breads | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

06 Apr 2012 2 Comments

by Valentina Author in Culinary Items, Design, Italian Food, Italian Life Style Tags: , , , , ,

Two more days to Easter Sunday and in Puglia, my land in the Southern Italy everyone will eat “Scarcella”, typical Easter bread. Scarcella is slightly sweet bread type, just enough to give a sweet taste but not enough to make anybody fat. Usually in Puglia we make it in a round shape, as we all know the round shape is the most harmonious of all the shapes and in most cultures is regarded as the shape of fortune. Many shapes and designs also characterize the Scarcella to please the eyes of the receiver. If it is made for kids, the shape might be a small doll, a purse, a car, or an animal shape, just to be playful.

Scarcella goes back to a very remote past, in fact it originated in the Roman Empire, enclosing in itself all the pagan and Christian symbols of Easter.

The raw eggs on top of the bread dough symbolize rebirth and the return to life. The eggs might fill the dough up to 21. Odd numbers are considered propitiatory, thus it’s important to place the eggs in an odd number. Bake the bread full of colorful confetti on top and lemon zest mixed in with the dough to aromatise it. Powdered sugar will cover the Scarcella after the baking to give it a veil of sweetness.

The tradition says that any daughter-in-law will give one Scarcella as a gift to the mother-in-law. More eggs the Scarcella has on it, more are the things the daughter-in-law is asking to be forgiven for. Well, that was in the old days, I am not even sure the new generations of Italians even know what Scarcella is, or if they care to ask for forgiveness through food symbolism. If anybody out there wants to try it here is the recipe:

Scarcella
Mix with 10.5 oz. 00 flour (super-soft flour used for pizza dough) 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 3.5 oz. of sugar, a little milk (use a little at a time to make the dough pliable).
Add a pinch of salt and grated lemon peel while working on the dough.
Spread the dough thus prepared to ½ inch in height.
Cut out the shapes you want, keeping the scraps of dough.
On one end of the Scarcella place 1 egg raw with the shell on, or you can spread an odd number of eggs around on the dough.
Cut the scraps of dough into strips and place them in a cross fashion over each egg to help them staying on the dough during baking.
Sprinkle the colored confetti and bake on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake it until golden brown.
If you like, add powder sugar after the bread has cooled down.

This Easter specialty is in my book Sins Of A Queen, on Amazon: http://tiny.cc/pkoo0
Another fun Easter bread and typical in the South of Italy made for this occasion is the “Casatiello”. The procedure of making this bread is the same as any other bread, the only difference is the stuffing.
Mixed in the raw dough there are chopped hard-boiled eggs, various chopped cold cuts meats and cheeses of many types. The quantities for the stuffing are up to your taste.
Taste will improve accordingly, I make mine very happy.

A Pink Moon will characterize this Easter. I just learned about it this morning when I read this article.

http://news.yahoo.com/moon-affects-date-easter-131202555.html

I am here to help you with your kitchen design and all the challenges that come with it, but I am here also to design your palate.
Remember that designing a table with colorful food is necessary for the soul and for the eyes just as much as a beautifully designed kitchen.
My next book on the subject of colors: RED-A Voyage Into Colors is in the printing and will be out on the market very soon. Stay tuned for the launch.

If you celebrate it, have a fun and rejuvenated Easter.  Ciao,
Valentina

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

 

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking.
She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms and entertainment rooms.
Check out her books on this site on the BOOKS page  and on Amazon: http://tiny.cc/pkoo0

Natural Shells For Elegant Décor | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

30 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment

by Valentina Author in Art, Design, Design Tips, Italian-Table-Customs, Kitchen Design, Painting Tags: , , , , ,

Looking through resources for my interior designing need, I found beautiful accessories for the table at One King’s Lane.  Two sets of salt and pepper vessels made of seashells on silver really striked my fancy. 
They are dainty, the coloration is beautiful, and I am thinking a voiles or chiffon tablecloth will be perfect to stage a table. Each plate will have a shell as place card holder, one large shell for bread, a mother of pearl champagne bucket and some nautilus votive scattered on the table should set an inviting dinner scene. 

