Valentina

An Easter Speciality

09 Apr 2023 7 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #BenedettoSpeciality, #EasterFood, #EasterSpeciality, #ItalianEasterFood, #ItalianHolidaysDinners

Today talking with my high school friends in Italy about what kind of food they are preparing for Easter, I realized that for a long time, I missed preparing a typical speciality from my native Puglia. It’s called “Il Benedetto”. It is a dish full of fresh sheep ricotta on a bed of arugula or cooked spinach, boiled eggs, slices of soppressata sausage, pecorino cheese, and slices of oranges. The plate is placed in the centre of the dining table, accompanied by fried artichokes, olives and fresh raw fava beans. Some people put everything on one plate as shown in the second photo.

Before eating Il Benedetto, the food receives the benediction with a branch from an olive tree dipped in holy water. Basically, it is an appetizer served an hour or two before dinner.

(Photo by La Cucina Pugliese)

(Photo by my sister Cristina)

Italian holiday dinners are nothing like you have seen before. Italian dinners have no end. Italians know when dinner starts, but don’t know when they will get up and call it finished. It seems this speciality would be enough for dinner but not for the Italians who love to dine at leisure.

Dinner is never served with all food together on one plate or the guests helping each other by passing this and that until their plates are full of ingredients. Italian people eat dinner one course at a time. Between one dish and another, they talk politics, love, family, soccer game, money and all kind of interesting subjects, smoke, drink wines, or get up to dance to make space in the stomach for the next dish, with a time-lapse of 20-30 minutes between each course. Often a holiday dinner last 5-7 hours.
Women sit at the table as well, but they are the ones to prepare and serve. I helped my mom in the kitchen when I lived with my parents, however, I never understood the reason why men couldn’t get up and help.

For years I couldn’t prepare any Italian speciality here in America as the ingredients were not available in any market, now there is nothing I can’t find and I will prepare Il Benedetto from now on. I wish all of you a peaceful Easter Day. Ciao.
Valentina

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Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel.
Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble

Spring Vibes

02 Apr 2023 4 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #ColorEnergy, #Pink&Green, #SpringColors, #SpringVibes, #ValentinaBookOnColors

After the Equinox there is an update of the vital forces and a repositioning of all the elements that move nature. Around the equinox (aequi+nox-night) the sun shines directly on the equator and consequently day and night have an approximate length all over the Earth. Due to this new event, Spring is born, we must sing at a different tune and think a little more clearly.

Last year I discovered a felt artist who I invited to my show. I fell in love with the art of felting. Wet felting is an ancient method of fusing together silk and natural wool from which scarves, shawls, lightweight garments, and even jewellery can be made. The process requires the use of olive oil soap, warm water and the motion of the skilled artist’s hands that will produce original, delicate, one-of-a-kind creations. The application of heat, moisture and friction causes the wool to felt.

Nuno Felting or Laminated Felting is a more modern technique in fabric manipulation that produces highly textural textiles, lightweight, visually appealing and fun to wear, says Nadia Bevegni, felt artist.

I sent one of my tulip photos to the artist and she reproduced it onto a piece of silk. It was an easy process, at least it was for me, and we communicated well. I like it when that happens, people in the art business seem to be much more relaxed than in any other business.
I added to my collection of scarves a beautiful, warm piece made by a real human with her hands. Here are a few of her creations. Find the artist Nadia Bevegni here https://itfelt.wordpress.com/

Photos by Nadia Bevegni.

On this first day of April, open the door to new possibilities, colours and all the energy colours can bring.

In my book RED -A Voyage Into Colors, Second Edition one can find a variety of information on how colours affect us in life.

Ciao,
Valentina

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Hang It Pretty

22 Mar 2023 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #HangingPlants, #MacrameArt, #MacrameFibers, #MacrameRevival, #MacrameWallArt

A long time ago, was fashionable to hang plants, big and small, in an intricate macrame work. Macrame is a technique of crafting a textile that will become wall hangings, plant holders, hammocks, hats, area rugs and many other decorative items. Several knots, each with its own name, forms the shape of each piece, some knots are very complicated and some are basic. Jute, twine, yarn, hemp, or leather are the fibers used for knotting. In the past, I have even cut up the fabric of some of my discarded dresses, made it into long strips and used it for knotting.

The art of knotting macrame was not born in the ’60s and ’70s, it is a very old art originated in the Arabic countries that used to trade products and food with the western world.

Women worked with the macrame art to pass time and sailors, being masters of nautical knots, enjoyed making items they could sell once had touched shores.

