Valentina

M for Mantel | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

01 May 2013 13 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ArchitecturalDetails, #DecoratingTips, #HowToDecorateAMantel, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #SalvageFireplaceMantel, #VictorianFireplaceMantel

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, until Jan. 13, 2014, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind, and heart. I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of the home and sometimes technical information.

Mantel, mantel-shelf or mantelpiece are the names used for a type of construction framing the opening of a fireplace and usually covering part of the chimney breast in a more or less decorative way. It is the focal point of a home and the stage that tells a story.
To display only photographs on a mantel is a bit diminishing for the fireplace itself since it is an opportunity to make a dreamy display vignette of antique objects found in flea markets, or during traveling. It is a place where colors can have a voice when a monochromatic color dominates the room or a way to display arts and crafts that perhaps you create. Then comes Christmas with endless possibilities and decorating a mantel becomes almost obligatory. In any case, a mantel is something to cover, envelope and conceal the black hole of the hearth.

(Clicl on each photo to view it larger).

Italian Carrara Marble

Red Iron Stone-Jerusalem Split Face Stone-Wood Mantle

Italian Carrara Marble and Rosso Verona Marble

Niche over hearth

BHG Outdoor room

Salvage Mantel – BH&G

Travertine Mantel

Travertine stone fireplace and wood mantel

(Photos other than Valentina Interiors & Designs are the property of the BH&G)

Mantels follow the architectural style of the house. I have seen many examples in Gothic, Renaissance, Louis XIV, XV and XVI, Empire, Marie Antoinette, and so many more styles, but I think the most popular and pleasing is the Colonial mantel, both in the old and modern style. The Victorian mantel refers to the style created during the long reign of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, a period stretching from 1837-1901. In Victorian times women sat by the fireplace to read, sipping tea or embroider with women, while men stood by the mantel to talk about important issues with men and various odd objects found their place on the mantel.

Victorian mantels today are standard designs with many modern furniture companies and are popular with builders, as this style is linear, not too ornate, but elegant enough to mix with any mélange of décor. In today’s homes, often a huge black plasma T.V. is propped on top of the mantel, disturbing perhaps a beautiful room setting. Not always I win this battle with the youngest clients who like to stick the black monster plasma T.V. over the mantel. Most people don’t know that when the T.V. is not on, the front black screen is easy concealable with a picture of your liking, remotely controlled to disappear into the T.V. casing made for this purpose. However, I rather see a huge mirror on top of the mantel to reflect the beauty in the room and enjoy the sound of a crackling fire with a book.

If there is no fireplace in the house and you like to create the feeling of it, find an inexpensive mantel at the architectural salvage yard and nail it to the wall, as shown in one of my garden photos. Of course, any salvage piece can have a second life as something else and not what was originally intended for. In the bathroom photo, in fact, a mantel has been turned into an ornate towel holder, just by adding metal hooks.
Mantels over outdoor fireplaces often will be used to rest your guest’s drinking glasses.

Get creative with your own mantel vignette, this is an art form. Anything goes grouped in odd numbers. I am here if you need help, my Skype line is always open. Ciao.
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul.
She is the author of her book on Colors: Red-A Voyage Into Colors available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Going Up | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

22 Apr 2013 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #GardenSolutions, #ItalianColors, #ItalianRoofs, #ItalianStyle, #NeoClassicArchitecture, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #StoneCeilings, Balcony, Faccioni, http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/weekly-photo-challenge-up-2

How can I forget where I grew up and where my roots are so firmly embedded?

“You are not going to find it on the floor!” I heard it often from my father. It was his way to teach me to walk proud with my head high. Walking with my head high I learned to discover beautiful architectural on top of buildings and all the details that are not at eye level for everybody to enjoy.

The streets of Italy are an open art class where walking is a real learning experience. Nude statues coexist well with people dressed in the latest fashion. Once I stayed in a hotel in Venice facing a beautiful nude of a man sculpted in marble. He was so real, I could see every vein going through his muscles and yet he sat on top of a church looking directly into my window, as sinful as he could possibly appear, almost saying:
“I am here, enjoy me!”
Ah, Venice, the only city in the world where pigeons walk, lions fly and sexy men are stones!

