Why Kids Eat Food For Kids? | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

09 Nov 2011 6 Comments

by Valentina Author in Culinary Items, Italian Culture, Italian Food, Kitchen Design, Self-Improvement Tags: , , , , , ,


Poor kids, they get to choose their food from the kids’ menu and eat junk stuff while the adults indulge in every possible delicacy of the world!

My girlfriend was complaining that schools serve junk food to the kids for lunch. They are so used to eat “useless” food that when they return home from daily school, don’t even want to hear about the “real food” their mom, my girlfriend prepares.
She was telling me that her girlfriend in Italy commented that when her kids are in school (Italian schools that is) eat as adults do and the school menu looks the same as a restaurant menu, but I think it has to do a lot with our culture.

In Italy food is an integral part of our daily life, we get up in the morning and already think of what to eat for dinner. That gives us plenty time for planning the daily meals, go to the market and buy the food needed for the day.
Yes, we go to the market every day as Italians eat fresh food daily and not from the freezer, or pre-made, processed food prepared a year ago and sold in styrofoam packages, with a plastic film on top.

In America, au contraire of Italians, I have observed a huge disconnection from food. American “real food” is good, tasty, nutritional, colorful, which says a lot when people eat food in all the colors, yet Americans have opted for fast food and for days empty of cooking, as if cooking is beneath them (sorry, but I had to say this).

In my circle of friends and clients, I know many people who don’t cook and don’t even know how to boil water.
I also know many people who take the time to get up at 4:00 am to go to the gym until 6:30-7:00 am before tackling their day.
They do find the time to exercise, but have no time for cooking and eating well. I see no point of working the muscles to a statuesque perfection when the stomach is full of junk food.
The first death happens in the stomach! Just so you know.

I am including a link to an interested article I read about the artificial preservatives and color dyes in many junk food.
http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2010/09/10/whats-in-a-twinkie-kids-favorite-food-deconstructed/

OK, enough of that!

Kids should be educated at home first. I don’t think it is a good practice to give in to any kids’ requests. Kids will try anything to bend the parents to a nice sculpture and most of the time they will succeed. Parents are their kids’ managers, but often it is the other way around in America.

In my Italian family, when I was in the age I had no say so about anything, as in many of my friends’ families, there was no choice of food. We ate all that our moms prepared and if we didn’t like it, too bad, we went hungry. There was no alternative, no other choice and no junk food either. Our parents did that for our good, not to be abusive. Food in Italy is perceived as our friend and not our enemy that makes us loses time. It is not just perceived, it is respected, it is loved, appreciated and not wasted. That’s why kids in Italy will never eat from a kids’ menu, not in restaurants, not in the family, not in the school.
I have young nieces and nephews, they are a different generation, but their mom, my sister, taught them the same as our parents taught us about food. Equally, I can say about the young cousins in my family, when we sit at the table, we all eat the same food.
Bare in mind, this is not only the Italian people’s prerogative; I have seen the same attitude towards food in many cultures too, except in America. Here people have embraced a fast culture and don’t have time for food and cooking, the most important fuel for our brain. My question is:  what do they have time for?

Unfortunately,  in America, due to this mentality of everything fast, kids are treated as a non-important class, when it comes to food.
Why do they have to be fed so badly with junk food in the growing stage, the most important time of their life?
Kids will be the future managers of our society, we have a responsibility not to grow sick flowers!

Schools are expensive. For the money parents pay to send their kids to school, they should be able to get at least one healthy meal a day in return, but they don’t.
Parents should be able to count on schools not only to educate on academics, but to educated their kids on nutrition and cooking to provide them with the knowledge that will contribute to their life time good health. Sport, cooking and nutrition should be obligatory subjects to take, no excuse and while we are in this subject, teach kids also how to get closer to earth and grow natural food.
In the future and I strongly believe this, people who know how to grow food from seeds, who know how to make breads, pasta and know how to eat with vegetables, people who know how to preserve food will be the  survivors.

Please, parents make your own battle against bad food in schools, let your voice be heard and if schools don’t have the right person with the right knowledge of food, find that person.
Remember when your kids get sick due to bad nutrition, you are the only one to pay for, not the school.

