Transformation: create a new life, the one meant for you!

Transformation is today’s word. Transition, rebirth, shedding the old to let the new surface, appear, and manifest itself. Leave the old behind to embrace the new. A new beginning, a new horizon, new mind-set, new limits, new goals, new aspirations.

This transitional season we are slowly abandoning to enter into Winter has brought, this year, a lot of council and wisdom. Construction needs destruction. In order to accept the new, you must be ready to kiss goodbye the old, the habitual, easy, well-known, old, same old. The new, on the other hand, is unknown and requires courage, determination, and trust. Transformations: inner and outer, just like the leaves on the trees are turning from green to yellow, red, and brown, in the same way my soul is turning colors. Again, at this phase of my life, I find myself changing, at the threshold of a new Era. I am learning to look at my life in a new manner, recognizing the opportunities that hide behind the obstacles that present themselves every day.  Learning to avoid drama and see that energy flows where intention goes, and that gratitude is the key to fulfillment. Acknowledging that the outer is the reflection of the inner dimension and learn to surrender to the amazement of synchronicity.

Transformation to create a life from the inside-out.

Just like Sue Monk Kidd writes in her book “The Dance of the Dissident Daughter”: “…synchronicity [is] that time when an outer event resonates mysteriously and powerfully with what’s happening inside. [These events] are more numerous during great shifts and upheavals”. She goes on saying: “If we pay attention, if we approach them as symbolic and revelatory, they will often illumine [the] way for us”. Leading us to the newness we are meant and supposed to face.

Entering something new is called an initiation. Something that ends and something else that begins. Death and Rebirth. Sue Monk Kidd writes: “Initiation is a sacred disintegration. Despite its pain, we carry the conviction that even though we don’t know where we’ll end up, we are following a soul-path of immense richness, that we are supposed to be on this path, that it’s required of us somehow. We move in a sense of rightness, of lure, of following a flute that pipes irresistible music”.

On this path things begin to unfold, to blossom, to take shape. This is the dimension of love, and of the lack of fear. Fear is something often so present in our lives, which must be identified and spotted. Just like we mentioned in one of the previous posts: fear is the opposite of love, and it gives us the idea that power comes from outside sources, leading us to believe that life is lived from the outside in, while the opposite is true, since life is to be lived from the inside out.

Transformation to light a fire within to illumine our path.

In a time when everything seems falling apart around me, I hang on tight to my certainties, and stand on my ground strong and tall. In this time when the outer is failing, I ignite the fire inside of me and let it come out in order to initiate a life from the inside out. I am done with a time in which the outer conditions the inner, now on the inner will determine the outer. I will work to stoke my fire inside and make it so strong and powerful that my light will be blinding to those who prefer the dark. I will go on in my life, move on from this chapter with a new power, beautiful and shining, which will bring about a new me: determined, bold, and fierce with heart full of love. As my evolution keeps pushing through, it is manifesting itself into a beautiful warrior goddess image. A woman, fulfilled and happy. Something that some days looks a lot like a cooking goddess.

Let us celebrate the transformation with a couple of very delicious recipes. With an ode to an autumn fruit, typical to the Tuscan region: the pomegranate.

For those who are not familiar with the pomegranate, it is a true gem of a fruit, its jewel-like seeds are sweet-tart and they are a delightful addition to all kinds of sweet and savory recipes. It can be described as a round fruit about the size of an orange with thick leathery skin that encases juicy, bright pink pulpy seeds, held in place by a bitter tasting creamy yellow membrane. Pomegranate is very rich in vitamins and antioxidants. It is delicious in juices and salads, but it is also often used in meat and fish dishes. Pomegranate are in season starting from September and are available until February. At first, when we first handle a pomegranate it might seem hard to get the juice seeds out, for this reason down below I include a Martha Stuart video on the easiest way to seed a pomegranate. Take a look and you will not believe your eyes on how easy it can be!

https://www.marthastewart.com/1094444/easiest-way-seed-pomegranate

Now that we know how to get to those yummy-ruby-red-jewel like seeds, we are ready to transform them into a few finger licking recipes. Just like people grow, change and transform themselves, in the same way food is transformed from its natural status, the way it exists in nature to an even more palatable way in order to create succulent dishes to delight friends and family. The first easy one is homemade pomegranate molasses: the color alone will make you fall in love with this food that you will be able to whip up in a heart beat. Just simmer pomegranate juice and sugar, then stir in lemon, or better yet, bergamot juice.