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

In Venice, it is common to find, in one street alone, broken pediments and eyebrows windows, neoclassical and Romanic style, Moorish windows and Baroque style, all competing to maintain a place in history. One might wonders who was the lucky patrician family to live there. Today, too often commoners are the lucky ones, people or offices who don’t even have the time to notice the beauty of their bulding.

Balconies decorate young and old buildings, they are almost like urban gardens so much sought after today. In reality, space in Italy is limited, people live in flats, for centuries balconies have been seen as an escape valve from the four walls surrounding the lives of everyone. Behind those plants on the balconies, Italians see, observe and keep the secrets of the neighbor’s life unfolding before our eyes.

If ceilings, which are not made of stones are highly decorated. In modern living, often ceilings are the forgotten walls making the room looked unfinished. In Italy, we like to eat under art, coves and circular shapes, the geometry of roundness gives vibrations of security and harmony.

In the southern parts of Italy, all the constructions are made with terrace roofs to enjoy eating ‘al fresco’ and soaking the Mediterranean sun without being seen, but in the colder north, the characteristic ‘comignoli’ chimneys line the sky. Many wealthy Californians have embellished their Tuscan style homes with copies of our Italian comignoli and ‘faccioni’ cherub’s faces stuck to walls as garden planters. The sophistication and elegance of those stone faces change any non-descriptive house into a classical villa of the past, however the Italians who are lucky to have an outdoor space, most likely will use walls, beams and stone heaves to dry produce for the winter.

My fashion school in Italy is an ancient building born first as a nunnery, then it became the state police headquarter, until in modern days, it became a fashion school. Going up those marble stairs made 400 years ago, warped in the center I felt a great sense of respect towards history. All of us students walked on each side of the stairs to preserve them a little while longer.

I never did find anything on the floor, except a few red cents.

This is in response to WP weekly photo challenge theme UP. http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/weekly-photo-challenge-up-2

Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990. Being Italian born and raised, classicism, stylish and timeless designs have influenced Valentina’s design work. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away your comfort. She loves to restore old homes, historic dwellings and she focuses on remodeling. Find her books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

Flavor Of Colors | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

18 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #EatingHealthy, #HealthyBenefitsOfPeppers, #ItalianRecipes, #PepperCompote, #PreservedFood, #SinsOfAQueen

Kitchens to me are the quintessential expressions of colors because we can paint the walls with colors of the food to feel the vibrations of health and we can eat in the rainbow, as often I define my gamma of food.
Yes, colors have feelings, expressions and flavors. Once I taught kids a class on “Colors The Simple Way” and asked them to paint the flavor of their favorite color. Even though I didn’t require painting food, I wasn’t surprised to see the different interpretations each kid came up, as they all thought of flavors of food from their countries. (…) The flavors of colors might be different to people in different parts of the world, whether they satisfy a physical need or submit to a cultural requirement. (…) as it reads in my book RED-A Voyage Into Colors.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Ever since I moved to California, I have had the opportunity to grow food in my garden. I opted to plant an orchard instead of temperamental plants. In Europe space is limited and I had never grown food in my life. However, good food, grown and prepared the natural way was my family concept of daily nutrition, just as in any Italian family.
The knowledge of natural food in Italian homes exceeds any nutritional book. Junk food, munching on candies and salty processed food just doesn’t exist in our homes and we have no interest in GMO food, so far from our concept!

Everything changed when I moved to California and a great problem faced me. Food corporations want to corrupt our health by selling corrupted food. I managed to stay very healthy all my life and I intend to continue staying that way. I am not going to be subject to the abuse of corporate food. What did I do? I boycotted all the corporate super markets, I shop at local producers, small food stores and the rest I grow it myself. I had to learn quickly how to grow food and how to become a “urban farmer”.
I am not interested in going out to eat either, unless I know where the restaurant food comes from. Tough luck for them, but in my house, food is natural, the taste is excellent, its color is flavorful and my friends forget to live because my food is so good. Often, I wonder if they come for my food or me!!!

