Announcing a Nino Franco Prosecco competition for Plate to Page Ireland participants!

During the course of the Plate to Page Ireland weekend, participants will be drinking Prosecco from our generous sponsor, Nino Franco Prosecco. Anyone who has visited the magical city of Venice has most certainly encountered the famous wine of Prosecco. The legendary estate of Nino Franco, located in the celebrated region of Valdobbiadene,  has been producing Prosecco wines for more than three generations.  Unquestionably one of the top producers of Prosecco today, the quality of the man behind Nino Franco Prosecco is manifested in the wine itself. Primo Franco, grandson of the original founder Nino, professionally and lovingly moved this estate into the twenty first century, setting an example for other producers. Nino Franco Prosecco is found on the wine lists of some of the top restaurants and fine independent merchants through out the world. American wine critic Robert Parker scored Rustico 89/100, saying: "Rustico is clean and fruity, with a creamy texture and a lemon and melon aftertaste." 

Any visit to the Valdobbiadene region is filled with food, wine and travel story inspirations - and never more so than when visiting the Nino Franco estate. With an ancient stonewalled vineyard, a beautiful villa available for B&B, excellent situation in the charming town of Valdobbiadene,  and Venice an easy 1hour ride/ train away, a visit to the Nino Franco winery is an unmissable opportunity.  Nino Franco has teamed up with the Plate to Page team to offer one lucky Plate to Page participant and their guest the chance to spend the night at the sumptuous Villa Barberina as well as a private wine tasting with the Francos.  Here is how the competition will work:

Each participant in the From Plate to Page Ireland workshop is invited to submit a photographic composition of their choice taken during the workshop weekend, featuring a bottle of Nino Franco Rustico Prosecco.  Whether you focus purely on the bottle, or choose to depict the bottle in the context of a meal, a place or a social occasion is your choice.  A single image will be selected from all entries by a jury consisting of the Franco family and independent judge, well-known wine blogger and photographer Andrew Barrow.  The overall winner as selected by the jury will be invited to spend two nights at the luxury Villa Barberina in the heart of the Nino Franco Prosecco walled vineyard in the town centre of Valdobbiadene, Veneto, Italy.  (The surrounding vineyard produces the revered Grave di Stecca Prosecco.)  In addition to the stay in the villa, the winner will also receive a private wine tasting at the Nino Franco winery. 

We are looking forward tremendously  to seeing the images that are produced - almost as much as we are looking forward to sampling the Prosecco during the course of the weekend!

All images courtesy of Nino Franco Prosecco

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Getting to know our name sponsor for Ireland - Bord Bia (The Irish Food Board)!

With only just over a week to go until Plate to Page Ireland kicks off, here at Plate to Page HQ we are polishing our presentations, finalising our menus and generally getting way too excited for our own good. We just know that we have lined up a great venue for you as well as the excellent hands-on personalised content that we are famous for - it’s going to be a great weekend!

We are also confident that we have lined up some awesome sponsors for the weekend, both for your goodie bags and we wanted to take a moment to tell you a little more about our fabulous name sponsor Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, returning to sponsor us for a second time this year. Ireland is known for its lush green image and the quality food and drink it produces and at our Plate 2 Page Ireland workshop we will be sampling some of the best of what Ireland has to offer. Despite already being known as the Emerald Isle, since 2012 Ireland has been on a mission to become even greener - and we don’t just mean the grass!

 Ireland is a country supremely well suited to sustainability, with its temperate;  lush, green countryside that is perfect for farming; and their seas teeming with fish.  The Irish dairy industry shares the distinction of having the lowest carbon footprint in the EU with Austria. The Irish beef industry, the largest net exporter in the northern hemisphere, also has one of the lowest carbon footprints.  Abundant rainfall means that, in a world facing water shortages and agriculture requiring 70% of freshwater supplies for irrigation, the Irish water stress index is one of the lowest in the world. It is the proper management of these resources is important, and which will further enhance and demonstrate Ireland’s green reputation - which is where Origin Green comes in.

Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board - has launched a national sustainability development programme called Origin Green which covers the entire Irish food and drink industry.   Bord Bia is working with the industry to encourage them to sign up to the Origin Green charter by writing a sustainability plan outlining the improvements they will commit to make over the next 3 – 5 years. (Oliver Carty, who will be supplying the pork for our Sunday dinner, is a signatory to this scheme.)  Internationally acclaimed Irish actress Saoirse Ronan was so impressed with the idea that she gave her time freely to appear in a industry recruitment video to explain the reasons behind the programme Origin Green – you can view this video here on the Bord Bia You Tube channel:

From the consumer’s perspective, there is also Bord Bia’s quality assurance scheme, by which producers can apply to be certified to add the quality assurance mark to their products.   In addition to meeting legal requirements, farmers who sign up to this scheme are audited against a range of standards including animal health; welfare and traceability; water and feed; pasture management; environmental management and farm safety.  Consumers will find the mark on prepacked beef, pork, bacon, cooked ham, rashers, turkey, chicken, duck, sausages and burgers, as well as on eggs, fruit, vegetables and potatoes.  So when you buy a product bearing this mark, you can buy with confidence.

We’d like you to join us in welcoming Bord Bia -The Irish Food Board back as a sponsor and we hope the participants are as excited as we are to try out some delicious, sustainable Irish produce!

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Plate to Page Ireland registration is now open!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, writers and photographers...  The moment you've all been holding you breath for has finally arrived.  Registration for our Plate to Page Ireland food writing & photography workshop is now officially open!

So what is From Plate to Page?

It's an intensive hands-on 3-day workshop dedicated to food writing, styling and photography for an exclusive group of 12 participants, presented by no less than four instructors. What does this mean for you? It means you will get loads of personal attention and one-on-one time with each instructor as well as time for analysis and critique of all of your work.  Days will be filled with innovative exercises and assignments pushing you to think out of the box and go beyond your own personal creative limits and expectations.  There is group and individual participation at every step of the way, encouraging you to learn, reflect upon, understand, and improve your work.

From Plate to Page provides a unique forum for bloggers and professionals alike to have inspiring and invigorating discussions and exchange of ideas and experience. Not only will the workshop help you to enhance and hone your technical food writing, styling and photography skills, but it will also provide creative stimulation in a friendly and inspiring atmosphere.

Writing, styling, photography.

 Intensive, creative, convivial.

Why choose From Plate to Page?

There are many food blogging conferences and workshops around the world, but we feel that the From Plate to Page offering is unique in many ways:

• our unique dual focus and a 50-50 split between writing and photography instruction over the course of the weekend.  This emphasis on the interrelation between the two skills is often neglected and we feel that developing them together is tremendously beneficial.
• the high instructor to delegate ratio is unprecedented and ensures ample opportunity for interaction with and feedback from instructors.
• the communal living arrangements of all our venues means that not only do participants get to know their instructors as friends as well as instructors, but strong bonds of friendship are also formed between participants.
• Participants and instructors tend to stay in touch with each other after our workshops, often meeting up again at other workshops, or embarking on joint projects together.  In this way, attending a From Plate to Page workshop gives you access to a friendly and supportive alumni network that extends far beyond the weekend of the workshop. 
• our careful choice of venues and caterers means that we are able to keep our costs, and therefore our prices, down - compare us to other similar residential workshops or conferences and you will soon see the Plate to Page difference!

Where and when is the next From Plate to Page workshop?

Our next workshop takes place from 10 - 13 May 2013 outside Dublin, Ireland at beautiful, historic Decoy Cottages. The cost per person is 750€ which includes:

• shared accommodation in double rooms for three nights in beautiful country cottages close to the city of Dublin, 
• all meals 
• all drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic)  
• transport to and from the venue of the field trip

The cost does not include travel to Ireland or from Dublin to and from the venue, insurance, or any personal purchases (e.g. gifts, souvenirs) during the weekend.

Have a look at the P2P Ireland Programme to see what to expect, or our FAQ page if you have any further questions. And if you are still not sure, have a look at the lovely things that previous participants have said about our workshops... and then register!

But hurry - available spaces are limited and selling out fast!

""[The workshop] fuelled my creative energy ... such a supportive environment ...the workshop and my entire experience were nothing short of brilliant" 

- Ken, Hungry Rabbit, P2P Weimar

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Heather Gill: A Chef, A Photographer. A Storyteller.

