#SinsOfAQueen | Valentina Expressions

On Time For Valentine’s Day | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

15 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ChocolateCoveredGrape, #ChocolateCoveredJalapeño, #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #SinsOfAQueen, #ValentinaDayFood, #ValentineDay

Chocolate almonds

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone.

A celebration of heat and passion, Valentine’s Day, comes in February one of the coldest month of the year. For some people there will not be anybody to cuddle with. I agree with some of them who think expectations and pressure to perform well are high on this day. I suggest celebrating Leap Year an alternative to Valentine’s Day. It would be so easy for unattached people to shift their attention from Valentine’s Day to an unusual celebration that comes only every four years.

(http://www.today.com/style/10-fun-valentines-day-gifts-your-friends-1C854429

I remember one year I gathered all my nice single people and celebrated entering into Lent time. After that event, some of them got married, some are still living together and in the meantime, ten years have gone by. Did I want to be a matchmaker? No, but my choice of friends was so selected that I slipped right into that role.
So far I have read about Valentine’s Day in “all sauces and soups” sort of speaking, from table settings, to bedroom romance.

Here it is something simple, healthy, fast and easy, good for Valentine’s Day or any other celebration. It will take me less than an hour and it will be perfect.

Olive Oil Roasted Almonds
This is a nice complement to a cheese variety.
Place the almonds in a baking pan. Grate the peel of an orange.
Add a couple of spoons of extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt to your liking and coat the almonds well.
Bake at 350˚ F. for about 10-12 minutes. Serve in a nice bowl.
Almonds can also be savoury, roasted with rosemary and garlic, or herbs de Provence and they can be made sweet with brown sugar, or honey.

Grape Covered in Chocolate
For a spin on a classic romantic strawberries covered in chocolate.
Wash and pat dry seedless grape.
In a saucepan combine 4 oz. of milk 2 tablespoons of butter and 4 oz. of dark semi-sweet chocolate.
Stir over low heat until the chocolate is melted completely.
Dip each grape in the chocolate holding it by the stem.

Sit them on a cooling rack. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until chocolate is firm.
Use the same chocolate to cover Jalapeño (photo at the top). Serve them together with the grape to get the sweet and the spicy hot, I guarantee you will add some extra heat to your romance.

I will present to my friends simple bites, some small tartlets with wild mushrooms, stuffed mussels
(from my book http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen) and some extravagant cheeses.

I have just enough time to get the prosecco, the table and myself ready for some friends to come over.

I hope you will have a wonderful time celebrating the day of love, but please don’t wait for Valentine’s Day to express your love to someone. 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, on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and in various locations.
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna

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

http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

From Italy To America | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

16 Nov 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #PhilippeMatthewsShow, #SelfImprovement, #SinsOfAQueen, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor, #ValentinaCirasolaDesigner, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns, PMShow

The PM Philippe Matthews Show aired my interview yesterday on the Blogtalkradio:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepmshow/2011/11/15/valentina-cirasola–from-italy-to-america

The homepage of his website says: “If You Like O You You’re Gonna Love P” and I truly do. Philippe is a wonderful, caring person.
Considered the Oprah of the Internet, Philippe Matthews is the owner of the PM Show and PM Blog Radio Talk Show, Internet entrepreneur and a Philanthropist.
He is the Author of: “SHOCKPhilosophy” book on mindset for massive manifestation, “Developing the Mindset to Be Rich Before Becoming Rich” and “How To Make Millions When Thousands Have Been Laid Off” books.

Philippe Matthews on all of his T.V. and radio shows features Bestselling Authors, Thought Leaders, Change Agents, Entertainers and World Class Experts in Personal, Spiritual and Professional Development such as Marianne Williamson, Dr. Wayne Dyer and Dr. Deepak Chopra. Best selling Financial Authors Robert T. Kiyosaki, Robert G. Allen and Suze Orman. Media and motivation moguls such as, Stedman Graham, Russell Simmons, Zig Ziglar and countless more!