Here it is something you can make and keep in the refrigerator. Give yourself the flavor of Vitamin C, any time you eat.

Dry Peppers Compote
From the Internet, I bought Italian grown seeds of:
Italian Roasters
Italian and Greek Peperoncini
Cherry Peppers
Chichen Itza (this specialty pepper takes the name from a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya civilization)

Preparation:
First with needle and cotton thread sew each pepper on the top part until a necklace is formed (see first photo above). Tight the two ends together, hang it in a full sun area to dry for a week, or longer if there is humidity in the air. Bring it in a dry place at night.

After one week, cut open each pepper, discard the seeds, chop in very small pieces, add salt and leave them to dry on a cloth and in the sun again for 2-3 days, until the salt has drawn all the humidity from the peppers. Bring it in at night.

Prepare the condiment:
Chop garlic and Italian parsley both very fine, add capers, and season to taste, no black pepper, some of the peppers might be hot. Mix the condiment with the dry peppers. Fill up a glass jar (no plastic container please) with the compote, cover with extra-virgin olive oil to the top of the jar, close and store it in the refrigerator for a week. Let the flavors marrying before you polished it completely.

How to use the compote:
Put it in sandwiches, eat it as a salsa, spread it over grilled fish or meat, enrich a green salad, or simply eat it with freshly baked crusty bread.

Last year my compote lasted three days, I didn’t even have the chance to take a single picture, but in between all those jars you see in the photo below of my home-grown and home-made food, there is one compote in there too.

Do not hesitate to ask, if you need some information. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as an interior designer since 1990 improving people’s life by changing their spaces. Often people describe her as “the colorist” for a reason. She lives in a colorful world, wrote a book on colors RED-A Voyage Into Colors and loves to color her clients’ environments by creating the unusual. Her deep interest in food led her as an autodidact in the studies of food in history, natural remedies, nutrition and well-being, then finally she wrote two books on Italian regional cuisine. Find Valentina’s three books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Color | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

12 Apr 2013 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #CookingWithColors, #DecoratingTips, #DesigningWithColors, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #UsingFoodColorsForInteriors

Where there is nature there is color and art.
Where there is food there is color and health.
Where there is color there is music and happiness.
A house without colors is a stale home.
A fashion without colors is a boring attitude.

Colors emanate positivism, project a positive image towards others and put others in a good disposition towards us.

One of my clients says I designed an edible house for her. She wants to eat it every time she comes home. Her color scheme came from a food list I was supposed to buy for myself that day.

Spread colors in your home, in your garden, on your dinner table and in your wardrobe. Enjoy each day color by color and if colors intimidate you, ask me, I am here to help. It’s easy when two people row the boat.

Great challenge this week.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/weekly-photo-challenge-color/

Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as an interior designer since 1990 improving people’s life by changing their spaces. Often people describe her as “the colorist” for a reason. She lives in a colorful world, wrote a book on colors ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors and loves to color her clients’ environments by creating the unusual. Her deep interest in food led her as an autodidact in the studies of food in history, natural remedies, nutrition and well-being, then finally she wrote two books on Italian regional cuisine. Find Valentina’s books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Nuts And Bolts | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

07 Apr 2013 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #MetalAccessories, #MetalGardenSculpture, #NutsAndBoltsChessSet, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #StainlessSteelBath, #StainlessSteelWC

I was called to visit a single male’s flat for a design consultation. The place was strangely decorated, but nonetheless intriguing. The first things that struck me were some very creative furniture pieces made of various steel and metals. A marvelous glass top coffee table with the base made from a huge metal wheel of a truck was the living room center piece. As I was getting familiar with the flat’s lay-out, I discovered more abstract and out of the ordinary items: a coat hanger shaped into a metal tree made of nuts and bolts, a bookshelf made of brushed stainless steel with blue glass panels and many smaller objects scattered around.