Homemade Pomegranate Molasses

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice

3 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp fresh lemon or bergamot juice

Directions:

Combine pomegranate juice and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat to medium, simmer until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 30 minutes. Let cool. Stir in bergamot juice. Enjoy!

Just to keep things simple and nutritious here is another quick and easy recipe for a healthy lunch or dinner.

Valerian Greens Salad with Pomegranate, Avocado, and Pine Nuts

1 dish full of Valerian greens

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1 avocado cubed

1/3 cup pine nuts

Mix all the ingredients and season with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Beauty so stunning and delicious you’ll think you are living a dream.

Autumn Beauty on the Tuscan Mountains means savoring the delights of local flavors, drinking spring water. It means eating hand-picked Porcini mushroom, it means drinking  home-made wine along with home-made cheese and local honey. Fresh fruit, naturally in season right off the back yard. It means fire-red scenery with strokes of yellow-green and brown. It means the sound of the rattling leaves caressed by a cool breeze, while warm sun rays kiss your cheeks. Autumn in the mountains in Tuscany means crystal blue lake water and the unmistakable smell of burnt wood. This and much more is Garfagnana, in the province of Lucca in Tuscany.

Beauty for the eyes, beauty for the palate, and beauty for the soul.

Last Sunday we took a day trip into the mountains. We set off from Lucca early in the morning, and we drove for roughly one hour and a half on small winding roads all the way up to 1500 meters above the sea level. Slowly slowly we entered into something that looked a lot like a slice of paradise, where everything is peaceful, calm, quite and serene. Stunning colors everywhere I looked, and a perfectly blue sky to fram it all in. After a morning spent smelling the fresh Autumn air and picking chestnuts off the ground we arrived to Castiglione di Garfagnana a small town known for a big building called Casone di Profecchia, which hosts people from all over throughout the year. This place is famous for serving the best local food all made from scratch for really affordable prices. Naturally, having said all this, this is where we decided to stop and have lunch. We enter this big building in the middle of the woods and we find a line of people waiting to be seated. Surprisingly we are all escorted by the waitress to our tables in just a few minutes. We get to have the nicest spot: under the window and next to the fire-place, which was sweetly burning two enormous logs of wood. We sit down and we are right away served the beverages, their local red wine and some sparkling water. In this restaurant there are no menus, the guests eat what they are given, and that was fine by us, since we were pretty certain that anything the waitress might bring us would be quite delicious. We start with some hors d’oeuvre: bilordo (blood salame), crostini with raw sausage, fresh home-made mozzarella and prosciutto (cured, seasoned ham). All served with freshly baked home-made bread and fried dough along with fresh stracchino cheese.

In the mountains this time of the year, it is the time for Porcini mushroom. People go into the woods especially on the week-ends and spend hours looking at the ground hoping to find the exquisite gift from nature. This year Mother nature has been very abundant with its presents and, from what I hear, the woods are full of lovely Porcini waiting to be picked. Soon enough after our delicious antipasto we were served a tray full of fried mushroom: soft and full of flavor on the inside yet crunchy and crispy on the outside. A real treat for the palate!

The cuisine in Tuscany varies from town to town, and up here in the mountains the way to prepare the batter to fry the mushrooms is different from the way my grandmother, who was from the valley, used to make it. The difference is that in my family, they would use not only white flour in the batter but also an equal part of coarse corn flour, which gives a more complex texture to it.

