#ItalianLifeStyle | Valentina Expressions

This Is What The Convent Passes Today | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

30 Jan 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #italianCooking, #ItalianFood, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ItalianTableCustom, #SinsOfAQueen, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor

In my Italian family planning a weekly menu was one of the many things to do at the end of a Sunday: preparing books satchel for the next school day, ironing some clothes, polish shoes and basically getting things ready for the week while my parents compiled lunch and dinner menus for each day of the week. In Italy, due to the long lunch break, the majority of people go home to eat and relax for at least two hours in the North and four hours in the South. Planning the weekly menu is a good way to save money on grocery, in that once the menu is set, for our own convenience, we don’t get out of the set path. The food must be fresh and for that reason we go to the local street market everyday with the list of the menu in our hands to buy the necessary food and only if something is not available on that day we change our plans, but generally markets carry just about everything in season we need.

Buying in season is another thing that distinguished Italians. Produce cultivated by local farmers that don’t travel long distance are very good for us, they are not picked before maturing time and they will not go the phase I call “from green to trash”.
Have you ever experienced buying bananas not totally ripe and three days later are rotten already?
I hate it, because I hate throwing food and money away.
Vegetables and fruit in season have more nutrition, taste so much better,
flavors are enhanced naturally by the sun and not induced by machines, colors are vivid.

(Photo left: ©Valentina Cirasola)

Preparing the weekly menu is one way to stay healthy and keep the weight stable. In my family we never bought pre-made food, or take away.
We knew exactly what to prepare.

However, as teenagers, my brothers and I, not always agreed with our parents on food. There were times when we fussed and stomped our feet on the floor protesting against the food we did not like. The answer from mom was always the same: ‘this is what the convent passes today” and we had the choice to eat it or starve. Guess what? Eating whatever it was planned for that day was always easier than starving. With Italian food one can’t go wrong any way.

Now living in America, I prepare my weekly menu only for dinners, but I make enough for the next day lunch. Not once, since I have been in US, I have gone into any fast food joints. Lucky me! Thanks to the good teaching, I don’t crave those food, I don’t know how they taste, so I cannot miss something I have never tried.

Programming our weekly meal is healthy, keep us on track, we can control the intake of salt, sugar, spices and fat, we know what we are eating and we can save money. At home the serving portions are never vulgarly enormous. Have you noticed how moderate home eating is versus eating in restaurants?
I like to go out to restaurants and discover new food, don’t get me wrong, I just don’t make an everyday habit.

I wished more parents would say to their children “this is what the convent passes today” instead of opting for children food and give in to their requests.
Just a suggestions.
Leave a comment in the box below, love to hear your opinion. 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 ugly spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos.
She is the author of two regional Italian cookbooks available in this site at the Books Page: Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity.
Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M
Sins Of A Queen – Italian Appetizers and Desserts

Also available in various locations:
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

Wake Up Your Food | Valentina Cirasola |Author and Designer

26 Jan 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ItalianCuisine, #ItalianFood, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ItalianMeatRagout, #ItalianSauces, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor

Caffettiera Drawing By ©Valentina Cirasola

Have you ever had leftover coffee in your coffee pot, or brewed coffee you did not have time to drink all to the end? Yes, I did. I drink only espresso coffee and if don’t finish the entire pot, I don’t want it anymore.
Espresso, like any other coffee, to taste good must be fresh brewed or nothing, but I don’t like to throw away good stuff, there is always a good use for coffee. Place it in a glass jar and let it rest in the refrigerator.