I was curious about the discovery unfolding before my eyes. I thought the interior was typical of a single man, loaded with grey and black colors, linear shapes and glass mixed with cold material. Later, I learned the man who became my client was in the metals scrap business and used his craft ability to shape unattractive metals into submission. He created something unusual every time, changing things into imaginative objects. You see, things don’t have to stay the way they were born.

As the project in the flat evolved, he asked me to decorate the bedroom into a jungle scene, in fact I surnamed him Tarzan (get it? A single man in jungle style bedroom…..), I was waiting for him to ask for some lianas hanging from the ceiling, instead he required a stainless steel W.C. .

It wasn’t hard to find that “piece of art” , I guess there are enough prisons around, but when it was installed, I wanted to pull my hair out!!! Often I keep my clients happy in their wishes, but when the requests are absurd I end up not taking any photos of the project. Look at some of the findings in my video and think what you can do with your nuts and bolts. It is even possible to create striking custom jewelry.

If you have challenges with any material ask me, l shall be glad to help you. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

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.  She offers design consultations on-line through Skype and the traditional in-house consultations, helping people with their design challenges anywhere in the world. She is the author of three books, all-available on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

C For Corbel | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

02 Apr 2013 8 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ArchitecturalDetails, #CabinetCorbel, #Corbel, #HomeRemodeling, #ItalianArchitecture, #NeoClassicArchitecture, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #RoofCorbel, #TableCorbel

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, until Jan. 13, 2014, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind and heart. I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of home and sometimes technical information.

Korbel with a K is a California winery producing traditional Méthode Champenois sparkling wine in the United States, but the Corbel with a C, of which today I am delighted to speak, is a projecting stone or a piece of timber carved block supporting a beam or a eave. Just as exciting as the bubbly Korbel, the corbel with a C has been a feature in universal Architecture since almost the dawn of time. From ancient Rome to ancient China, corbels supported magnificent balconies, window sills, projecting parapets, or exceptionally elegant entry ways. In the Medieval time corbels appeared as gargoyles and the Paris Notre Dame Cathedral is showing off its beautiful examples to these days.

The word comes from Latin corbellus or corvus (raven) apparently because it resembles the beak of a crow. In Italian is called mensola and in French is called cul-de-lampe, I like this last one. To disguise the load baring function, a corbel must be highly decorative, the eye wants to see something pretty too, not just functionality, that’s the reason of the existence of so many variety of styles and sizes through history from Corinthian design to animal head, cherub’s face to a king’s face and the very popular woman’s face or pineapple, symbol of prosperity.

Faridabab-http://www.grcscreen.com/grc-brackets-3216671.html

http://www.homedit.com/20-best-diy-kitchen-upgrades/corbel-kitchen/

http://www.pacificstone.net/product-category/corbels

Ravenna scrolled side table-http://www.ebay.com/itm/140951604905?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1561.l2649#ht_1756wt_949

Hand-Carved Mahogany Corbel-NapaStyle

http://indulgy.com/source/restorationhardware.com/from/197824090063

Materials and functions have varied from medieval castles to modern-day homes. Wood, gesso, plaster, resin or even steel have been carved, bent, twisted or shaped into submission according to the wishes of the ruler of the moment.

Today, they have become more simple and straightforward with the purpose of decorating modern houses already quite simple in their shapes, except a few décor ideas that want to give the appearance of being important.

I encourage you to be different and to try something new. My black corbel sometimes holds a candle, or a picture and some other time my friends’ glass of wine. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

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.  She offers design consultations on-line through Skype and the traditional in-home visits, helping people with their design challenges anywhere in the world.

As an author of three books, she is now a public speaker and teaches style, colors and image. Find her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Easter Eggs With A Surprise | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

29 Mar 2013 8 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #DecoratingWithColors, #EasterColoredEggs, #EasterColoredEggsHistory, #EasterDecorations, #FabergéEggs, #ItalianChocolateEggs, #RedVoyageIntoColors

Uova di Pasqua

It wasn’t too long ago when my father brought home every year a huge, decadent dark chocolate Easter egg for my brothers and me, at least it seems not that long. Sometimes he won the egg with a raffle at his office, but often he bought it at the pastry shop. Italian pastry shops, café and delicatessen stores beautifully display Easter eggs wrapped in cheerfully colored cellophane and contrasting colored aluminum foil. Chocolatiers free their imagination when making Easter eggs in all shapes and sizes, some are even human size and all conceal a surprise. The expensive tall and large chocolate eggs conceal something valuable even gold or silver items from jewelry to knickknacks. The gift inside each chocolate egg is a reminder that the egg is a symbol of rebirth, fertility, the renewing of nature in the spring coming out from under the snow or cold weather and in the Christian world it also symbolizes the resurrection of Christ.

The modern custom of decorating Easter eggs has roots in ancient Egypt, Greece, Persia and even China. Vernal Equinox or else called Spring Equinox marks the Sun crossing directly over the Earth’s equator in the Northern Hemisphere. For thousands of years this event marked the beginning of a new year, thus it was celebrated with gifts of colored eggs and with a variety of rituals to welcome spring.

(Photo found on: https://doitandhow.com/2012/03/21/rubberband-dyed-eggs)

Colors have a meaning in every culture and every custom, even in decorated Easter eggs, their brilliant mixed colors in general symbolize Spring and the light of Sun, but some specific colors have a deeper meaning or carry a particular message.
Red symbolizes Christ’s blood. The legend says that Mary Magdalene made a joyful announcement to the apostles when she discovered that Christ’s tomb was empty. Incredulous Peter challenged her by saying that he would believe the news if the eggs she carried in the basket would turn red colors. So it happened.
Red eggs are very popular in Greece, while green eggs are popular in Germany and Austria. In the Eastern Europe people prefer eggs decorated with geometric designs in blue and white or red and white; in Armenia often eggs are decorated with religious effigies of Madonna and Christ and in America I see every colors, every designs and everything in between.

I do not remember not having placed at least one Fabergé egg in each of my client’s house. They are highly valuable and lend themselves well to any décor, just as the first platinum Fabergé egg decorated Tzarina Maria’s quarters at her palace, an exquisite gift Tzar Alexander commissioned just for her. Her platinum egg had a surprise in it too. Inside the platinum egg there was a golden egg, which in turn inside contained a chick and a miniature of her imperial crown.

Last year I was in Germany around this time and saw this amazing tree Mr. Volker arranges in his front yard every year with over 10,000 papier mâché eggs, while in Berlin giant Easter eggs were on display in the street. One really feels the arrival of spring and the rebirth of the spirit!

Ancient Romans said: “omne vivum ex ovo” – all the living beings originated from the egg, but does anyone know the relation between Easter and bunnies? Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior since 1990, specializing in kitchen, bath, wine cellar, and outdoor kitchen designs. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. She also has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. Author of three published books, the latest RED – A Voyage Into Colors is on the subject of colors.
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Local Flavors | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

25 Mar 2013 12 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ItalianArchitecture, #ItalianCulture, #ItalianLifeStyle, #PugliaTravel, #RedVoyageIntoColors, ItalyTravel

The idea of Local Flavors by http://biancadventures.wordpress.com gives me an opportunity to show some of the local flavors my group of curious travelers will experience as soon as they land in Italy this coming April 15 with me. That’s right, I am taking a group to Puglia, South East of Italy on the Adriatic Sea. In 2012 American soap opera running on T.V. since 25 years ago “The Bold And The Beautiful” filmed eight episodes of the main protagonist’s wedding between the towns of Alberobello, Polignano a Mare and Fasano, a very quaint area of the region.
I didn’t even know the existence of this soap opera until I spotted this video, now I just hope Hollywood’s influence on the region doesn’t help raising prices for the locals.

