About

Hi.  I’m Beth.  Welcome to my blog.  I’m glad you stopped by!

I love Italy and food and the way Italians eat food and live each day.

In September of 2008 I left the United States for the first time and flew to Italy for one semester of language-immersive study abroad. After five months under the persuasive influence of my Tuscan host family, I had grown to love fresh figs, extremely rare steaks, rabbit in any form, artichokes, and gelato.

After five months indulging in Italian food and food culture, I was ready to stay forever. When I came home, I took part of Italy home with me. Not just my memories, but my entire approach to life. After a few months in Italy (okay, to be honest, it was only after a few minutes), I realized: This is it. This is what’s been missing for the last twenty years of my life.

In Italy, each day is a work of art. Each meal is a symphony, its flavors melding like musical notes in endless new and fantastic combinations. If you’ve eaten a meal with Italians, you know that it’s like going to church. Certain rules must be followed; disobeying them leads to self-righteous outrage.

The wrong wine at the wrong time? Not finishing what’s on your plate? Skipping the fruit course? Buying pre-made ingredients from the supermarket? These offenses will not be tolerated.

Like a church service, the meal follows a specific pattern, a ritual. Participating in this ritual with those around you creates an intimacy that might be compared to sharing a sacrament in a church, an intimacy unknowable in other circumstances.

In other words, the rigidity of Italian dining is what allows creativity and beauty to flourish.

I’d like to bring a little bit of a European lifestyle to my life in America. This blog chronicles my adventures doing that and seeking the good life of food, friendship, flowers, and wine, in New York City, where creativity sparks unexpectedly just before the train doors close.