Valentina

Give Me A Mountain Of Gelato | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

25 Jun 2012 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #FlorenceIceCreamFestival, #GelatoGlasses, #HistoryOfGelato, #IceCream, #IceCreamParty, #ItalianGelato, Gelato

(Above- https://www.florenceacademyofart.com/index.php/en/faa-locations/faa-location-florence)

Last month the Italian city of Florence hosted again the Gelato Festival from May 23^rd to 27^th offering five full days of nothing but pleasure and sweetness. With the gelato fair along come the conventions and business events, but artisanal gelato display and taste each specialty is the center of attraction and is all about having fun in a festive atmosphere.

This is the opportunity to taste every artisan’s new gelato combinations, new flavors, classic flavors, strange flavors or various ingredients mixed with the gelato. Colors of the rainbow will be on display in each gelateria. I loved the logo used to publicize the event. One of my favorite place to visit was the “Gelateria Perche’ No” for a large fragrant cone of gelato combination made of pistachio, dark chocolate and espresso. They know how to do it, they have done it since 1939.
(Above – http://www.notizie.it/firenze-gelato-festival-2)

(Above- http://localidifirenze.blogspot.com/2011)

Italians are a population of inventors, lovers, poets and navigators. It was an Italian who invented the gelato in the Renaissance, the time when all the arts went through a revival and an awakening after the Dark Ages. It was the right time to reinvent food and entertainment around the table. The new dessert called “crema fredda” or iced cream was made with a base of milk, egg yolks, a bit of wine, flavored with lemons, oranges or bergamot.

Caterina de’ Medici took the inventor of crema fredda with her to France to work in her court and delight the guests at her royal table. The de’ Medici lordship always competing with powerful Spaniard rulers were renowned for twisting favors out the Spaniards by corrupting them with new artwork, or extravagant food. Crema fredda was one the food that marveled the Spaniards, who in turn took it to the court of Spain as the Italian speciality of the moment. If de’ Medici ate it, the Spaniards had to have it too on their royal tables.

Bernardo Buontalenti, a Florentine born, was the inventor of ice cream and the strange machine in the shape of a closed box which made it. The box was made with an insulated area and a cylinder in the center containing various cold ingredients, which coagulated with the constant movement of spatulas maneuvered by an external level. The ingredients of the new-born ice cream would be mostly snow, salt (for a physical law it lowers the temperature), lemons, sugar, egg whites and milk.
(Photo left – http://www.buontalenti.org)

(Above – Gelato in Barcelona, Spain at La Boqueria by ©Valentina Cirasola)

Today a person like Bernardo Buontalenti would be called a Jack-of-all-trades, but in the Renaissance he was a master in all of his inventions and designs.
He was a multi-faceted person of many passions: painter, sculptor, architect, set designer, stager, royal party organizers, inventor and manufacturer of weapons.

Thanks to him, today we can enjoy gelato in all colors and flavors. In order to have a complete Italian experience, you need the right Italian gelato glass. I found a colorful set at Joss & Main designed by Rocco Bormioli. At least I can pretend of being in Piazza Pitti tasting my gelato.

The difference between ice cream and gelato is a simply a fat factor.
Ice cream has more cream and fat, gelato contains milk and the fat is lower between 5-7%. The flavoring is often made with natural products (berries, vanilla, lemon peel, liqueurs) in place of artificial flavorings and colorings.

Italian products are synonymous of quality and special ingredients, but they are also perceived as products able to re-create a wheel of emotions and a superior lifestyle. Gelato is tasty, healthy and improves the quality of life, because after a gelato, a feeling of satisfying and refreshed contentment follows. Enjoy the summer! Ciao,
Valentina
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, available here in this site on the Books page and on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Sunday Gratitude | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

24 Jun 2012 12 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: Beautiful Blogger Award, Design, Gratitude, Italian Style, Red-A Voyage Into Colors

Twice this month I have received an award from bloggers following and reading me.
This Sunday I am thanking Marianne’s from Stockholm for nominating me with the “Beautiful Blogger Award”. I feel so excited about receiving the award and humbly accept it.
Marianne’s blog is about 365 Days Mental Coaching and is very inspiring. Look forward to receive it every day. https://marianne365days.wordpress.com/

My two blog columns are about design, style, architecture, food and Italian culture.
By receiving awards from other bloggers, I have increased my readership and I am so very grateful for that. Through my blogs I was also able to get hired as a designer from distant clients in various parts of the world, such as France, Florida, England, Italy and even got a client locally at 20 minutes by car from my office.