I am happy this art is coming back again, homes will not look so sterile any more. Greenery and plants in homes purify the air providing a good exchange of oxygen. They also make a good sound barrier against city noice and excellent room dividers. Ciao,

Valentina

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Invoking The Sun

17 Mar 2023 6 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #GoldandYellow, #GoldAttitude, #GoldColor, #GoldEnergy, #GoldenFashion

California is known for the wonderful weather, sunny days, gentile winds accompany our working and relaxing days, everything I plant grows well, it feels like Spring most of the year. The mild climate provides different pleasures to different people. In an hour or two we can go from sunny beaches to skiing in the mountains, we can wear short sleeves in January, or a light weight jacket in December and never feel inadequate. I keep buying winter gloves I never wear.

Long time ago, I planted an orange tree right in front of my home office. It is such a pleasure to work with the window open and smell the sweet orange blossoms coming through the window, however, lately, this good weather doesn’t feel like paradise anymore. It has been raining heavy for four months straight, night and day, gusty winds have eradicated heavy trees from their habitats and often I thought the roof of my home was going to come off.

My only protection against the dark, grey and wet days are colors. I hate to think I am probably the only one wearing a lot of bright colors in the rain, but it just feels like the only colors I sees in the streets are grey and black, not even a colorful umbrella every once in a while.

Purple is not a color I wear often, however I adore wearing it with chartreuse and yellow. I think the combination is strong and vibrant. The flower is a semblance of an umbrella for a playful moment.

Why not adding a pair of funky shoes for an amusing look and brighten the day? Maybe dressing in a combination of gold and yellow will call the sun upon me again.

There are areas in this world where rain is part of the everyday life, I would not know how people deal with the rain six or more months out of the year. I was born on the water, under a sun, in a sunny country, without the sun my life would be very sad. I invoke and worship the sun everyday, when it’s not around, I surround myself with a colorful home and clothes. I might be the brightest person on the block, but I care for my wellbeing and believe me, I cheer up a lot of people anywhere I go. That’s my golden attitude, I do what I like and not what is dictated.

Looking forward to sunnier dry days and I strongly hope all these months of rain have not been a weather manipulation by the hands of some psychopath with extravagant ideas on how the world should be….. these days everything is possible. Ciao.

Valentina

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Bees, Birds and Bunnies On Plates

10 Mar 2023 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ChampagneCoupeGlass, #CreativeDinnerTable, #DiningInStyle, #MissMatchedDinnerPlates, #NatureDesignedDinnerPlates, #OldFashionDinnerPlates

Are you tired of these traditional patterns? Maybe you have inherited these plates from your grandmother and have lived in your China cabinet forever? Do you want to get rid of them for something more modern? I would say stop! These old fashion plates are coming back in vogue and are quite expensive.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

One of my friends gave them away to charity shops, then one day while browsing in stores, she saw these plates that resembled much what she had from her mother and kind of regretted to have given them away. She saw the different way the store visual display people composed a table setting and liked how they mixed patterns and colors without matching them to the teeth.

I told my friend that I don’t like to match my table setting, actually I like it quite miss matched and somehow all the items come together nicely and attractive. I could never convince her, she is the matchy-matchy type and gets surprised when she comes for dinner at my home on how things look orderly without any order. It takes a bit of fantasy, that’s all.

I would have used a golden tone flatware to add more luminosity to the table setting, it is the only thing I would have done different. The etched glasses look perfect with these antique and country patterns. The coupe champagne glass reminds me of films in costumes of different eras when champagne was served only in coup glasses. Marie Antoinette dreamt of a type of round glass large enough to contain one of her breasts with the intention of reminding men of it every time they drank champagne, thus she found a master glass blower and had them made in Venice. From that moment on, the coupe glass was mass produced as the champagne glass par excellence until the flute glass replace it.

Bees, birds and bunnies on plates are the new bucolic style for a dinner in the nature. Everything old is always new, think about it before giving items away and how you can revamp them. Ciao.

Valentina

Valentina
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Copyright © 2022 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Illusions On The Walls

03 Mar 2023 9 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #FantasyMurals, #FrenchCountyVillage, #JohnPughMurals, #StanfordShoppingCtr, #StreetMurals

I love walking and unexpectedly finding murals on the walls. They are imaginative, colorful and put a smile on the viewers. This mural is located in Stanford. a fancy shopping center European style, where many stores display expensive merchandise. This long wall has been covered with a view of a French country town, very quaint and peaceful. Have you noticed the cat?
Famous muralist John Pugh painted this scene.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

In the photo below, the balcony rail and the open door are real, everything is a make believe.

The plant on the ground and the hanging pots are real, nothing else is.

In this photo only the tree branch is real.