As we were sitting at the table enjoying the merry atmosphere of the early afternoon, the warmth coming from the fireplace and the sweet smells coming from the kitchen, we were served one more irresistible dish. Tortelli with meat Ragu’. This is a typical dish for the whole Lucca area. The way the sauce, called Ragu’, is prepared may vary from area to area, especially for what corcerns the spices. Some people use cloves and cinnamon, while others just salt and black pepper. Actually,  people even use differnt kinds of meat. Originally the recipe is made with equal parts of pork and beef. Some people use just beef, others also like to make this sause with sausage, in Italian called salsiccia, which gives it a deeper and tastier flavor. Anyway, it is prepared, I am pretty sure, it results into quite an exquisite dish. Here below, I am going to share the version made with beef and sausage. If among my readers there is someone who has a special ragu’ recipe and would be willing to share it with all of us that would make me very happy: learning new things is a lovely way to keep growing.

 Ragu’con Salsiccia

Meat sauce with deep flavor and succulent texture isn’t hard to make; it just needs time and a low flame. Usually salsiccia comes very well flavored at least with salt and pepperd, we can add some garlic and chopped oregano and sage to the meat as it browns.

1    pound Italian sausage, salsiccia

1    onion, minced

1   carrot, minced

1   celery stalk, minced

Olive oil, extra vergin

1/4 cup   minced flat-leaf parsley, plus extra for garnish

half a hand-full fresh thyme

half a hand-full fresh rosemary

3 Tbsp   tomato paste

1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, with its juice

Salt

Black pepper

Preparation

With the tip of a small, sharp knife, slit open the sausage casings. Crumble the meat into a wide heavy skillet and set over medium-low heat, add some olive oil. Let the meat fry gently. Saute’, breaking up any large chunks, until all the meat has browned, about 5 minutes. Add onion, carrot, celery, and parsley. Stir. Cook over very low heat, stir often, until the vegetables turn soft and are beginning to carmelize, and the meat is browned. This might take as long as fourty minutes or evern more, but your patience will be rewarded by the final flavors.

Add the tomatoes, smash the whole ones with a fork and bring to a simmer, uncovered, until thickened, about 30 minutes. Mix tomato paste with 1 cup hot water. Add to pan, reduce heat to very low, and continue cooking until the ragu’ is velvety and dark red in color. About 10 minutes. Sprinkle black pepper and salt over the top, stir and taste.  This is a very versatile sauce that can be used to flavor and garnish all types of pasta, tortelli, rice, lasagne, can be used as a stuffing as well. Salsiccia is a well loved kind of meat that can also be enjoyed by itself , raw, spread on bread, grilled or even boiled. Any way you’ll decide to prepare it, you can be certain you will make your guests happy, just like we were for sure delighted to eat such a succulent treat, during our trip into the mountains!

Everyday as the sun rises and the rooster crows, life presents itself anew. As the new east shining star fades away from the sky, the brightness of the new day brings with its fresh air hope and good intention. How can we turn and ordinary day into an extraordinary, exceptionally beautiful day, during which the incessant tide of life stops for a moment to show us that we are HERE in this eternal moment. How can we learn to slow down the fast pace of our lives to take time to listen to the birds sing, to appreciate the cooling effect of a breeze on a hot Summer day, look into our children’s eyes, and notice the flowers that remind us of the healing pleasure of beauty.

How can we find the way to a life that is fit to the measure and the needs of the human kind? I have found myself wondering about these quests often, since I had my children. Children come to us with an ancestral wisdom that for those of us, who have the ears to hear and the eyes to see, and the senses to feel, can guide us to a life of appreciation and gratitude for all those little things, that so often in our adult life go unheard, unseen, and unfelt.

My memory often brings me back to my childhood, during those never-ending, sun burning, hot Summer days, when the smell of the lovingly prepared lunches would find its way to my nose from my grandmother’s kitchen window. She would be in there, cooking while softly whistling along with her kitchen rag over her shoulder and some crumbs in one of her hands to through to her chickens, always loyally by her side.

Cooking was a real inspiration for my grandmother, she used to grow her own food, or else, for the foods she wouldn’t find in her garden she would shop every week from the “veggie man” who would come with his truck to our house. She had fun with food, and she was pretty adventures, she loved to discover new foods and new combinations. I remember she was a lover of avocados, when avocados were still quite unknown in Italy. She even grew an avocado tree, and even now that it has been years since she passed,  we still have it, it has become quite big by now, it does not produce fruits, though, since Tuscany isn’t a tropical climate.

