Valentina

Golden Secret Of Exotic Pineapple | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

04 Dec 2012 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #GrilledPineapple, #HolidayDecorating, #HolidayFood, #PineappleCheese, #PineappleLantern, #PineapplePorperties, #SinsOfAQueen

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/canned-pineapple-slices_245799055.html

Grocery stores fill up on pineapples, this sweet fruit, mostly in December, as it is very much associated with Christmas holiday’s food, but knowing the good properties of pineapple we should be eating it all year around.
Pineapple is a good aid for digestion. Bromelain is a particular substance or an enzyme that breaks down proteins reducing them to amino acids and thus promoting their elimination. Bromelain is also used as a meat tenderizer.
Where in the pineapple is bromelain, this good property, located? Right in the center of fruit, just that part we always discard.

Numerous are the beneficial influences of a pineapple. The fruit purifies and detoxifies, thus functions as a diuretic. It prevents cellulite and for those who need to release a few pounds, would not hurt to eat pineapples only a couple of days a week, skipping other food. This practice prevents the accumulation of fat, deflates the stomach and allows losing pounds quickly without damaging the health. Do not overdo, one or twice a week is more than sufficient.

The Guarani Indio, ethnic indigenous of the Americas from Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and the south-central part of Brazil, called pineapple “Ananas” in their language. In my Italian language and most European languages it is called the same. I am sure when Christopher Columbus came to the new world, found the Ananas an irresistible fruit to leave behind, thus filled up his ships and took it back to Renaissance Europe, devoid of any kind of sweets, including fruit.

As a symbol of prosperity, success in work/business and as the family social status it is often found in kitchen decorations, plates and carvings; as a symbol of hospitality is often found as a carving on entry doors and bedrooms’ bedposts or headboard. In Europe, at the end of a dinner, fresh pineapple is served as a dessert, but what else can we do with this exotic fruit?

In my book: Sins Of A Queen, http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9 , I have included one recipe of grilled chicken and grilled pineapple triangles served together in half pineapple shell, where the one half shell per person is the plate. Fun and delicious!

On my Pinterest board I find inspirations from other pinners.
Walnuts arranged to look like pineapple covering a creamy spreadable cheese looks really good.
I served mine with a small variation:
on a large marble tile, I placed a mountain of cream cheese (any of your liking) covered with toasted almonds, surrounded with steamed and marinated broccoli in a simple oil and lemon citronette, accompanied with warm crostini.
MontagnaFormaggio-2

I found another solution: a fun way to decorate the center table with a pineapple turned into a lantern. Dry the interior of the shell completed before adding a candle, just for your own safety.

Fruit is really good grilled, poached, fresh, baked, or drunken in any type of alcohol. Get into the habit of serving it as dessert or appetizer. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens, cooking and extensive knowledge of food. 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 three books on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

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

December – Grace and Thankfulness |Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

03 Dec 2012 22 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #AwardOfTheYear2012, #BlogAward, #ChristmasCelebration, #GratitudeDay, #SelfImprovement

Ah, December is here with the rain to clean up the air, the spiders off the plants and the nuisance illnesses of the winter. Outside is grey and cold, inside my house is warm, the fireplace has been on since the start of the morning making my house nice and cozy all day. I am so thankful to have found an older home with charm and a fireplace.

This morning I was thinking of the special food to cook today. After all it is Sunday, a special day for resting and enjoying food with those who like to eat. My friends forget to leave when invited to my home. At times I wonder if they come for me or for my food. I am thankful for my friends and for having food to offer.

I am a bit behind reading blogs of my followers; while food was cooking I read many to ketch up. Everyone is so talented and write attractive stories or subjects, which makes it really hard to choose. “Everyone is a star and needs to shine”. ~ Marilyn Monroe. I am so thankful for my friend bloggers following me.

December is the month to celebrate a new light coming to the world, a new winter solstice, religious events and it is the month for giving. Cities looks so beautiful with the building tops crowned with lights, colorful displays make designed stores very inviting and front yards of every home are decorated to perfection. I am grateful and thankful to have eyes to see the colors that illuminate my world.