At the end of the week, in my house it is time for ragout, generally meat ragout, which will be part of the Sunday meal and one more meal during the week.
Ragout tastes good when it contains mixed pieces of meat, chicken, lamb, pork, beef, sausages and everything of your liking.
All the meat pieces are lightly floured, sautéed and browned on all sides in olive oil. After this first easy step, the meat goes in a platter to rest.
A triad vegetables all chopped up, such as carrots, onions and celery will be added to the same oil until almost translucent, the meat returns to the pot together with the vegetables, simple seasons like basil, thyme and sage, saute’ for a few more minutes, then the ragout gets happy with the addition of any red wine. Let the alcohol evaporate, add two large cans (16-20 oz. or more depending on the quantity of the meat) of peeled tomatoes and let it simmer covered for about one hour. Now is time for coffee. Before the cooking is completed, add one cup of left over coffee not sugared and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes more. That coffee not only will add a higher dimension of flavors to the ragout, but it will really wake up the meat with a kick.

Another application of coffee is after searing a steak. If you want to have some juicy gravy, add left over coffee not sugared after the steak has been seared on both sides and has beautiful grilled marks showing. The coffee will mix with the natural juice of the steak to produce that special gravy, which is so tasty and can be used as a flavor for potato purée. Don’t forget to season the steak after the addition of coffee.

Sweets are delicious with left over coffee. Beat ricotta to a cream, add sugar and cinnamon to you liking, then a half cup of leftover coffee, mix well. Serve in a dainty glass with Italian biscotti, crumbled or whole. It is a simple and super fast dessert everyone will like. Now, this dessert will wake you up and give you the energy for a few more hours of work if you need to. It is a good custom to stop a work activity around 3:00 pm for a little boost.

Left over food always find the way to my kitchen, never goes to waste. What is your left over food that takes different form and shape in your food creation? I like to hear your comments. Ciao,

Valentina
www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer with a passion for kitchen and cooking.
She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn ugly spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos.
She writes often about food and she is the author of two Italian regional cookbooks available in this site at the Book Page:

Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M
Sins Of A Queen – Italian Appetizers and Desserts

Also available in various locations:
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen
http://www.amazon.com/Valentina-Cirasola/e/B0031A02H2/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?r=1&ISBN=1432762060

Shaken Not Stirred | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

18 Jan 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #CordialGlasses, #CordialLiqueurs, #DigestiveDrinks, #ItalianAperitive, #ItalianFood, #ItalianLifeStyle, #SinsOfAQueen, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor

Last month of October I had the idea of celebrating the month with several events featuring the Italian Life In Style and bringing some directions for easy, understated and classic style for your parties.

Being a designer with a passion for kitchen designs, good food and stories related to food, it is only natural that I would bring “to the table” the trends to make unforgettable stylish parties.

My trips to Europe, other than visiting family and friends are an added excuse to browse in retail stores and take notes of all the beautiful merchandise, display styles, fill my eyes with colors and overflow my mind with ideas. Invitations to friends’ homes are inevitable when I am there, they are my lifetime friends. Just that in itself is a precious opportunity to study their customs and learn what is going on across the Ocean.

Amaro Lucano

My attention last autumn 2010 had fallen on the resurgence of the after dinner liqueurs, cordials, apéritif and digestive drinks, or “digestivi” as we Italians would call them in our language. Digestive drinks have been used for centuries to help settle the stomach after a large meal that sometimes can last for a few hours. Italians are famous for getting together for lunch or dinner and easily forget time!

Digestives also have the property of cleansing and detoxifying, facilitate digestion, eliminate toxins and at times help reflux problems. They are made mostly with natural herbs, roots, tree barks and spices, infused in a base of alcohol. Due to all the herbs they were originally considered more medicinal to resolve digestive problems than drinks to enjoy. It is recommended not to use them in large doses, because they are vasodilator, only small sips will be favorable to the digestion.

Due to their bitter taste, digestives have had hard time appearing on the tables in the US until a few years ago. We can now find them in upper scale restaurants and in people’s homes along with aperitifs and palate cleansers between specialties. Fruit sorbet will do just that when served after a fish dish and to the contraire of digestives, they are vasoconstrictors and will ease the digestion by lowering the temperature in the stomach.

Alessi

Apéritifs are a prelude to a good meal and often served one hour before lunch or dinner. In Europe going out for an apéritif is a way of socializing with friends or family. It is an occasion to see and be seen, gossip, to show the newest fashion outfit and the best part is that ingesting an apéritif will enhance the appetite.

In order to make these kind of drinking activities even more fun and pleasant, we need to own special glasses. Holding an elegant, or an interesting designed glass in our hands exalts the pleasure, I know it’s a cliché, but we eat with the eyes first.
(Photo right: Alessi glasses)

In my photo on the right, I am showing tasting wine glasses, curved lip side for white wines and regular lip side for the red wines, all in one. On the other side, I am showing the elegant 2010 new glasses collection made by Italian company Richard Ginori, producing ceramics, porcelain, pottery and glasses since 1735. This is pure elegance!

Richard Ginori

In my second book “Sins Of A Queen” I have included a small chapter on glasses to serve with apéritif and sweet wines.

Enjoying the beginning of a dinner with an apéritif and the end with a digestive is surprisingly addictive once you get used to it. Let it happen, shaken or stirred is a choice of style and life and not only good for James Bond. Ciao,
Valentina
www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn ugly spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos. She is the author of two regional Italian cookbooks available in this site at the Books Page:
Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity

Sins Of A Queen – Italian Appetizers and Desserts

Who Says A Salad Must Be Green To Be A Salad? | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

17 Jan 2011 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #ItalianFood, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ItalianSalads, #ItalianTableCustom, #SinsOfAQueen, #SouthernItalianCuisine

Photo-Drawing Collage ©Valentina Cirasola

Who says a salad must be green to be a salad?

Try tomatoes, oranges and black olive salad. Add lot of fresh basil leaves, salt and a bit of chili peppers, if you like a kick.
Don’t forget a few swirl of good quality extra-virgin olive oil, a Leccino oil from Puglia, accompanied with a fresh crunchy Pugliese bread.
This is a salad to first impress your guests with and then to die for it.
Its refreshing, very summery, juicy and very ancient Italian salad.
Find it in my book: Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity.

The book is making people who want to live a long happy life, really happy. Ciao,
Valentina

www.valentinadesigns.com

Author of two Italian regional cookbooks:

©Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity – watch the video

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

©Sins Of A Queen – Italian Appetizers and Desserts

Both books are also available in this site at the Books Page and also in various locations:
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna

http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

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

Mixed Grilled Meats On Skewers | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

17 Jan 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Books Blog Tags: #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #ItalianFood, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ItalianTableCustom, #MeatSkewers, #SouthernItalianCuisine, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor

Drawing ©Valentina Cirasola

I need to tell you about this Italian custom of each Saturday night in country towns of Puglia, in Italy. It is an excerpt from my book: ©Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity. The book contains many cultural notes intended to let the readers discover the region of Puglia in an original way, from me, the writer, and local native of those parts.

“Many people would turn their nose up at this dish, because it is made with animal interiors, but read it first, you will know why I am raving. “Gnumeridd” is the title of this specialty, which is the dialect version of the Italian mixed grilled meats on skewers.

At the end of the week, butchers might have some leftover meats and animal interiors. They don’t throw them away but get creative on Saturday nights. They pull out their grill, place it right outside of their shops and cook the various cuts of meat on skewers: home-made sausages, small pieces of veal or lamb with bones, and the “Gnumeridd”.

While people are strolling around, enjoying the Italian “Dolce Far Niente” (sweet to do nothing), and the butcher’s grill. The air is filled with the enchanting and phenomenal aroma coming from the butcher’s shop and permeating the entire street. People are attracted by the flavors, their mouth waters, the only sensible thing to do is to stop by the grill and choose the pieces of grilled meat right off the grill which will be served in a cone of yellow butcher paper, wrapped in newspaper sheets. Among those pieces of grilled meats, they will find the surprise, which is the “Gnumeridd”.