 

I “met” Heather Gill via the lovely Denise Vivaldo and we seemed to immediately clicked. Her images have something romantic about them - clean, crisp and creative. They often remind me of a gorgeous painting. I am so glad Heather agreed to tell us a little about herself and her work. She is a multi-faceted person who has been in the business for a very long time and has a pool of experience to share.

I hope you enjoy reading this piece as she shows us how to find the perfect food story with images.

-Meeta

**************

I am a chef.  I am a photographer.  I am a storyteller.  I connect people to simple but very important moments in their life.  Everyone has a food story.  Yes I know that’s easy for me to say since I’m a chef.  But really stop and think about it.  I’m sure you can think of a food story.  Okay, I’ll start.

I’m remembering when I was a little girl.  I must have been 5 or 6 years old.  The smell of cinnamon is very strong, than I smell other Christmas spices.  I don’t even have to be in the kitchen to know that grandma is making Depression cake.  I know she has the big green Tupperware bowl out and a big wooden spoon.  If I close my eyes I can even see her stirring it.

See now it’s your turn.  What food story do you remember?  Maybe you don’t have one that stands out as clearly as mine but if you think about it you will find one.  That is what I get to do every day, tell food stories.  It is a pleasure and an honor to tell something that has been passed on for generations or maybe I am just getting the privilege of ‘hearing’ it for the first time.  My stories are with photographs.  The written word doesn’t always tell the whole story for me.  So what my words can’t say my camera does.

I know that’s a really long way to say that when I set out to make photographs these things are on my mind.  What story am I telling?  Who is going to hear this story?  Do these props, food, styling work with the story I’m telling?  Could I tell it in a simpler manner?

I’ve always thought that as a classically trained chef its part of my job to connect people to food every day.  This is where I tell stores or begin to form the stories for later.  Now as a photographer I’m finding so many people in everyday life that have food stories to tell me.  And these are what I get to share with people through my photography.

If you think about what story you want to tell when you begin to photograph something, the pictures will appear.

******

Heather played along and answered the quick fire questions for us. Enjoy!

Biggest inspiration?
By far my husband and my daughter!  They inspire me to want to be a better me everyday and go
out and inspire others to see the world in a beautiful way.

Which camera do you use the majority of the time?
5D Mark II

You can only have one lens for the rest of your life, what is it?
24-70 f2.8  it lives on the camera most of the time.  If allows me to get up close if I need to but pull
things closer to me if I can’t.

Which photo are you currently most proud of?
Strangely enough it’s not a food photo.  It’s a composite of 10 different images that includes my
daughter and a tree and many layers of beautiful color and texture.  Other than 1 layer of texture I
photographed all the images.

Prime or zoom?
It depends on what I’m photographing.  I have quite a few primes and when I want to force myself
to look at something differently I put on a prime so that I have to look at what I’m photographing
from all angles.  Not sure why I can’t just think to do this with a zoom lens but a prime makes you
think and look at things differently.  I love them both for different reasons.  My daughter has taken
an interest in photography and I’m only letting her use a 50mm lens. 

You could have anyone in the world take your portrait, who is it?
Sue Bryce - I’m going to go to Sydney, Australia someday and have her take my portrait.  It will
happen!

What was your proudest moment in your photography career so far?
I’ve just been given the position of photo editor of Edible Phoenix magazine.  It’s a local food
magazine here in Phoenix. 

If you could tell yourself anything when you first started out, what would you say?
You are going to meet some of the most amazing people.  Don’t try to rush onto the next thing,
enjoy what is happening right now.  Very soon you will be onto the next thing.

Where are you from?
Scottsdale, Arizona

Favorite photography website?
So many to choose from!  I regularly read online magazines and Sweet Paul and Kinfolk are very
high up there on inspiration for me.

Who have you learned the most from?
Also so many people to choose from, the one that has been an amazing mentor to me is Denise
Vivaldo.  I cannot say enough about how wonderful she has been to me and where I’m going in this
business.

How old are you?
I am 43 years old.