I am very honored, thankful and grateful to two people who nominated me with the Blog Of The Year 2012 Award:

Stefan of http://hillsofherchastity.wordpress.com who writes beautiful poems and
Jamie of http://grandmothermusings.com who writes slices of life with humor and knowledge.

* * *The ‘rules’ for this award are simple:

1. Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award

2. Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.

3. Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award

4. Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them

5. You can now also join our Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience

6. As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

Unlike other awards, which you can only add to your blog once, this award is different!
When you begin you will receive the ‘1 star’ award – and every time you are given the award by another blog – you can add another star!
There are a total of 6 stars to collect. Which means that you can check out your favorite blogs – and even if someone else has already given them the award – you can still bestow it on them again and help them to reach the maximum 6 stars!

This award goes to the following bloggers:
Amy – experience the world as book – http://shareandconnect.wordpress.com

Sindy – spiritual growth and healing – http://bluebutterfliesandme.wordpress.com

TBM – 50 years project of reading and traveling – http://50yearproject.wordpress.com

Mary – a renaissance woman – http://leblogdemarie.com

Marianne – a British woman living in Andalusia – http://eastofmalaga.net

Judy – with some sweets of her own – http://petit4chocolatier.wordpress.com

Marianne – inspires people to live happier – http://marianne365days.wordpress.com

Create a great week and thank you all. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an interior designer and a former fashion designer in business since 1990. She helps people realizing their dream spaces in homes, offices, interiors, exteriors, restaurants and more. She needs your story to design your dream.

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

The Red On The Cheeks Comes From The Mouth | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

29 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #CookingInItaly, #CulinaryTrips, #ItalianCulture, #ItalianFood, #ItalianTableCustom

One of my friends has just returned from a month of vacation in Italy. She spent two weeks of her vacation in a kitchen of an agritourism to get some hands-on training on typical Italian cuisine. She is a personal chef and owns a catering company. Our catching up conversation was mostly centered on Italian food and table customs. She could not help but noticing the difference and making a comparison between her American eating customs and the Italian eating style. She noticed how properly people conducted themselves while sitting at the table and how she never spotted an Italian local person eating in the street while walking, an activity only foreigners and tourists engaged in.

At the restaurants and in the place where she was cooking for a few days, she went along with the flow of dinner and how her hosting friends conceived it. They ordered many dishes from antipasto to pasta, meats, and vegetables to fruit, cheeses and dessert. The dishes arrived at the table not in serving platters for sharing, as often is done in the States, but in single plates, each person got his/her portion of everything ordered.

One time they ordered grilled fish and she did not expect to see the deboning process at the table, right before her eyes. That is a common practice in any respectable Italian restaurant.

Photo waiter deboning fish at the table from TripAdvisor

There was a considerable time space between each specialty, she told me. At first she was puzzled to why it took so long to finish the entire dinner and even longer to get the check, people lingered at the table, talking with espresso coffee and digestive drinks, but by observing how Italians carried on conversation and relaxed with wines and company, she understood right away that she was in the land of “Dolce Vita” where eating is an art and nothing else is important while sitting at a dining table.

At some tables where business people gathered for lunch, talking about business, my friend observed, did not take place until after all the ordering of food and wines was completed and after people took interest in each other’s life, news of their families and the general happenings. Then during the second half of the dinner, business talk started.

She was all so surprised to see the freshness of food and its vibrant colors in both raw and cooked state. Fish was colorful and smelled like the sea, she said. Of course, she knows that in America supermarkets do not sell the entire fish stock in one day, thus the next day the store will re-propose old fish to the customers marinated in herbs or in some kind of dry rub. In Italy, nobody would buy the re-adaptation of fish. If I want fish, I go directly to the fishmongers. I am fortunate to live in a coastal place, where it is possible to go directly to the source.