Customers will eat standing up leaning against the wall of the butcher’s store, or sitting along the sidewalk. They will eat using their hands, no forks are allowed, and will enjoy every bite while thinking that perhaps even God must have stopped there for a taste as these bite-size grilled meats are divine!

I define the “Gnumeridd” dish as a hypnotic type of food because it is tasty, juicy, and aromatic. The reason for the superb taste is the good Puglia olive oil, good clay soil, and no hormones in animal nutrition. All of these combined make simple food fit for a King. Once you try the first one, you will want more and more, like cherries. It is a social dish. If you are eating by the butcher’s store every one you know will stop by and with one excuse or another will want to eat with you. This is a specialty of a town in Puglia called Altamura (Tall Walls).

How do you find the interiors of animals in American supermarkets, since everything is sold in packages? For this recipe, you need liver, hearts, and kidneys. Go to the back of the store and ask your butcher to reserve for you the parts of your choice and the type of meat of your choices. The original Puglia’s recipe requires lamb, goat, sheep, beef, and porc. In America will be challenging to find some of these meats, thus make it with the available meats. Ask the butcher to take the fat off and chop them in bite sizes.

Finely chop any spices of your liking, except the laurel leaves, and reserve.
Coarsely chop the raw liver, hearts, and kidneys. Wrap them up into single slices of bacon to obtain rolls of about 4″ long. Tie these rolls with a 100% cotton thread.
Stick them on a skewer, alternating a laurel leaf between each piece of cubed meat and the Gnumeridd.
Baste them with a rosemary sprig in a marinade of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper and grill them until done inside thoroughly and they are golden brown and crispy on the outside.”

Barnes & Nobles

This recipe can also be done with good cuts of stew meat and without the animal interior parts altogether. Try it and love to hear your comments. Ciao,
Valentina
www.valentinadesigns.com

Author of two Italian regional cookbooks available in this site at the Books Page:
Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M
Sins Of A Queen – Italian Appetizers and Desserts

Sea-Urchins or First Newly Wed Night? | Valentina Cirasola |Author and Designer

12 Jan 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #BariPuglia, #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ItalianTableCustom, #Octopi, #SeaUrchins, #SouthernItalianFood

Sea Urchin

Fish in Puglia is a sacred saint subject! It is a very serious matter. People eat it at least four times a week and every time is a ritual.
“Il fritto misto”, or mixed fried fish is always eaten with the hands when brought to the mouth is almost like playing the harmonica with the flesh and the bones.

Many fish sauces or broths are always used as condiments to pasta or rice and the fish cooked with those sauces becomes the second course, this way the preparation time is well spent and we have two substantial dishes at once. It is also a good way to save money on food. Pugliese cooking is today, as it was in the antiquity, a frugal cuisine.
One characteristic aspect of the fish in Puglia is the ritual of eating it raw on the bank of the Adriatic Sea.

In Bari, there is a place called: “N-Derr’a La Lanze”, a centre of the mariners’ life of the old city, where fishermen leave their boats to rock on the calm waters of the port and where they sew their nets and curl octopi for hours. Curling octopi it is a spectacle to see! It is an ancient practice that goes back to the late 1500’s and is only done in Bari.

The City Council governing Bari in the 1500′s established that the curled octopi had to be sold in a roll of one Kilogram at the price of 3-1/2 grain, which was the money value at that time. The curling serves the purpose of tenderizing the octopi, which then will be eaten raw with only a glass of white wine and a piece of fresh country Pugliese bread.

Much seafood, or as we call them “frutti di mare” are eaten raw, such as sea truffles, mussels, clams, razor clams, oysters, sea-urchins, smelt fish and others found in the Mediterranean Sea. Sunday meals especially are not complete without seafood.
We have an old Barese saying that goes: “It is better to eat sea-urchins and seafood than to consummate a first newlywed night”. In other words, sea-urchins are only good when they are freshly caught, retaining briefly their color and taste of the sea, but marriage, when built on solid foundations, is always there.