I am an advocate of good eating, please don’t mistreat our kids, they are our future heritage.  As a food author, I am available to be hired for speaking engagements, or any seminars in any schools. 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:
Come Mia Nonna–A Return to Simplicity
Sins Of A Queen – Italian Appetizers and Desserts
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

Robert Taitano, a friend and business associate says: “Valentina - an International Professional Interior Designer is now giving you an opportunity to redesign your palate”.  


Organize Your Kitchen To Please Your Soul | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

05 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment

by Valentina Author in Culinary Items, Design, Design Tips, Italian Food, Kitchen Design, Self-Improvement Tags: , , , , ,

Most of you know the kitchen is my favorite room, I like to design it and I like to live in it. In my family, the kitchen is the place to resolve our difficulties and the place where we invite the real friends to sit.
I executed my schoolwork on the kitchen table, where I could be part of my family life, instead of being closed in my room alone.

Most of the kitchens of today are conveniently located near the garage or entry door and just because it is convenient turns into in a dumping ground for mail, bills, magazine and stuff.

Nowadays we got so complicated we must have Feng Shui in the kitchen too, but when I was growing up we called it common sense. Here you will find some of my life habits on how to keep the kitchen in harmony with the soul.

* September is the month of cleaning the kitchen cupboards inside and out. Prepare the kitchen for the coming holidays, make room for new serving dishes and cooking equipment you might buy this Fall. Some are so inviting!
This is the time you will get the opportunity to throw away or donate all the items you don’t want anymore. Get rid of those non-matching plates and glasses that have lost their companions. Cupboards need to be completely emptied out of contents at least every change of season to keep a clean positive energy in the kitchen. If the job feels too overwhelming, get help, there are plenty people out there who want to do this kind of work.

  • Keep all the bills in the home office, study, or any room dedicated to office/school tasks, but please don’t take the bills in the bedroom. Kitchen functions are  for cooking, tasting, and conversations. Keep everything else out of it, unless you have a dedicated desk in a corner of the kitchen.
  • Today we see mail with suspicion. Mail is no longer welcomed, as when a letter arrived from far away, or we received friendly cards from people we knew.  Today we get bombarded with emails and our post mail is filled with advertisements and junk mail. Stand by a fireplace or trash when reading the mail of the day and don’t even let it in the kitchen.
  • Recycle all the store plastic bags you bring home with food or other items. I reuse them as garbage bags and I have no need to buy more plastics. Recycle also any paper bags for other uses, such as packaging wrap, for more shopping, or to keep in the car as garbage bags. In my garage, I have two containers, one for recycled plastic bags and one for paper bags rolled up neatly.
  • Organize all the food plastic containers, find the matching lids and keep them together in one place. Throw away containers without lids. The same applies to cooking tools. There is nothing more irritating than being in need of a cooking tool ready for the task and instead finding a tangle up mess of tools in the kitchen cabinet drawers.
  • If  kitchen space will not allow to store large pots, baking pans or slow cookers, take these items to an adjacent closet.
  • Appliances garage and roll out shelves are designed on purpose to keep small appliances out of sight and counters neatly clean.
  • I like to keep my expensive chef knives in a drawer with a magnet to keep the knives from sliding back and forth and to protect the tips.
  • To have a fresh lemony air in the kitchen, put lemon peels in the sink garbage disposal, lemon peel in the dishwasher utensil tray and lemon potpourri sachet in each kitchen drawer and cabinets.
  • I don’t like my kitchen steamed up with cooking vapors, not only it creates condensation, but the odors will stay in the house, especially if the kitchen has an open floor plan communicating with other rooms. The vapors and grease will go up to ceiling and will come down on the upholstered furniture. Keeping windows opened during cooking will redirect vapors outside and you might hear the wild birds singing at you for the good aroma you are producing in the kitchen.
  • Have you thought of a calendar for family activities and one for weekly menus? My mother added a comment at the very top of our weekly menu calendar:
    “If any of you don’t like this week menu, there are plenty restaurants that will take your money”. Needless to say we, teenagers kids ate at home all the time.
  • Prepare your table with a table cloth and napkins, every time you eat at the table, even if you eat alone. Feeding your soul with beauty and comfort will discract your stomach from overeating.

Enjoying fresh food prepared in the kitchen, to me this is an important ritual. Kitchen and food nourish and bound the family together.
Kids who grew up with good food and pleasant kitchen atmosphere will always want to return home even after they have formed their life.