My friend asked me why in Italy people don’t suffer gluten problems as people in the States do. You would think that with the large amount of pasta, rice, pizza and bread consumed in Italy, everyone would have gluten intolerance. Well, the answer is simple and crude: Italian food manufacturers do not stuff food with hormones, vitamins, sugar, sodium, MSG and other absurd chemicals. Read the labels of any American food and you will see that the majority of ingredients are unpronounceable chemicals and of real food, there is only a faint percentage. In Italy egg yolks are orange, chickens are yellow and don’t eat corn; pigs are not fed with hormones but acorns, which makes our famous prosciutto (ham) so perfectly balanced; gelato is made with real milk and fruit; bread only contains flour, water, yeast, and olive oil; vegetables are not sprayed with chemicals and fruit arrive at the supermarket with the dirt they grew in, not polished with wax. To this add the Italian lifestyle. Italian people walk to stores, to work, to schools and most of the places they must reach every day. In fact, my friend the chef, after all the commercial cooking she did for her own experience and the eating she did for her own enjoyment with daily wine tasting, lost 14 lb in one month and she could not explain how it happened.

As I say during my books’ presentations: “The red on the cheeks comes from the mouth”. Eating real food daily will help release extra pounds and stabilize the weight. Most importantly, real food will introduce positive energy in the stomach, which in turn will exude from your skin pores and that is good enough to keep away for your system any food intolerance ever invented by the human mind. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

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 and a book on colors, all available here in this site on the Books page and on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Christmas In Colors | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

29 Nov 2012 18 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ChristmasColorScheme, #ChristmasDecorations, #ChristmasTableSetting, #DecoratingWithChristmasColors, #RedVoyageIntoColors

I am into colors and lot of it. I live colorful experiences because I live a colorful life. I can’t imagine my home, my wardrobe, or my garden without colors. In my new book ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors I wrote:

“I am thankful for God who gave me eyes to see glorious colors!”
Have you thought of your Christmas colors this year? The classic timeless red, green and gold will always be available for those who want to stay in the tradition. Personally, I like to change Christmas colors every year and when the holidays are over, I organize a selling party to get rid of all the decorations and to have an excuse for the first party in early January before the real heavy work starts.

This year I have compiled six color schemes to show how easy it is to elaborate a color in many different directions and solutions. Think about how many more will be possible. You can spread one color with all its complements, opposite and undertone hues from the Christmas tree to the table setting and all the surrounding areas. The important thing is to stay within the boundary of one color and not exceeding or spilling into cheap combinations. Cheap is cheap, but simple is elegant.

Found on Etsy

Venetians Christmas ©Valentina Cirasola

Tan-Re-Brown ©Valentina Cirasola

Blue-Green-Silver ©Valentina Cirasola

Love to see your combinations. Let’s share. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been a lifetime designer in fashion and interiors. Her extensive knowledge of colors and materials led her in both directions successfully. “Vogue Italy” magazine featured Valentina as the guru of staging a home 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.

Check out her latest books ©Red-A Voyage Into Colors on the subject of colors, available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Come To Puglia | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

19 Nov 2012 6 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #CulinaryTrip, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ItalianRegionOfPuglia, #PugliaTravel, #PugliaTrips, #SinsOfAQueen, #SouthernItalianFood, ItalyTravel

Through the years, many of you have expressed to desire to visit Puglia with me, a local who was born and raised in those parts. After putting my energy into the writing and publishing of three books, the time has finally come.

I have listened to your wishes and self-proclaimed a cultural promoter of the region of Puglia. Bari is the airport you will land in Puglia.
Puglia is a region on the East side of Italy on the Adriatic Sea, made of warm people, tasty food and free thinkers. You will see palm trees and a flat land with white terrace roofs. You might have the impression to have taken the wrong plane to Africa, but not at all, you will be in Puglia where homes are built on the foamy coastline of the blue-green Adriatic Sea and where the waves make embroideries with the sky, the air is salty, the summer heat is sultry and humid, women exude sexuality from every pores and well…the rest of the people are as laid back as in a tropical island.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

In Bari airport, the largest city in the South, my team and myself will greet you with smiles. Each trip has been built around the title of each book I have written. My second book – “Sins Of A Queen” – just to talk about one of the trips’ theme, gave me the inspiration to take my guests into a lavish living while they are in Italy and experience incredible treatments with the most natural products from this land of olives, fruits and grains.
I will call this trip: “Let’s Travel Into The Sinful Luxury Of A Queen”.