Please forward this article to anyone you think might be interested in reading it and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. Thank you. Ciao.
Valentina
Visit the designer: www.valentinadesigns.com

Come Mia Nonna–A Return to Simplicity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnq8baaAq0M
Sins Of A Queen – Italian Appetizers and Desserts
Available in this site at the Books Page and also in various locations:
outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen
http://www.amazon.com/Valentina-Cirasola/e/B0031A02H2/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

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

Unwind, Ferragosto Is Coming | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

11 Jul 2010 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #DecoratingForSummer, #ItalianCustoms, #ItalianFerragosto, #ItalianLifeStyle, #SummerHome, #VacationTime

The word Ferragosto comes from the Latin word Feriae Augusti, the pagan feast in the year 18 A.D. made in honor of the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus.
On the 1st of August the Romans celebrated the harvest of grain, cereals and the fertility of the earth. This festivity would last until the end of August.

Feriae Augusti, or Ferragosto as it is pronounced in today modern Italian language was intended as “the relaxation of August” from the working year. This festivity would develop with public rituals and banquets, excess of drinking and sex practices to which everyone was permitted to participate, including slaves, maids and the lower class, along with the nobles and emperors. Horse racing, bull fighting and sports events were organized to add to the public entetainment. Even the working animals, such as cows and donkeys were left to relax for the whole month of August and were dressed in the festivity attires with lot of flowers to decorate them. The workers would give good wishes to their employers and would receive a good tip from them.

The festivities would reach its peak on the 15th of August as it still happens today. Through the centuries the Feriae Augusti, or Ferragosto became so eradicated in people’s lives that the Roman Church decided to turn it into a legal festivity and made a holiday rather than suppress it.

Today in Italy and all over the Christian Europe, Ferragosto is celebrated as a religious holiday and as the mid-Summer holiday.
Modern Italians and Europeans treat this holiday as the longest vacation time of the year. Fun, amusement, eating, resting, dancing, socializing and absolutely no work activity is conceived. Therefore, if you are in any import business, when dealing with Italy remember not to place any order of merchandise in July and August. Factories are closed, people are enjoying their vacation and no one is in town.

A few suggestions to beat the heat

In August, being the hottest month of the year, people tend to wear light fabrics, such as linen and cotton. They are the breathable fabrics of all, luscious and delicate textiles that treat our skin in a delicate and gentle way.
People eat very light food to beat the heat, fresh fruit and vegetables to supplement the loss of water through copious perspiration.

Outdoor dining is very common in Italy. People tend to eat late in the evening to catch some cool breeze.
Restaurants and chalets/balere (open air discotheques) are packed until very late at night and promenades pullulate with people.
Nighttime is magic for an intimate dinner, or to pull the small hours of the night talking and joking with friends.

In villas and Summer homes’ backyard vacationers organize their night life. Plain pergolas are easy to build and to dress up with hanging panels of sheer fabrics or inexpensive burlap. The breathable fabric provides privacy and it is sheer enough to let in the soft glow of the moon. A gazebo is an easy item to create. The portable types come in a variety of colors or fabrics and they can be installed in minutes. Like a woman going out for dinner, any patio can be dressed up too for the occasion.

Unwind and decompress, once a year at least, it is important to see life in a different perspective.

I have worked on remodeling single spaces or entire homes while my clients were gone on vacation. They gave me the keys of the house and said goodbye to the messy remodeling. I am so very grateful of the trust people repose in me as a service provider and as a person. My workers and I treasure their properties as they were ours.