I will tell you three things about me and what I am grateful for:
1. I am not a chef, I am Italian and because of that I wrote two Italian regional cuisine books based on simplicity, healthy and colorful food. “Eating in the rainbow” will keep us healthy, young and will give us a beautiful skin through older age. I like to cook every day, design my food, delight people with my food and talk about food as all the Italians do. I am very grateful I have learned to cook and to have a deep knowledge of food. This knowledge saves me money because I know what to cook that is good for my health and how to put a weekly menu together.

2. I am a trained designer and love my work. If we choose a “work we like, we will never work one day in our life!” Totally agree with this quote and I am very grateful I did find my passion work to carry me through life. I was a fashion designer for 15 years and I have been an interior designer for 22 years giving no signs of wanting to quit. I am grateful to have work and beautiful clients in this not so friendly economy and I am also grateful my new book on colors is just about ready to be published:
©RED – A Voyage Into Colors.

3. I am grateful for one new friend I met in person last summer and for so many virtual friends I met through various social sites and blogs. Actually, my virtual friends are also becoming a reality, as I try to meet them through Skype, Facebook video, or Google+ hangout. What fun time we live in! I am super grateful for the technology that can put my family closer, allows me to meet new friends and exposes me to new work. Please, let’s not forget the friends closer to us that we can reach easily and have fun together.

It is my pleasure this Sunday to nominate three bloggers of my liking for the Beautiful Blogger Award:

http://carolgiambri.com/ – She is from Denver, Colorado and writes about beneficial and healthy food, gardening and more.

http://teaandsympathynewyork.wordpress.com/about/ – A British living in New York reporting on everything British.

http://50yearproject.wordpress.com/ – Her nom de plume is TBM, her blog is about the challenge to herself to visit 192 countries, read 1001 books, and watch the top 100 movies before she dies. It has been fun following TBM.

Now, it would be nice if you visit each blog and get to know them. What are your gratitudes for this Sunday? Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola, is the principal designer and owner of Valentina Interiors & Designs. She works on consultation and produces drawings for remodeling, upgrading, new home construction, décor restyling and home fashion. “Vogue Italy” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. She also has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. Check out her books on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

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

What’s Behind That Red Door? | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

19 Jun 2012 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DecoratingTips, #DoorDesign, #FauxFinishedDoor, #FauxFinishedInteriorDoors, #RedDoor, #RedVoyageIntoColors

Red, the most vibrant color of the spectrum and the color that might give you the jitters if used in abundance. Have you ever thought of painting only one door of your home in a different color? You might wonder what is the point of doing that. Would it not mess up the continuity of the interior doors? Yes and not. Introducing one totally different color, or style door in the interior means only adding rhythm, fantasy, whimsy, character and curiosity, but if all of that is not needed, keep all the doors in one color, as everybody would do it.

In one of my project in Italy, I have used only one red interior door as the accent door. It was the door to the home office. Being the only red door, the question from people visiting the house was always: “What is there behind the red door?” That was the element of surprise I wanted to intrigue people with. That particular client was up to play unconventional games and she liked to be challenged.

In a project I am working now in California, I will be painting only the dining room door in a chocolate color to echo one chocolate wall showing up in three different areas of the house as a continuous accent color, while all the other doors in the house will remain white. The particularity of the “warm and sweet” chocolate door will be the handle, striking, fat, perhaps old fashion and very visible. If it must be different, let it be really different!

Imagine a closets in the bedroom painted in matte red lacquer over teak wood, surrounded by pearl gray walls faux finished in Venetian stucco technique and a highly polished concrete floor! (from my new book on colors Red-A Voyage Into Colors, stay tune for the launch).

Let’s see how interior doors made in different solutions have been used for a tri-dimensional effect. Stained glass, sand blasted glass, or painted glass is one of many effects.
(Above – Italian Door company)

A door with a pediment on top will give the room a formal look. This is quite an impressive door!