About Heather Gill:

Heather is a culinary trained chef, Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon and a professionally trained photographer, Rocky Mountain School of Photography in Missoula, Montana.  She has been working in the food industry for over 20 years and in the past 8 years turned to photography as a way to tell stories.  She lives and works in Scottsdale, Arizona.  She is the photo editor of Edible Phoenix, a James Beard award winning magazine.  She sells select pieces of her fine art at a local gallery called JAM.
Edible Phoenix: http://www.ediblecommunities.com/phoenix/    
Website:   http://heathergillphotography.com  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherGillPhotography?ref=hl  
Twitter: @heather_gill

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Alumni Christmas Traditions

We rounded up our Plate to Page alumni from Weimar, Tuscany and Somerset and asked them all to share their favorite Christmas traditions, recipes and memories with us to celebrate Christmas 2012.

Our first workshop was back in Spring 2011 and it’s hard to believe we’re in the middle of planning our fourth one in Ireland next Spring. The talented, beautiful and generous people we have met through these workshops has been something the four of us cherish the most. Often they come as strangers but within the span of 3 days we leave as friends.

It has been important for us for stay in touch with them even after we said our goodbyes, often sad and tearful, and beyond the duty of the workshop. We like to “keep an eye” on how they progress and develop and cheer loudly at new successes, achievements and new feats they take on. It touches us when we receive heartfelt emails with moving words thanking us for being their inspiration … truth is they are our inspiration just as much.

We present some of our gorgeous alumni and their sensational seasonal treats and traditions.
From Jamie, Ilva, Jeanne and myself - have yourself a Merry Christmas, cherish your family and loved ones and hold them a little closer. May you have a fantastic start to the New Year and wish you a joyous, healthy and successful 2013.

Weimar

Simone of Junglefrog Cooking teases with her Christmas pavlova

My mum was never a cook and hated cooking so most of our Christmas meals would always be the same; fondue with the family. Dessert bought in the supermarket. And that would be it. Not the best in terms of culinary delights I would say!
So when I went to live on my own I had to start from scratch in learning what to make for Christmas and the traditions we now have, really have nothing to do with the way it was when I was growing up.
I think one of my all time favorite Christmas dishes is this Christmas pavlova. It's very easy to make and looks so festive! I've never had anyone complain that I made it again...

Arthi of Debug Cooking presents her Double Chocolate Christmas Fruit Cake

 

The best thing about any festive occasion is family/friends get together. Since I live abroad away from my beloved family every year we try to spend Christmas with friends. Each of us make a dish and gather around eating and drinking all day, playing games, watching some good old movies. Since I am the official baker, I bake batches of traditional fruit cake, along with festive favourites like panettone or stollen, christmas pudding, steamed ginger pudding. We usually go to the late night mass and then have panettone and mulled wine and
chat around the tree opening gifts.

Jenn of Jenn Cuisine shares her Poached apple with frangipane cream

The tradition in my family is to try something totally new and different, to experiment.  Half of the fun of the holidays is cooking, and I've always enjoyed the times when I've been able to cook with my family.  My mom, dad and I dream up creations, hunt down recipes, and experiment in the kitchen.  This particular recipe was my first time ever poaching fruit, and was a resounding success for dessert on Christmas day.

Jasmine of Labna shares her Christmukkah cookies with the recipe here.

At this time of the year, my family starts to exhibit the most bizarre behaviours: my mother and I test doughnuts recipes and fry latkes for Chanukkah, but at the same time we whip up Christmas cookies for all of our relatives and friends, which will be carefully wrapped to make cute, homemade Christmas presents.
My mother was born Christian and she still cherishes Christmas very much, while my father is Jewish, so I was brought up in the Jewish faith, but still like "all things Christian" a lot. Being a family with mixed origins and faiths is quite weird: in December, we do our very best to celebrate both Christian and Jewish holidays, so we end up doing "Christmukkah", which basically means eight days of presents (Chanukkah), followed by one day of many, many presents (Christmas).
It feels a little strange but... an occasion for presents, family gatherings and good food is always welcome, isn't it?
Today, I share with you a simple recipe for cookies, which in Italian we call "pasta frolla": these treats will go perfectly well in any cookie box, either in the shape of a Christmas tree or a dreidel spinning top.

For approx. 50 cookies you'll need
200 g white flour
100 g sugar
100 g butter, room temperature
2 egg yolks
few tbsp milk
few drops of vanilla extract
In a large bowl, sift together flour and sugar then, using a fork, make a well in the center and add all the other ingredients, blending everything with your hands to form a thick dough.
Gather the dough into a ball, wrap the ball in cling film and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 mins; in the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 F.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface or between two sheets of wax paper and cut out the cookies with the cookie cutters of your choice.
Nicely arrange the cookies on a baking pan lined with wax paper then transfer the pan inside the oven.
Bake the cookies for 10/15 mins, until golden and easily removed from the wax paper surface.
Eat the cookies straight away or store them in a tin box.

Tuscany

Kate of Serendipity indulges in Chocolate and Pepper Cookie Towers

 

I have the Christmas Factory in full swing. This year, I’m making cards and cookies. We’re giving our neighbors cookie towers, with two or three different kinds of cookies. Don’t tell them!

Halyey of Delectable Diaries has a video post to share her divine and healthy Festive Pumpkin Pie. Don’t miss it …. yes she is just as adorable in real life as she is on that video.

Olivia takes us to Malta and serves us her imbuljuta

During this time of year, chestnuts become a must in our kitchen to make Dad's favourite Christmastime treat - the imbuljuta. Whole chestnuts bob up and down in this warm chocolate soup which is traditionally served after the midnight mass on Christmas eve or on New Year's eve. It reminds me so much of the cosy childhood nights my brother and I spent together watching a Christmas movie, just before getting ready for bed and wait for Father Christmas, who, in the meantime, was probably eating his favourite imbuljuta. Il-Milied it-tajjeb (Merry Christmas in Maltese)

Denise of TLT - The Little Things treats us with mini pavlovas

These two-bite pavlovas have been part of many festive desserts I have made over the last few years. I usually bake them a day in advance, when there is plenty of time to keep precise track of oven times and to do multiple taste tests (absolutely necessary, of course!). They are very easy to prepare, look pretty and are light as a feather. Crunchy on the outside and a bit gooey inside, exactly the way pavlovas should be.

Somerset

Djanira of Sunshine Table serves Ma Evan’s Nut Roast

I’ve been vegetarian for over twenty years so I’ve never eaten turkey. That doesn’t stop me enjoying a traditional roast, instead of the meat I opt for a nut roast. Today I’m sharing my mother in law’s recipe for nut roast. It’s a lot more moist than other nut roasts I’ve tried and its a huge family favourite (including the carnivores who cut big fat slices to go with their roast turkey).

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Dianne Jacob: Will Write for Food!

"Will Write for Food should be mandatory reading 

for everyone who aspires to be a food writer." 

--Epicurious.com

Any food blogger worth their salt knows who Dianne Jacob is. Writer, coach, editor, blogger, speaker and teacher, Dianne has become something of a guru with a huge following of both amateurs and professionals seeking her advice and guidance on everything from writing to getting published. Her book, Will Write For Food, contains a wealth of information for both bloggers and professionals and her blog has become an extension of the book, the place for healthy and fascinating debate on a world of food writing-related topics. Plate to Page had the good fortune to sit down with her and ask her a few questions. We are thrilled to have Dianne as our guest as she takes the time to give us an inside look at her career and shares some valuable insight and advice.

 Photo courtesy of Dianne Jacob

P2P: How did you get started? Tell us a bit about the evolution of your career...

DJ: I started writing stories and poetry when I was young because my dad, a frustrated writer, gave me and my sister writing assignments. In my 20s I went to journalism school and worked as an editor, writer and reporter at newspapers and magazines.

My second job out of journalism school was to become the editor of a restaurant magazine in a big city. I visited restaurants, interviewed chefs and wrote features. From there I worked on other kinds of publications but I did restaurant reviewing on the side. Once I became self-employed in 1996, I decided to start freelancing again, and that the subject had to be food, my primary obsession. I wrote columns, features, how-to pieces, interviews, essays and recipes. As I had always enjoyed working with writers, I added that to the mix, as a teacher and coach. I started building a business that specialized in food writing. I wanted to keep working with writers, because at that point, I had worked mostly as an editor for a few decades and I loved the editing process and helping writers shape stories.

