Rose Petals & Sage from our Summer Garden
Felice estate, happy summer, to everyone!!! Although a rain-laden summer was the start, it has now turned to sun-splashed days with beautiful green gardens and fruits and vegetables everywhere.
The Summer Scoop on Gelato
Fragole, limone, pesca e menta… – raspberry, lemon, peach, and mint…traditional flavors of Italian summer gelato.
It’s a Dream Place
Cooking Vacations is celebrating the release of Lauren’s newly published cookbook, “It’s A Dream Place – Stories & Recipes of Food, Love and the Amalfi Coast”
Christmas Traditions from our kitchen to yours!
As we enjoy the Christmas season and share our recipes and traditions, we are thankful for the gifts of family, friends, health, and happiness
A Dazzling Holiday Stroll in Bologna
Buon Natale! Merry Christmas! Wishing everyone a happy and festive holiday season surrounded by family, friends, food, and healthy blessings.
It’s Vendemia Time in Sunny Italy!
Estate Indiana, Indian Summer, is here in Italy. With temps still in the 80s, gardens are blooming with zucchini and pumpkins, the winemakers are already pressing, and days to the sea for a swim are at the top of our list.
Buon Ferragosto from Sunny Italy
The long summer days of August bring picnics in the vineyards and by the sea filled with Italian summer salads of caponata in Campania and panzanella in Tuscany.
Autumn Food Trails From Florence, Tuscany To Bologna
After a delicious trip through Amalfi Coast, Tuscany and Emilia Romagna, we are back to work and creating new recipes and cooking tours for 2023.
Pack Your Bags & Don’t Forget Your Aprons
March 8 celebrates La Festa della Donna, Women’s Day, a national holiday in Italy.
Christmas Traditions From Our Kitchen To Yours
Cooking, Baking & Celebrating..and wishing you and yours a very Buon Natale, Merry Christmas!
Tie On Your Apron & Let’s Get Cooking!
Sending good summer wishes to everyone and hope that you are cooking up a storm.
Celebrating Festa della Mamma, Happy Mother’s Day!!!
It’s that time of year to share your love and appreciation for Mothers, and Mother Nature too.
Love from Venice. Celebrating San Valentino & Carnevale
Welcome to our February kitchen! This month, we are preparing delicious antipasto, fresh pasta, main courses, along with biscotti and cakes for Carnevale and Saint Valentine’s day.
Signor Luigi & Appennino Food. A Day In The Life Of A Truffle Hunter
I hope you enjoy this trip to Savigno. I hope you are able to try the recipes too. We look forward to welcoming you to Italy when the time is right again..
Meet Chef Massimo from Montepuliciano!!!
I hope everyone is safe and healthy. Italy is opening its boarders and hotels for summer travel on June 3 with air flights starting! We are positive, optimistic and keep our hearts afloat with cooking. Needless to say, preparing and enjoying a home cooked meal is nourishing for the mind and body.
Autumn Eves & Tuscan Olive Oil Cake
November days have us bottling the last of our olive oil, harvesting beets, broccoli and pumpkins, shelling walnuts and making preserves with Annurca apples (a variety indigenous to Campania and believed to be used by Pliny the Elder).
Dreamy Summer Cooking
The opening season rain seemed like it was never going to end, but when it did, a dazzling summer sun came out from hiding, dousing its rays on gentle green leaves in our Italian garden. And the heat has not let up since.
Happy Spring from Sunny Positano
Italy celebrated the Festa del Lavoro , Labor Day, on May 1 with traditional festivities for everyone.
Dreaming of San Valentino
Italians do not need a reason for being romantic because romance is everywhere in sunny Italy.
Dreaming of Christmas!
Buon Natale , Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you and yours from all of us at Cooking Vacations.
Autumn in Italy
Crisp autumn days have arrived and the only company is the warm sun and the sound of silence in the garden. The crowds have waned and life is quiet again in sunny Italy.
Springtime in Italy
It’s springtime in Italy with lots to celebrate. Let’s begin with the biggest and best festival that’s a national holiday too – la festa della Repubblica, marking Italy’s unification as a republic, it was on June 2.
Benvenuta Primavera!
L’orto. That’s the Italian word for vegetable garden. And although Italians grow fruits and vegetables throughout the year, their philosophy is seasonal. In Italy, there are no books, per se, for planting, you just ask Aldo, the neighborhood farmer, or Giuseppina, the little Italian lady who lives next door…
Dreaming Of Christmas
Celebrate Christmas in Naples like a vero napoletano with old-world traditions such as: nibbling on dolci Natalizi, creating a presepe, eating baccalà e capitone on Christmas eve, playing tomobola and spending time with la famiglia!
Summer Lemons to Autumn Truffles
We may be turning the page to September,
but here on the Amalfi Coast it’s summer in high season with temperatures to match…
Dreaming of Spring from Tuscany
From the vineyards of Montepulciano,
through the rolling hills of Siena
to the cobblestone streets of Florence…
Dreaming of Carnival Venezia
From the vineyards of Veneto
to the rolling hills of Umbria
and onto the island of Ischia…
Dreaming of Christmas in Italy
This month we travel to Milan, Venice, Siena, Naples, and Palermo, sharing traditions and customs,
while collecting old world Christmas cookie recipes from nonnas and chefs
Dreaming Of Bologna
This month Cooking Vacations travels to
Bologna La Grassa, nicknamed the fat city,
where autumn is in full swing.
Dreaming of Summer On The Amalfi Coast!
It’s been a beautiful summer in Italy this year.
Summer in Italy also is the season of fresh garden fruits, vegetables and fish.
Dreaming Of Primavera in Italy
A warm winter welcomed in spring as yellow mimosa made an early appearance, and lavender and cherry blossoms flutter colors of violet and white.
Dreaming Of Sicily
Ciao 2016! We have great things cooking in our kitchen this year including fabulous new cooking tours, more rising star Chefs, loving nonnas in the kitchen and delicious new recipes
Dreaming Of Christmas In Italy
This month we round up Venice’s most famous Christmas cakes and cookies – sharing our recipes for the holiday season – and help you select, sip and swirl Italy’s finest Proseccos.
Dreaming Of Autumn In Umbria
It’s September and even though it’s warm and bright outside, Mother Nature is giving us signs that autumn is near.