(above photos from Home and Style Italian magazine)

Have fun with the outdoor, colored doors leading to the garden become playful with the nature.

Ask your faux finish painter to decorate a door by applying your favorite theme on it, flowers and fruits for a kitchen door, metal finishes for study rooms and offices, or a modello design for a dining room.

Antiquing with fruit and flowers applique’

Iron Finish

Modelo Finish

Metal Finish

(photos above – Douglas Greenberg, painter)

(Photo credits are given to the respective owners)

Make your home your fantasy cocoon and forget about what everybody else does.
I am here to help you in your choices, suggest elements suitable to your personality and encourage you to be different. At your service with lot of love and laughter. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She blends fashion and interior well in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to create the unusual.
She is the author of her new book on the subject of colors: ©Red-A Voyage Into Colors. It will soon be available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Loving Escargot | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

13 Jun 2012 4 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #Escargot, #EscargotRecipes, #EscargotTongAndFork, #EscargotUtensils, #KitchenGadgets, #MediterraneanDiet, #PugliaFood, #UtensilsForEscargot

Escargot

To kill them or to eat them! That is my question, my garden is so full of escargot.
If I ought to call them snails, slimy little creatures that destroy my plants and food crops, then I feel to kill them, but if I think of them as escargot, suddenly they become expensive and precious morsels.

Ancient Greeks and Romans appreciated escargot as a fine and delicate dish. Before cooking them, they purified their little stomach by leaving them to soak in milk bath for a few days until the snails got totally bloated and couldn’t get in their shells anymore. Purify them meant to eliminate any bitter grass or poisonous fungi (to humans) the snails had possibly eaten. The same practice goes on today.

The annals tell us that in 49 B.C. a certain Fulvio Lippino was the importer of snails from the islands of Sardinia, Sicily, Capri, from Spain, France and North Africa and supplied the large demand of the rich Romans.
Through the Middle Ages a plate of snails was well-regarded as a lean speciality. In fact, 3.5 oz. of snail meat without shells has only 0.4 protein and 0.05 fat, which means that calories are less than 65 per 3.5 oz. It is highly digestible, the meat contains water, salt and the shell transfers calcium and phosphorus to the meat. Snails are good food to protect against bacteria.

I thought that snails were one of the few poor food farmers could afford to eat. With rustic bread, a piece of cheese and a robust red wine their meal was complete, but at the beginning of 1800’s French chefs revived this little crawlers with the famous Escargot à la Bourguignonne, raising the price to a new height.

As I said earlier, before tackling the cooking it’s important to purify the snails from their saliva and impurities in their bellies. One way is to close them in a box with a lid well aerated on the bottom and leave them to dry for a few days; another way is to feed them corn meal until they are really fat (just like keeping them in milk) and can’t get back into their shells. Some people scald them in hot water. Whatever method you will choose, this process it’s important to eliminate the bitter taste and impurities.

Infinite are the ways to cook snails. My favorite way is with a light tomato sauce, easy and simple.
The only ingredients needed are:

Snails
Extra-virgin olive oil
Chopped garlic
Sun dried tomatoes (a few)
Chopped fresh tomatoes
1 Glass of white wine
A hand full of fresh basil leaves
Salt and hot chili pepper to taste

Sauté in olive oil snails with the shells, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. Flavor with 1 glass of white wine and let it evaporate.
Add chopped fresh tomatoes. Season it with salt and chili peppers to your taste and cook for about 15-18 minutes.
Before serving, give it a sprinkle of fresh basil leaves.

This is the way my grandmother made them and has remained my favorite of all snail recipes from Puglia.

How To Eat Escargot

Snail tongs and a slender two-pronged snail fork are always at to the right of the plate.
Use the tongs to grip and hold the snail-shell in place.
Use the snail fork to pull out the meat from the shell.
Savor the escargot, then the sauce. Tear off a small piece of bread (usually a rustic type). Using the snail fork, dip the bread into the sauce. Enjoy the dish until the bread is gone. Trying not clean the plate completely it’s hard to do, but in a restaurant is not a good manner.
Bon appétit. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

“The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, than the discovery of a new star.” ~ Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking. She operates in the USA and Europe.
She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms and entertainment rooms.
Check her two Italian regional cuisine books in this site on the Books page and on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Her new book ©Red-A Voyage Into Colors is about ready for publishing. Stay tuned!

