Leonardo Was a Blog-aholic (Sweet Potato and Spinach Bisque)

No, not Leonardo di Caprio; the real Leonardo, born in the little Italian village Vinci, the Renaissance Man. Since Internet did not exist, and neither did the blogosphere, he wrote – a lot, and on a multitude of subjects, including food. Had he thought of inventing it, together with a bicycle and a helicopter, he…

Florentine Omelette for an Unlucky Queen

What an unlucky queen Mary Stuart was! Losing her father when she was only six days old, the baby queen was sent off to France at the age of five, to be married to a three-year old Dauphin Francis, the heir to the French throne. The actual marriage between the two little kids had to…

Fish Rollatini

My granddaughter has informed me that she adores Catherine de Medici. Arguing with teenagers is the most futile endeavor in the world, but I couldn’t stop myself from casually dropping, “She was a mass murderess, you know. How do you feel about The Night of St Bartholomew?”  That was ignored, I as had expected. I…

Pumpkin Boats

Every day, around five in the afternoon, there is a traffic jam on the bridge (AKA causeway) connecting Miami Beach to the mainland. Locals are used to it, we explain to worried guests, nothing alarming is happening, it’s only the boats. Somewhere on that narrow bridge, I am sitting in traffic inching along, with the…

Pumpkin Spinach Soup

It’s really a very simple soup, but it looks elegant if served in pumpkin halves instead of soup bowls. And here, of course, lies a problem: how many halves do you get when all you have is one fairly large acorn squash? Right, you know your fractions – two. Those two are fairly large, too,…

Cold Green Borscht

You might recognize it as Schav, but we called it Cold Green Borscht, as opposed to Hot Green Borscht, as opposed to Cold Red Borscht, as opposed to Hot Red Borscht. Enough confusion? There is also Cold Shchi, as opposed to Hot Shchi, as opposed to Sour Shchi… Ok already! The long and short of…