An Italian in my Kitchen Authentic Italian Food Blogger Rosemary Molloy

Vegetarians & Meat-Lovers Podcast welcomes Rosemary Molloy of An Italian in my Kitchen Food blog. Rosemary is an authentic Italian cook and baker. She shares authentic Italian cooking with the world on her blog, on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube as well as her website:

Rosemary Molloy
Food Blogger & Food Stylist
Website: anitalianinmykitchen.com
Pinterest: @italianinkitchn
Facebook: An Italian in my Kitchen
 

 Rosemary is a cookbook author as well. Find her cookbook on Amazon (affiliate link below, if purchases are made through this link, this podcast may receive advertising fees at no added cost to the consumer. This supports this podcast. Thank you!)
Authentic Italian Desserts https://amzn.to/42uOm3C
and her ebook It's All About Pasta is on her website. Rosemary was named one of the top Italian Food Bloggers by Good Tastes of Tuscany!

We chatted about her journey from Toronto to Rome and all her experiences that led her to be a food blogger. She loves to share homemade Italian recipes and Canadian treats. She has been featured on many popular sites and publications. She's a self-taught food photographer as well. She shared some tips and advice for cooking and Italian recipes, ways of preparing food, ideas for preserving food, and her favorite recipes. We also talked about pizza! I love pizza... check out her dough recipe here: https://anitalianinmykitchen.com/best-pizza-dough/ I can't wait to try this out! We are pizza fanatics at my house!

Her tips on cooking artichokes have me intrigued! I'm going to try it out! You should too!

Also try her Nutella Tiramisu! https://anitalianinmykitchen.com/easy-nutella-tiramisu/ And Frozen Yogurt Bark https://anitalianinmykitchen.com/yogurt-bark/

In this episode, also learn some differences between Italian cuisine and American. We talked a bit about the cultural differences as well.

Visit her website today to gain access to all her tasty amazing delicious recipes today!

I thank Rosemary for coming to the show! Show her some love and check out all her links and gain some tasty awesome recipes for yourself to try!

Visit my website: https://www.juliehoagwriter.com/
Check out my new cookbook American Midwest Cooking: Quiches https://amzn.to/3DpQoaE
One Dish Two Diets cookbook https://www.amazon.com/Julie-Hoag/e/B07893GH65/
Hungry Hearts edgy YA romance with sweet love too: https://amzn.to/3NHvryE

Thanks for listening and enjoy your food today!

Instacart - Groceries delivered in as little as 1 hour.
Free delivery on your first order over $35.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Season 1, Episode 20 An Italian in my Kitchen Authentic Italian Food Blogger Rosemary Molloy with Julie Hoag of the Vegetarians & Meat-Lovers: Spilt Table Recipes podcast.

This  transcript is not 100% correct. It was created by YouTube. Please  email jahoag15@gmail.com with any questions. Thank you!