Looking at the shape of the shells comes to mind their original function: to conceal a living matter inside of them and to keep the secret of the marine abysses. When we go to the seaside to catch shells, it’s almost a compulsory gesture to bring a shell to the ear. We hear the sea waves moving and we immediately imagine stories of navigation and far away lands. We think it is all so mysterious because a romantic explanation at time is better than a scientific one, but in reality the shape of the shell and the limestone material that makes it, promote the echoing sound of the sea. (photos of shell items from One King’s Lane)

The relation between shells and sea is very strong as it is associated with the feminine element of fertility, in fact the word shell comes from the Latin word conchilium meaning to conceal in a shell. Venus, the goddess of love was generated from the sea inside of a shell. Italian painter Botticelli painted her in his masterpiece of the XIV century. We are born in water too in our mother’s womb, our shell. In other words the source of life is to be found in the water and the woman is its vehicle.

Shells keep the secrets of oceans and earth, shipwrecks, lives lost, earthquakes, moon influence, sun’s scorching heat and people’s touches transferring feelings and sicknesses with their hands. Some people think once shells have found a new place in a house décor will communicate to the household all the secrets they keep, bringing in the good and the bad luck, regardless of their beauty. Legend? I don’t know, but I heard it from an astrologer.

In history shells became an important symbol to mark properties, to indicate social casts, family crests and coats of arms. The shell became the symbol of the Italian Renaissance, a rebirth in the fields of arts, architecture, music, literature and scientific discoveries after the dark age of the Medieval era. In Europe shell symbols are found on important building as churches, cathedrals and political establishments.

I was attracted by the colors of these superb tableware and the elegant simplicity they enclose. Knowing the history and legends attached to shells would make an interesting conversation topic with the guests.

Let me help you decorating and staging your next dinner party with unusual object d’art. Please leave your name in the box below. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. 
As an interior designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking she loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos.

She is the author of RED-A Voyage Into Colors, the forthcoming book on the subject of colors, in publication at this time. Check out her two published books on Italian regional cuisine, available on this site on the Books page and on Amazon.
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna

http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

Getting Ready For Carnevale | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

16 Jan 2012 4 Comments

by Valentina Author in Culinary Items, Design, Holiday Decorations, Italian Culture, Italian Food Tags: , , , , , ,


Carnevale is a special winter celebration that happens forty days before Easter and ends with Mardi Gras. The day after Ash Wednesday is time for repentance for the week or two of festivities with fat food, gluttony, dances, at times debauchery and divertissements of various natures. In some parts of the world like Rio de Janeiro, New Orléans and Italy people work all year round in making elaborate costumes they will wear on Mardi Gras, as Carnevale is a giant party for children and adults. Everybody must wear a mask to hide behind it and be mischievous. The theory behind the mask is that whatever is done under the mask covering the face is not valid and it doesn’t count.

Viareggio in Tuscany, Putignano in Puglia, Rome, beautiful Amalfi on the Italian Tyrrhenian coast and various other cities in Italy organize large parades with huge floats representing political people and notables of the country, actors and actresses, soccer players and social climbers, all being mocked and ridiculed in their roles. Venice is the most sought after Carnevale celebration of the entire Italian peninsula. The atmosphere is ethereal, the city becomes more magic than usual, private parties resonate from every balcony and public parties in the piazza are like Goldoni’s comedy in the XVII century costumes. The roles are not defined but it seems everybody in the street know the script and play the parts well. Venice is full of legends and real stories, every corner can tell an original one.

Carnevale is time for fatty food and simple pastries. Depending on the Italian region some of the specialties are frittelle, chiacchiere, cenci, cicerchiata and frappe. It’s OK to eat fried food once a year and these sweets are all fried. Today nobody eats food cook or fried in lard, but a long time ago the original recipes called a good home cured lard.

