My daughter Amanda and her family came to visit for the weekend.  She lives two hours away – just long enough in distance to qualify for a weekend sleepover.  Which means mom is busy cooking all weekend.  She had been hinting for some time that she has not had her favorite pastries in a while […]

Easter is a very important holiday in Sicily.  Local churches hold religious processions.  On Easter morning, the streets are lined with crowds of people waiting to witness and celebrate its culmination with celebrations.  In the town of Castelvetrano, where my mother is from, bearers parade statues of the risen Christ and Madonna.  At the finale, the […]

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is one of my favorite movies.  It has me laughing no matter how many times I’ve watched it.  There are many similarities between the Greek and Italian cultures.  I really relate to the school cafeteria scene where the girl is eating moussaka for lunch and the kids are making fun […]

This week was an exceptionally challenging time for me.  When I’m having a bad day, I find solace in foods that I find comforting.  Everyone has their favorite comfort foods.  My husband loves meatloaf, fried chicken, and mac and cheese.  My concept of comfort foods, having grown up in an Italian family, might seem odd […]

Involtini are small stuffed roll-ups made with either thinly sliced meats or vegetables.  These involtini are made using thinly sliced roasted eggplant (milinciana in the Sicilian dialect), filled with a flavorful browned bread crumb (muddica atturata) mixture, and baked in tomato sauce.  This delicious traditional filling is made with toasted bread crumbs, shallots, Percorino cheese, […]