Don Antonio the fruit vendor, truly an Italian charmer, always offers the typical afternoon glass of bubbles (Italian Prosecco) with familiar shoppers that come in after 6:00 pm. He knows how to keep the shoppers faithful to his merchandise and how to keep them in the shop. It is a ritual while shopping there for produce to get a glass of Prosecco and a taste of something delicious his wife prepares daily with his fruit and vegetables. They are two delightful people who can steal your time blindly if you don’t watch the clock. Often, Italian shops are daily meeting points of people living in the neighborhood. They buy whatever product the store sells while they indulge in gossips, news, business or even planning future activities between each other.

My local flavors include the show all the fishermen put out on the seafood bank along the promenade in Bari, the main city of Puglia. My group will enjoy watching them opening live shell-fish, will get a real amusement hearing them making loud and colorful comments on who has the best fish of the Adriatic Sea and will feel enticed to try some of those delicious morsel of row fish, wine and bread. Puglia is the only region in Italy where people are accustomed to eat row fish, even if the price is as high as 50-60-70 Euro per Kilo.

As a local born in those parts, my work as a tour guide into art, architecture, history and local flavors will be easy. I am planning to show the area on foot and by a private bus. Walking around the streets is the best way to learn the customs of a country. My group will admire the beautiful Mediterranean architecture and learn some insight of the local history. They will learn that balconies are not just an appendix of their flat, but also places for eating outdoor, gardening and exchanging a conversation with the next neighbor. They will admire fashionable people, pick up some folkloric slang or……a lover. Well….., Italy is the country that will enrich you in every sense.

To register for my trip click here, I still have room for April 15, 2013 : https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-2
Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola will host two trips a year to Italy with the intention of showing Italy with the eyes of a designer born in those parts and let people experience the ”wheel of emotions” don’t even know exist. She will take her groups to the non-commercial Italy, areas not beaten down by massive tourism. Valentina will guide the tours through art, architecture, food, shopping and special adventures organized for people who want to live it up!

Check out her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Dressing Up For Traveling | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

23 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #RedVoyageIntoColors, #SuccessfullyPackingForTravel, #TravellingTips, #TravelPacking, ItalyTravel

(Photo Flickr: Vintage Luggage Parmiters Antiques Southsea)

You are ready to go overseas, perhaps to a country you have never visited before, but hopefully, you have read about it to get acquainted with the customs and habits of its people. Not knowing what to expect the first time outside our familiar environment, my feeling tells me to “blend in” as much as possible. Obviously, if I plan a trip to Japan I am not going to wear a kimono, or for a trip to India a colorful sari will not look good on me, but I will wear comfortable clothes that I can coordinate or layer according to any occasions and weather.

Shoes are a dead give away of the traveler’s origin. I purposely leave out the unattractive “tank shoes” those tennis/running shoes every tourist wear. However, traveling with new shoes is painful, leave them home until they are well-worn. Pack instead comfortable leather shoes, polished well, flat, loafer or low heel (for women), to let the feet breathe and avoid headaches. If feet hurt, your head hurts too.

ValigiaCappello

About the unexpected – One never knows what will happen when traveling. What if you lose your luggage, or the traveler sitting next to you in the plane spills food on you, can you get dressed when you arrive at the destination?
In your carry-on pack, it is necessary to add a couple of changes of clothes including intimate apparel and toiletries until your luggage is found. In your carry-on put a list of everything you have in the checked-in luggage. It will be easier to claim the content if the luggage is totally lost and easier to buy some of the items wherever you will be.
Carry more than one credit card, just for your own protection and your bank’s phone numbers.
Always carry a photocopy of your ID or passport.
Carry phone numbers and locations of your country’s Embassy or Consulate.
Fly prepared!

Folding versus rolling – Roll tight and neat every piece of clothes you intend to take, making sure not to create creases and align side-by-side with each other until the luggage is filled. This is a proven method to get more pieces in and never have wrinkled clothes at the arrival point. Fashion doesn’t have to be painful. Thanks to today’s designers choice of fabrics and style, we can achieve a star look regardless of the class of travel.