Rudolph Valentino is on our route to the stalagmites and stalactites caves, thus we will stop in Castellaneta to visit the museum dedicated to the actor. Did you know Valentino was born in Hollywood as an actor, but his native town was Castellaneta, in Puglia? His town was an agricultural and unknown town even to the rest of Italy. He died August 23, 1926 and only a few years ago, his town counsels finally dedicated him a statue and a museum.
The Castle in Gioia del Colle will disclose us the intricate romance between Bianca Lancia and Emperor Frederick II, which as most passionate stories, ended up in a tragedy.
In between visits to the most exquisite Baroque architecture, Valentino’s museum and other cultural events, I have planned some fun shopping in local markets for the latest fashion clothes/accessories, where my guests can buy affordable priced items. We will also pay visits to local artists’ shops, where they produce one-of-a-kind high-class handbags, gold jewelry, custom jewelry, or stunning glass lighting, furniture and home accessories. My function as a designer is also to show all the beauty Italian artists are still creating for the world.

(Photo above: Gorgo di Fuoco Restaurant)

Food and wine will also play a large role. Going to Puglia and not enjoying the earthy food, as locals do, would be a crime. It will not be a common restaurant eating, I have used my fantasy. We will have one dinner inside of dismissed wood barrels of wine, where you can still smell the must of wine impregnated in the wood. On another day, an opera singer will delight our dinner. We might have a rustic picnic in the country with a donkey ride, or we might cook with a local chef in the kitchen of our farmhouse where we will stay. How about a massage with the green-gold of the land: olive oil?

My trips’ aim is to inform and entertain and certainly allow the guests to relax while in Italy with unforgettable experiences. My trip will not be a trip in a bus loaded with tourists, packing and unpacking every day and make stops to bathrooms. My goal along with my Italian team’s goal is to take care of our guests, giving them personal attention, while we are still together in a group setting. My intention is to show Italy with the eyes of a designer born in those parts and not the commercial Italy of the mass tourism. I want to show you the heart of Italian life, the immediacy of every day living with a lot of fantasy.

You will get to know Puglia through art, architecture, food, shopping and special adventures organized for people who want to live it up!
This is not a tour de force!
My goal is to allow our guests to experience a wheel of emotions they don’t even know exist. My team in Puglia and I want them to never forget the warmth and hospitality of Puglia people and create a relationship with our travelers for the long haul.

Trip date: April 15-24, 2013 – 10 days, 9 nights.
Registration closing date: March 15, 2013.

This price will include:
a. Two meals a day with water, juices and a couple of wine glass a person. Extra food or drinks, or extra drinks for the road, are not on the house.
b. Lodge, private transportation, transfer from and to Bari airport.
c. Private bus for our excursions.
d. Visits to museums or exhibitions.
e. Gratuities
f. Cooking classes and chef fees (if applicable).
g. Vintage cars, or Opera singer.

Please contact me directly for prices: designsvalentina@yahoo.com

Plane tickets and insurance are not included.
Again, this is a trip to realize how short life is and to learn how to enjoy it. This experience will change you. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

As a writer and cultural promoter of Puglia, my native land, it is my intention to let readers feel and experience a new ”wheel of emotions”. I want to encourage them to visit areas of Italy not beaten by massive tourism. Through stories of art, architecture, fashion, food-wines, shopping, I want them to create their special adventures and live it up in Puglia!
Check out my books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

A Trip Not To Forget | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

16 Nov 2012 8 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ItalianRegionOfPuglia, #ItalianSouthernCooking, #PugliaExperience, #PugliaTravel, #PugliaTrips, #VisitPuglia, ItalyTravel

Here they come, they are landing in a country of warm people, tasty food and free thinkers. The palm trees are showing their majestic leave tops to the people in the plane and the flat land with white terrace roofs might give the impression that my travelers have taken the wrong plane to Africa, but not at all.

The participants to my trips are approaching the foamy coastline of the blue-green Adriatic Sea, where the waves make embroideries with the sky, the air is salty, where the summer heat is sultry and humid, women exude sexuality from every pores and well…the rest of the people are as laid back as in a tropical island.