I started working with writers as a freelance editor and began teaching food writing in the San Francisco Bay Area. My work expanded to working on book proposals, book manuscripts, and even coaching authors through the publishing process.

 Photo courtesy of Trevor Hart Photography

I wear lots of hats: coach, editor, blogger, speaker and teacher. I love the variety. Each satisfies me in its own way. I find it satisfying to help writers reach their goals, and when they get a blog started or a book deal or a freelance article published, it's gratifying. I also love the intellectual challenge of editing a piece to make it tighter and clearer. For fun, blogging is a joy. It connects me with a big community of thoughtful writers from around the world, and together we work through trends, ethical dilemmas, recipe writing, and career issues. I also love social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook for that reason.

P2P: Talk us through your book, Will Write for Food... 

DJ: The person who hired me to teach food writing said that I should have a book to boost my credibility. It was one of those slap-yourself-on-the-forehead moments, because there was no book on food writing then. Luckily, I knew a literary agent and she loved the idea. I had just a few months to write the first edition, which came out in 2005. I updated the second edition in 2010.

The book's staying power has been thrilling, and I never get tired of hearing that someone has just bought my book, or receiving emails that the book has helped them. Regarding teaching and speaking at food blogging conferences, I love to speak because those who attend are my target audience. I know what they're going through with their blogs and how they can move forward. I feel very lucky right now to have so many opportunities to travel and teach, many of them that have come from food bloggers themselves.

P2P: What has changed in the food writing profession over the past few years and how do you think it will evolve from here?

DJ: Food bloggers have gained credibility as successful freelance writers, book authors and self-publishers. At first, the publishing world didn't want to accept them because most started as hobbyists, but eventually food bloggers grew too powerful - and too talented - to ignore.

I'd like food blogging to evolve into a reasonable way to enable bloggers to make a living from it. Right now that is only possible for a select few.

P2P: What are one or two things you have learned along the way that are indispensable to the food writer - or a cookbook author, for that matter, seeing as you coach authors?

DJ: I used to think that food writing was all about describing food. Now I think it is all about the ability to tell a story, to understand what surrounds the food and gives it meaning. Writing this way draws readers in because it causes an emotional response.

P2P: Do you have any advice for those wishing to become professional food writers?

DJ: Oh yes, I have advice almost every week on my blog! There is paid work as a food stylist, food photographer, and marketer. What's harder is to get paid to write, although freelance opportunities do exist. It's a question of finding the right publication for your story, and pitching a story that is appropriate for the publication.

Then there's writing cookbooks, if you have a good idea and a big enough platform.

Follow Dianne on Twitter at @diannej and on Facebook at Will Write For Food

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And the winner is ... a COMFORTING ITALIAN TRIFLE

Comfort was allowed to come to them rare, welcome, unsought; a gift like joy. 

- Ursula K. LeGuin 

A very Wise Plate to Page student once quite astutely remarked that our workshop was “all work and no shop”. So when we found ourselves with one complete Somerset workshop goodie bag on our hands (thank you, generous sponsors!) and decided that we wanted to offer this amazing collection of delectable treats, fabulous utensils and great cookbooks to one lucky food blogger, we decided to hold a little competition to get everyone working. Reminiscent of a workshop session, we asked each of you to write and shoot a piece on the theme Comfort Food.

After much deliberation, reading, re-reading, looking and analyzing, the four of us have selected a winner of the Comfort Food competition.  And the winner is... [drum roll] Alessio Fangano of Recipe Taster, who created not only a recipe but a mood of comfort with his words and pictures. Alessio is the happy recipient of a Plate to Page Somerset goodie bag which he will shortly be receiving in the mail. A hearty congratulations, Alessio, from the Plate to Page team!

There were also two runners-up: Eva of Food Vegetarisch with Sticky Toffee Pudding and our Plate to Page Somerset participant Alexandra of Strudel and Cream with Eton Mess. Congratulations to all of you and a huge thank you to all who participated. We loved reading through all of your luscious posts!

And here is Alessio’s beautiful winning post Comforting Italian Trifle, gorgeously illustrated with his photos and, of course, followed by his recipe:

COMFORTING ITALIAN TRIFLE

Comfort.