Are We Losing Manners? | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

12 Jun 2012 4 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ArtOfDining, #ArtOfEntertainment, #BonTon, #DecoratingDiningTable, #EatingUtensils, #HowToEatProperly, #TableManners, Etiquette

The rules of Conduct, or Etiquette of everyday life have always distinguished the humans from the animals. The rules of conduct have had a great value in the evolution of man, an intelligent way to regulate his own life and the life of others.

However, the revolution of the ‘60s brought into society a refusal of conventions and restrictions, resulting in a new thinking and new set of non-rules. The proper manners of the Victorian Era considered as being too fussy, too constricted and not very expressive of human freedom, were thrown out the window completely, giving way to casual behavior, casual language, casual dressing and casual eating.

(Photo: The Oyster Lunch. Painting by: Jean-François de Troy – 1734)

Most people consider Etiquette a set of behavioral rules, but in reality Etiquette is a value system that helps us understand how not to offend others while harmonizing our own daily life.

Good manners and good customs are not the same thing and therefore it is not easy to distinguish one from the other. Good manners become in time the customs of the society’s next generation. The generation of the ‘60s not only rejected Etiquette and the value of good manners, but also refused to teach them to the generation they created. It just so happened that in the course of 50 some years we have become accustomed to see bad manners and often we feel numb around people displaying bad manners.

(Photo: Elegant Marrymaking. Painting by: Peter Angellis. Date unknown).

Having good manners is not for “dandies”, it symbolizes self-control and reliability, but it also translates in owing one’s emotions. Having good manners makes a good impression in business, on people with hiring power, on new friends and allow us to open doors. It has been said: “kindness will give us friends”.
Who on earth wants to be around disrespectful and badly mannered people?

In the last few years, etiquette schools and forums are now springing up like mushrooms, as society wants to evolve and return to the respect for others, politeness and even dressing up for our own self-respect, or eating with proper manners.
I find the non-existence of table manners one of the many prevalent faux pas in today’s society. Let’s start by learning table manners.

Using the proper eating utensils will not only show we are knowledgeable in food and we know the sequence or function of each utensils. It also will automatically bring a certain elegant behavior. Our gestures and posture will take a special attitude. Click on my link below to see many eating utensils for proper eating. Some of them have been forgotten, but not in my house. I own them all and I use all of them, impressing my guests every time.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Being an interior designer does not mean my work stops in building comfortable homes and creating attractive home décor. My work continues in styling other aspects of life. As one of my associates says:
“Valentina will style your home first and then your palate”.
I shall be ready and prompt when you need help in styling your life. Ciao,
Valentina
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.  As an interior designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking she loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos.
©RED-A Voyage Into Colors, her new book on the subject of colors is due to be released very soon. Check out her books on

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

The Sunshine Award | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

05 Jun 2012 14 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #RedVoyageIntoColors, #SunshineAward, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor, #ValentinaCirasolaDesigner, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Yesterday Jamie from http://grandmothermusings.com/ nominated my blog for the Sunshine Award.

I have been blogging for a while on anything that has to do mostly with style, home décor, architecture, or fashion. You might have guessed it, I am a passionate designer.
From my site http://valentinaexpressions.com I write about Italian culture and food.

Although I love to blog, I must admit for a while it felt as if I was writing to a wall. It felt lonely, it felt like a giant void, I had the impression nobody was interested in style, or design matters. But I don’t easily give up, I continued having fun with my blog, at least I was putting down my thoughts. Now, I am honored you guys are reading my blogs and following me, which brought me to receive the nomination of the Sunshine Award.
I am supposed to nominate 10 other bloggers and talk about me in 10 questions. The first part is easy, the second is not, as I rather talk about other people and not about myself. Here are the award rules.

Award Rules
** Include the Award’s Logo in a post or on your blog.
** Answer 10 questions about yourself.
** Nominate 10 other bloggers.
** Link your nominees to this post and comment on their blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.
** Share the love and link the person who nominated you.