My grandmother was truly an amazing cook, you could taste her passion for food in every single dish she prepared, that’s why it would be hard to pick one and say it was her best, but surely there was one that was my absolute favorite ever since I was a little girl: that was her Bean Soup. I’ll never forget that she used to always burn it, just a little, enough so that some of the pasta in it would stick to the bottom of the pot…and that right there, was my favorite part! She was a strong woman, one you would not want to mess with, she always had the last word, she created her own world just the way she wanted it, for many reasons I look up to her still to this day. Her tenacity, audacity and will are perhaps aspects of her character that I like to believe, I got from her.

Whenever I cook or create something, whether is writing or baking, I get in a state of relaxation, something that might look like an earthly nirvana. Now for instance, the act of  writing and sharing something I love, like a favorite recipe or thoughts, I especially care about, fills my heart  with serenity, a sense of freedom, and gratitude.

Zuppa di Fagioli  (Bean Soup)

“Serenity, selflessness, freedom of rage”, this is for Virginia Woolf the state of mind a writer should be in to connect with her inspiration and elevate our souls to higher dimensions while at the same time stay grounded to our earthly lives, view the body as good and recognize the “senses as delightful [as] they feed…the spirit”. By chance I picked up “A room of one’s own” this morning before I came and sat down to write. What an inspiration are Virginia Woolf’s words and yes, I could not agree more, the senses feed our spirit! Just like this tasty and warming soup, this is not only my favorite dish from childhood, but also a classic of Tuscan cuisine!

3 cups dried beans (soaked overnight)

Tip:

Every week I chose a legume, beans or lentils, that I soak overnight, usually on Sunday night. On Monday morning I rinse the legumes and place them in a crock pot and cook them for a few hours. I always put one long piece of Kombu or Wakame seaweed with my beans. This enriches their flavor and they, also, will be assimilated and processed by our digestive system more easily. This method of cooking the beans in a crock pot is very convenient.  If I have to leave the house for the day, I just set the heat on low. In this way I always have cooked ready beans in the fridge, ready to be used!

1 large red onion

3 garlic cloves

2 carrots

4 Tbsp olive oil

½ cup white wine

1 cup tomato preserve or sauce

3 tsp sage

Salt and pepper    

Over night soak the beans, the next morning cook them. I usually use a crock pot, add 1 Tbsp of salt and let it cook for several hours until the beans are soft.  

Pour olive oil in the pot of your choice and turn heat up to medium. Dice the onion and place it in the pot, add minced garlic, cut the carrots in small pieces, and the minced sage.  Sautee for 10 minutes, during th first 5 cover with lid. When you uncover the cooking pot and all the steam comes out don’t forget to stir. Let simmer for another 5 minutes lowering the heat slightly and stirring. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes with no lid. When the onions seems wilted add the white wine and turn the heat to medium high. Let the liquid evaporate. When your “soffritto” looks juicy but not watery add the beans with the water in which they cooked. Cook on slow heat for two hours. Add salt and pepper to taste.   

You can serve this dish with small pasta, ditali rigati is my favorite, or else the traditional way to serve this dish is with spelt.What is spelt? It is an ancient grain widely recognized for its many health benefits. Triticum spelta is a hardier and more nutritious cousin to modern wheat. Also, spelt is the most widely spread crop of the norther part of Tuscany called Lunigiana, whose tradition and heritage are worth discovering.

Enjoy this nurturing and healing dish, and let it bring you a feeling of serenity, peace, and freedom. With love.

What an amazing planet this is! Everywhere I go nature never fails to enchant me with all its beauty and abundance! This time I will share with you all, my trip to Casentino, which is in the heart of Italy, at the border between two regions: Tuscany and Romagna. Italy is run in the middle from north to south by the Apennine mountains, where the woods are magical, the people friendly and welcoming, and the food fresh and genuine. When you travel through the small towns of Casentino it feels like the time stopped, the people preserve ancient skills that have been passed down through generations. Here the eggs come from local chicken coops, the vegetables from the neighbor’s garden, the cakes home-made, the bread made from scratch. Here the people wake up early, breed animals, take long walks,and pick berries in the woods.