I feel so fortunate to have been interviewed on his blogtalkradio and to be part of his Internet family of many respectful, well-known people.
The interview was a pleasant casual encounter between Philippe and myself as if we were in his living room talking about my experience of coming to America and make a 365 degree life adjustment. Philippe doesn’t ask questions that are different, he asks questions that make a difference.

In this interview I wanted to be an inspiration to young adults and to people who feel lost in the unfriendly economy we are currently living. Philippe touched on many points one of which was spirituality and business.
I am in a design service business and a tough one! I must sell my ideas, which are real to me, but intangible to my clients. I sell my services and my ideas without being salesy, with love, friendliness and a lot of humor, never as a pushy salesperson. I never forget to be grateful to my Supreme Being for what I have, for all the great people I meet everyday and for the opportunities I can create just by asking the Universe.
In fact, I made a joke that I have a direct line with my Supreme Being and when I want something it is easy enough to dial number one on my real telephone.
There is always that “Someone”, that “Presence” next to me ready to listen and never feel alone in this world, even though, I crossed the ocean by myself to set up a new life in America.

To have a spiritual guidance is very important, but to have a mentoring guide is equally important. I really never knew what mentoring was, other than having my parents as a guide and teachers. But when I arrived in America, I discovered a whole new way of thinking and it felt as if everyone I met had something more interesting to say than the person before. I followed very famous people, read their autobiography, their successes or non-successes, tried to understand their motivations and I stored the best examples they had to give.

Daydreaming was another point of my interview with Philippe. I had a vision of becoming an artist since a tender age, but it wasn’t well taken in my Italian family. I left my doors opened to all kinds of opportunities and when the time came, I took actions. No dream will ever come alive and take shape without actions!
It is has been a fun journey ever since I started daydreaming, a journey that will continue as long as I can with fun, humor and more opportunities.
In my design business, I don’t know when I stop having fun and when my work starts.
That to me is success!

I also have a column on ThePMShow website under the title: The Good Life, from which I publish my thoughts once a month.
http://thepmshow.tv/category/more/the-good-life/valentina-cirasola/

Much obliged Philippe to be enumerated among your high-caliber people. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is the principal designer and owner of Valentina Interiors & Designs. She is a trained designer and has been in business since 1990. She works on consultation and produces design concepts for remodeling, upgrading, new homes, décor restyling and home fashion. “Vogue Italy” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. She has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15.
She is also the author of the forthcoming book on the subject of colors and two Italian regional cuisine books available on

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

No Globalization For Me | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

05 Nov 2011 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #AltamuraBread, #AltamuraPuglia, #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #FocacciaBlues, #ItalianCulture, #NicoCirasolaProducer, #PugliaFood, #PugliaTravel, #SinsOfAQueen

(Photos above and below Altamura bajers: http://www.visitsitaly.com/puglia/altamura/altamura-pix.htm)

Last week, at the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco, I concluded the series of events dedicated to the celebration of “October Month Of Italian Style” Second year. Last event made in symbiosis with Italian filmmaker Nico Cirasola, my homonymous and not related, was aiming at shining the light on the southern Italian region of Puglia, where both Nico and myself were born and bringing to America our roots, culture and food.
As a self-proclaimed ambassador of my land of Puglia, I centered my talk on the reasons why being an interior designer I didn’t write a design book first, instead I turned to writing two books on food and cooking.

The reason is simple, I explained. I had the feeling when I arrived in USA that not many people in America knew about Puglia as much as they knew about Rome, Florence, Venice and Cinque Terre or Tuscany. That is understandable, tourists always have limited time during traveling, thus they select well-known spots to fill their trips and satisfy their knowledge. However, it irritated me every time I had to explain where Puglia is located and it seemed that if I had come from Mars it would have not made any difference.

