January 14, 2008

The Tuscany Effect

Issue #7

In This Issue:

• Message from Serenella

• How a Little Tuscan Woman Created French Haute Cuisine

• Serenella selected as a Columnist for the Examiner.com - National Edition

• Recipes from Authentic Italian Women:

• Italian Sayings

• Website and Blog

• Contact Us

Did You Have Buone Feste (Happy Holidays)?

I hope you and your families had wonderful holidays and are off to a great start in 2009.

Grazie to those of you who sent me get well messages. I had hand surgery followed by a hand cast and found out it's a real challenge to get things done without one hand. I had to learn to rest more for the holidays and let my husband and others help me. It was a great lesson in many ways and especially made me think about how grateful I am for my wonderful family and friends.

I also spoke to many friends and relatives in Italy over the holidays. We discussed a variety of subjects, including the economy which seems to be on the mind of the entire world at the moment. Italians are going through a difficult period too.

Although the Italian banks have been much more old-fashioned and conservative in their mortgage lending practices, the U.S. economic woes have rippled over to Europe where unemployment is high and money is not moving. After listening to my cousin Massimo complain about the economy for 20 minutes, I asked him how the difficult times would impact his holidays. Massimo answered in the quintessential Italian way: "This just means we'll gather together as many friends and family members as possible to celebrate, eat and drink and be grateful for what we have. We will toast to good things. If times get tougher, we'll help each other any way we can."

I hope that 2009 brings new beginnings and better times for us all. In any case, we should find occasions to get together with friends and family to eat great food, drink wonderful wine and be merry!

Serenella

How a Little Tuscan Woman Created French Haute Cuisine

I can just see my French friends cringing and rolling their eyes at this title. However, I will prove to you that a Tuscan woman introduced many great things to France, including delicious cuisine.

Caterina de Medici was short of stature and quite unattractive. She was, however very bright, strong and determined. Her family was worried she would remain single forever, a shameful thing for the family in those days. They were thrilled when, at the age of 14, Caterina became betrothed in an arranged marriage to King Henry II of France - a marriage that would unite two of the most powerful families in Europe.

Caterina knew she would not be easily accepted by the French who considered her an outsider. Still, she kept her individuality and honored her own Tuscan traditions.

Proud and determined to overcome her small stature, she shocked the French nobility of 1533 by appearing at court in Florentine wearing (extremely) high heels and started a permanent fashion trend. A great lover of eating, drinking, and dancing, Queen Caterina founded the tradition of ballet in France. This Italian queen introduced the French to the fork and to table etiquette. (Until this time, the French had been eating with their hands.) Caterina's Tuscan chefs brought to France recipes for ice cream, besciamella or béchamel and other sauces, olive oil, crespelle or crepes, birds a l’orange and new ingredients such as peas, artichokes, beans spinach and rigaglie (giblets).

But don't just take my word for this - French author Jean Orieux dedicated a book to Catherine stating: "It was exactly a Florentine who reformed the antique French cooking of medieval tradition which was reborn as modern French cooking."

The young Florentine Caterina not only revolutionized fashion, the court and cuisine in France but also became mother to Kings Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III of France and one of her adopted country's most memorable queens.

Serenella

Serenella selected as a Columnist for the Examiner.com - National Edition

About 18 million people are now reading the Examiner.com blog. Last week, Serenella’s column placed in the Top 10 most read Lifestyle columns in the Examiner. Please read these fun and informative articles on Italy and help Serenella maintain her ranking:

• Life as an art form – Italians have 3 times more holidays than Americans do

• The dreaded wooden spoon and other Italian kitchen tools of torture…

• A Tuscan genius whose value increases over time – Leonardo Da Vinci

Enjoy your reading!

Recipes from Authentic Italian Women:

Here are some new recipes from the Toscana Mia Blog. First is the Tuscan classic pork roast that is so delicious in winter. I am also sharing with you our family recipe for Spaghetti with Dungeness crab.

• Arista (Tuscan Pork Roast)

• Spaghetti with Dungeness Crab

Buon appetito!

Italian Sayings

When I was a child, I heard many Italian sayings and proverbs each day. Some of them made a lot of sense and some were very puzzling. While I easily understood Meglio tardi che mai (better late than never), I had a much harder time with Tutti I nodi vengono al pettine (all knots end up in the comb). I heard this repeatedly when my grandmother brushed or combed my long hair and found knots.

It was not until later years when I reflected on this saying that I understood its full meaning: Tutti i nodi vengono al pettine is a proverb that reminds us that sooner or later we have to pay for any bad actions we have committed and confront the consequences.

Little Italian children (especially girls) used to run away to avoid having their hair combed because it hurt when the knots were undone. Sooner or later the Mamma, Nonna, Zia or other female authority figure would catch them and run a comb through their hair. At that point, all knots were found (and painfully paid for with each yank of the comb).

So remember this if someone does something hurtful to you. They will pay for it sooner or later. Tutti i nodi vengono al pettine must be the Italian version of Karma!

Need more information about traveling to Tuscany?

Please contact Serenella Leoni, your Tuscany Lifestyle Expert, to reserve your place and to answer your questions.

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