This is the area that, in the years 1200, Saint Francis chose for his religious calling. As a young man, he abandoned all his material belonging to dedicate himself to the monastic life. He was a lover of nature and animals. In his memory, in the country side of the city of Chiusi, you can find a Sanctuary called Santuario della Verna. Austere and magnificent at the same time. The building is situated on the side of a mountain in the cracks of massive rocks, as you walk the narrow paths that take you from the main entrance of the sanctuary to the various small chapels around the main building, steep staircases made of stone guide you to the cell that used to be the place Saint Francis lived in. Despite the hot weather you could feel the cold radiating from the rocks covered with green moss.

The sanctuary is located on the side of Mount Penna, where you can take hikes that allow you to discover enchanted corners of the forest or breath-taking views over the Appenine mountains. The whole area of Casentino is sparsely populated and the nature is uncontaminated. If you happen to be so lucky as to visit these suggestive places the best option for boarding is certainly the “agriturismo”. This alternative kind of tourism, which could be explained as a farm-stay, it is actually much more than that, it is perhaps the best way to really fully immerse yourself and experience Italy’s countryside.   Typically, an “agriturismo” is an independently owned farm that the owners have decided to use partially for accommodation purposes. I love staying in agriturismo not only because they are always located in charming beautiful places, but also because they serve the best local food ever!

Before leaving home one of my students gave me a tip about a quaint little place to stay, the places’ name is “Agriturismo La Chiusa”, located in Stia. We got to this place before sunset, the sides of the mountains were golden from the light of the setting sun. The building made of stone, was standing in the middle of this small valley at the bottom of rolling mountains, tall and stern. A white horse was strolling and munching on grass right in front of the house. It felt like, in this place, time had stopped a long time ago.

We got out of the car to stretch our legs a bit, which were all crumpled up from a long car ride, a smiling middle-aged man leans out from the terrace of the building to greet me. I have a nice chit-chat with this gentleman who turned out to be the owner of the agriturismo. I ask him if we could stay for the evening and have dinner by them, but very politely he informs me that they do dinners for guests only on reservation and that they were having a party on that night, which made it hard to add new people, but that we were more than welcome to stay a while, look around and enjoy ourselves there. I thanked his hospitality but decided to move on to find a place to eat since it was getting dark soon and we were all very hungry. We leave this charming, stuck in time place, on a white gravel road, leaving behind us a romantic rural existence with its brilliant colors and the sound of birds chirping and chickens cooing.

As we kept driving in the lonesome mountains of Casentino, pops out from nowhere a brown sign showing us the direction to another agriturismo called Borgo Tramonte. We climb further up the mountain on very narrow curvy roads with a stunning panorama below us. In front of us we see a picturesque group  of small stone buildings, two swings and a fire-red sunset framed in by a scented bush of purple lavender. We see a young lady standing in front of what we supposed to be the main entrance of the facility and with a heart full of hope we ask if they have extra room for us to stay for dinner. She greets us politely and welcomes us inside while she goes into the big kitchen to confirm with the cook. We follow her to a cozy room with a big fireplace, she starts setting the table and tells us to make ourselves comfortable since we were welcome to stay with them for dinner. With a relieved heart we sat down, eager to try the delicious creations of such a generous and kind cook, which opened her arms to four starving travelers.

You can believe me If I say that our hearts were filled with joy just as much as our stomachs filled with hunger, when we  found out we could stay for dinner. After we ate  we were amazed by the quality (and quantity) of the food we had. For starters we were served a typical dish from the area: tortelli di patate, which is stuffed pasta with potatoes in a sauce of salty butter and sage, topped with grated parmesan cheese.

To follow they brought us pork roast, steak, and roasted potatoes, they dug up from the dirt a couple of hours prior. The food was so good we could not refrain but helping ourselves to seconds.