(http://www.comuni-italiani.it/072/004/foto)

Italy is made of 22 regions and everyone has contributed to the history and the making of the republic of Italy. My talk continued with flashes of history, architecture, traditional costume and new habits. It ended with the presentation of my books and the benefits of the southern Italian cuisine, so much appreciated in the world without the world even knowing it. In fact most of the Italian cuisine abroad is based on the southern cooking with our olive oil, the “green gold” of our land, as we call it.
My talk was about amusing and informing my audience and as the ambassador the only thing I wanted to do was to encourage people to plan a trip to Puglia and experience my roots and my culture.
That’s why I felt a mission toward my country region to write two cookbooks before a design book.

Nico Cirasola showed his docu-film entitled “Focaccia Blues” with English subtitle.
Nico’s documentary is a hilarious recount of how a small bread bake house in the small town of Altamura was able to induce McDonald, the American fast food giant, to close its doors after only a couple of years of operation. The only McDonald in the world that has closed business!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x_kCavFsbE&feature=related

The small town of Altamura in Puglia is renowned for its tasty, succulent focaccia and bread. For its inhabitants was almost an offense to their traditional food. Of course at first McDonald drew attention to its joint, it was a new food in town, it was yellow, red and big and it was American! Kids flocked to the big M, attracted by the games and French fries in a paper basket. After watching American scenes on T.V. or at the movie theatres, the big Mac now was a reality in their life too. The adult population of Altamura was willing to try it, but with a reservation. In their minds the aroma of fresh-baked focaccia next-door at Digesu’s bread bake house was unsurpassable. After a few times of trying McDonald’s food, people just decided to abandon it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WantccqAFwM&feature=related

The filmmaker Nico Cirasola, who is an interesting and fun person, did not intend to criticize the fast food giant, but to tell a story “a cuor leggero” lightly and heartfelt on how simple food won a silent battle against processed food. The filmmaker’s dry view of the flat land of Puglia mixed with the dry local humor resulted perfect to describe the simplicity of people who have drawn for centuries from the land the resources of their healthy cooking and diet.
As the N.Y Times reported when McDonald closed:
“McDonald’s didn’t get beat by a baker. McDonald’s got beat by a culture.”
And that to me is the essence of what I am expressing here. My southern Italian food is excellent, simple, healthy, once you get used to it, it is difficult to stray away.
My Puglia style of cooking keeps people young, energetic and spunky, with that comes all the positive energy you need.
Focaccia eats hamburger, Puglia food versus processed food wins 10 to 0.

I have embraced globalization even before the word was coined. I have learned to accept other cultures and to be part of the moving world. However, traditions need to stay alive and when it comes to my identifying origins, I know who I am and what I can give to the globalized world. I prefer to keep myself Italian and Pugliese in my cooking and in my style.

The evening in Puglia with Cirasola & Cirasola and Focaccia Blues Film at the San Francisco Italian Cultural Institute concluded as I said earlier the 2011 events of “October Month Of Italian Style”.
Next year events will be bigger and better and will mark year number three.

If you ever need to know more about a trip to Puglia, or even how to decorate in Puglia style (it will be the subject of next article), I shall be here prompt and ready to tell you all about it, just leave your name in the box below. Ciao,
Valentina

http://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. She is the author of two Italian regional cuisine books available on Amazon

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

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

Flavoured Olives | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

29 Jul 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #BellaDiCerignolaOlives, #ComeMiaNonnaReturnToSimplicity, #HowToCureOlives, #ItalianFood, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ItalianTableCustom, #MediterraneanDiet, #SinsOfAQueen

In my last blog, I wrote that olives picked directly from the tree must be cured first, otherwise they are totally not eatable. Curing and flavoring olives is an ancient culinary art, which we are rediscovering as today we are more in tune with the earth and healthy living.

I can think of five or six methods of flavoring olives, mostly from the memories of my grandmother’s kitchen. I use these methods for my enjoyment and for holiday gifts I prepare from my kitchen. My friends’ faces lit up like Christmas tree when they receive such a gift.
To make it fun, I will list only some of the easiest procedures, but you can always contact me, if you like to know more.