10 Questions About Me

What is my real fear?
To be left completely alone in the world, with no other human being or form of life. Boy, that scares the hell out of me!

What did I want to be when I grew up?
I am still finding that answer. It’s so difficult to become one person only when I can be many people.
I am pretty happy being a designer today, but I like to cook I could be a chef too, or a comedian, perhaps I could be a comedian chef who designs my stage clothes. UHM!
I also like to travel, perhaps I can be a comedian chef who designs all my shows in different parts of the world in different sets.

What are some of my hobbies?
I like to sit at a cafe’ to observe people, listening to their conversations, watch street actions and write fantasy stories based on what I observed. When I don’t watch the world, I have interests in reading, painting, cooking, singing and in most of the common hobbies. Basically, I like to feel the ground under my feet. I will never jump off a bridge or a skyscraper to feel my heart in my mouth and my brain in my stomach just to have fun.

What hobby would I like to start?
I like to learn saxophone and play it until I am 100 years old. Perhaps that will keep me young, actually I am sure it will.

If I could tell people anything, what would be the most important thing to say?
Love, live and matter in people’s life.

What’s the best prank I have pulled off?
This is really funny, but I don’t know if it can translate well. I am Italian born and lived in Italy all my life until a few years ago when I decided to move to California.
One day in Italy, we were all teenagers, we decided to go to the cinema. A tall bald man was sitting in front of me covering most of the screen view, at least I thought he was. While he was watching the movie, he moved in his seat to the right and I moved to the left. He moved to the left and I moved to the right. I could not bare to watch the entire movie like that. So I invented something. I slapped his bald head saying: “Hello John, long time I haven’t seen you. What a coincidence, you are here too, why did you not say you were coming, we could come together?” Obviously he was surprised, he wasn’t anyone I knew, I just wanted him to move to another seat and he did. We were a group of belligerent, but innocuous teenagers sitting behind him, he couldn’t take us. As he moved to the upstairs balcony, we followed him in silence and sat right behind him again. This time we wanted to have fun. After about 10 minutes, I slapped his bald head again saying: “I am sorry sir, I thought you were my friend John. Excuse me, but downstairs there is a man who looks just like you, you might want to meet him”. Well that was the end of him that night. I think he left the cinema for good. Today those teenagers are all professionals, from lawyers to doctors, from bank directors to designers and architects and we never used any drugs, only simple fun.

What book am I planning to read next?
Generally read two books together. Perhaps next book will be a Molière comedy. Fun.

Coffee, Tea or Champagne?
Bubbles all the way.

Lemon Torte or Chocolate Cheesecake?
Chocolate cheesecake with added lemon flavor. Yummy!

10 Fabulous Nominees!

http://cosmiccowpie.com/blog/ – Navigate with Carra today’s stressful world.

http://bringingeuropehome.com/ – I love her story of Europe.

http://healthdemystified.wordpress.com/ – Health, fitness, and success.

http://nataliasarkissian.wordpress.com/ – Her postcard from Italy brings great story and pictures.

http://astimegoesbuy.me/ – About fashion dilemma.

http://thebigbookofdating.wordpress.com/ – Dos and don’t about dating.

http://letlifeinpractices.com/ – About Psychology, Relationships

http://grandmothermusings.com/ – Helpful hints on everything. She nominated me for this award.

Well, I am missing a few more bloggers, hope some of you will forgive me. You are all important to me, but it is late at night and I can’t connect my brain energy anymore. I have not worked on my book tonight, perhaps playing on-line was what I needed to do instead. Thank you for reading me. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is a professional interior designer still having fun with her work even after twenty-two years, showing no sign of wanting to quit. Her book on the subject of colors is just about ready to be published. Stay tuned for the launch of ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors. In the meantime check out her books on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

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

An Observation On The Kitchen | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

02 Jun 2012 17 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #ItalianEatingHabits, #ItalianKitchen, #ItalianTableCustom, #kitchenDesign, #KitchenStyle, #SpacePlanning

I have been a month in Italy visiting my family and friends and suddenly I noticed something about the kitchen space that should have been very familiar to me, as I had seen it for most of my adult life living in Italy.

