The heat of chile peppers or the heat of passion? For a long time, the former has been said to aid the latter. Almost everything either pungent or hard to acquire has been declared an aphrodisiac at one point or another, but in this case there is a case for it.
All posts by Giovanni
Steamed Snow Peas In Herb Butter
It’s about the end of the season for snow peas and sugar snap peas – at least in my garden! As the vines’ last push deluges the villa’s cucina, I find myself going back to some very basic ways of preparing a few dozen pods at a time. Here’s one that’s very easy indeed. It’s an example of the miracle of compound butters, which I’ll go into in detail some time. Continue reading
Breaking News: Meat & Meat
Earlier today a lady of previously close acquaintance posted a link indicating that this, March 15, is Steak and BJ Day. I blinked a couple times before going off to verify that yes, this is indeed a thing (a recently devised holiday of cult following, kind of like Talk Like A Pirate Day). I first chuckled at the cleverness of the thing, then laughed aloud that I hadn’t heard of it before and also at its hilarious site, then sighed that aside from mentioning it, there is little odds of its observance in today’s garden.
But now you know.
Bee’s Knees
Warm and a little breezy today at the villa: It feels like spring has started a week early! Let’s enjoy that with a classic Prohibition-era cocktail, the Bee’s Knees. Continue reading
Love Blooms
Flowers have been given as gifts for a very, very long time. They’re given as romantic gestures, commemoration, celebration, and more.
Why?
Our Kisses
Our kisses
Rhodope
let us steal
and slip
with furtive ease
like burglars
into bed.
To cheat the eyes
of stern
leering prudes
adds honey to
love’s cup.
(Paulos (late 6th century), trans. Andrew Millar)
Eat Wisely
Avocado: Aphrodisiac?
The shape of the Avocado (again invoking the Doctrine of Signatures by different names in different cultures) and its silken, buttery texture have made it an aphrodisiac to many people for centuries. The Aztecs called it “ahuacatl” (meaning “testicle”), and considered it such a powerful sexual force that maidens were forbidden to leave their houses during the avocado harvest.
Truffles
This is a great example of the specific treatment of ingredients resulting in a particular product. That is, done a bit differently or with different proportions, you get a chocolate sauce. A little butter and you soon have a ganache. These little confections, though, named for the odd and expensive fungus they resemble, are perhaps the most essential – or quintessential – of all.