They have landed in Puglia, a southern region in the East Coast of Italy and this is the view and the perception the participants to my trips will receive when they will land in Bari airport, the largest city in the South. My team and myself will greet them with smiles. You see, each trip will have a theme and will be based on each book I have written.

My second book: “Sins Of A Queen” – just to talk about one of the trip’s themes, gave me the inspiration to take my guests into a lavish living while they are in Italy and experience incredible treatments with the most natural products from this land of olives, fruits and grains.
This trip will be called: Let’s Travel Into The Sinful Luxury Of A Queen. Watch the video of the area we will visit.

The Lungomare of Bari, a romantic promenade on the Adriatic Sea will be waiting for us to drive along in vintage cars, dressed in vintage clothes, while soaking the fresh sea salt air, enjoying the view and a “gelato affogato” (literally ice cream drowned in a secret spirit). The promenade stretches to Monopoli and Polignano, two quaint towns perched on the cliffs of the Adriatic Sea. We might reach them in vintage cars, or we might take a boat ride coast-to-coast ending for dinner in a fabulous restaurant built-in the cave on the cliff. It will be magical! Rudolph Valentino is on our route to the stalagmites and stalactites caves, thus we will stop in Castellaneta to visit the museum dedicated to the actor. Did you know Valentino was born in Hollywood as an actor, but his native town was Castellaneta, in Puglia? It was an agricultural and unknown town even to the rest of Italy. He died August 23, 1926 and only a few years ago, his town councils finally dedicated him a statue and a museum.

The Castle in Gioia del Colle will disclose us the intricate romance between Bianca Lancia and Emperor Frederick II, which as most passionate stories, ended up in a tragedy.

In between visits to the most exquisite Baroque architecture, Valentino’s museum and other cultural events, I have planned some fun shopping in local markets for the latest fashion clothes/accessories, where my guests can buy affordably priced items. We will also pay visits to local artists’ shops, where they produce one-of-a-kind high-class handbags, gold jewelry, custom jewelry, or stunning glass lighting, furniture and home accessories. My function as a designer is also to show all the beauty Italian artists are still creating for the world.

Food and wine will also play a large role. Going to Puglia and not enjoying the earthy food, as locals do, would be a crime. It will not be a common restaurant eating, I have used my fantasy. We will have one dinner inside of dismissed wood barrels of wine, where you can still smell the must of wine impregnated in the wood; on another day, an opera singer will delight our dinner in a different place; we might have a rustic picnic in the country with a donkey ride, or we might cook with a local chef in the kitchen of our farmhouse where we will stay.

How about a massage with the green-gold of the land: olive oil?

My three trips’ aim is to inform and entertain and certainly allow the guests to relax while in Italy with unforgettable experiences. My trips will not be trips in a bus loaded with tourists, packing and unpacking every day and make stops to bathrooms. My goal along with my Italian team’s goal is to take care of our guests, giving them personal attention, while we are still together in a group setting. I want to show a side of Italy not known to tourists, show the heart of Italian life, the immediacy of every day living with a lot of fantasy. The itinerary is outlined, the rooms, of course, will be reserved in advance, but the schedule will be free-flowing, not a severe schedule to respect with a timetable. This is not a tour de force. Our goal is to allow our guests to experience a wheel of emotions they don’t even know exist. We want them to never forget the warmth and hospitality of Puglia people and create a relationship with our travelers for the long haul.

Let’s Travel Into The Sinful Luxury Of A Queen – April 15-25, 2013 duration 10 days, 9 nights and everything included. Plane tickets and insurance are not included.
For further information, please contact me by email: valentinadesigns@comcast.net
I will keep sending various information from now to March 2013 until closing date. Stay tuned.

