My guest this week is Eugenia Bone who partnered with Julia della Croce to put together a splendid new book “Tasting Italy” with Recipes by America’s Test Kitchen.
The experts at America’s Test Kitchen and National Geographic bring Italy’s magnificent cuisine, culture, and landscapes–and 100 authentic regional recipes–right to your kitchen.
Featuring 100 innovative, kitchen-tested recipes, 300 gorgeous color photographs, and 30 maps, this illustrated guide takes you on a captivating journey through the rich history of Italian cuisine, region by region. Rich excerpts feature the origins of celebrated cheeses, the nuances of different wine growing regions, the best farmer’s markets in Venice, and more. Intriguing prose illuminates key ingredients, from olive oil and how it’s made to the various pasta shapes of Northern Italy. In every region, the food experts at America’s Test Kitchen bring it all home, with foolproof recipes for standout dishes as well as hidden gems: Piedmontese braised beef in lustrous red wine sauce, crispy-custardy chickpea flour farinata pancakes from Genoa (achieved without the specialty pan and wood-burning oven), and hand-formed rustic malloreddus pasta of Sardinia that is a breeze to make. Get your copy NOW!
Eugenia Bone is a nationally known food and nature journalist and author. Her work has appeared in may publications, including Saveur, Food & Wine, Gourmet, Martha Stewart Living and the New York Times. She is the author of six books and has been nominated for numerous awards, including a James Beard Award. She lives in New York City.
Learn more about Eugenia at www.eugeniabone.com
Follow Eugenia on Facebook & Twitter
Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2015 Pian Di Nova “IL BORRO” Toscana
The grapes are harvested, de-stemmed and sorted by hand and then pressed and gravity-fed into vinification tanks. Each variety is vinified separately. Maceration, the process by which whole grapes are fermented in a carbon dioxide rich environment prior to crushing, takes about 20 days in the stainless-steel tanks at a temperature controlled 26°C.
The last stage is alcoholic fermentation which takes around 10 days on average after which the wine is decanted in to barrels. After racking, the wine is placed in Allier oak barrels, one third new, another 2 years old and the final third 3 years old. After Malolactic fermentation around the end of November, the grape varieties are blended and put in to barrels. Maturation in casks lasts 6 months, after which the wine returns to the stainless-steel vats for approximately one month, before being gently filtered, bottled and matured for a final 6 months in the bottle.
“Very perfumed and bright with flowers, light cloves, pepper, licorice and cherries. Full-bodied, with very fine tannins and a juicy, dark-fruit finish that adds hints of black pepper and sweet tobacco. Beautiful wine. First year from organically grown grapes. 65% Syrah and 35% Sangiovese. Drink now.” (Sep 2018)
In 85 innovative recipes, Lindsay-Jean Hard—who writes the “Cooking with Scraps” column for Food52—shows just how delicious and surprising the all-too-often-discarded parts of food can be, transforming what might be considered trash into culinary treasure.
Lindsay-Jean Hard received her Master’s in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan. Her education and passion for sustainability went on to inform and inspire her work in the garden, home, and community. The seeds of this book were planted in her Food52 column of the same name. Today she works to share her passion for great food and great communities as a marketer at Zingerman’s Bakehouse. She lives, writes, loves, and creates in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Follow Lindsay-Jean on 
Dark and full of character! Gorgeous colors of ruby red and purple draw you in to aromas of bramble berries, black cherries, currant. Warm baked red fruits evolve into vanilla bean, anise with hints of leather and touches of cigar box. The oak is so well balanced with structured tannins and savory spices. The finish last for days and leaves cherry pie and dark chocolate! I would pair this with dry aged ribeye with grilled vegetables! Or even pair with a flour-less chocolate cake!
One of the most popular posts on the EverPresent Blog is an in-depth series on 
Just before the wine of the week, I’ll be talking to Linda Funk, Executive Director of The Soyfoods Council. Linda has lots of suggestions on how you can incorporate Plant Protein to eat healthy yet tasty during the holidays with soy foods. She has some easy recipes for using soy milk as well as adding soy flower to your wheat flour when your baking cookies.
100% Tempranillo aged 8 months in American Oak. Aromas of Cedar, Asian spices, incense, balsamic notes, minerals, ripe cherries, concentrated, well proportioned and red in the glass. In the mouth, the spicy black fruit flows into a long finish.
She has quite the journey in life and wine and shares it in her book The Exes in My Glass…How I Refined My Taste in Men & Alcohol. The witty story of her raucous journey from lust to love and beer to wine, The Exes in My Glass: How I Refined My Taste in Men & Alcohol will leave you thirsty to uncork your true potential, too. Follow Lisa on 
2015 Jordan Russian River Chardonnay
2014 Jordan Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon