Why I have a crush on Jamie Oliver

If you live in the States, I'm a little jealous. Not just because you're closer to my family, but because you can watch a television show that I am completely in love with:  Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

I am not the kind of girl that watches television--in fact, I've never owned one until I moved in with Guido, and we only used our basic cable once to watch the World Cup (Hey, I'm in Italy, what can I say?). So, thank goodness for airline entertainment. I was fortunate enough to watch the Food Revolution while traveling over the Atlantic on the way back from the United States. After watching the forty-minute pilot episode, I was totally inspired and moved by Jamie's mission to transform the unhealthy eating habits in the United States. Now this is the kind of television I can get behind.

Here's the premise of the show: Jamie travels to Huntington, West Virgina (population 50,000), recently named the unhealthiest city in America because of its high rate of obesity-related deaths. A 2008 report from the Center for Disease Control reported the following facts on Huntington: 45.5% of the residents over 20 were overweight (that's half!), 21.6% of those over 45 reported a diagnosis of coronary heart disease, and 13% of those over 18 had diabetes (the national rate is 7.8%). Jamie's goal is to try to get the residents to change their addiction to fast and unhealthy food and show them that with just a little extra effort their lives can be healthier and much, much longer.

Simple Squash Soup

I miss my dad. This time of year my dad and I both really love cooking and planning our big family gatherings like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Now that I'm in Italy, we'll have to plan our separate menus over the phone. Living in Italy is really wonderful, but I can't lie--being away from my family during the holidays hurts.

One dish my dad and I love to prepare this time of year is squash soup. It was a tough decision in the past, because he and I were the only ones who really enjoyed it. Growing up, my brothers were so much younger (by six and nine years) that the flavor didn't appeal to them. My mom wasn't crazy about eating a sweet soup either. In her mind, soup should be savory--like the gumbo she grew up with in the south--and squash soup was a strange anomaly that rebelled against her philosophy and taste. Squash soup was right up there with tapioca, or fish eyes and glue, as she used to call it.

Roasted Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto

Moan alert. Of all the things Guido and I have prepared since my arrival, I have to say that this is one of the most orgasmic recipes, moan-worthy recipes I have to offer. And the fantastic thing is that it is oh so simple.

Yesterday Guido and I went to the questura, which is the Italian word for "hell" (okay, it's what they call the local police station). I'm in the process of finishing the fabulously labyrinthine process for my permesso di soggiorno, which is sort of like my green card/identity card for my next year in Italy. Anyway, we had an appointment slip for 8:16am and thought that we'd walk right up to the window at the ever so exact time printed on the paper. I mean, why else would they say 8:16am, unless that time slot was specifically for us?

Pasta with Mushrooms, White Wine, and Cream

I got into this simple dish when I was living in Turkey. I lived in an isolated home about 45 minutes from Isparta's city center, with windows so badly insulated that it sounded like I lived in a tea kettle whenever the wind blew--which was every day, all the time. I swear the house could have been in the 1939 production of Wuthering Heights. Anyway, one day I finally found out where to buy alcohol in my town--it's not easy once you're out of the tourist destinations. I had a chunk of parmesan from my last visit to Italy that Guido (my Italian boyfriend) had wrapped in foil and stuffed in my suitcase. Finally, I had a precious bag of gluten-free pasta that my best friend Melanie sent me for my birthday. All I knew was that this meal had better be delicious if it was going to use my precious ingredients (wine, parmesan, and gluten-free pasta). Fortunately, the creamy deliciousness totally satisfied.

La Cucina Ecologico--Keeping Your Kitchen Green

It can be expensive and difficult to always buy green and organic products, though for the most part, I say it's worth it. However, one huge way you can green your kitchen and home is by using natural cleaning products in our kitchen, and of course the rest of the house.

Unfortunately, it's hard to find products like Simple Green and Seventh Generation here in Italy, and it's almost harder to convince my partner that it's worth the (lots of) extra Euros. In addition, I'm not entirely convinced that I want to inhale those products either, or that they are all that much more effective than some simple products I could make at home.

I stumbled on a great website that had all kinds of natural recipes for cleaning fluids and cleansers. Here are some cleaning products you can make at home...not quite the yummy Italian food recipes I usually post, but they'll keep your kitchen orgasmic and green affordably! Just buy two spray bottles, a box of baking soda, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and one box of white vinegar.

Then go crazy with the recipes below:

Surprisingly Fabulous Tuna Pasta (and Hand Gestures You Shouldn't Make in Italy)

I just have to come out and say it--this pasta may not look fabulous, and it may not sound fabulous, but it is surprisingly super duper fabulous...even though it's made with canned tuna.

When Guido pulled out the canned tuna to try out this recipe one evening, I had my doubts. So did he, which is why when I came in to the kitchen to help cook, he jokingly referred to his dish as "la cena del cornuto."

Prociutto Salad with Apple, Walnut, and Parmigiano

While traveling in California introducing Guido to my family, we impressed my Santa Barbara relatives with a simple prosciutto salad. This version is a more embellished version, but you can simplify it by cutting the extra ingredients.

Ah...Proscuitto di Parma. Sigh... There are few things in Italian cuisine that I love as much as prosciutto crudo, a thinly sliced salt-cured ham produced in central and northern Italy, most famously in Parma. It's slightly ironic that I love it so much, since I hadn't eaten pork products for almost 15 years before I started coming to Italy in 2010. One evening Guido set some prosciutto on the table along with a few slices of bread, some parmigiano (parmesan), and a little wine. I took a bite, hesitant...I don't really like to eat mammals. But once the thin, salty slice touched my tongue I was helpless against it and secretly ate the rest when Guido went to work the next day. All I can say is that prosciutto is one of the reasons the word "Orgasmica" appears in my blog.