(1) About

• About you the Reader, and this Blog

If you like or are curious about Italian food and think you might be inspired to give a recipe a go, sign up to my blog for plenty of step-by-step photos and directions to guide you – rest assured that I rarely cook up anything ‘difficult’, not only because I don’t have the time but because I don’t ‘do’ difficult, fussy dishes, or at least not very often. I live in a town called Frascati, which is very close to Rome, and a lot of my recipes reflect the traditions of this cuisine. When I look up a recipe, I want to know about its background too, so you can be certain that whatever I write about is, to the best of my knowledge, true.  Like everyone else, however, I do like a good story and normally preface each recipe with a bit of a yarn, a tale or two.  Not everyone has the time for these so don’t worry – you can skip all that and scroll straight down to the recipe.

• About me and this Blog

My mother was a generous, hospitable and very good cook and instilled a love of cookery in me just by her example.  She is from Frascati and I grew up speaking both English and Italian.  I have been living permanently in Frascati since 1977.  Our homes, growing up as I did in more than one country, were not dominated by only one type of cuisine and I love foods from all over the world … but I have to confess that the Italian table is my favourite.  I began teaching Italian home food classes over twenty years ago and realize I am turning into a bit of an old fogey … when I look into the mirror I gasp sometimes and say to myself ‘oh gosh! Who is that’. Yet, cooking keeps me young and young at heart.

You see, I love to teach people recipes or cook meals that will be a source of pleasure for them.  Health is very important but so is pleasure.

If you can’t come and cook with me then just enjoy my blog.  I am not a professional cook but I have been to a few cooking courses in my time –  and also I’ve cooked a lot! On a daily basis.  The allure of Italian cuisine is based on not just the quality of its ingredients but also on the relative ease of its execution.  I have techniques and tips up my sleeve for you!

This blog follows on from my previous one called “My Home Food That’s Amore” (www.myhomefoodthatsamore.wordpress.com).  I love(d) that title ! Because I am all about home food.  The WordPress people were badgering me to create a website instead of a blog, because I had run out of space – and indeed, during a more ambitious phase, I really thought I would be able to set up a website called “Frascati Food Embassy” – but a blog is just about as much as I can cope with.  Hence this ‘new’ blog – which is just the continuation of the one before.  It’s still “me”, tee hee.

If you would like to contact me please send an email to: josephine.wennerholm@gmail.com. Yes, my name is Josephine (I was named after my nonna Giuseppina) but everyone calls me Jo.

This photo is of my husaband Pino and me taken at a friend’s birthday party near Lake Nemi in May 2023.  He most of all but my sisers, my children and friends too, naturally, have been the raison d’etre of the life I lead in my tiny kitchen in Frascati.