Santa’s Beer Run

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Are there any beer lovers reading this? Ever had a hard time finding your favorite beer and wondered why? How can I get that great beer I had while visiting Aunt Sally last year? I guess I’ll just find the brewery website and have them ship me a case. Right? Wrong!

I’ll spare you most of the details but beer is one of the most highly regulated industries that I’ve come across. Many of the laws still date to the Post-Prohibition Era when they were written to keep organized crime from running the operation. Yet today we still have regulations that protect a three-tiered system–brewery, distributor, retailer. And it’s way more complicated than that. There’s your answer to why you don’t see every beer in every city. Continue Reading…

On The Green Life, Sustainability and Man’s Best Friend

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Think of Italy and all sorts of images come in to your head. Perhaps your mind’s eye heads straight for the iconic buildings and monuments of Rome, or the beautiful Bay of Naples. For others, though, they will conjure up images of rolling hills, pretty sand-colored hilltop villages, and acres and acres of vineyards. And it’s this serene countryside that Tuscany is famed for. It’s a lush green paradise where the simple life is becoming more and more aligned with the green life. In Italy, just like everywhere else in Europe, people here try their hardest to keep their fuel and energy bills to a minimum. Continue Reading…

How Do You Feed A Hungry Giant?

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I love reading books… I loved reading books.

The time I used to devote to this activity has progressively shrunk to a real minimum, barely enough to keep a somewhat decent vocabulary, get inspired and temporarily pretend that my daughters screaming in the background are actually far, far away! In the past few of months I only read a book “for myself”, the Steve Jobs Biography… I got to the part where he launched the iPad, then Giulia (my youngest) has removed my bookmark. What a lame excuse uh? Well, book is still sitting in front of me, and I also know how it ends… so I am taking my time. Continue Reading…

Birthday Beer Inspiration

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It’s my birthday. Not just any birthday–THE birthday where I feel justified to buy a Ferrari convertible, get my ear pierced and grow out that ponytail. Yes, it’s the midlife crisis birthday. Luckily I started writing for Under the Tuscan Gun just in time to keep me occupied and delay that transition. Here’s a video from my birthday two years ago, at Andres Carne de Res in Bogota, Colombia. I just wanted all of you to know I really know how to party like it’s 1999! Continue Reading…

Milan’s Christmas Bread: Panettone

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Fruitcake is a holiday tradition in many parts of the world, though it takes different shapes and goes by different names, and is far from being universally loved. The Italian version of fruitcake is panettone, and although it does contain the candied fruits that can make fruitcake something to avoid, its airy texture and lightly sweet flavor make it more appealing than other fruitcakes. Continue Reading…

Crafting Artisan Cured Meat

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Every Christmas my brother’s family, parents and grandparents all gather to my home. We have a large table that fits us all comfortably. Dinner always starts with an antipasto plate dominated by piles of cured meats. The flavors of the salami seem to sharpen our memory and as the wine begins to flow so do the family stories of weddings, births, mishaps and, of course, great meals. Continue Reading…

What’s in a Sandwich?

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Thinking back to all of my first days of school conjures up memories of old friends, new teachers, crisp school supplies and most importantly, lunch! Hearing that lunch bell reverberate throughout the hallways was a beacon of hope that chow time was near and another boring lecture was behind me. My brown paper bag childhood was filled with traditional American sandwich staples. Turkey and American cheese. Jif peanut butter and grape jelly. Ham and mayo on white bread. Plain ol’ yellow American cheese on a roll. The occasional peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, if my mom had decided that I hadn’t yet reached my daily sugar quota. Continue Reading…

I’m Thankful For Beer

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Hello everyone. I’m new here. I write the DailyBeerReview.com beer blog, and Gabriele recently invited me to write a weekly column about beer. Since you’re very smart readers, you can also see that I accepted. If Miller Lite or Bud are the beers of your dreams, I challenge you to pay attention and see if I might be able to show you some new favorites. I’ll be focusing on “Craft Beer” without the snobbery which that name might imply. I promise. Continue Reading…

Athena’s gift

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Before becoming a precious gift for humanity, the olive has been an object of victory and defeat. Greek mythology, in fact, narrates the quarrel between Poseidon and Athena for the possession of Attica, a piece of land in Greece. Obviously, we are not talking about just anybody: Athena was the goddess of agriculture, arts and crafts as well as of order, law and justice, whereas Poseidon reigned over the earthquakes, the water and the Mediterranean sea. Continue Reading…