0:04
[Music]
0:11
[Music] hello everyone have a very special guest
0:17
today I'm really excited to talk with her and I love Italian food so this is
0:23
really going to be fun I would love to introduce you to Rosemary Malloy a food
0:29
blogger authentic Italian recipes now that I say your name right yes that's perfect Rosemary Rosemary
0:36
Molloy okay awesome and you are known as an Italian in my kitchen across
0:42
different media platforms is that right that's right and you you present to the
0:49
world authentic Italian recipes and Canadian treats you have bases in
0:55
Toronto and Rome and your main focus is homemade Italian cooking and you have
1:01
two cookbooks out authentic Italian desserts and it's all about pasta and
1:06
your website is an italianinmykitchen.com and you have been featured in multiple locations for your
1:12
recipes which is an awesome wonderful thing yeah it is
1:18
quite surprising actually when I started so tell us your journey I was reading on
1:24
your website about how you many years ago decided to make a move from Toronto to Rome not that you aren't back in
1:30
Toronto but tell us about your journey that brought you to doing that and what did you learn well it all started when I
1:37
met my husband who's Italian in Toronto and we just decided Well he decided that
1:43
he didn't really want to stay anymore in Canada because it's too cold he couldn't stand the word so he said let's you know
1:50
we decided to get married and I decided to move back with him which was a big big change let me tell you from working
1:56
downtown Toronto and so going into a small town just outside of Rome I bet that's a huge difference he has
2:04
and so then I I didn't know any Italian and I met his family who are all very
2:10
nice and especially his mother and his sister and a friend and Friends showed
2:16
me all about Italian cooking and it's it just opened my eyes because it was nothing like you get in restaurants in
2:23
North America nothing at all it's all mostly very easy cooking all fresh
2:29
ingredients and it's amazing they actually made me love vegetables again
2:35
awesome yeah that's really amazing I love Italian food and obviously I've had
2:41
what's mostly in the states I've never been to Italy but you know even in the states it's like one of my favorite foods groupings of foods and so I
2:49
totally understand and I probably haven't even tasted the most amazing things you're talking about because I haven't been in Italy
2:56
yeah yeah it's very different and uh so I decided after learning because I
3:01
always really kind of like to cook and bake that I would start my own food blog and show people how it's really made
3:09
that's awesome and your pictures are gorgeous do you do your own photos yes I do awesome did you do your own photos
3:14
for the cookbooks as well yes the cookbooks yes is that something you had to learn or was a skill you already had
3:20
oh I had to learn that like when I go back and look at the beginnings I actually have somebody now who helps me
3:26
re-photo photograph old very old photos but the new all the new stuff is
3:32
basically is my right so then you remake it and then yeah it's also a good way to
3:38
make sure that everything works out and everything is okay too exactly
3:43
that's so true because you know yeah and obviously you know I'm making a cookbook and putting posting recipes you want it
3:49
to be reliable I'd like do you have a set number of times you make it before you release it to the world
3:55
well it depends if it's a new recipe usually around two or three times but if it's something I am you know my
4:01
mother-in-law made and then I have the recipe then it's something that I make often know once right to get the good
4:06
photos yeah that makes sense because you've probably made it or been around her making it so you've already know it's
4:12
already been made multiple times exactly yes so what are some of your favorite
4:18
recipes um anything pasta I love pasta and uh my
4:23
husband always says that that's why I married him for the pasta and I would probably have to say
4:29
homemade crepe cannelloni that brings back really good memories too because that was my my mother-in-law's one of
4:35
her her amazing recipes it sounds interesting I don't think I've ever had that so it sounds very interesting and
4:42
of course tiramisu was a good one oh yes I love that I I just saw that recently um you had a Nutella tiramisu recipe
4:49
that you just posted on Instagram right oh yeah yeah well and your PO and your blog too as well yeah right yeah that
4:56
looks delicious I love using Nutella I think it's a really fun ingredient to use yes it's true it's so versatile and it
5:03
so many people it like it's super popular in Italy obviously they put it on anything like in the morning for
5:09
breakfast and on Pizza everything on pizza
5:15
you know I found I liked recently which is very very simple I like Nutella and cream
5:21
cheese together on like bread or toast oh it's really delicious together it's a
5:26
great combo that's interesting yeah I thought I'd try it one day and I'm like whoa I really like this
