Desserts – CYNTHIA D. BERTELSEN

Carnevale Cometh: Ricotta and Fritters, Oh My Goodness!

February 27, 2022

Fritters and Carnevale, lumped together like ham and eggs, mashed potatoes and gravy, risi e bisi, rice and beans. Ricotta fritters, to be exact. True, most people associate ricotta fritters more with St. Joseph’s Day, March 19 in Italy. But those fritters lean toward the filled variety, sweetened, creamy ricotta delivering a tantalizing surprise with … More Carnevale Cometh: Ricotta and Fritters, Oh My Goodness!

Carnevale Cometh: Cenci by Any Other Name Would Taste as Sweet as Wine…

February 25, 2022

Hereupon, a whole host of absurd figures surrounded him, pretending to sympathize in his mishap. Clowns and party-colored harlequins; orang-outangs; bear-headed, bull-headed, and dog-headed individuals; faces that would have been human, but for their enormous noses; one terrific creature, with a visage right in the centre of his breast; and all other imaginable kinds of … More Carnevale Cometh: Cenci by Any Other Name Would Taste as Sweet as Wine…

Foods for a Funeral and a Farewell

March 8, 2013

What to make of the lavish feasts that come after a funeral? When I attended my first funeral, at age 27, I cried a lot, even though I didn’t know the deceased, my sister-in-law’s father. My grandparents all died before I turned 20 and lived 1250 miles away. Living as my family did on a … More Foods for a Funeral and a Farewell

Macarons – Food of Dreams and Fairy Tales

July 11, 2012

Macarons. Truly an example of “Don’t try this at home.” But how I longed to recreate the taste and the crunch of the macarons I greedily ate as often as I could, when I passed that fairy-tale bakery on the Rue de Rivoli, close to the Hotel de Ville metro stop: Maison Georges Larnicol. Although … More Macarons – Food of Dreams and Fairy Tales

Scenes from La France Profonde

April 8, 2011

Thomas Jefferson: The Francophile Who Became the First U.S. “Foodie”

February 21, 2011

Thomas Jefferson. President. Scientist. Writer. Man of many passions, some hidden, some not. In his writings and in his actions, food clearly revealed itself as one of those passions. Above all, Jefferson was a Francophile. From the design of his dining room in his house, Monticello, to the gardens surrounding him in the foothills of the … More Thomas Jefferson: The Francophile Who Became the First U.S. “Foodie”

Oreillettes, A Part of Provence’s Thirteen Desserts

December 13, 2010

Fried dough, a universal love. Grease, sugar, what more could you dream of? In the south of France, when you want fried dough, you’ll get oreillettes. As with any traditional holiday dish, each cook has his or her version. The signature taste with these oreillettes is the orange flower water. In New Orleans, oreillettes come … More Oreillettes, A Part of Provence’s Thirteen Desserts

Plum Pudding & Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Christmas Message, 1944

December 25, 2008

During the Roosevelt years. FDR spent time talking to the American people via radio; these became his famous “Fireside Chats.” On Christmas Eve, Roosevelt would do one of his chats and then read Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” to his grandchildren. This what he said in 1944, the turning point of World War II: “The … More Plum Pudding & Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Christmas Message, 1944