Just remember, this is not a tour de force, but a trip to realize how short life is and to learn how to enjoy it. This experience will change you! Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

Sunday Hidden Treasures | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

11 Nov 2012 18 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #AquariumDesign, #EcoFriendlyDesigns, #GreenDesigns, #GreenRoof, #SanFranciscoMuseumOfScience, Microclimate

Last week, one of my follower blogger challenged his audience to find some hidden photographs in our computers.
This is my contribution to photographer Jeff Sinon Sunday’s Hidden Treasure:
http://jeffsinonphotography.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/sundays-hidden-treasure/

I found some pleasant memories in my computer photo archive of my visit to the Science Museum in San Francisco when it was just opened a couple of years ago. Renzo Piano, a modern genius Italian architect designed the building and of course I am very fond of his work.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

(All photos were taken inside the Museum of Science in San Francisco, CA by ©Valentina Cirasola and are her property)

The building is rooted in a mixture of Classical Greek and Modernism architecture.
A glass lobby allows the visitors to look steadily with curiosity or wander through the building and even see the park on the other side in the distance.

The building with the columns framing a central entry presents a classical symmetry echoing the Greek Parthenon, but the modern construction material used such as the green roof, glass walls and windows that let air escape and create a gentle breeze, are very much inline with the modernism movement of Mies van der Rohe of the early 20^th century.

I saw the entire building as a sort of giant specimen case, fauna and flora sharing large exhibition spaces with their own microclimates. Particularly interesting was the vertical garden, which gave me many ideas for my future work designing landscaping for my client.

In the African Hall, I leaned how penguins get fed, a very amusing spectacle and I photographed these beautiful zebras. Too bad they ended up this way, but if they had not been there, I would have never known what a zebra looks like in life.

In one area of the Museum a giant overhead aquarium shaped in an archway surprised the visitors. All kind of fish swim together, I wonder if they know they are on display with no way out. The cat-fish I photographed looks very much made of metal to me. The peaceful lizard, frog and butterfly were kept in a tropical temperature area and boy it was hot!!!

Green roofs serve several purposes for a building, such as absorbing rainwater, providing insulation, creating a habitat for wildlife, helping to lower urban air temperatures and mitigate the heat as in an island effect. That was the last stop of my visit of the Science Museum, it was very windy up there, but then San Francisco would not be San Francisco if it didn’t have the wind and the fog.

Among a few examples of Renzo Piano’s major work, please admire:
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (1971–77)
Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, United States (1982–87)
Stadio San Nicola, Bari, Italy (1988–89)
International Terminal, Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan (1991–94)
NEMO science museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (1997)
Beyeler Foundation Museum, Basel, Switzerland (1991–97)
Ferrari wind tunnel, Maranello, Italy (1996–98)
Maison Hermès, Tokyo, Japan (2001)
Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy (2002)
Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy (2004)
High Museum of Art Expansion, Atlanta, United States (2005)

Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is a trained interior designer  in business since 1990. She is the owner and principal designer of her company: Valentina Interiors & Designs. Being Italian born and raised, Valentina’s design work has been influenced by Classicism and timeless style. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. Check out her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Geometry | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

04 Nov 2012 10 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #GeometryInArchitecture, #ItalianArchitecture, #MosaicFloor, #NeoClassicArchitecture, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #StoneFloorDesigns, Colors

Saint Nicholas’s Basilica – Bari Italy

San Filippo’s Cathedral – Gioia, Puglia

Gioia – Puglia, Italy

Ceramic Tile Floor – Adelfia’s City Hall, Puglia

Matera

This week theme is perfect for me. The geometry of the Italian architecture has conquered the heart of the world.
In a chaotic country and yet vibrant and artistic as Italy, there is order, tranquility and harmony in all the buildings. They stand erect as a live testimony, that regardless of the state of the economy, or passing of different governments, dictatorship, wars and dominators, Italy has always offered the best examples of beauty. Triangle and semi-circle pediments on top of windows, square top entries and round top entries share the same building façade in a neo-classical order, which is as new today as it was when it was first invented. Colonnades and arcades are perfect to walk under and stay dry for window-shopping, or carrying on a normal day, while outside is raining.

Brunelleschi’s dome, or Palladio style villas have been reproduced everywhere in the world and there has not been yet another architect able to rethink these architectural features. A Dome has been a dome since the Renaissance time; arches have been arches ever since Romans built the first one with the keystone in the center. The White House is one of the many examples of a Palladian villa scattered in the world.

Repetition is the Italian secret to everything. Once we find or create something beautiful, we will repeat it to increase the sensory pleasure. Beautiful quarried stones cover columns, floors and walls of churches, palaces, offices, villas and even simple homes. We walk on luxury every day and we die in luxury carrying with us, on our tombstones, the trait of elegance that distinguishes this small, forever troubled country.