When we thought we could not fit anything else in our well fed bodies, we were presented with a home-made chocolate mousse, topped with candied cherries and a home-made, heart-shaped, butter cookie. I usually don’t eat dessert after dinner, but that time I could not turn it down, and I am glad I didn’t. All the dedication,  passion, and  hospitality was transferred to the food, which made it all the more delicious.

By the time we finished eating the lovely sunset had left its place to the dark night, and down in the valley all the lights had come on like little stars. We were so glad our guardian angel somehow had shown us the way to this place, so cozy, warm, and welcoming.  We will certainly be back, perhaps in the winter months, when the snow will have kissed the tops of these mountains. Thank you lovely place: Borgo Tremonte!

Years back when the kids were little and we were living in the US, I had a subscription to a magazine that to this day I remember fondly and I wish I could again put my hands on, the name of the magazine is “Mothering” by Peggy O’Mara. I remember pouring through those pages which would help me keep perspective of things during those days in which,  dirty laundry, meal plans, groceries, nap times, walks to the park, nursing was all I cared about. I was fascinated with my life, some days I felt like I was playing house, I loved all aspects of it, well, almost all, with the kids I had a second baby-hood myself, we read so much together that we could wrap the earth around twice with all the books we read. It was fun, humbling fun. The mothering experience certainly transformed me, helped me grow into a better version of myself, I have done things I had no idea before I could do, and I have discovered myself, years into my mothering experience, as powerful as a lion, and at the same time as vulnerable as a lamb. I realized the amazing honor of being responsible for the two lives of the two most important human being on earth for me, my children. As Peggy O’Mara points out in one of her articles “In becoming a mother a woman also gives birth to herself” and this is exactly what happened to me.

How do we become mothers? How is the becoming a mother perceived by society? What does mother mean? The original model of the mother is the Great Mother, represented in many traditions by Mother Earth. Some representations of the Great Mother are Mary in Christianity; Durga a mother goddess in the Hindu religion, and Kuan Yin in the Buddhist religion, to name just a few. All of these Mothers from the different traditions convey a sense of strength and power, why is that our society so often associates mothers with weakness and why the same woman who can birth a baby is easily overpowered and victimized by her role? Just like Mother Earth our strength can be gentle as a breeze or powerful as a hurricane, these two forces coexist in us just like in nature.

Going back to my previous blog-post and to the idea of the transformation of man and woman into its best potential, a very important stage of transformation is the one of a   women becoming a mother, in this process she embodies  the archetype of the Great Mother, as Peggy O’Mara says with her eloquent words “she recognizes her own INDOMITABLE spirit”. The woman awakening to her unique power gives birth to a new version of herself, she is born anew. It is in this delicate process that the couple must find the perfect equilibrium that allows them to keep growing close together. Keep seeing into one another that corner of paradise where at the end of each day, when everything has been said and done, the couple can quench its thirst and feed its hunger in an atmosphere of love and respect.

Many women have experienced the unleashing of deep creative impulses during this amazing time, they realize the energy of a creative power innate in most of us and they start discovering new aspects of themselves. While this image of the creative mother is the most powerful, and beautiful way to perceive the shift of a woman into motherhood, some women tend to embrace the dark side of the stereotype, which suggests that any distraction from the task of motherhood compromises a woman’s devotion and they buy into the perspective that being a mother means self-sacrifice to the point of self-destruction or martyrdom. This attitude on a woman’s part, is not only detrimental to herself but also to the delicate equilibrium with her partner, which from a place of commiseration is impossible to maintain. Therefore, us women must learn to take care of ourselves in order to take care of others. Caring about our needs and ourselves must not be viewed as a selfish act, on the contrary making sure that we are serene and fulfilled we make sure to project this onto our family, since the mother is always the barometer of her family.

The mother is the balance keeper of her sanctuary of love, her home, where she cares for herself and her family, she is the cook, the counselor, the maid, the doctor, the gardener, the secretary, the queen, and everything else that is needed from her, and she gladly fulfills all these roles.

I just now realize that I have been carried away by my thoughts, and it’s almost time for dinner! What can I cook tonight? Any idea my friends? Let me get to work and come up with some idea that I will surely share with you all in my next blog post, stay tuned folks!

With Love.