Please forward this article to anyone you think might be interested in reading it. Comments are welcomed. Thank you. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and fashion designer, working in the USA and Europe. She combines well fashion and interior in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to create the unusual. In her career she has helped a variegated group of fun people realizing their dreams with homes, offices, interiors and exteriors.
Check out her books on

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

Appear At The Balcony, My Love! | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

06 Jun 2010 3 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ItalianArchitecture, #ItalianBalcony, #ItalianCustoms, #ItalianLifeOnBalcony, #ItalianLifeStyle, Balcony, Italian-Life

Letters to Juliet, the latest film with Vanessa Redgrave and Italian actor Fabio Testi that every girlfriend of mine is talking about.
(Verona Balcony photo
http://www.freefoto.com/images/14/14/14_14_82—Romeo-and-Juliet-Balcony–Verona-Italy_web.jpg )

The film is based on “What if you had a second chance to find true love?” and of course there is no better place to talk about love than from Juliet and Romeo’s famous balcony in Verona. Hollywood’s ability to prompt women to dream still amazes me. The Italian sceneries in the film are so beautiful, the golden aura of the Mediterranean projected on ancient walls and stones contributes to the romanticism and fantasy. Juliet and Romeo’s balcony is the focus of the last scene that makes the story ending into “they lived happy forever after”. To a realist like me, it was just a nice few hours at the cinema.
But what prompted me to write this small piece is the balcony, a piece of architecture that pushed me back in time, when I was a young woman, constantly in love with anybody who walked.

Yes, it all happened on the balcony of my mom’s house and when my mom was a young woman, most “seen and being seen” happened on the her mother’s balcony too.

In Italy a balcony is a lived space, an added space to the house, or apartment. We Italians sit on the balcony to admire the view whether we have one or not and if we don’t have a view, we scrutinize our neighbors. We get to know them and all their family problems, somehow the balcony doors are always open. We cultivate small orchards on pots and every possible cooking spice, along with flowers. Colors, colors, colors burst from Italian balconies. Among the few produce planted on balconies, tomatoes take first attention, they are a must in the Italian cuisine.

Balconies in Italy are also used to hang clean laundry to dry in the open air, clothes dryers are not popular at all. Naples is one of the most renowned and characteristic city of Italy for its clothes hanging over the streets, leaving to the imagination of the passers-by observations and comments of who could wear those clothes. With a pulley, clothes span from one balcony to another, serving two different families on both sides of the same street.
Hanging clothes to dry from balconies is a practice most popular in the the South of Italy where climate is warmer and people colorful.

On balconies Italians “mettono tavola” meaning they set an outdoor table and dine al fresco, mostly at night, when they can be refreshed in the cool night air, after a long day of Summer heat. It is an excuse to participating also to the night life of people strolling down below in the street. While all of that goes on in the street, up in the balconies, people carry on with their lives until the small hours of the night, as if nobody sees them. In fact, when the weather is really hot it is not uncommon to get a mattress and sleep on the balcony.

To cut down on their routine tasks, housewives lean on balconies and drop a basket down below to the local family owned grocery shop, or drug store to get the small items needed for today’s cooking. The grocer puts in the basket all she needs and the basket returns upstairs, payment for that merchandise comes later. The basket is always attached with a rope to the rail of the balcony ready to be dropped down at any request. On the other hand, women at home, regardless of the busyness of their lives, always have time to spend a few minutes on the balcony to pass along a recipe, or a gossip with the next balcony neighbors, or at best a taste of their cup of coffee.

On Italian balconies young women, who are learning the art of coquetry, show themselves off to potential boyfriends, almost like showing off what they have to offer. The young girl coming out of their shells and new at this game, do everything in their power to attract the young man’s attention they are interested in. They appear at the balcony at the same exact time the young man is passing by, because they have studied him and learned every move he makes…..Suddenly, something falls down from the girl’s balcony, just when he is passing through……oh Heaven!….he is looking up….

In America we don’t socialize through our balconies. Actually only upscale homes have balconies, but nobody uses them, they are only there for beauty and to pay more taxes as exterior spaces. Some are even fake, no exit to it, only a rail attached to the walls as a suggestion of balcony. Our privacy is precious and guarded with sentinels, but when we go to Italy, funny, we like how everything evolves over there, even when people enter our lives through balconies without permission. My life in America is so different now, without that closeness to the neighbors and their lives. I truly miss my Italian balcony, a fabulous piece of architecture, that has been the protagonist of love stories through centuries.

