Buongiorno amici,
A big warm welcome to my first Livguine email and grazie for being here. Italy is getting geared up for Christmas right now and the cities are alive with twinkling lights, giant Christmas trees, festive markets and even snow. So far, we remain in the white zone in Piedmont and are able to move about freely as long as you are vaccinated. This week in Turin, we woke up to the beautiful surprise of snow which was a novelty for me as an Australian! It snowed all day, we had a snow fight and gave into temptation with a delicious typical Torinese Christmas treat known as La Nuvola. I’ve just put a new blog post up all about this tasty cake known as ‘the cloud’ if you’re curious about learning more.
I also wanted to let you know about a new membership group for Italy lovers that my friend Katy from Untold Italy has started. Katy runs a hugely successful podcast and free Facebook group (Italy Travel Planning) as well as her blog. She has just launched a special group, Untold Italy Amici, where audience favourite guests from her previous podcast episodes will return to reveal their top secrets about Italy. This means secret foods, drinks, towns, experiences, and more that they don’t usually reveal. It’s a paid membership ($15USD/month) but if you love her podcast and Italy, I think it’s totally worth it. I recorded the very first episode a little while ago with some of my top secrets if you're curious to find out! To give you a flavour, I spoke about a magical vineyard dinner in Tuscany, outdoor opera in an off the beaten path tiny town in the summertime, an unexpected feast during a wine tasting in the mountains in Calabria, a lemon festival and some gorgeous little towns in Piedmont.
If you’re interested in joining Untold Italy Amici or finding out more, click here.
Also, a big heads up to keep your eyes peeled (and inboxes open) for a very exciting upcoming announcement next week…!
There are also a few fun things happening over at my social this week if you follow me on Instagram that I wanted to let you know about.
Tuesday 14 December, 10am Italy
Live city tour in Oristano, Sardinia with Letitia Ann Clark
Photo credit: Charlotte Bland
On Tuesday morning, I’m going live on Instagram with Letitia as she tours us around her adopted home town, Oristano in Sardinia. Letitia is an English born chef, cookbook writer and illustrator and has lived in Sardinia since 2017. I adore her book Bitter Honey full of recipes from the island Sardinia and am very excited to chat with her. Please let us know before Tuesday if you have any questions about Sardinia or Letitia.
Wednesday 15 December, 10am Italy
Live city tour in Monti, Rome with Sophie Minchilli
We have not one but two live virtual tours this week! Sophie is half American, half Italian but grew up in Rome all her life before studying at university in the UK. She is a food writer, and runs food tours throughout Italy with her mum Elizabeth Minchilli. Sophie grew up right in this very neighbourhood of Monti where she will be touring us around and I’m thrilled to have the chance to chat with her. If you have any questions, please do let me know before Wednesday.
Photo Credit: Sophie Minchilli
I hope to see you there and if you can’t make it, I will save both lives on my Instagram page.
Previous Virtual Live Tours
In case you missed these, I also wanted to remind you about some other live tours I have saved on my Instagram page.
Cannareggio, Venice with Valeria Necchio
Photo credit: Valeria Necchio
Come for a walk along the canals with me and Valeria, a native Veneta. Valeria is a food & travel writer and is part of the interesting winery, restaurant and sustainability project at Venissa. You can watch the Venice live tour now.
Chianti Wine with Mary from Querceto di Castellina
Photo credit: Querceto di Castellina
Have you been to Chianti, Tuscany before? I recorded a live direct from this beautiful organic winery with Mary whose husband runs the winery. We talked about what Chianti Classico wine is, more about organic wine, and some of her top tips for visiting Tuscany. You can watch here.
Easy Midweek Pasta with Zucchini
I also wanted to share with you a very easy, yet delicious pasta dish I made this week for a quick lunch. It’s relatively healthy, vegetarian and delicious.
Serves 2
Ingredients:
Extra virgin olive oil
3 zucchini, 1 sliced lengthways into matchbox sticks and the other 2 grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 dried chilli, sliced finely
250g spaghetti
Method:
Gently warm the garlic in a good glug of olive oil in a deep frying pan. When you begin to smell the aroma (note it shouldn’t be turning brown), add your zucchini to the pan with a dash of salt and stir it around to help it cook for 10 minutes. You can remove the garlic cloves at this point. Bring a big pot of pasta to the boil and once boiling add 10g of salt. Add the pasta and set your timer for 2 minutes before the packet says the pasta will be ready.
The zucchini should be getting a little tender by now, add a splash of pasta cooking water to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon. Add your chilli to the zucchini and stir. Once the timer for your pasta goes off, check if it’s al dente and if so, drain and add to the zucchini. Toss well before serving and add a good grating of parmigiano reggiano on top.
That’s it from me for now! If you enjoyed this email, I would love if you could share with your friends too. Don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for a very exciting upcoming announcement next week…!
Ciao for now
x Liv