Kitchens in Italy are purely functional, no frills, no granite counters, no luxury, only essentials; they are used for cooking only and in some cases to eat in. Casual entertaining happens in the living room, dining with friends or co-workers happens in the dining room and only close friends get invited to sit in the kitchen. Yes, kitchens are the center of the home life as a concept and it is true that most family problems are resolved around the kitchen table and this does happen in Italy too, but Italian kitchens are not conceived as the space in the center of the home. They are located as far as possible from the living quarters enclosed with doors to keep the guests out, or to hide a kitchen not totally made up or clean yet, which by the way, it isn’t a very common scene to find in Italy. Italian kitchens are always spotless, even after an army of family has eaten there. The idea of the kitchen not being in the center of the house is also to keep cooking aromas, odors and vapors away from the rest of the house.

Laundry is often located in the kitchen or near by in the corridor, or on the balcony/terrace where it is easy to just turn around and hang the clothes to dry on the balcony line. It is easier to hang the clothes to dry in the sun and wind, other than being a natural process, as no chemical softener goes into the clothes and saves on electricity. I hang my clothes to dry in the sun even now living in California, where I could have the comfort of all the technology available, but I choose to stay as natural as possible in my house chores.

Taking a closer look at the function of the kitchen in a different country brings me to the observation I had. Due to the location of the kitchen, as I said far from the living quarters and not made in an open floor plan as it is done in America, it is very difficult to snack mindlessly. In Italy when people are finished with their evening meal, they move to a room dedicated to watch T.V., reading, or playing music usually not close to the kitchen.
In America the kitchen is conceived as a great room, where cooking, living, family activities and entertainment share the same space. Slouching down on the sofa to watch T.V. and snack on poor, processed or boxed food is so much easier because kitchen cabinets and refrigerator are looking smack at you and they are in a few steps of reach. Also it is easy to have a late snack before going to bed, just because the kitchen is located conveniently in the middle of the house, something that doesn’t even cross people’s mind in Italy. Once the evening meal is finished, all the eating activities are also completed.

Although I like the open floor plan, I don’t find it particularly warm or private. Often I go into people’s home and I can see a messy kitchen from the entry in plain open view. I must say that when I lived in Italy never paid attention to the functionality, because every kitchen was made with the same simple principal, but now as an interior designer and living in California, I do notice the difference and it would be really hard to propose something different that would bring an entire new concept of living, one of which would be to get rid of snacking, get rid of gracing all day long and late night snack. It might seem strange to hear that the farthest from reach the kitchen is, the easier it is to keep slim. Italian kitchens other than being very modern, also serve that purpose and I like that.
If you need help with planning your kitchen space, please do not hesitate to contact me, I am here to help. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking. She operates in the USA and Europe. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms and entertainment rooms. Valentina is also the author of two published books on Italian regional cuisine. Her books are available on

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

An Italian Sunday | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

27 May 2012 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #CatholicCeremony, #CatholicHolidays, #ItalianCustoms, #ItalianFirstCommunion, #ItalianFood, #ItalianLifeStyle

In Italy not all Sundays are created equally. People dedicate Sundays to family lunches and the rest of the day is for leisure and social activities.
Meals are women’s best show on Sundays, they get up early in the morning, before everybody else to cook for the family and make sure everyone is treated properly from appetizers to desserts, from the smallest kid to the oldest person.

This past Sunday was a different celebration.
I am in Italy now, participating to my niece’s First Communion event. This is truly a treat, a day to remember and the first important mile stone in a Catholic person’s life. It happens every year in May. Boys and girls in elementary school will go through a couple of years of religious school to learn how to become good Christians and get prepared for the big event of the First Communion. Some churches go as far as organizing spiritual retreats for the kids.
A wide range of businesses related to the First Communion affair are busy for the entire month of May preparing every details from cakes and sweets, to party favors. Restaurants, photographers, hair dressers, tailors and seamstresses work together to assure the event is successful, parents and guests are happy and have something to remember. Jewelry stores are also very happy in the month of May, as the gold gifts for the First Communion are a must.