To keep fried food light and healthy you can either choose to fry with peanut oil that can stand the high temperature or use an Italian fryer equipped with charcoal filter. Food fried this way will take a short time in the oil, will turn out crispy, tender and not greasy. I own one of those Italian frying devices; the house doesn’t even smell like fried food and everything that comes out of there is a real treat.

Other types of fatty food might be the “Casatiello” from Naples, a type of bread stuffed with salami, prosciutto, cheeses and boiled eggs. “Calzone” from Puglia, a type of thin-layered pizza stuffed with grilled leaks, anchovies, sausages and olives. Arancini, rice balls stuffed with mozzarella, prosciutto e peas; Croquettes, potatoes balls stuffed same as the arancini; Pasta Frittata also stuffed with a variety of meats. The variety of  Frittata are countless and endless. Porchetta, an entire pig roasted over an open spit fire is the delight of Carnevale, just everybody will prepare one.

Food connoisseurs will not buy a few slices of cold cuts every time they need to make sandwiches, too expensive. To save money, they instead will buy an entire leg of prosciutto and use the D’Artagnan, a ham-carving stand to cut the prosciutto very thin and make it last a very long time. During Carnevale time the D’Artagnan gets a lot of usage.

Both of my books offer many colorful opportunities to try these types of food, except that my food is well thought out for today’s modern need to stay healthy, for enjoyment and not for fattening you up.

This year Carnevale 2012 runs from February 11th to the 21st. The day after, Ash Wednesday, in preparation for the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter, some people will go on Lent practice for forty days. This means something must be eliminated from the daily nourishment, or if this is not possible for health reasons, some good deeds towards others, the community, or the society is well accepted.

Now you have a month to prepare, to find or sew your costume and once you have it, post it on my blog, we can have a contest.

I am delighted to bring you novelties in food and home décor from my Italian culture. Should you need any help, do not hesitate to leave your name in the box below. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Robert Taitano, a friend and business associate says: “Valentina – an International Professional Interior Designer is now giving you an opportunity to redesign your palate”.
Valentina the author of RED-A Voyage Into Colors, the forthcoming design book on the subject of colors, due to be released soon.
She is also the author of two published regional Italian cuisine books:

http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M

http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

Waiting For New Year | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

02 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment

by Valentina Author in Design, Holiday Decorations, Italian Culture, Italian-Table-Customs Tags: , , , ,

One of the pleasures of entertaining family or friends is the setting of the table process. Food of course should be the focus of the table. A well-decorated table with poorly prepared food does very little for the spirit and I would say for the stomach too.
Once I was asked to describe bad food and my answer was “food haphazardly scrambled together but presented well”.

Having a theme in mind is one of the important elements when styling a table. Creating light, dark, shadow and silhouettes are super ways to illuminate the space around the dining table.  Repeat the same trick on the table with the decorations.

If a chandelier is over the table and candles on the table, you might want to create an ambience by turning the chandelier on dimmer and let the candles cast a warm shadow.
Recessed down lighting over the dining table is a bit tricky. If a down lighting is not placed properly, all the people sitting at the dining table will have a dark shadow under the eyes and everyone will look a bit more aged than they really are.

Inside of a theme, select the season, texture and the colors you want to assemble. The solutions are endless as you can imagine. You have the choice of keeping every thing in the same coloration or texture, which gives the table a calming effect. You also have the choice of making a creative or funky arrangement.

Let’s take a few colors as samples.
If you want to create a tablescape with the sea in mind, the underwater world includes all the blues from the darkest ocean to blue sky but also includes all the blue-green tonalities of the underwater garden vegetation.
For a nature inspired table setting, the green beauties will include all the variation of foliage colors to olive greens.
A fall arrangement will have a riot of colors to choose from. You can select the reds with an undertone of orange and pink; the oranges that lean towards pink, the purples with a red base, or you can mix browns bleeding into shades of grays.
If the colors of natural gems inspire you, add some metal texture to the tablescape. Gems and metals are both two elements formed in nature; they combine well with the drinking glasses and fabric cloth, two other kinds of texture.