So, let’s ask ourselves that “What if?”.

Valentina
www.valentinadesigns.com

This article was also published on:
L’Italo-Americano Weekly Newspaper and Italian American Heritage Foundation paper.

*******

Valentina Cirasola is an interior and fashion designer, in business since 1990 helping people with design challenges in both Europe and USA. She helps people realizing their dream spaces in homes, offices, interiors, exteriors, restaurants and more. Check out her books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Ciao Mamma | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

09 May 2010 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #1940VogueMagazine, #EuropeanFashion, #InteriorDesign, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ItalianStyle, Fashion

The Mother – a Queen of every household. My mom sure was The Queen and a lot more! She was our friend and confidant, the angel of our home. Today, I think she was named Angela not by mistake, I think there is a correlation between her name and who she was in her life. Her blond hair was like a golden aura around her face, her blue eyes were so transparent, one could see inside of her soul. Some of her friends thought her eyes reflected the bluish-green water of Adriatic sea in Italy, where we lived.

She was a simple person with a big heart and strong believes. She had empathy and was always ready to help others.
In her early life as a young lady, she was forced into learning to sew, but she would have preferred to go to school to become a psychologist. She was into people, could understand their problems and always gave her helping hand to resolve some rough situations people could not resolve on their own.

“Put a passion in everything you do and make the best of what you have” she kept telling us. This is what she did when she was forced in that trade, but after a while, she became such an expert in the field of sewing that she turned it into a lifetime business. And boy she was good! Her dress designs were in a high demand. She produced only exclusive, one of kind garment for the élite clientele.

(Above Simplicity magazine)

She found her inspiration in magazines like Mademoiselle and Simplicity and made those patterns much better. “Simplicity is the key of elegance” she kept saying. I learned that so well, that I made it the motto of my life. Actually, to that, I added mine: “When life is simple and easy, God answers”.

WWII was a time of scarcity, but for my mom was a time of increased creativity.
She made original dresses out of scrap fabrics. I remember her telling me stories of improvisation and studying better ways to get the most of everything, food, clothing and all the necessary elements of living.

During the war-time, she was photographed many times in one blue-white polka dots dress, which was turned over many times around. One time she had added white-collar and white cuffs, the next time she took off the white details and added red buttons and a red belt. “Make the best of what’s available to you”.

My mom was good at creating fashionable hats also with scraps of materials. Hats of the ’40s were so elegant and feminine.

She faced a lot of adversities in life that made her a tough human being, but she never complained. She thought that out of every adversity there is always something good to learn and found the way to turn any negative experience into a positive one. I am so grateful for this precious teaching.
Her love for life was exceptional.

In the early part of my career, I became a fashion designer, even though she kept repeating: “The needle is very small but very heavy. Go to school and learn a profession instead”. I could not help being attracted by her amazing creations. With a few elegant movements and a few folding and draping of fabrics onto mannequins, she would make any piece of cloth come alive into a beautiful dress. I must thank her for my love of colors, fabrics, and fashion, all the things I took from her and made a successful career for myself. I must thank her for the well-decorated home we lived in, simple and functional, but full of people who brought us much love. Simplicity is the rule I live by. I must thank her for showing me what really matters the most in life and for teaching how any hardship can be turned into a positive experience.

Today, in my career of interior designer, I do well just because my mom taught me how to be into people, how to listen to their problems and how to resolve them. After 20 years of serving a variegated group of people, I am still having a load of fun.
Long live mamma in our hearts and in the hearts of all the people you touched.
Valentina
Interior Designer
in business since 1990 and loving it!