My niece was prepared as a bride for the altar. The day before, all the women of the house including the First Communion girl got electrified with trying on dresses, shoes and jewelry, hairdresser appointments and making sure all the party favors were ready to go. At night, nobody wanted to go to sleep, we didn’t really know where to put our heads made up so beautifully to keep them preserved until the next day. And the next day was really special for the kids and the adults! Confetti and photographs greeted the little girl coming down from the stairs of her home, my niece, a 10 years old was dressed in white from head to toes. Her father was the only person allowed to accompany her to the church as her escort, the rest of us followed later. The church isle was also made up with white flowers to celebrate all the 10 years old kids entering the Catholic World as faithful Christians while cheerful music filled the air.

What really intrigued me was the elegance of the Italian people dressed to honor their kids first mile stone of life. I am Italian and I should be used to see well-dressed people, but somehow I still manage to get surprised when I see Italians young and old attending some functions. There was nothing out-of-place in their dressing up, not even a hair. Colors and proportions are always well-balanced. Of course, everything was “all’ultimo grido” of the latest fashion.

The manners of Italian people at some formal affair are so affected and polite, but not disgustingly stuffed. I love to observe some youngsters giving up their seats to older people and helping them in getting up and down to follow the religious function. Certain things in my culture are still well-planted and are excellent foundations for generation to come.

The church of Maria Maddalena built in 1969 is an extravagant architecture considered very avant-guard for that era. A cement pagoda style, almost resembling a Japanese house was not well-accepted by the followers and much criticized by the public and the press. That church so many years later has seen a few funerals, weddings, births and joyous events in my family and in my friends’ families. To see Don Filippo again, the priest manager of that church, grey and older and remembering him young, with dark hair and just out of college, made me realize how much time has passed by and how deep my roots are in this land of Italy.

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

Valentina Cirasola is an author and a designer, writing about and observing Italian culture and style. Check out her books available on this site in the Books section and on
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The Power Of An Idea | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

02 May 2012 7 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ArtForInteriors, #ArtSelection, #DecoratingTips, #LucioFontana, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaCirasolaBookOnColors, #ValentinaCirasolaDesigner, Red-A Voyage Into Colors

(Concept Spatiale 1959 – painting by Lucio Fontana)

Not too long ago, I was 14 years young, and I found myself with a bunch of middle school kids going to visit the Pinacoteca, a large museum of my hometown in Bari, Italy. We were somewhat well-mannered kids, but the yearly school trip in a bus, guided by a couple of teachers was more an excuse to be silly for one day and an escape from everyday routine sitting at a school desk than a time to learn something in the fields of life.

The Pinacoteca is a large neo-classical building with large open spaces and so much art on the walls we had never seen before, of course we were only thirteen and fourteen years of age. Each art piece amused us in some ways or another while teachers were making efforts in keeping us attentive to their explanations and comments on the beautiful art pieces. We arrived in front of Lucio Fontana’s paintings and we were abruptly silenced at the view of sliced up canvases, at least that’s what we thought they were.

The Argentine-Italian artist was well-known in Europe for his series of slashed monochrome paintings. Sometimes he embellished the slashed canvases with costume jewelry and glitters. Lucio Fontana, lived between 1899–1968. His art was seen a mixture of avant-garde art under Italian fascism and kitsch painting of the postwar economic miracle. “Fontana attacked the idealism of twentieth-century art by marrying modernist aesthetics to industrialized mass culture” said art critic Anthony White. His art was a reflection of his time and it was perhaps the beginning of pop art.

Lucio Fontana started developing the idea of space-oriented art, renouncing the usage of traditional materials and painting objects with fluorescent colors in dark rooms illuminated by ultraviolet light.

The perforated canvasses marked the starting of a new “Concetto Spaziale” Spatial Concept and did not come until the beginning of 1950. It was this idea that really left a mark in the art world.
Today Fontana’s works can be found in the permanent collections of more than one hundred museums around the world.

(Right: photography of Lucio Fontana by Ugo Mulas).

Why did I tell this story? I recalled asking one of my teachers on that field trip to the Pinacoteca, if Fontana’s art was really to be considered art. With all my disbelief, I thought anybody could have taken the knife and slash the canvasses. I thought art was supposed to be an extension of what is in our mind, not just an act of a “crazy moment”.
I said to my teacher that I could have done just the same and make a ton of money like him. She responded by saying: “Yes, you could have done the same, but he had the idea first!”