5:34
it's a great recipe my kids love it too like the first time years ago I hadn't heard of it and our neighbor boy came
5:39
over it was a friend and he said I'm gonna have a chocolate sandwich and we're all looking and I'm like what are you talking about a chocolate sandwich
5:45
and he had a peanut allergy so his mom bought you know non-peanut spreads and so that's how we found out what Nutella
5:51
was because he was talking about a chocolate sandwich they're like what are you talking about a chocolate sandwich yeah yeah that's super popular my kids
5:58
used to have a snug yeah oh yeah and they make those anything dipping in it is good pretzels
6:05
yeah it's just just one of those amazing products we're really good on it croissant
6:10
yes absolutely a flaky croissant now I've had a question I forgot to ask a few minutes ago do you really think
6:16
there's a difference between people when people make their homemade pasta versus buying the dried regular pasta that
6:22
people have or stores have oh yeah there's two totally different things so depending on your sauce yeah like you
6:29
can't really compare like dried pasta is just fine like if you get a good brand you can use it for anything but if you
6:36
really wanna like a really special meal yeah making your own pasta is totally different it sounds so time consuming
6:42
like when I think about that I'm like oh my gosh that's like sounds really time consuming is it not really it's just you
6:48
know make sure you have all the all your tools together and everything no it's not really that time consuming okay yeah
6:54
that's good to know I've never wanted to try it because I'm like oh that seems so so time consuming and it's just so easy just to buy a dried box and just pop it
7:01
in the water you know you can probably buy um fresh pasta though in the stores can't you I think I have seen it
7:07
sometimes yes like in yeah you know what I have seen it and it's usually like in the refrigerated section right yeah yeah
7:14
I have done that on occasion and our family does like it so it's a great
7:19
option for people that don't want to mess around with that yeah exactly yeah what are some of your other favorite
7:24
recipes um well my mom's my the chocolate mocha
7:30
cake that's always one of my favorite too my mom used to make that all the time with all the icing is that on your blog my daughter got me in into uh Swiss
7:38
meringue frosting and that is pretty amazing buttercream frosting really sweet so
7:45
it's all right it's less sweet and more buttery yeah do you have those on your blog
7:50
those recipes yes I do awesome so people could just search that up and find that easily yeah exactly that's awesome
7:57
so did you get your your children into cooking too or were they just actually yes I actually started a second blog
8:04
Breads and sweets and my eldest daughter has taken it over so she's oh
8:10
that's really cool do you enjoy vlogging I love it I really do
8:16
it is fun it's time consuming you know once you figure it out it's not so bad
8:21
no it's not if you have a good schedule and you know it's good it's just that all we always worrying about
8:27
algorithms and oh yes so you know it's a chance people are
8:33
gonna do what I mean this uh this time but what can you do just keep going you
8:39
just do your best you know and I notice you're on Pinterest too which I love Pinterest I think Pinterest is a great
8:45
great tool for bloggers and a great way to it's kind of a slow burn but you know
8:50
you have great success obviously on Pinterest and I've had pretty decent success there as well but it's a really
8:56
fun platform yeah it is it is and it seems to be getting back to it's always a bit now so yeah hopefully they use
9:03
yeah I hope so do you ever use any of like those extra things like Tailwind to help you post a Pinterest yes I do
9:10
actually yeah yeah I like Tailwind too yeah the only thing I don't like is you can't there's still like some issues with
9:17
trying to put the videos on Tailwind like if you're in any of those communities yeah like they won't that
9:24
doesn't flow it has to be a static picture from my experience that's strange when I do it it says it won't
9:31
work like when I try to put it on Tailwind from Pinterest to Tailwind if it's a video I just I don't think I've
9:36
ever tried putting up video to show you the truth oh you don't have any video on Pinterest yeah I do but I do that
9:41
manually oh okay yeah not through Talent gotcha yeah I I don't think it's possible I
9:47
mean the last time I tried it it didn't work either so it takes some weird picture or some other not even a nice
9:52
picture and just doesn't work so better to do it why now that you say that yeah
9:58
and so I think it's better to do it live posting a video to Pinterest yeah true
10:05
so and then obviously you expand it into video so when you were doing it did it take you quite a while to get into video
10:10
did you do pictures for quite a while or is it kind of recent or is it have you done it a long time I've been doing video for quite a while now okay back in