Fashion Services
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear. To better help people all over the world, she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB

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

Silk Stockings | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

20 Feb 2010 6 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #CydCharisse, #EuropeanFashion, #FrenchFashion, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ParisSilkStocking, #SilkShoes, #SilkStocking

The other day, I was visiting a friend at her home. We were sitting across from each other shooting the breeze, talking about this and that and a bit of all.
She noticed my shoes and complimented me on how good I can put things together, but the surprise was underneath. I lifted my pant legs and showed her my silk stocking in golden olive color.

The look in her face was clearly puzzled as if she was asking: What are you wearing? She was surprised to know that I was wearing silk stockings and was even more surprised to learn that my pair of stockings belonged to my mother fifteen years ago. I have had them for that long and who knows how long my mother had that pair of stockings before I subtracted it from her.
Stockings are not the invention of the last century, au contraire.
(Photo left: Cervin Rive Gauche 100% silk lace top hold-ups, £41.99
Available in noir (black), white, gazelle or ivory)

They came about when in the late 1600 fashion dictated that men and women would be equally effeminate in their attires, thus competing with each others in elegance and style. It was a must to complete every outfit with silk stocking, red or pink, or sky blue and light yellow for the most refined people. Silk stockings became so popular that Colbert, French Secretary Of State, ordered the building near Paris of a royal manufacture with about 200 looms to produce the silk stockings in a variety of colors. He also founded a professional school where silk stockings became a new subject to study, therefore making it a new branch of fashion until our days.

Of course with colorful silk stockings, the need, or let’s say the desire to have colorful shoes was born. The shoes were also made of silk, with medium-high heels, embellished with large buckles, roses and rosettes, ribbons and shimmering beads, but the color of the shoes had to be contrasting to the silk stockings.
Human fantasy has no limits, since then a variety of silk stockings were created. Pearls decorated silk stockings of the 1700 and silk embroiders decorated the silk stocking of the 1800. In the ’30s women dresses became much shorter and for the first time the knees were in full view, therefore much more attention was given to colored stockings. Women soon preferred the nude look of the legs, the simple skin color silk stockings lasted until WWII, when the silk fabric was needed to fabricate parachutes for our men fighting in the war. So it happened that the manufactures discovered the nylon, a product made from petroleum and much more fragile than the silk.

Remember I said I possessed my mother’s silk stockings since fifteen years ago and I don’t know how long she had it before I took them? Well, my nylons have never lasted more fifteen days, until I discovered to keep them in the freezer and not in the drawers of my dresser. The cold of the freezer apparently stretches the life of the nylons only a little longer.
I am thinking silk stockings should come back in fashion, they are eco-friendly, will save your money, feel absolutely luxurious and they add luminosity to women’ legs.

(http://www.allposters.com)

I can help decorating with fun posters of pin-up girls in silk stockings to add a playful look to any room, especially music rooms, studios, entries, bathrooms, home gym. Try a little eccentricity here and there when decorating your home to add a punch of fantasy and character, because the banal décor gets old and tiresome after a while.

A good reading is the book: “A Pair of Silk Stockings”. It is an eclectic collection of long-neglected short stories by great women writers best known for their novels. The book includes The Watsons by Jane Austen, The Half Brothers by Elizabeth Gaskell, A Pair of Silk Stockings by Kate Chopin, The Red Room by L.M. Montgomery, Bliss by Katherine Mansfield, The Parvenue by Mary Shelley, The Legacy by Virginia Woolf, and The Wronged Woman by Winifred Holtby. Find it on Amazon, $13.00.

In the 1957 film Silk Stockings Cyd Charisse was so gracefully beautiful and the music so throbbing. Her endless legs were perfect for the silk stockings.

Please forward this article to anyone you think might be interested in reading it and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. Thank you.
In service and with love. Ciao,
Valentina

Open this link and scroll down the page to find my Fashion Services

https://valentinadesigns.com/services

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She marries well fashion and interior in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn ugly spaces into castles. Fashion designing has been her first career choice that made her happy in her own company for fifteen years.
Author of the book: ©Come Mia Nonna–A Return to Simplicity
Book website: outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
Author of the forthcoming book on the subject of colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors.