Tuesday, February 24, 2015

#FF #FunFebruary in Piedmont

Piedmont is a wonderful place to be 12 months a year and February offers many things to do in Turin too, also if you travel on a budget!
The weather changes every year, sometimes it may be colder and snowy, others milder, but no matter the temperatures, there are always many things to do, see, specialties to try and wines to sip.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

can't get Torino out of Silvia

This guest post is by our friend Silvia Baldini, chef and owner of Strawberry and Sage. After her classical studies in Italy, a degree in architecture and graduating from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Silvia worked in advertising for 17 years. Secretly, however, she always dreamed of becoming a chef. So, she went back to school and graduated from the Cornell and French Culinary Institute in NYC with a degree in restaurant management.
She then moved to London with her husband Michele where she continued her culinary education with a Cuisine Diploma from Cordon Bleu. This is where, in the depths of a kitchen restaurant, she learned a lot and she got to fulfill one of her biggest dreams - yell “SERVICE!” in a restaurant, really, really loudly. After working at some prestigious European Michelin star restaurants, she started an event company called Strawberry and Sage: a creative food group, an outlet for her real passion: food. She now lives on the East Coast and she works on making Strawberry and Sage a dream become reality.
Silvia works with private clients, celebrities, fashion and food photographers and cook book authors. 
 She has appeared on national TV (in the US) and on cooking shows on the Food Network.  She is the Jamie Oliver’s food revolution ambassador in New Canaan Ct, she is the food contributor for the Hamlet Hub New Canaan, She has developed a series of lectures and culinary demonstrations with Analiese Paik of the Fairfield Green Food Guide to promote and teach about local and sustainable products, and she is currently writing her first cook book, Her work has been mentioned and frequently published in Saveur, the Jamie Oliver food revolution blog, CTBites, Cottages and Gardens, Serendipity, and international magazines.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Visiting Ivrea

Ivrea, the Piedmont Carnival capital

Coming over to Piedmont in February can be a great excuse to take part in the battle of the oranges in Ivrea, visiting the town and trying the local foods and wine.


The Battle of the Oranges in Ivrea is the largest foodfight in Italy. Photo courtesy of Valerio Minato 

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Ivrea: THE Carnival in Piedmont


The battle of the oranges is the climax of the Carnival celebration in Ivrea, a small town in the Piedmont region, up in the Northwest part of Italy, at about 40 minute driving from Turin. This is also the area where Erbaluce di Caluso - the fairies wine is made. 
In 2014 the battle took place on March 2nd and it attracted up to 50,000 visitors worldwide.