Please join me on Friday, May 21 @ 8pm for a special tasting of Olio Taibi Extra Virgin Olive Oil and for “an evening of Italian luxury indulgence.” All About Italy will feature wine and cheese tastings, Italian luxury cars, live music, and even a fashion show! I will be presenting Olio Taibi’s Nocellara and Biancolilla EVOOs. Don’t miss this special night of Italy’s finest!

The event will take place at Montage on 75 Arlington Street in Boston. Online tickets are sold out but you can still get in by showing up (early) at the door with $40 cash. I hope to see you!

This March, there are two great opportunities to support the Lexington Farmer’s Market.  On Saturday, March 6, you can join author Debra Samuels at her home for a Korean Dinner night.  Tickets are limited so reserve your seat in advance.

Also, on Mondays in March, dine at Via Lago from 5 to 9pm and 20% of the proceeds will benefit the Lexington Farmer’s Market. Please join me in supporting this great organization.  Buon appetito!

I just created my foodbuzz account. To celebrate, I’ll ship a free sample of my family’s artisan olive oil to the first 10 people who Buzz me!

UPDATE: This givaway is now over. I will announce the winners in this blog soon. Thanks everybody for your enthusiastic participation and support. Please subscribe to this blog and follow my twitter updates to be the first to know about the next givaway.

Cradles To Crayons is a wonderful nonprofit organization whose vision statement reads as follows:

Our vision is that one day, every child will have the basic things they need to be safe, ready to learn and feel valued.

I am proud to report that the Taibi family supports such a wonderful organization by donating 1 case of Biancolilla Monocultivar Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the silent auction that will take place today, Tuesday No. 3 at 6:30pm at aloft hotel, 727 Marrett Road, Lexington.

There will also be the opportunity to meet Prof. Raj Sisodia, Bentley University, author of “Conscious Capitalism”.

Music, Drinks, Appetizers, Silent Auction to benefit Cradles to Crayons: Come and network with the Lexington Business Community, members of the Lexington Newcomers Club, LexFun and Lexington Women of the World for a good cause! Feel free to drop off Winter Clothing at the hotel.
Tickets are 35$ or 60$ per couple, RSVP: Lexington@cradlestocrayons.org

SATURDAY:
Winter Clothing Drive: Saturday, Nov. 7 from 9am-1pm at St. Brigid’s Parish, 2001 Mass Ave, Lexington.
Please donate “gently loved-in great condition” Winter Clothing & books (kids 0-13) to keep kids warm in low-income communities/shelters in MA.
Help sorting cloths and reserve a time slot (9-11 or 11-1) for your family by emailing to: Lexington@cradlestocrayons.org
Or drop-off at 42 Ward Street, Lexington by this Friday.
Your support is immeasurable in the crusade to deliver winter wear from the homes of families with means to the hands of kids who would otherwise go without.

Together we can ensure that every child in our state has the chance to feel safe, valued and ready to learn.

Special thanks to:

Sandra Faillace, Dara Brice and Preeta Banerjee

Lexington Cradles to Crayons Committee

Lexington@cradlestocrayons.org

www.cradlestocrayons.org

A video (or more than one…) about the Olio Taibi organic extra virgin olive oil tasting at Dave’s Fresh Pasta will be available shortly on this blog. Until then, enjoy the pictures.

I am pleased to announce that today 10/28 from 5pm to 7pm Eastern Time, I will be at Dave’s Fresh Pasta in Davis Square, Somerville, MA for a free tasting event featuring Olio Taibi organic extra virgin olive oils Biancolilla and Nocellara. Please come and taste my family’s artisan olive oils. I look forward to seeing you and your friends.

Dave’s Fresh Pasta official website

Dave’s Fresh Pasta is located at 81 Holland Street Somerville, MA 02144. Tel. 617.623.0867 email: info[at]davesfreshpasta.com

Google Map for Dave’s Fresh Pasta

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Our friends at Slow Food are extending their membership drive.  A donation of any amount will make you a member. And, as the result of a generous supporter, all donations are being matched dollar for dollar until October 15. Please consider making a donation and joining this important organization.

Families share ‘Amore’ on Labor Day – Lexington, MA – Lexington Minuteman

Please add your name today. We reached our Labor Day goal of 20,000 signatures and have 10,000 more on paper. Now let’s aim for 50,000! Sign the Time For Lunch Slow Food petition for bringing REAL FOOD in public schools.

My daughter, Ella, just contributed one of our favorite family recipes to her preschool’s annual cookbook. One of the secrets to this delicious but simple dish is to keep the water used for boiling the cauliflower for cooking the pasta.  For those who might be scared off by the sometimes fishy flavor of anchovies, you will be pleasantly surprised by this delightful dish.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz. of bucatini pasta (you can substitute spaghetti if you can’t find bucatini)
• 1 cauliflower cut into florets
• 4 anchovy fillets
• 2 oz. tomato puree
• 4 oz. raisins and pine nuts
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped Italian parsley (much better taste than regular parsley)
• the cauliflower cooking water
• 6 oz. of Olio Taibi Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions:

Soak raisins in hot water to plump. Wash and cut the cauliflower into florets, then boil in a pot. Using a strainer, drain and reserve the cooking water. In a saucepan, brown the onion and the anchovy fillets in the oil. Add the raisins, pine nuts, tomato puree and the boiled cauliflower.  Pour in a few ladles of the cauliflower cooking water and cook, mashing the cauliflower with a wooden spoon until creamy. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook the pasta for about 8 minutes in the the cauliflower water. Drain and mix with the cauliflower sauce and half the parsley. Leave to rest for a while and serve warm. Sprinkle the other half of the parsley on top of each portion right before serving.

Variation: use powdered saffron in place of the tomato puree.

Curious note: in Sicily, the name of this recipe is “Pasta coi broccoli”. In fact, we refer to cauliflower as “broccoli” and we refer to broccoli as “sparacello”.

 Enjoy this super-short video snippet from “Il Commissario Montalbano” tv series (in Italian), where the Sicilian inspector is annoyed by receiving a phone call while he is enjoying his “pasta coi broccoli”.

Congratulations to Derek Christeler who ran in last month’s Boston Marathon!  Derek raised funds for the American Liver Foundation (ALF) and teamed up with Olio Taibi to help out with his fund raising efforts.  Thank you to everyone who bought bottles of Olio Taibi to support the ALF.

This was Derek’s first marathon and he completed it in the impressive time of 3 hours 30 minutes.   As we say in Italy, “Bravo!”  Derek plans to run more marathons in the future but in the meantime, he will focus on triathlons.