Baked Black Olives
Get black olives freshly picked and not cured. Place the olives in a glass bowl, cover them with cooking salt over night. The next day clean the salt away with a cloth, place them on a baking sheet and bake for about an hour at 248°-230°F. until crinkled and dried. Cool down, add a few garlic cloves finely sliced, orange or tangerine peel finely sliced and a hand full of fennel seeds. Mix well, fill a glass jar with the baked olives and after 4-5 days of marinating in the spices the olives are ready to eat.

White Olives In Olive Oil
The large and fleshy green olives are also called white olives due to the bright color they pick up if they have been curing, but no need to cure them for this flavoring method. Take the pit out, wash under current water and leave them in a clean water for a couple of days. Change water every so often until the bitter taste is gone. Dry them with a cloth. Place the olives in a glass jars, add salt, oregano, chili pepper to your liking and cover with extra-virgin olive oil, cap the jar tight. After a couple of months they are ready to eat.

Black Olives Under Salt
Use freshly picked black olives, clean them with a cloth. Place all the olives in a large glass bowl, add a good amount of coarse salt to coat well, orange peels without the white flesh, wild fennel fronds and a few garlic cloves mashed up. Keep them like that for about three days, but turn them over every so often. The olives will exude some water, drain it a couple of times a day, otherwise if the olives rest in that water, will not lose the bitter taste. After three days and after the water doesn’t come out anymore, place olives in a cloth and dry well. Eliminate orange peels, fennel fronds and garlic. Put the olives in a glass jars, fill with extra-virgin olive oil and close tight with a lid. They are ready to eat after one week and will keep for three months.

Time to harvest olives goes from late August to November, there is plenty time to cure or flavor them, or both and enjoy all that bounty for the holidays with aperitif and appetizers.
Tonight on my table there will be celery stalks filled with creamy Gorgonzola cheese, charred green peppers, red wine, a small piece of focaccia and an abundance of olives.

I shall be here to answer any questions you might have. Ciao,
Valentina
http://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. She is a published author of two Italian regional cuisine books, available here on the Books Page and
©Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity
©Sins Of A Queen
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

What Else Can We Grill? | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

13 Jul 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Books Blog Tags: #ChickenPineappleRecipe, #FoodToGrill, #GrilledFood, #ItalianFood, #ItalianLifeStyle, #MediterraneanDiet, #SinsOfAQueen

Summer is so perfect for grilling and outdoor BBQ. Nature is so abundant this time of the year. Besides grilling vegetables, I have experimented with many food combinations mixing savory and sweet, fruit and cheese, meat, and fruit and I must say all the combinations I have tried so far are delicious. I want you to try them too, share your thoughts and your taste with me.

Wikimedia-Author Keith Weller

Grilled Pears – Use either a European Forelle pear, sweet, small, elongated, and green with some red spot or the American Bartlett, round, yellow and sweet.
Slice the pears, season with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Grill until there are some nice grill marks.
Slice a French baguette, place a smooth, creamy blue cheese, gorgonzola, or brie on each bread slice and then place a slice of grilled pear on top.
Arrange them in a baking sheet. Place under the broiler in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melted.

Grilled Peaches – Preheat the grill to medium heat and brush the grates with oil.
Wash the peaches, then cut them in half. With a spoon remove the pit from each peach.
Brush the cut side of the peaches with olive oil. Place the peaches on the grill cut side down.
Grill for 3-5 minutes or until the peaches start to soften and show nice grill marks. Serve each peach with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of honey.

(Above original drawing by Valentina Cirasola in the book: ©Sins Of A Queen-Italian Appetizers and Desserts)

Grilled Pineapple with Chicken – Prepare the marinade for the chicken first.
Jalapeño peppers, cilantro or parsley, 3 or 4 garlic cloves, juice of ½ lemon, 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and salt to your taste.
Transfer the marinade to a bowl, place the chicken pieces in and let them marinate for about 30 minutes.
Then either grill the chicken or bake it at 400° F. until golden brown.
While the chicken is cooking, prepare the pineapple.
Peel the outer shell of a pineapple. Cut a pineapple in four halves and then slice it thick. Brush olive oil, season with salt & pepper.
Grill until nice grill marks have formed.
Mix chicken and pineapple together and serve with a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley.