Don’t stand out – Watching films is like watching the world as a spectator through a window, we can observe poor travel customs and learn from them. In the movie-comedy Monte Carlo, a traveling friend with Selena Gomez (main protagonist) impersonating rich and famous Cornelia, takes her stiletto shoes off in the street while visiting Paris by bus ending up walking bare feet.

That is not a proper behavior, stiletto shoes are good for sitting down events and not for traveling, but also in many countries is not acceptable to be bare feet in the street, if you are a woman.
Wearing a lot of gold jewelry can make you a target for theft and personal attacks. How would the viewer know that your gold jewelry is real or custom? Don’t offer the opportunity.

Smart dressing – Unless you are going to hiking, fishing, biking, or some sort of sports trip where only clothes dedicated to that sport are needed, traveling in cities requires a different kind of planning. It’s easier not to be spotted as a tourist when traveling abroad wearing smart clothes. It is actually a better way to receive a higher quality service or upgrades in planes and hotels.

My travel to Puglia, Italy with a group is coming up April 15, 2013 – https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-2/ (click here to get info on the trip). I will gather all the local participants in a restaurant to advice them on does and don’ts of our trip together and I will do the same with a Skype call with the distant participants. Traveling prepared avoids a lot of headaches. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina will host two trips a year to Italy with the intention of showing Italy with the eyes of a designer born in those parts and let people experience the ”wheel of emotions” don’t even know to exist. She will take her groups to the non-commercial Italy, areas not beaten down by massive tourism. Valentina will guide the tours through art, architecture, food, shopping and special adventures organized for people who want to live it up! Check out her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Lunchtime | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

16 Mar 2013 17 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #FriedOlives, #ItalianFood, #ItalianKitchen, #SinsOfAQueen, #TheArtOfDining, Lunchtime

Today I am following the photo challenge: Lunchtime by Michelle.

Colors in the kitchen do not stop at walls, counters and cabinets. Designing and preparing meals with a good company is a creative process to stimulate feelings. Colors contain the ingredients, which give out taste. Choosing and combining colors in food is as important as selecting ingredients to make delicious morsels. We can characterize food in a color wheel and make that the palette for our daily nutrition. Nature has created the beautiful seven colors rainbow as an optical and meteorological phenomenon, to which we refer when we talk about color selection. We can refer to the same rainbow colors when we select food, except that eating food in colors is not an optical illusion, is a real solution to a healthy life. To this, add healthy laughs, family and real friends and voila’ you have created the solution of a good life.

Crostata Verdure

Gateau patate al verde

Zucchini Fritters

Cauliflower muffins

Fried olives and barley

I am featuring here five colorful dishes from my books on Italian regional cuisine Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

Roasted Vegetables Tarte
Potatoes Gâteau Al Verde
Zucchini Fritters
Cauliflower Muffins (savory)
Fried Olive with Barley

I want to point out one dish in particular: Fried Olive with Barley. The recipe doesn’t even call for barley, I added it because the black Calphalon background of the skillet would have not shown the black olives, but after I tasted it, I say it’s the perfect healthy lunch.

Preparation:
Boil the barley in salted water for 25 minutes. Barley takes longer than pasta to cook and it tastes always “al dente”. Set aside when done.
In a skillet with one tablespoon of olive oil, sauté black olives until they look crinkled. Add some chili peppers if you like it hot and 1 or 2 chopped tomatoes.
Continue to sauté briefly, add cooked barley, sprinkle chopped Italian parsley and a swirl of olive oil.

This specialty is typical of Puglia, a region in the South Italy, filling and healthy, so simple it is almost a non-recipe. I hope you will try it. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Robert Taitano, a friend and business associate of http://www.wine-fi.com says: “Valentina – an International Professional Interior Designer is now giving you an opportunity to redesign your palate”. Check out her books on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w