What is comfort to our eyes? The feeling of home? A completely relaxed body? Or conversely a hyperactive session of our favorite sport? A visit to a museum can be comforting to many, but just because we stand still for hours in front of a magnificent piece of art it doesn't mean that our mind isn't going 100 miles an hour. Generally we tend to associate the word comfort with something soft, fluffy, enveloping and translating this abstract and deep feeling into food is quite an interesting endeavor.

Certain ingredients can, by themselves, elicit such an emotional response so much so that we may find ourselves savoring luscious sour cream by the spoonful directly from the tub in these deep moments of need. The texture of fatty rich food makes us melt into expressions of pure enjoyment, probably an instinctual response to the fact that we are well provided for the cold season.

When it comes to tastes and flavors we tend to affirm our personality more clearly in the realm of comfort food.
Chocolate can be the universal answer to the need of comfort food for its peculiar textural properties, but what do you go for black, milk or white chocolate (to use a broad classification)?
Do you find the pleasing pain-sensation elicited by chilies to be your ideal comfy pillow? Or is it the umami filled taste of seared beef?
Comforting flavors are deeply cultural and rooted in personal history. So what do you offer somebody if you want them to feel at home? A warm bowl of Pho? A platter of artisanal cheeses with their promise of a sensorial firework? And what about a slice of your grandmother's buttery apple cake still warm from the oven? A simple loaf of hearty country bread might be all that is needed to bring a smile to many other afflicted souls.

Why am I talking about this today? First of all cause I feel the need for some comforting today (nasty anonymous comments to your efforts can really dampen your enthusiasm) but most importantly because a group of dear friends have launched a giveaway with the theme of comfort food. Who are these dear friends of mine? Jamie, Jeanne, Ilva and Meeta from From Plate to Page, the European leading Photography & Writing workshop for food-bloggers.

Comfort food is very important when organizing a workshop among total strangers. This kind of meal tend to lower our guard, softening each other edges and doubts they make social interaction easier and more natural.

What I propose you as my comfort food today is a dish that I created for my last cooking class: An Italian Christmas. With the cold season I think that we all would love some buttery softness to comfort our shivering bodies and my Italian Christmas trifle might just be what you need.

Made with the omnipresent Italian Christmas cakes Pandoro and Panettone, this no-cook dessert brings together different traditions of the boot shaped country with the light touch of Southern ricotta cheese and the decadent aroma of Tuscan Vin Santo wine.

With its simple richness, this dessert lends itself greatly to be served on an elegant dinner layered inside pretty historiated glasses. As such I am finally able to join my friend Simone's monthly event revolving around food-styling. This month, the creator of Junglefrog Cooking, has concentrate her monthly food-styling challenge around food or drink in a glass. Do you have any of your beautiful creation that fits these requirements? Join us!

Italian Christmas trifle with Ricotta cream and Mandarin Ingredients
(serve 4-5):

For the mandarin segments:

4 mandarins
3 tablespoons Vin Santo wine or other dessert wine
1-2 tablespoons sugar or to taste

For the ricotta cream:

250g ricotta cheese
4 tablespoons cream
30g sugar or to taste
Little dusting of cinnamon
1 mini Pandoro cake
1 mini Panettone cake

Method:

Let's start by marinating the mandarin segments. Grate the mandarin peel into a bowl and using a knife, peel the fruits exposing their flesh. Cut the mandarin segment out of their skin and let them fall into the same bowl with the mandarin zest. Once you will have cut all the fruit segments out of their white skins, squeeze what has left in your hands into the bowl to recover some of the mandarin juice juice.
Add the Vin Santo wine and the sugar to the mandarin segments, stir gently and set aside until ready to assemble the dessert.
To prepare the ricotta cream, simply combine the ricotta with the cream, the sugar and the cinnamon in a bowl.
To assemble the dessert, cut the Pandoro and Panettone cake in slices and tear them into big chunks. In a big serving bowl or singular portion glasses, put together the dessert by alternating layers of the Pandoro-Panettone cake pieces with the marinated mandarin segments and the ricotta cream.
Be sure to moisten each layer of cake with a little of the mandarin marinating liquid before adding the ricotta cream. If you run out of marinating liquid mix some orange juice with a little Vin Santo and use that as moistening liquid.

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