My teacher’s answer was simple, but powerful and stayed with me my entire life. Never underestimate the power of your idea, regardless of how big or small it might be. 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 art. 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 forthcoming author of her book on colors: ©Red-A Voyage Into Colors, which will be released very soon. Check out her books on

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Lambascioni Or Muscari, What Are They? | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

30 Apr 2012 6 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #GardenForTheKitchen, #MediterraneanDiet, #PlantingLambascioni, #PlantingVegetables, #PugliaFood, Lambascioni, Muscari

Some call them wild hyacinth bulbs, some call them wild onions, in Puglia we call them Lambascioni, the dialect form of the Italian word Muscari. Puglia, the southern region of the Italian boot is full of ancient food the rest of Italy doesn’t produce.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Muscari is a bulb that grows to ft. in. tall. The edible part is the bulb, the flowers (hermaphrodite) both masculine and feminine are self-fertile, they fall in the ground a self-reproduce. Insects also pollinate them and transport the seeds elsewhere. Some people might get them through pollination, but not knowing they are edible, they let them go unobserved.

People in the food business discovered Muscari or Lambascioni and now enumerate them among all the food delicacy, but I can assure you, it was the poor of the poorest food our agricultural people in Puglia ate for centuries.
If we think about it, poor people in the past were healthier than the rich, the nobles, the landowners and kings and queens. Poor people ate the produce of the land, raw or cooked in a simple way and enhanced the flavor only with the simple spices they grew in the land.

Muscari bulbs have a pinkish coloration, no smell and a very bitter taste at the raw state. I would not suggest eating them raw. It ‘a perennial plant, which blooms in delicate purple flowers until late May, have no scent, but the bright purple attract plenty of insects for its pollination. I plant them between other flowers, as they look so good in the garden. In my last photo below, I show my Lambascioni growing between a bed of arugula. The Lambascioni plant adapts to any climate and soil but prefers full sun and reproduces abundantly in well-drained clay soils. Fall is the best time to plant them, before the cold arrives.
Muscari have many properties, some of which are refreshing, diuretic and stimulant of the digestive organs; stimulate bile secretion, cleanse the intestines; useful for lowering blood pressure and cholesterol; it is an anti-inflammatory and is especially useful in cases of inflammation of the bladder and bowel. I can say that Lambascioni prevent and protect the intestines by freeing them from harmful substances and making more difficult the passage of bacteria in the blood.

To get the bitterness out, I leave the bulb in milk for about 15-20 minutes after I peel the outer shells and washed the dirt out, then I cook them in a few different ways, for example:

casserole of lambascioni with zucchini, potatoes and Parmigiano cheese;
lambascioni fritters in a tempura batter;
lambascioni roasted on the grill and eat them with fresh tomatoes and a hardy cheese;
lambascioni frittata with eggs and prosciutto;
lambascioni baked with sausages.

However, my favorite way is much simpler and it seems most people in family likes them the same way:

“take them out of the milk, as I said to get rid of the bitterness (discard the milk, please, it turned bitter by now), place them in a pot with salted boiling water and cook them until fork tender. Drain the water, transfer to a salad dish and mash them with the back of the fork to make a soft creamy mixture. Add extra-virgin olive oil, a few drops of lemon juice, chopped Italian parsley, salt & black pepper or chili pepper, if you like a kick. Spread the delicacy on a fresh baguette warm or at room temperature. The slight bitter taste will not linger in the mouth, actually it is very pleasant and after about one minute or two, it is not noticeable anymore, as it changes into a sweet and pleasant taste”. I assure you a good experience!

I have ordered the seed from Puglia and now living in California I will be the only one having them on my table spring and fall. Ciao.
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as a designer since 1990.  She has helped people realizing their dreams with homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She designs landscape as a complement to the residential design concept as a unity. She loves creating gardens spaces that will serve the kitchen as well, other than beautification of exteriors. Check out her two published books on regional Italian cuisine, available in this site on the Books’ page and on:
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