Tablecloth and napkins must not be necessarily of the same set and colors.  Actually if they don’t match is even better, will make the table an interesting canvas to look at.

In my arrangement of the end of the year I did not want the usual red cloth most people use for festivities. Instead, I chose to use dark colors on the table illuminated by metal candle lanterns to emulate the dark winter night, the light of the stars over buildings and the new spiritual light that will infuse the night turning into a new year.

The year 2012 has been described as the year of the Aquarius, not as the ‘60s movies, but as a very spiritual year, a new era of rebirth and enlightenment. Colors will take inspirations from nature, but the exciting part is that we can create a mysterious combination with the undertone of each color and use it in a new way to set the mood, or create high contrast never done before.

This year let me help you projecting your personal image, your home image, or your party tables into new modern, graphic colors that will speak about you and your personality. The current millennium loves colors! Happy New Year, make it great, make it fun. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual.
She is the author of  RED the forthcoming book on the subject of colors. She is also a published author of two Italian regional cuisine books available here on this site on the Books page and in various other locations.  

http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

The Art Of Dainties | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

25 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment

by Valentina Author in Culinary Items, Design, Design Tips, Italian Culture, Italian Food, Italian-Table-Customs Tags: , , , , ,

This year for Christmas Eve I will have adults only at my table celebrating the passage into the new light, it will be one of the few times in my life I will not make a sit down dinner. I will prepare an array of fanciful small dainties to be served in various area of my great room.

Putting dainties together will be just like choosing colors and textures for dressing up. It is important to find the right balance of colors and flavors. Need not to have too much salty food, nor too much food of the same kind of textures, protein, vegetable, starches and sweets must be equally distributed and in between palate cleansers are a real treat to put all the taste buds back in place.

Caviar with a variety of crackers and breads will be the opening, accompanied by smoked salmon with capers and sparkling wines.
A large size tray of endive, raw celery and fennel will be a good match with cheeses and will be good to help digesting dairy products.
The highlight of my cheese tray will be the Tête de Moine and the Dubliner, which I recently discovered from one of my dearest friend.
Last summer I made sun-dried tomatoes in my garden, preserved in olive oil, capers, garlic and fennel seed. I will put them next to the cheeses, olives and Italian prosciutto, they are so good on crostini with one of my spreadable cheeses.

 
My Italian tradition calls for fried salted cod for Christmas Eve. It is one type of food that never makes it to the table, fried cod is absolutely good piping hot right out of the fryer.
As we say in Italian “cotto e mangiato” cooked and eaten at once; scorching of the palate and fingers are allowed. I own an Italian made fryer equipped with a charcoal filter and a turning tumble canister that makes fried food so light, clean and no fried food smell in the kitchen. I don’t eat fry food during the year, but  when I have people over is so fun to eat something different and allow myself to go out of my own strict rules. Besides, my friend will polish everything, I am lucky to taste one or two pieces of fried cod.

I will cook the rice with wild mushrooms in small individual Savarin molds, perfect to create the effect of a large ring when they are turned over in the plate. I will decorate the center hole with some arugula leaves.

Mussels cooked in garlic, fennel and wine will be in a large bowl for a grand effect. Some of my friends have never eaten mussels this way, they will have a good opportunity to try some brassiere food.

I fancy stuffed grilled eggplants rolled in small packages hiding a surprise mixture of meat, spinach, beaten egg and a small spoon of Parmigiano as a binder. I am thinking, since I have the grill going, I will put on some asparagus and colored peppers too, my friends will not mind.