I am here ready to help, if you need to organize your kitchen and feel really overwhelmed with the task, just leave your name in the box below.
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 operates in the USA and Europe. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn ugly spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms and entertainment rooms. She is the author of two published books on regional Italian cuisine, available here in this site on the Books page and in various other locations:

http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna

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

http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

 

Let’s Return To Simple, Shall We? | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

21 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment

by Valentina Author in Italian Food, Italian Life Style, Italian-Table-Customs, Self-Improvement Tags: , , ,

I knew I had a message for the world when I started to write my first book:
Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity.

The book is about cooking in the Pugliese style. It is a cuisine of the South-East Region of Italy called Puglia on the Adriatic Sea. I come from there.

My first goal was to let people know about my Puglia as I have known it and to bring the simplicity of Pugliese food into many American homes.

Yes, there is elegance in simplicity. Food does not have to be outrageously contorted to be sophisticated. Besides, a twenty or thirty minutes cooking time to prepare a delicious Italian meal could be a real convenience to any busy person.

Surprisingly, there are some people who have bought the book and are using it to lose weight. After all the Mediterranean diet has been considered the best and healthier of all nutrition, my ancestors have eaten the kind of food portrayed in my book for centuries , which kept them healthy through their lives, why am I surprised that my book is also serving the purpose of losing weight?

This is good, other than being an attractive book, other than my personal artwork and funny stories, my book is helping people with real struggles.

Losing weight is one of the greatest challenge a person can have and just like everything, there must be an inner desire to want to make changes. Zach, the young man in the video below, is going through this challenge with humor. He is participating in his own life by taking charge and resolving the eating disorder of many years. We will root for Zach until he succeeds. Click on the link below to see  the video Zach produced: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZsD-hNG6Po

Zach has been persistent in following all the suggestions that his weight control coach gives him and he diligently prepares food from my book at least three times a week.

He is losing weight while enjoying cooking at home and learning about my Puglia food, such a different type of food he was used to eat.

My book is also cost conscious, ingredients are easy to find in any local supermarket, no need to go to Paris to find them. All recipes are not expensive to produce and being made of a few ingredients, they also help staying on excellent low calories diet.
There are no mayonnaise, no ketchup, no other last-minute invented creams and combinations of not better-identified food.
The main ingredient is olive oil, often a sauce comes from cherry tomatoes, or from wine and garlic combination, lemons and aromatic vinegars are some of the condiments, sweets are mostly made with fruits.

This news from Zach using my book to stay healthy, lose weight and return to simple cooking comes at Easter time, a time  to cherish, share and celebrate life, our family and friends and I celebrate you Zach! Thank you so much.
With this book I wanted to give the gift of health, youth and long life just like my ancestors lived with a smile on their face and the red on their cheeks.

Wishing you an Easter filled with joy! Buona Pasqua a tutti! Ciao,
Valentina
Author and Designer
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 operates in the USA and Europe.  She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn ugly spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos.
She is the author of two Italian regional cuisine books available here in this site on the Books page and in various other locations:
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

Planting Food, Beauty And Relax | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

14 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment

by Valentina Author in Design, Italian Food, Italian Life Style, Self-Improvement, Uncategorized Tags: , , ,

Yesterday was a beautiful March day, I wanted to take advantage of the sun, the warm day and my good disposition. It was the right time to think of planting seed for new food. In many European countries is still snowing in March and is the same in Italy, but here in California, in the climate zone 7 and 8, March is the perfect month to plant. My family in Italy is getting jealous!

March is the right time to start feeding houseplants again and repot when necessary. Get the soil tested if you are planning to do some serious food and fruit trees planting. This is the month to start seeds indoor, prune trees and shrubs and get all the garden tools ready for your Spring planting. If you have wet soil in the garden, it is better not to walk on it, use stepping-stones. In my garden, I have many rows of them around plants and vegetation, they are  decorative and don’t get your feet wet or dirty.

I started with Turbo onions, which is a lovely round onion that stores well and the Red Baron red onion, strong-tasting which produces a heavy crop.
I planted shallots, a more delicate onion, which I use more for fish dishes and some other delicate dishes. I want some asparagus and started some crops indoor, such as aubergines the kind called Diamond, originated in the Ukraine. It crops relatively quickly from a sowing in March.

