Welcome to From Prosecco to Peaches!
Here it is. My first blog post. The adrenaline! The social anxiety! For four years or so I have been building up the courage to start a food blog and here I am, in front of the screen, feverishly typing and deleting. To best sum up what I hope happens here on this blog, I want to share a story with you.
Picture it, Italy, some years ago. My husband and I have been in Italy a few months, and he is at work. I have not started working yet, and have made few acquaintances. At this point all of the Italian I have learned is ” Ciao” and various names of food. The important things.
Our saint of a neighbor Giulia knocks on our front door and invites me to join her family for a bbq in their old neighborhood to watch the FIFA playoffs later that afternoon. I’m delighted. YES! Of course. Look at me, going to an Italian BBQ to watch FIFA. So adult.
As Giulia returns to her house ” we will leave in two hours!” I shut the door and immediately panic. What do I wear? More importantly what food do I bring?! You never go to a bbq empty handed and I have no idea what would be considered traditional Italian BBQ food, but something tells me potato salad is not it. Wracking my brain, I settle on The Pioneer Woman’s Texas Sheet Cake. Its quick, tasty and easy. Not to mention something I have all of the ingredients for in the pantry. Whipping up the cake and throwing on a maxi from H&M, I run out the door and hop in Giulia’s Fiat 500.
We arrive at an old villa in the countryside that had been converted into apartments. Giulia gives me a brief history including that the fields surrounding were used as landing strips during WWII. The sky is clear, the grass glows green in the golden afternoon sunlight, a large tv has been moved into the yard so everyone can enjoy the weather and the match as well. After introductions and being offered a spritz, the afternoon passes in friendly conversation (Giulia gamefully doing a lot of translating). Kids race about, men shout at the players on the screen and everyone is relaxed and happy.
The food is served (hamburgers and watermelon, totally shocking me, the hosts teasingly asking the American what she thinks of their hamburger). Afterwards, Giulia presents the cake, laughs. Everyone dives in and seems to be enjoying it when someone asks me why it is called Shit Cake. “This is delicious, but why is it called shit?” What? Shit cake? I’m mortified. Quickly I backtrack and ask why they think it is shit cake. Does it taste bad? Does it smell? What did I do? Giulia looks at me. “You called it Shit cake? Isn’t that what it is called? I assumed it is joke? ” That is when I realized in English the sound made by the double E’s in Sheet sound like the traditional I sound in Italian, so when I said “Sheet Cake” to Giulia, she heard “Shit Cake”. Giulia quickly explains, and everyone laughs and moves on.
This sums up my life. Good food, fond laughs, and me embarrassing myself in some fashion. Here, I hope to share the food, the laughs, and few blunders. Thank you so much for taking the time to check this out, watch this space, recipes coming soon!
In the mean time, here is the recipe for the cake I made. The Pioneer Woman calls it the “Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever”, and I am inclined to agree.
The Pioneer Woman’s Chocolate Sheet Cake
From Prosecco to Peaches 