Murals are nothing new, human beings have had the need to describe their environment since the beginning of time, sometimes adding fantasy to their paintings and sometimes seeing the reality as it is. In any case, murals transport me out of reality into a different world for a few minutes.
This is my entry for Dan Antion’s Thursday Door Challenge. Ciao,

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Looking For Fashion Vibes

03 Mar 2023 6 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #CasualFashion, #Fashion, #PastelColors, #SpringFashion, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor, #ValentinaCirasolaFashionDesigner

Roaming around one of the most fashionable zone in my area left me disappointed. After all the heavy rain, I was looking forward to seeing new Spring fashion and vibrant colors to give me fresh vibes, but I returned home empty hands. Shop windows showed no creativity in visual display and didn’t encourage me to go in and browse. The colors of the clothes hanging lifeless on mannequins were so drab, the shapes resembled pajamas or house robes and the style….what can I say….I would bury it at the bottom of the sea.

While I was walking in this fashionable area, I envisioned Via Condotti in Rome, or Via Montenapoleone in Milan. There, the streets of fashion are stylish, colorful and people dress as they are ready for a photo shoot in a fashion magazine. They stroll with poise and coquetry with the intent to be seen and be admired. A long trail of perfume follows them, they wear original jewelry and the well thought out outfits are the elements that makes each one of them unique. Italy is always Italy and will always be the top for fashion, perhaps I expect too much from other countries.

The fact remains that I have to make triple summer salt to find what I like. Boutiques, family-owned stores and various other stores, not just fashion stores are closing steadily since the economic recession in 2008, forcing everyone to buy online items poorly made in China that often don’t fit or are defected and have to be returned. In fact, the streets of every satellite town around the main cities in America are lined with nail salon, hair dressers, restaurants and bistros, nothing else. Perhaps, this is the government design…..

My day of window shopping or window licking as the French say it, was unfruitful. Looking for fashion vibes didn’t happen, I better continue making things the way I like. I returned home without any fashion items, but with a few pictures of the environment, flowers, food, architecture and curiosity. Give me your thoughts, please. Is it important to you get dressed everyday as it is for me or a simple sweatsuit will do? Ciao,

Valentina
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Playful Carnevale

19 Feb 2023 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #CarnevaleMasks, #ChiacchiereVenetianCookies, #CommediaDellArte, #Goldoni, #ItalianCarnevale, #VeniceCarnevale

The Christian calendar marks Carnevale as the period between the Epiphany and the first day of Lent, this being the day when all the fatty food must end until Easter Day. In Austria and Bavaria, Carnevale called Fashing starts the day of the Epiphany. In the history of time, Carnevale has been a magic time of divertissement, debauchery, costume parties, eating, unrestrained sex, and a time during which life challenges were momentarily forgotten. We know how much we need to forget the times of oppression we are living in today!

(click on each photo to view it larger).

During this time, it is a must to wear frivolous masks to disguise one’s identity, as every prank is permitted and accepted, one doesn’t want to be recognized the next day for the illicit deeds done.

Romans celebrated their Gods with Carnevale festivities. The use of masks concealed their licentious behaviors and their social status, allowing old and young, rich and poor, nobles, servants, slaves and prostitutes to mingle and dance together until dawn. They also celebrated Bacchus, the God of wines, with rivers of wines and long hours of dances in the streets of Rome, hence the name Bacchanalia. The gladiators entertained the public and the king of the festivities, elected by the people for only the duration of the feasts, organized public games to which everybody could participate.

(All photos taken by Gioia Co. Italian Products and Imports)

Italy is one of the country in Europe most famous for the celebration of Carnevale and Venice is the fulcrum. Venice is a magical and mysterious town on its own, but at Carnevale the town returns back in time with all the extravagant and colorful costumes people wear and breath-taking masks to cover their faces. Strolling in costumes through the narrow streets of a foggy Venice in February is like walking in the 16th century. Everybody is disguised, people laughing, chatting, a glass of wine here, a dance there and unruly behavior comes out.

Goldoni’s comedies, a famous Venetian theatre writer of the 1700s and the Commedia Dell’Arte, based on improvisation on stage, made possible all the mockery and ridicule of public figures and government officials through masks and costumes. Plays of Commedia dell’Arte are still fascinating and alive in the arts of Italian theatre.

Here in the States, Carnevale is well known in New Orleans, no other state celebrates it, but in my circle of people, there is a large communities of Italian culture lovers who honor Carnevale as one of the many excuses to celebrate life. The other day I said that dressing up is fun, cheerful and erases all the spider webs from the brain. For one or two days we can forget all the troubles.

For the group, I made the friable “chiacchiere” traditional Venetian cookies, it translates in chit-chat as they seem to make The sound of people chit-chatting. The recipe is below.

Chiacchiere Carnevale Cookies

Double all the ingredients by one to make any quantity you want.

