C'era una volta.../Once upon a time...
Hi, I’m Michelle. I’m an American journalist who has been living in Italy for ten years. You may know me from my other blog, which saw me as a bit of a disgruntled expat who did not wax poetic about the rolling hills (I live in Milan, so the only thing rolling in around here is a whole lot of smog and fog) or provide countless variations on nonna’s top-secret sugo recipe. Truth be told, I love to cook and I do appreciate the wide variety of fresh, seasonal ingredients on offer in the Belpaese. But with the other blog, I’d painted myself into the “I will not post a recipe on this blog lest someone think I actually like living here” corner.
I’m at a different place in my life now, and while I haven’t lost that cynical take on things (it was journalism school and all of those “critical thinking” seminars, I swear!), I’m excited to focus on something I’m passionate about, which is raising my Italian-American son to take the best from his two cultures. What I love about Italy is the way kids eat here – except for the whole Nutella-and-snack-cake-overload-for-breakfast thing, which I’m still trying to wrap my head around ten years in. Specifically, what I like is that the kids I know eat just like the adults. There aren’t really any “kids menus” and food isn’t dumbed down or drowned in corn-syrupy sauces to make it palatable to children.
I’d like this blog to be a place where I not only share some of my favorite family recipes (Italian and non) but share anecdotes and other interesting tidbits on living in and raising children in Italy. I am a mamma, but I don’t see this as a mommy blog – no potty training posts, I promise! I’m an expat, but this is not necessarily just an expat blog. I’m a foodie, but this is not just a recipe blog either. I see it as a pinch of this, and a pinch of that. Let’s mix it all together and hope it turns out well! Just like nonna’s top-secret sugo recipe…
**Logo and header by designer Cindy Loon
Yayy!
You are inimitable and I welcome the new blog.
Greetings from Berlin,
Jane
Thanks! So you are still (or back – weren’t you somewhere else?) in Berlin?
I love your idea for this new blog! I think it’s a goal that a lot of parents of dual-citizen children have. I know it’s something that I personally think about a lot and am still trying to find my own way, not as a mamma Italiana or an American mommy, but somewhere in between, taking the best from both worlds.
As an aside, I love that you will be sharing recipes! I have you to thank for helping me in the early days of food preparation. I always knew I wanted to make my own baby food, but I felt lost and didn’t know how to begin. Your clear instructions on what I had to do got me started (that and the bimby) and I haven’t stopped since. The days of freezing little cubes are gone, but I still freeze muffin-sized portions of homemade tomato sauce full of pureed veggies on a weekly basis.
Hilary, I actually still make the “brodo!” though I make it for our whole family, and I don’t freeze it into baby cubes. I do puree the vegetables used though and use those as a base sometimes for making D risotto, or I’ll throw them into a tomato sauce. I have not had good luck making flavorful vegetable broth so I’ve been using a recipe I found for making broth in the pressure cooker. It comes out much better though doesn’t make mass quantities. Anyway, thanks for the comments!
Fantastic project, brava M!
I’m with Hilary on dual parenting, I am a single mamma Italiana, trying to figure out where to slip in the American Mommy.
And how true about the dreaded Kids’ Menu!
Ciao
Eleonora xx
Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino.com
I’m in the U.S. now and my son has started choosing a hot dog over the spaghetti on the kiddie menu. Fortunately we are trying to eat in places that are organic, etc. so often it’s a soy dog or doesn’t have nitrates, etc. Grazie!