Nick and I were tooling around Italy, doing the heavy research (finding restaurants and bakeries, getting recipes, photographing the food, eating) that resulted in his Great Italian Desserts book. Our day in Bari began by calling on Paola Pettini, a wonderful cooking teacher who had relocated here from her native Rome. She warmly welcomed us at her elegant home where her handsome assistant soon brought us refreshments. As we chatted and laughed, she had an idea: Would Nick teach an impromptu baking class that afternoon for her club di cucina? “Something American,” she suggested. “What can I do that’s American?” Nick quietly asked me as he struggled to come up with a shopping list for her. “I do French and Viennese.” A quick conference resulted in a stars-and-stripes solution: apple pie and chocolate chip cookies. The day was saved, the class was a big success and all of the Barese housewives left extolling the delights of “CHOcola-CHEEpa KOOkies.”
Just catching up after a few days away from SLS. Love the photo of Marta and straight-backed Nancy next to her with Marilyn and her HAT in the background, our Istanbul breakfast (my luggage still lost as of the time of the photo), and our visit to the Klebb (as it was pronounced) di Cucina. What a great website they have now, but no indication as to whether the so-dear Paola is still living.
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