1 egg, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon anice, limoncello, orange liqueur, or anything citrus liqueur,
grated lemon skin, 1 pinch of salt, 5.oz. flour + flour to work the dough on the wood board later, 1 tablespoon of baking powder.
Mix everything, make a ball, rest dough 30 min in plastic wrap on the counter.
Roll the dough flat about 1/4”, cut strips in the bias, then form any shapes you like, even a mask shape. I knotted my chiacchiere. Fry in vegetable oil or bake at 375 F. for 12-15 minutes. Add powder sugar as soon as the chiacchiere come out of the fryer or the oven.

Enjoy the video in Venice Carnevale 2023. h ttps://youtu.be/HVhNni3MjjQ

Off I go to another maskerade party. Happy Mardi Gras. Ciao,

Valentina
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Resurfacing In 2023

29 Jan 2023 10 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #2023Numerology, #WhiteSweaters, #WinterWhite, #WinterWhiteColorScheme, #Year2023

It seems already long ago when we rolled into the new year. Usually, in December I leave everything I am doing to stay away from the internet and detox for a month. This time it took me longer as the last December’s energy in the Universe was so bad, I really didn’t want to be part of it. It was the first time in my life I did not celebrated Christmas and New Year, the food was ready and so was my beautifully decorated table, but the seasonal sickness hit me at that time made me not at all interested in the celebrations, although I tried.

Pope Benedict XVI passed away at Christmas Eve, leaving the world with the impostor Cardinal we have right now. One of my dear school friend also passed away on New Year’s Eve. The ugly news kept coming in December, I just couldn’t wait to go into another dimension full of colors and light.

I am just now resurfacing from my hibernation and it’s almost February. As I always say, January is a trial month, it doesn’t really count, at least for me. My new year is now full of colors as always, except for the white I have been wearing almost every day as a purification and cleansing.

My numerology coach says 2023 is the year of the skin, it means we must take care of our skin, choose a type of body detox to implement but also it means to hug people and become in contact with the skin of others. As we know lockdown put a great distance between people to the point that we use a fist or hit elbows as a salutation, hugs and kiss have disappeared from our daily socializing. Let’s return to be human again.

The number 7 is the karma’s number for 2023. This is the year of Neptune, the return of the warrior souls, it will be a year of sacrifice.

That’s the reason I chose to wear the color white for the whole month of January, it’s my way to detox from the accumulation of bold colors energy and outside influences. Colors, food detoxification, home purification and staying away from electromagnetism of electronic devices is my way to obey to certain laws that govern in the Cosmos.

These two pieces are my knitted creations available in my Etsy store. Although white is not my color, I can see the benefit of wearing it with some beige, gold and a bit of orange, all in a small quantity. The focus must be the white covering the body for purification.

This year, if you are a warrior and you want to be on top of what 2023 will do, save your soul by creating anything beautiful, anything that makes you happy, because the moment the opposite forces see your happiness doesn’t depend on what they do, their decline will start. Contrast negative forces by using colors, a lot of them and add love, which is never enough. Create, create, create.

“When there is no color, there is no energy and when there is no energy, there is no life” ~Caravaggio~ I totally agree, Ciao.

Valentina
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Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble

My Thanksgiving Table is Ready

23 Nov 2022 10 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #BaroqueThanksgiving, #HolidayDecorating, #InteriorDesign, #ThanksgivingColors, #ThanksgivingTable, SilverandGoldColors

Visiting stores in the month of November feels a little bit like taking a ride on the carousel. Stores are filled with an exceptional amount of merchandise, all very shiny and glittery. All decorating styles are there for all tastes and pockets, Sottish, English, American Country, Urban, Modern, Abstract, French, Evocative of the past, and so on.
I limit the amount of time I want to spend in stores at this time, otherwise I will be dumbfounded in a few hours. Luckily for me, I shop with my eyes. If I don’t see immediately the item I am looking for, or that special something that catches my eyes, it means it’s not there and leave.
(Click on each picture to view it larger)

This year for Thanksgiving I am leaning towards a bit of Baroque style. As a table runner, I will use an Indian shantung fabric remanence from a jacket I made. It’s multicolors, shining with gold filaments. The tablecloth is a damask from Venice, Italy and the napkins is a fabric printed with paisleys.

I have always been attracted by gold and silver together, like the sun and the moon sometimes shine together in the sky. The energy they bring together is fantastic.

The chargers are not plates but mats heavily beaded and the napkin holders are made by me. My table décor often doesn’t match on purpose as I generally don’t match things in my daily life, except the shoes, I do match those. I love the intricate ideas that come in my mind when I decorate and find many ways to surprise people.