There’s music in the kitchen  … and I sing …

A few words to tell how I have come the desire to transfer on paper some recipes from my kitchen. I do not have a school education but only "on the field" where I started at the tender age of 15.It was the '60s, I attended high school in Rimini, and in the summer it was the “season of the sea”. I was working at Mario's Pub, about 400 places with a menu of meat and fish, as well as pizzeria and pub. With duties of cashier I was grumbled and puffed every time the owner called me into the kitchen to help her. Chop herbs, beat eggs, cleaned shrimp and vegetables were the tasks that I was able to play without making a mess .... How boring! The years passed, and after the exams, I followed them in Livigno ( northern Italy ,on the border with Switzerland) where the new Mario's proposed a very elegant and classic menu in competition with the Chesa Veglia  in St. Moritz.

Passion, but also to offer special dishes and keep the fame, Ms. Gabriella, Mario’s Wife,  often called major chefs to take lessons of haute cuisine. I remember in particular two took turns in several weeks over a decade: Chef Renato Gualandi, which has become a family friend and chef Maselli from the restaurant Il Pappagallo in Bologna. Both from Bologna, at the time considered the "guru" of the kitchen, they never spared in delivering recipes and "secrets", but always demanding  attention and care in the preparation of the dishes. Smell and taste always alert, every dish had to be done with love, as if you had cooked to conquer a person or win a prize. These were the years between 1970 and 1980 ... Good old  times!

Of course it was required me to participate as well, seeing the preparations. I had to take notes in the event that in the future some steps would be forgotten. Over time (I was with them for about fifteen years), the time spent in the kitchen became more frequent and less monotonous. Of course I was not only the help in the moment of panic, but I really cooked. Now, in hindsight, I wish to thank Gabriella and Mario for having lots of patience and giving me the opportunity to acquire knowledge, taste and imagination but also taught me to love the music of the pots on the fire ...

I could also say that, from Bologna and with a mom who lived to cook, probably the chromosome called “cook” was already well defined and expected only to be "awakened." But to each his own merit.

Some recipes are traditional, others are the result of the "lessons" of the time, others are recipes of my mother and others born from my imagination. I hope to translate the right procedures and sequences to be met in order to obtain good results. Over the years the habits and nutrition have changed, the kitchen is in constant evolution, the combinations "can not do" are now well appreciated. All this leaves plenty of ideas for creativity, justifying also some oddities, with all due respect to Mr Artusi and Mr Carnacina.

However, and always with love!                        

                         Nori