Find some of these recipes and more in my books ©Sins Of A Queen-Italian Appetizers and Desserts.

Enjoy your outdoor cooking, think healthy, save money by cooking vegetables and fruit from your vegetable patch, be in the sun at least one hour a day to absorb its beneficial vitamin D, relax with a glass of red wine and never eat alone. 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, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms and entertainment rooms.

She is a published author of two regional Italian cuisine books available on Amazon and Barnes&Noble

Pass The Salt, Please | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

06 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #FoodHistory, #NefSaltVessel, #SaltHistory, #SaltVessels, #SinsOfAQueen, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor

Photo ©Valentina Cirasola

Among all the small treasures my mother left me, there is a quaint salt container that stole my heart. It is a hand-made Capodimonte ceramic with a brass base and a silver spoon.
(Photo left Capodimonte Salt Cellar property of ©Valentina Cirasola)

My mother put it out during the “feste terribili” meaning those important occasions when a lot of guests came and the table was spectacularly made up. This small vessel contained salt as a courtesy to the guests and it was intended to pass around when needed. However, it was rarely used, if food is properly balanced with seasons and flavors, there is no need for additional salt.
Adding salt to food served at the table is a kind of offense for the chef or cook.

Before refrigeration was invented, salt and many different spices were so important for the conservation of meat and fish. In the haute cuisine of the Middle Ages, spices were abundantly used for a couple of reasons, one was to prove a higher status symbol. Rich people could afford the high price of all the spices and thus consumed about 2 lb a day, but in more modest households the common spices used were the most affordable: vinegar, mustard, onion, garlic and of course salt. The second reason for using salt and spices was to cover up at times the dull taste of meat gone bad and unpleasant fish smell.

Salt consumption in the 13^th century was in such a high demand for preservation of food that it was necessary to create beds of sea salt drawn from Oceans and Seas. It was coarse and dark with all the impurities of the sea, but better for curing meat than refined salt. The white variety of salt was used for cooking, thus it was more expensive.

Did the people in the Middle Ages use salt shakers at the table as we do today? No, but hear this.

In the British Museum, I saw the Nef, a stunning elegant salt vessel used in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This extravagant 15th-century table piece was made in the shape of a ship with the most elaborate head masts, sails, and even crew.
The particularity was that the Nef was placed in front of the most important person at the table as a respect to their high status. After the VIP used it, the Nef was rolled from one end of the table to the other. The examples made with wheels were the most elegant, but most had legs or pedestals. The German-style Nef had clock, music, and figurines animated by a small engine.
(Photo Burghley Nef: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O73113/the-burghley-nef-salt-cellar-unknown)

A Nef was usually made of silver, silver-gilt or gold, often further embellished with enamel and jewels. I would have wanted to own and cherish such an exquisite piece, just like my mother’s piece!

The dinner table of the Middle Ages and Renaissance always fascinated me. No silverware only knives, no napkins, no refined glassware, but they had spices in abundance and during the grand feasts, they even had the grandest effects with gold and silver leaf gilding the beaks and feet of roasted birds, pheasants, swans, and peacocks.

It amazes me to think about how so many sophisticated effects were achieved in dark kitchens, full of smoke, unhygienic, no automation, heat, long hours of preparation and cooking handling heavy pots.
This proves what I have always thought: if you know how to orchestrate a meal, you can do it anywhere, “small kitchens are for geniuses”.

Remembering my mom, I often put out her Capodimonte ceramic salt vessel on my table, right along with a less pretentious container made from Himalayan salt intended for salt.

This article was also published on the Italian American Foundation Paper.