Well, since I come from there, I can proudly say that I can design a mosaic stone floor for any house, small or big. I will be delighted to help designing yours. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

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 is a designer well-known to bring originality to people’s homes. As an Italian designer and true to her origins, she provides only the best workmanship and design solutions. Author of three books all available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
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I Was In A Comedy Dinner For Six | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

29 Oct 2012 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #FormalDining, #HowToDineProperly, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #TableCustoms, #TableEtiquette, #TableManners

It’s Friday evening. I am dressed to the teeth, ready to enjoy a formal elegant dinner in a private home. One of the women in the group won the ticket for a dinner for six at a private home at a charitable event and chose five people of her liking to appear in this charade dinner. I was one of them.
In the casual Californian atmosphere, I am already wondering how this formal dinner will be conceived, nobody organizes formal and sitting down dinners anymore, especially in California. For this occasion, the wife is the chef, the husband is the waiter dressed in total black with a white napkin neatly folded over his right arm, playing the part to the letter. They are travelers, I wonder if they learned that in Italy?

The dinner table is elegantly made in a 1930s style: crystal glasses, silver tableware, embroidered tablecloth, and fabric napkins. I counted the plates and there are six place sets, but we are eight counting the hosts. “There is something wrong with this picture” I am starting to ask myself. I didn’t know the people offering the dinner as an action item are not supposed to sit down with the guests.
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 is gone… and so is the mind of some of the guests….
It took only a few bubbles to lose composure. Oh dear, non-senses are already spoken and we are only at the hors-d’oeuvres. What is it going to happen until the end of the dinner?

The hosts invite us to sit down. I didn’t know anyone in the group, except the lady who invited me 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 my native Italy, this will never happen.

Seven courses are waiting to be consumed. I glanced in the kitchen, the portions are very small, but some of the women felt intimidated when they heard about several courses coming and felt stuffed before even trying them.
In one of the many forums I belong, it was said that seven courses are too much to offer, considering that people don’t eat that much anymore. How do we explain so many overweight people in our society? Perhaps, the large portions eaten mindlessly are the fault. The women in the group were no small examples either.

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 to use the flatware. Clearly, she eats with plastics every day.
Then, like in a comedy 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 on the front of the dishes. It seemed very much a John Sanderson’s design, neo-classic fretwork of the middle 1700s, perhaps a copy. Well, the two women on both sides of me, just came out with a simple “really?” and still looked at the backside of the dishes, the rest of the guests were in their own “cookie wonderland“. Hard to make conversation with shallow people, I thought.

(Pumpkin Photo: BHG)

A cute starter of small baked pumpkin filled with mozzarella cheese opens the banquet and libations. The woman next to my left, after the first course, unravels the layers of her clothes. She would have taken off her bra if she could have, she admitted.
I asked her what she does when she eats in restaurants, but I received no answer.
I am envisioning this dinner as the same version of the funny film Hollywood Party with Peter Seller. I don’t know if I am amused or disgusted. I cannot get up and leave. I am beyond being offended already, so I observed in silence, thinking of what other mishaps I am in for.

The highlight of the dinner is the changing of wines with each course. Strange as it sounds, I like this old fashion way of pairing wines with food. Those women, not being wine connoisseurs, can only flash heatwaves on their skin, with increasing bawdy attitude and loud talking. To think they started the conversation in a softly and lady-like manner. What happened to their initial gentleness?

In the next scene, one woman tips over the wine glass full of white wine over the embroidered tablecloth and another one pins 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 are having a dessert and questioned where did the rest of the courses go. They expected to see a 6-course dinner since this affair was won at an auction.

The conversation is boring, I am a spectator in pain and amused at the same time. Dinner was prepared in a simple way, even though seven courses sounded heavy and complicated, but it was not. 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!” as some of the women did.

This comedy is winding down with the doggy bag shocker scene. You heard it right. A few of these “classy women” are asking for a doggy bag for their leftovers. Clearly, they have mistaken a private home for a restaurant. Once people learn bad habits, they repeat them to the 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 amusement later.