Started cauliflowers, cabbage and tomatoes. Tomato seeds also do well indoor. I got the gartenperle type, small, cherry size, sweet and tasty, grow in beautiful colors as pink-red, deep ruby-red, pink to rosy red. They are great for containers and even hanging baskets. I make a lot of fast and delicate sauces with them. Tomatoes are always a big surprise, they either come out in overwhelming large quantity, or nothing at all.

In mid March plant some early potatoes if the weather where you are permits it, I will.

I bought a few packets of mixed salad-leaf seeds, can’t do without salad in my garden, it’s so easy to grow and need not much care. Put a few seeds on to the surface of your compost and don’t cover them with a thick layer, they need to breathe.

Towards the end of March when the soil has warmed up, I will want to plant some climbing French beans. I have already prepared the soil and placed cane poles in place. Later I will make two holes at the base of each pole and a couple of seeds per hole. Then, I need to be patient.

Between my food I also plant some beauty. Some begonias, dahlias, dusty miller, geraniums, impatiens, marguerite daisies, marigolds, all annuals to beautify my crop.

While thinking of food crop, I was also thinking of cooking in the garden. I made a very simple outdoor cookery device out of a clay pot and bricks.
No cement or mortar, the bricks are just laid one on top of the other in a circle, the clay pot sits inside of the circle. Inside of the pot more bricks form a flat surface for the wood chips and a grill sits on top of them. Food will be placed on the grill. A clay cover with a whole in the center to allow the steam to escape will keep the food cooking for long time.

This is slow food at its best and I am prepared for relaxing weekends, a good time for writing more books and more blogs, or having some friends over.
I really don’t care what goes into my car, but I really care what I put in my stomach.
Please leave a comment below, I can help you with any of your design challenges, including landscape too. I now offer design consultations on-line and without going outside my office I can create an “outdoor room”  for you, or the most beautiful space of your dream.  Ask me for details. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as a designer since 1990.
She has helped a variegated group of fun people realizing their dreams with homes, offices, interiors and exteriors.
She designs architectural landscape as a complement to the residential design concept as a unity.

http://www.youtube.com/user/affluentliving#p/u/2/eC2LVXANG5U
http://www.youtube.com/user/affluentliving#p/u/0/kWuB7I8uJjg



The World Is A Woman | By: Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

09 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment

by Valentina Author in Self-Improvement, Social Issues Tags: , ,

There is an old Italian saying which goes: “Who says woman, says damage” and can’t help smiling about these phrases made up by the ignorant. Damage for whom or what?  This saying was coined when women were considered second class citizens and kept under submission.

For century women have been considered the weaker sex and yet they give birth enduring pain, give courage to people who have no strength; they fight wars, become prime ministers and astronauts; women can work even in a man’s field, have a family and make real choices.

But these rights weren’t always rights for women. In the early 1900’s, a time for the great industrialization in major parts of the world, women became more vocal and embraced active campaigns against oppression, inequality, better pay, less working hours, the right to be trained, the right to vote, to hold public offices and end all discriminations. In agreement with the Social Democratic Party of America women started the march toward a long fight for their rights to be followed by major European countries and their Social Democratic Parties.
The International Woman’sDay was declared as a result of those courageous women’ actions and March 8th was the date set to honored all the women who make this world go around and those women who are still battling for their rights.

Indeed, in the third millennium there are still women who are fighting for their rights and are still kept subjugated under antiquated and diminishing laws while atrocious crimes are committed to them.

On this day March 8th is a tradition to give a bunch of yellow mimosa flower to every woman we love, men give to women and women can give to other women too. It is a way to honor the force of nature called Woman! She is the mother and creator of this whole world.

Happy International Woman Day to everybody. Let’s work together to make sure our little girls will have a bright, equal, safe and rewarding future.

In the meantime enjoy the rest of this Mardi Gras day, hoping it has been a memorable one. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Copyright © 2011 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an interior designer, in business since 1990 and a former fashion designer. She helps people realizing their dream spaces in homes, offices, interiors, exteriors. She writes often on a variety of publication on the subject of fashion, food, design and Italian style. She is the author of two Italian cultural regional cookbooks, both available here in this site on the Books Page:
Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity
Sins Of A Queen – Italian Appetizers and Desserts

Also available at these locations:
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen


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