I am here to help you find any historical object, any gadget for kitchens, or any extravagant piece for your home in furnishing or art, just leave your name in the box below. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC2LVXANG5U&ab_channel=affluentliving

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 published Italian regional cuisine books, available on Amazon and Barnes&Noble
Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity
Sins Of A Queen

The Small Steps | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

07 Mar 2011 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #AchievingGoals, #GoalSetting, #SelfHelp, #SelfImprovement, #SinsOfAQueen, #SmallSteps, #SuccessInSmallSteps, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor

In my life I had many things to achieve and many spaces to fill. It is true that in order to be successful, we must be balanced in five areas of our life, love, family, financial, health and work. But most people forget that the Roman Empire was not made in one day.
God took even seven days to create the Universe and on the seventh day he rested.

The thing about making it big in this life and doing it fast, is that, invariably the first steps will be small and slow. Which oddly, for many, is the same reason they don’t take those small steps.

Picture you taking a trip in-car for 3,000 miles. You get in the car, but you don’t see all the 3,000 miles in front of you, you barely see 500 yards and a night you see even less, you see only as far as the car beams show you the way. So what does it mean? It means you are taking your 3,000 miles trip in small steps. Now picture your life. We all have been instructed to do resolution at the beginning of the year, but most of the time life gets in the way and after a month or two we have completely forgotten about the new year resolutions.

My vacation is my first resolution at the beginning of the year and the first thing I put on the calendar. By doing that, I know not to schedule anything around that time and I know I will tone my brain and regenerate my energy during that resting time, which will allow me to come back to my work strong as ever. Then I take my baby steps with my formula of the four 10’s: 10 days, 10 weeks, 10 months, 10 years. My goals of the first 10 days will take me to my goals of 10 weeks; my goals of 10 weeks will take me to my 10 months and to the 10 years goals. I am a person who lives in the present, I am not good in seeing ten years in front of me, but by taking the small steps I have reached all the goals, I have done everything I said I was going to do in life and I am continuing planning more this same way.

I love my profession, before I became an interior designer, I was a fashion designer and owned my fashion company: Atelier Valentina.
Two of the things I wanted to do and did them. At the beginning of this conversation I said I had many spaces to fill in my life.
In 2008 the economy suddenly changed and so did client’s thinking, all of a sudden I was surrounded by negativity. I didn’t want to be part of any negativity and I said to myself it was time to create my economy. The moment to publish that book I had in mind had arrived, the time was right and I was ready.

At the end of 2008, about November I started to organize my thoughts, photographs, drawings and I started writing the text. Once I had the title of the book in my head, I also had the full book plans. I decided the book was going to be about my grandmother simple and healthy way of cooking. I wrote every day, a couple of hours a day for 5 months. I thought that if I wrote one chapter a day I would have had 365 chapter by the end of the year. I didn’t want an encyclopedia, but a smaller manageable book was a doable goal. Once I choose the publisher, I sent text and graphics to them and went on vacations. The next six months were spent communicating with the editors, editing, formatting and printing the book. In Nov. 2009 my first book of 152 pages was published; a year later in Dec. 2010 my second book was published. I am working on the third book on the subject of colors and it might be published at the end of 2011.

As you see my formula of the four 10s and baby steps has helped me becoming a published author.
In the meantime, I am working with my clients and doing what I love: designing and remodeling their homes.

Making baby steps and taking action means you must believe in your abilities, you must be sure everything in your mind is doable and attainable in real-time and you must put an end date to all your goals. At one point in my life, I must have dreamt of becoming a princess, that’s right it was just a dream and not an attainable goal. Instead I became the Queen of my book, Sins Of A Queen , that was a real and attainable goal!

You might ask where do I take all this energy? I take it from my good food. Good food will produce good energy, junk food will produce junk energy, it cannot get any simpler than this! In my book I say “the red on the cheeks come from the mouth” for a reason. If you have the right elements in your body, you will function like a Swiss clock work. Good food is fuel to my brain, so I eat everything in moderation and everyday I can lit the whole city with the energy I get from it. 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. Author of two Italian cultural regional books:
Come Mia Nonna–A Return to Simplicity
Sins Of A Queen – Italian Appetizers and Desserts

Both books are available in this site at the Books page and at these locations:

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

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.

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

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

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

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