Lessons 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 sitting down dinner party, never serve more than four courses. Not a good idea to keep guests prisoners attached to the chairs, forced to listen to unpleasant shallow people.

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

4. Offer well tasted and liked recipes by previous guests in previous parties; offer food in the right quantity to avoid the “doggy bag” situation. No more than 1500 calories should be served all together through the entire dinner.

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 more proper behavior.

6. Make sure there is fresh air circulating through the dinnertime.

To me, breaking bread with people is an honor, having good manners at the table shows respect towards the hosts, the food so well prepared and the guests.

If I were a TV producer, I would have turned this dinner into a funny comedy, but I hope to have amused you for now. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been a lifetime designer in fashion and interiors. Her extensive knowledge of colors and materials led her in both directions successfully. Vogue Italy magazine and many prominent publications in California featured her work. Among designing and remodeling homes, designing custom-made furniture and writing books, Valentina is now teaching etiquette, table manners, table setting, and lifestyle. Her new book Red-A Voyage Into Colors is about how colors affect us in life. Get your copy on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

An Incredulous Vision | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

27 Oct 2012 32 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BlogAward, #ColorTheory, #Inspirational, #LovelyBlogAward, #RedVoyageIntoColors, Dreams, Self-Improvement

An incredulous thing happened to me yesterday afternoon around 6:00 pm, I just want to know if any of you have ever experienced anything similar. I am still thinking about it and what is the meaning of it.

I was driving on a super busy freeway, when all of a sudden, the town I was approaching, but not yet my exit, all the lights of that town, the freeway landscape, the shape of the winding road, all reminded me of another place in Europe.
In my over imposed view, I could not recognize this place in my déjà vu, but I was sure I had been there sometimes in my previous life. It was very clear in my mind, it was very familiar, I know I had been there in that cozy place, but where was it?
Then, as in any dream, I had an abrupt awakening, the view disappeared and returned to the dreadful, super busy freeway.

This morning, I drove 45 miles to return to the same spot on purpose, but the view I had seen yesterday didn’t come back. Perhaps the view of that beautiful place in Europe appeared because I was hungry and the emptiness of my stomach played a trick on me, or I was wishing in that moment to go somewhere unknown. Perhaps, the strange lights of a freeway in the early evening distort images, or the stress of my work is taking a toll. I think the latter is more real and not an excuse.
What do you guys think and what does it mean? Why this view appeared yesterday and not any other day, since that is an area I drive through often?
I will remain puzzled.

On the note of my stress, a few days have passed since I wrote my last blog, I am feeling withdraws as if I have a blog vise and a few days have passed by without thanking Jamie at http://grandmothermusings.com for nominating me with two awards:
The Reality Blog and One Lovely Blog Award. I appreciate your wisdom Jamie and I appreciate all the bloggers’ talents, information, photos, fun and personal dilemmas. That’s is what a community supposed to be. It is not always possible to answer all of you, but I do see and read you all everyday.

These are five questions for both Awards.
I will only answer one, my eye lids are falling off at the moment:
1) What is the one thing really scares you?

Being left completely by myself on this world, no people, no animals, no books, nothing.
2) If you could change something, what would you change?
3) If you could repeat an age, what age would it be?
4) What one dream have you not completed yet and do you think you will be able to complete it.
5) If you could be someone else for the day, who would you be?

(Photo above http://www.delish.com/food-news/a44086/champagne-water-cooler)

I am thinking that perhaps I need something as joyful as this in my photo above, chilled and refreshing, in any corner of my house. I might be able to find another meaning of life, or will cure my stress.
I am also thinking that some of my clients will appreciate having one of this in convenient places, especially when we are in the remodeling process.

I will nominate five bloggers and there is no specific rule to these awards. Each nominee is free to accept and do what he or she will with his or her award.

http://tresorsdeluxe.wordpress.com

http://passport.laurenoliviaco.com

http://astronomybythecosmos.com

http://katrinaperkins.wordpress.com

http://fueledbyvegetables.com

Create a great weekend. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

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. Her latest book ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors is published. Check out her books on:
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w