Have an affrogato!  Vanilla ice cream “drowned” in hot espresso.  It isn’t just for Christmas either!

I truly need a break from all the sweets!  But, I want one that looks like a party and is green.  So here ya go!

This beautiful thing is Romanesco broccoli, also known as Roman cauliflower, Broccolo Romanesco, Romanesque cauliflower, or simply Romanesco.

It is the edible flower bud of the species Brassica oleracea.

From where?  Italy of course!

The Romanseco was first documented in Italy in the 16th century.

A lovely chartreuse in color, Romanesco has a striking appearance because its form is a natural approximation of a fractal. When compared to a traditional cauliflower, its texture as a vegetable is far more crunchy, and its flavor is not as assertive, being delicate and nutty.

And it’s good for you! Nutritionally, Romanesco is rich in vitamin C, vitamin K, dietary fiber, and carotenoids.

“Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti,” Sophia Loren.

It is sweet for me to end the day by stopping by my local grocery and choosing something wonderful to make for dinner at home.  There I sip a glass of chianti and gaze across the Arno at the Uffizi.  With white and red candles lit around my home, it a lovely way to spend an evening.

Last night I found this amazing confection in the fresh pasta department:

 

 

The package describes the pasta as “pasta fresca all’uovo con ripieno e caramelle fatte a mano con ricotta e spinace.”  In English: “fresh egg pasta, handmade in the shape of a candy with a filling of ricotta and spinach.”  Delicious!

 

I also purchased a container of sugo con carne, red sauce with minced beef, and came home and had a beautiful dinner in less than 10 minutes.  I doctored the sugo up with some tomato sauce, red wine, and a few herbs.  I can’t resist playing with my food.

For dessert, I enjoyed the local clementines.   A perfect meal!

 

And wait, there’s more: While that was already the perfect day, a few hours later I bundled up and walked to a new yoga studio for a late evening class.  On my way home, I bumped into a classmate from school.

Perfection!  I love that I can be a yoga 10 minutes after leaving my apartment!

What’s more beautiful than a colorful, flavorful clementine?

Nulla! Nothing!

Happy Citrus Season!

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the clementine:

A clementine (Citrus ×clementina) is a hybrid between a mandarin orange and a sweet orange, so named in 1902. The exterior is a deep orange colour with a smooth, glossy appearance.

Clementines can be separated into 7 to 14 segments. Similarly to tangerines, they tend to be easy to peel. They are almost always seedless when grown commercially (without cross-pollination), and therefore are also known as seedless tangerines.

The clementine is also occasionally referred to as the Moroccan clementine.They are typically juicy and sweet, with less acid than oranges. Their oils, like other citrus fruits, contain mostly limonene as well as myrcene, linalool, α-pinene and many complex aromatics.

Most sources say that the clementine came to exist because of accidental hybridization, with the first fruits discovered by Brother Clément Rodier (after whom the fruit was named in French and then English) in the garden of his orphanage in Misserghin, Algeria. However, there are claims it originated in China much earlier; one source describes it as nearly identical to the Canton mandarin widely grown in the Guangxi and Guangdong provinces in China.

The clementine is not always easy to distinguish from varieties of mandarin oranges. As such, it should not be confused with similar fruit such as the satsuma or honey sweet orange, or other popular varieties.

 

How about this for a pretty presentation!!!?

 

 

I told him: “you don’t need to look beyond the open-air markets to find out, silly.”

And he said: “well let’s head to the market because I am running out of ideas for the 12 days of edible delights and it’s only the 5th day.”

So, we headed to the Sant’ Ambrogio market in Florence and here’s what we saw on the 5th day of December:

kale (cavolo riccio), potatoes (patate), broccoli (broccoli), artichokes (carciofi), thistle (cardo), cauliflower (cavolfiore), cabbage (cavolo), fennel (finocchio), onions (cipolle), spinach (spinaci), carrots (carote), beans (fagioli) and lentils (lenticchie), radicchio (radicchio), oranges (arancie), clementines (clementine), mandarins (mandarini), persimmons (cachi), pomegranates (melagrane), pears (pere), kiwis (kiwi), almonds (mandorle)

The Campo dei Fiori in Rome hosts an open-air food market that offers delicious food year round.

In Florence, look no further than the Sant’Ambrogio market.
Winter food is mostly a continuation of the stronger autumn harvests that continue to grow, but there are also some unexpected veggies that ripen even in the thick of the coldest months.

Eating in Italy in the winter is all about these hearty gems: cabbage, cavolo nero, kale, and cauliflower are perfect in hot soups while carrots, fennel, and lettuce add some color to the season’s salads.

Speaking of salads, another stunningly good veggie that makes its debut in December is radicchio. It adds a bitter, spicy note to salads and can also take center stage when grilled with lemon and parmesan shavings. For a special treat, try the decadent radicchio al lardo – radicchio leaves dressed in pig fat. Yowza!

Italian tradition has it that the best, most flavorful cabbage is harvested after a frost. This means that the markets and restaurants fill up with the stuff after the first frost of the year.

It was warmish and very festive!

 

How sweet he is!

And I can buy these at my ordinary local grocery store in Florence.  Will wonders never cease?

In Italy these are called ribes rosso.

There are two distinct fruits which are called currants: (1) the dried zante grape; like a raisin, used in baked goods and (2) a fresh tiny berry related to the gooseberry.

Currants are black, red, or white.

The black ones are used for preserves, syrups and liqueurs; while the red and white berries are for eating out of hand.

The red ones are really good just for looking at!  Looking at beautiful things is my favorite pastime.  Always has been.

I simply cannot help myself.

 

Virgil, Aeneid, Book 4:

Italiam non sponte sequor

“It is by divine will, not my own, that I pursue Italy.”