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A heart-warming celebration of life and living, illustrated with archive family images and packed with anecdote, humour and history
Valvona & Crolla has been described as 'the Sistine chapel of continental delis'. Founded in 1934 by the Continis' ancestors, the Italian shop and restaurant is legendary in food circles for its excellent food and drink. Now, co-owners Mary (author of the bestselling Dear Francesca and co-author of the Easy Peasy cooking series) presents 200 delicious and authentic recipes. Organised season by season, the book offers a year of sumptuous delights from around the country of her heritage, together with recommendations for wines to match them. Starting with the festive flavours of winter, such as a creamy chestnut soup with smoked pancetta, moving on to the best of spring's vegetables with a broad bean and spinach frittata, fresh seafood dishes in the summer, and finishing with the truffles, olive pressings and slow-cooked casseroles of the autumn, this beautifully written and evocatively photographed book adds up to a food diary of personal stories, history, anecdotes and recipes, all imbued with the warmth and local knowledge that only a true Italian family, passionate about food, can deliver.
If your mother had been brought up in an extended Italian family that was passionate about food, and gone on to run one of the country's most successful delicatessens, would you not want a record of all the knowledge and experience she had acquired? This book provides just that, in a form that can be shared with other families and other cooks. Addressing her daughter Francesca, Mary Contini has written not only a wonderful cook book, but also a compelling and often moving account of her family history. Informative, humorous and always passionate, this is a cookbook to read as well as to cook from day after day.
From the Luganega to the Calabrese, Italian sausages come in all shapes and sizes - short and fat, long and thin, horseshoe-shaped and even circular. Sausages form an integral part of Italian culture and cuisine, and the two are inexorably linked. There is even a patron saint of sausages, Sant' Antonio, who is always seen with a pig at his side and whose Feast Day, 17 January, is celebrated with much porcine squealing as pigs are slaughtered for the annual sausage-making festival. In this practical and humorous book, acclaimed cookery writer Mary Contini explores the Italian fascination with salsiccie, tracing its history and displaying its remarkable versatility with over 55 mouth-watering recipes, including Il Panino di San Gennaro - the best sausage roll in the world - Philip's Fabulous Fonteluna Sugo, and Peperoni Pizza Twice!
"Wine was free, but we had to pay for water." Joe Chiriaco and his thirteen siblings heard this from their Italian immigrant father as he recounted his ocean journey to America. In the face of limited water and rudimentary dirt roads, Joe and his Norwegian wife, Ruth Bergseid, founded Chiriaco Summit in the 1930s, a desert travel oasis on today's Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Los Angeles, promising to serve the world on wheels. The twenty-four-seven challenges are lightened with the courtship of two feisty lovers, the frolicking of youngsters in the desert, more loves, and the juxtaposition of some very imposing personalities, including those of Joe Chiriaco and General Patton. After moving through new aqueducts and highways, military camps, societal upheavals, and a welcome new set of hard-working immigrants, the twenty-first century brings provisions for electric cars, modern aircraft, and ATV facilities outside Joshua Tree National Park from whence the first Summit waters flowed.
In An Italian Journey, Jean Giono describes his journey to the land of his father's people. A reluctant traveler (he rarely left Provence), Giono discovers a strange beauty not only in the palazzi and canals of Venice but also in wistful waiters, suspicious hairdressers, pugnacious men of God, recalcitrant coffeemakers, umbrellas, and field machinery. In Giono's world a stamp collectors' market can appear to verge on revolution and inept municipal musicians suddenly offer Mozartian joys.
Mary Contini and Pru Irvine provide over 60 recipes guaranteed to tickle the tastebuds, featuring a huge range of recipes, including a selection from other countries, not just Britain. Including clear instructions and information about the basics of cooking and utensils, as well as safety in the kitchen, these recipes are designed for children to cook with an adult. But once they have gained confidence and experience, kids will be able to cook many of them confidently on their own. From Cheesy Easy Peasy Pasta, Tooty Fruity Chicken Curry and Moorish Carrot Salad to Portobello Burgers, Scrumptious Slappleberry and Spanish Omelette, this is a fun and informative approach to cooking.
The easy peasy philosophy is based on the passionte belief that children can get enormous pleasure out of learning to cook real food, and the success of the first easy peasy book shows just how many people out there agree. Now easy peasy sweetie pie focuses on the most popular area of kids' cooking - baking - with over 80 completely new recipes to tempt kids into the kitchen. Mary Contini draws on her experience running teaching sessions for children of all ages to provide a book that shows children how to cook for real. Starting with basic techniques and preparation, she then moves into recipes that not only taste delicious, but are also enormous fun to cook, from breads and buns to pizzas, cakes and pastries. She never loses sight of the fact that it should be fun -giving helpful hints, humorous advice and taking a fuss-free approach that cannot fail to appeal. The recipes are suitable for children who are just starting to cook but can also be enjoyed by kids who are well into their teens. With the same colourful, snappy design as her first book, easy peasy sweetie pie will be a must-have for old and new fans alike.
In her fascinating follow-up to 'Dear Francesca', the author writes to her other daughter, Olivia. Through letters, anecdotes & the occasional recipe, she tells the story of what happened to the Contini & Crolla families after they emigrated to Scotland between the wars.
Scotland's history has been told many times, but never exclusively by its women. This book takes a unique perspective on dramatic national events as well as ordinary life, as experienced by women down the centuries. From the saintly but severe medieval Queen Margaret to today's first minister Nicola Sturgeon, it encompasses women from all stations of class and fame and notoriety, offering a tantalising view of what happened to them, and how they felt. Drawing on court and kirk records, exchequer rolls and treasurer's accounts, diaries and memoirs, chap books and newspapers, government reports and eye-witness statements, Scotland: Her Story brings to life the half of history that has for too long been hidden or ignored. Features material by from a hugely diverse range of authors, including: Princess Matilda • St Margaret • Margaret Tudor • Mary, Queen of Scots • Lady Grizel Baillie • Elsie Inglis • Mary Slessor • Jane Carlyle • Marie Stopes • Nan Shepherd • Leila Aboulela • Winnie Ewing • Muriel Spark • Liz Lochhead • Jackie Kay • Ali Smith • Nicola Sturgeon