Musings from my kitchen

A newsletter to keep in touch

For anyone who already knows me, perhaps from my very old blog (11 years old this year) or from Instagram, or my cookbooks, you may already know I love writing and I love connecting to people. But social media has its limits (when and how people can see things, not to mention that silly word count which I always go over), as does the blog (you have to go over to check if I have updated it, and that, I admit, over the past few years happens less frequently than back in the old days when it was weekly…).

I enjoy a few newsletters that land in my inbox regularly and that I usually read in the morning while I’m catching up over my emails with an espresso, and so I decided to make the move towards this kind of communication, more like a personal letter.

The plan is a newsletter or two each month, where I’ll share things such as my recommendations on food and travel in Italy, musings on life in a Tuscan village, our favourite wines, recipes I’m loving, including the Japanese recipes I make that make me feel connected to home, and updates on new projects and workshops we have planned. These will be free, like all of my content on the blog and Instagram, but eventually I hope to offer some extra-special content like food guides, masterclasses and more that I hope some of you may consider paying the cost of a cornetto and cappuccino in your favourite Italian bar (about $5 monthly) to have access to.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some of these posts which I hope will give you a taste of summer in Tuscany:

• A recent dinner at what is probably my current favourite restaurant in Florence

• Making fish soup on Giglio Island, our favourite summer holiday spot

• Insalata Gigliese, a summery salad from that same Giglio Island, from Acquacotta

• The ideal beach day trip when you need to escape Florence

• And although this one isn’t summer-specific, it’s an all round goodie: On getting joy from food and why “guilty pleasure” should be banned (and that whole, brilliant piece from Nigella Lawson where the quote comes from)

• A panna cotta recipe so easy that two silly girls (aged 8 and 3) can make it

• How to survive a Tuscan heatwave (the Italian way)

• A refreshing iced caffè leccese of sorts, or coffee, homemade almond milk and ice

  

  Is there anything you’d love to hear from me about? I’d consider incorporating it into the next newsletters!

Emiko x