Sonia Uvezian: Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen
A culinary journey through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Excerpt: "According to the Syrian geographer Abu'l-Fida' (1273-1331), in Harim near Aleppo a unique variety of pomegranate was cultivated that was seedless, very juicy, and transparent, 'so that you see the inside from the outside.'"
Phil Doran: The Reluctant Tuscan: How I Discovered My Inner Italian
Miles Morland: A Walk Across France
Memoir of a Londoner who retires at age 45 from a Wall Street firm and decides to walk across France with his wife. I like his wit. Very enjoyable read.
Marlena de Blasi: The Lady in the Palazzo: An Umbrian Love Story
Marlena de Blasi: A Thousand days in Tuscany
The continuing memoirs of Marlena, now renting a farmhouse in Tuscany.
Marlena de Blasi: A Thousand Days in Venice
A memoir from a chef and food critic who was running her own cafe in Minneappolis until she fell in love while on vacation in Venice...
Lynne Truss: Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
David Leavitt: In Maremma: Life and a House in Southern Tuscany
Dario Castagno: A Day in Tuscany: More Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide
Dario Castagno: Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide (Insiders' Guides)
Carol Drinkwater: The Olive farm: a Memoir of Life, Love, and Olive Oil in the South of France
Check out her follow-up books to this as well.
I live in California with my husband and our 9 year-old boy Marcel, who we homeschool. I also have a 24 year-old son, Jesse -- it happens in the blink of an eye! I was born in San Francisco and when I was 12 we moved to a commune in Santa Cruz. I stayed in Santa Cruz for 30 years and moved to Los Gatos for a stretch. Now I'm back in Santa Cruz. I'm French & 'Black' Irish.
I want to be adopted by a family in Italy.
I've been "thrifting" for most of my life. Some past endeavors: I owned a vintage clothing shop in Santa Cruz, sold vintage clothing in a shop on Rue de Seine in Paris for a few years, organized painting vacations for groups of people in the South of France, owned a vintage furniture shop in Los Gatos, designed (and still do) interiors from flats in San Francisco to villas in Italy, was an extra in films, and a pirate radio DJ (my favorite of all of these)!
Among my design influences I include growing up in San Francisco in the 60s, the Santa Cruz punk scene, my time spent around gypsy musicians and circus performers in Paris, my mother, and everything else in between.
I am the proud owner of a lovely white piano from the 1860s and just knowing it's there makes me sleep better at night.
INTERESTS:
gardening, so much music -- the clash, the pogues, johnny cash, otis redding, stevie wonder, tom waits, dolly parton, loreena mckennitt, puccinni, cheb kaled, orchestra baobab, mano negra, nusrat fateh ali khan, and so much more. i love films (see list at left) and masterpiece theater. i need good food: thai, indian, and mexican... french pastries, and italian coffee. i enjoy reading, especially food and travel memoirs -- memoirs of expatriates who've relocated to italy and france (scroll down for some titles on the left sidebar). i love creating and designing. i love to swim in the ocean.