I will make the zabaione cream myself and my friend will watch. It seems as if many of them tonight will be in a cooking class involuntarily, but it will be much fun to cook together than preparing it all by myself.
I will conclude my food spread  with dried nuts, fresh fruit, panettone an Italian Christmas cake and more sparkling wines.

It will be simple home cooking and it will take the whole night.
Many of these recipes are in my books, some of my friends will have a taste for the first time, but many of them  are so happy to share my Puglia food with me again.
I am going to start the preparation and welcome everyone with a glass of prosecco.

The night is young and we need to reach midnight doing something fun, laughing, making jokes, telling stories and playing with food.  Some of my friends are not into cooking, they will have easy tasks, as I don’t want to risk a food mistake just tonight on Christmas Eve and some will pour all night.

I hope you are having fun too.

We will welcome the new light in the world and celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Merry Christmas, peace in the world. Ciao,
Valentina

www.Valentinadesigns.com  

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking. She especially loves to design all those rooms with a “make me feel good” tag attached, such as kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms and entertainment rooms. She is a public speaker and a mentor. She is also the author of two Italian regional cuisine books, available here in this site on the Books page and in various locations. 

http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna

http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

Nature On The Table | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

18 Nov 2011 2 Comments

by Valentina Author in Culinary Items, Design, Holiday Decorations, Italian Culture, Italian Food, Kitchen Design, Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

Jewel tone colors characterize the autumn months along with the bounty of earthy food. This year on my holiday table there will be truffles some friends brought me from Italy, a variety of soups and delicacy made from different squashes. I plan on making lot of risotto with wild mushrooms and prosciutto. I am in the mood for roasted chestnut and dried fruits to munch on while sitting by the fireplace reading interesting books during the holidays. Some of the dried fruit come from garden, in fact I made roasted apples vinegar to use on salads and roasted lemons for grilled or baked chicken.
My table will be colorful with ceramics I hand carried with me in the plane from Sorrento, in the South of Italy all the way across the ocean to the US.
Home-made breads will fill the air of my house. Yes, I make bread at least twice a month.

(BH&G photos)

Since I have been in the process of writing my third book on the subject  of Colors I feel like bathing in colors in all my daily expressions, not that I didn’t before, it just seems the feeling is elevated to the nth power.
This year, I will turn to nature for my Thanksgiving table decorations. It was easy to make napkin holders out of scrap fabrics and spray paint in gold a few real gourds to display on a cake stand.
Mums and pumpkins will be a novelty on anybody’s table this year, not only mine and not only for the table. To keep this arrangement fresh, use floral foam underneath the flowers, cut it in a round shape and cover it with mums. Group a few pumpkins in different shapes and size around the mums. Voila’ nature at your service inside and outside your home!
I am scattering pine cones in vases , bowls, to decorate a towel rack and even on the curtains as tie backs. Pine cones, because they are dark and woody, play well with other textures, such as ropes, glass,  or golden balls.

Nature doesn’t go wrong in combining textures, colors are always the right colors to each season. I can enjoy the decorations for a while longer past the holidays if I fancy and once I discard them back into the nature, they will dissolve again to become part of the earth once more.

This is my advice this holiday season. Stay away from artificial decorations, be respectful of the environment, support your local artists and craft people, buy local, buy handmade and give unique gifts from your heart.

We will soon transition into winter, we will see bare trees, cold, rain and snow in some parts of the world. It will be a different beauty and as usual I will have a lot to say about decorating in the winter style, along with preparing some succulent heart warming food. For now, enjoy this moment, this season in all the colors and prepare to enter the holiday season with a thankful heart.

The highlight of this year for me was meeting a 5 months old girl, the daughter of my new clients, two fine people. I am very thankful to have the opportunity to be of service to them.

If you are in a bound, or feel the stress of the holidays, relax and let me take care of your decorations for the holidays, or any organization you need to do to make your holiday event successful.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved  

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients.
She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual. She is also the author of two Italian regional cuisine books available in this site at the Books page and in various other locations: http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

 

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