10:18
maybe when when did it all start on Facebook 16 or 17 something like that sure because I I really really grew my
10:27
Facebook page by using video at the time yeah so many people said no I don't want
10:33
to get into video and then I just thought you know I'm gonna try it and then I just started doing it it's
10:38
popular people like it yeah people do definitely and it helps too like if
10:44
you're not sure about something or how it should look you know just check out the video right yeah you just you gain
10:50
so much more information too much more real information from a video than you do from just a static post yeah exactly
10:57
so you said you got more into vegetables so what what was one vegetable that surprised you and how did you find out
11:03
that you like to use it in cooking artichokes oh yes I love our chunks but
11:08
yeah a lot of people are like that doesn't look good you know like it did not do much for me to see how people
11:15
were eating artichokes like you know only not the least stuff and then when you I went Italy and my mother-in-law
11:21
made them it was amazing like how the Italians do it they don't you don't pull out The Insider they just cook it with
11:29
um garlic olive oil oregano and uh mint Roman mint really so they they how do
11:37
they cook it then do they like chop it up at all or what are they no you just clean it you just clean it leave it
11:42
whole remove the choke in the middle usually when if it's really um a really
11:48
a young tender artichoke it doesn't sometimes it doesn't even have the choke yet oh okay so they're really good and
11:55
then you just cook it in some water and let the water evaporate and it's cooked so interesting yeah or even you could
12:03
cook it with pasta that's really good too the whole problem I'm imagining right now is I don't remember I don't
12:09
recall seeing an actual artichoke in the stores like they're always in like the jars or the cans oh yeah probably it's
12:15
tough to find them there yeah and you probably have them fresh there right yeah yeah fresh
12:22
I'm like scanning my brain thinking of what I've seen in the grocery store and I'm like I don't recall seeing fresh
12:28
artichoke I'm gonna have to check now yeah maybe specialty stores might have it but
12:33
I feel like the regular grocery store they just don't have it you know it's just not a thing yeah that's true I haven't really noticed any here either I
12:40
wonder if you get them Frozen because you can do it frozen too oh yeah sure definitely something to look into that's
12:46
very interesting do you what do you like to do with it otherwise do you like to put it into in pasta dishes like chop it
12:51
up or in raviolios chopped up in pasta it's also good on pizza yeah but that's
12:57
good under oil you can use those so I really want to try your pizza dough recipe I saw that on your website we
13:03
love pizza and my son really likes to actually make homemade pizza so we got to try out your crust oh yeah it's
13:09
pretty popular is it yes that's awesome I can't wait to try it and then the Margarita Pizza I noticed that too
13:15
that's one thing my kids really like too and it's harder to find in over here in the in the states we don't find it as
13:21
often but my kids just love it yeah yeah it's good and homemade is so much so so good really now can you freeze your
13:28
dough or preserve it for a while or just something you make okay it works I actually made it I'm having friends over
13:33
today for dinner so I actually made it and last night and it's been in the fridge so it'll be in the fridge till
13:40
and it just rises in the fridge oh that's good to know now do you you keep it as a ball in the fridge or did you
13:45
actually spread it on the pan no no as a ball and then I spread it okay okay yeah do you tend to use your fingers to
13:52
spread it or do you use a rolling pin or how do you use it no use fingers because a rolling pin is too yeah that's why I was thinking it might just like smoosh
13:58
it too much or whatever yeah yeah any other great tips about making pizza that you like to share
14:04
um well a long rise in the fridge is probably better because then the crust is a pen more tender and The Taste is
14:10
better oh so it's actually better you can either make thin crust thick crust
14:16
whatever kind of crust you like yeah what kind of cheeses do you usually add to your pizzas mozzarella usually a
14:23
firmer one because fresh can sometimes be too watery and then you're going soft
14:28
but always shred it yourself don't buy the package because that they put some sort of
14:33
waxy stuff so that it doesn't stick oh I didn't know they did that yeah so it's
14:38
always been just shred your own sure huh I had never heard that before that's
14:43
good to know I have to try that see if it if it tastes different yeah
14:49
what are your favorite ingredients on Pizza do you use meat and veggies or do you stick more with yeah I usually like
14:55
I like a white pizza that doesn't have sauce on it oh okay yeah so I'll put
15:00
well artichoke Italian sausage cheese and sometimes when it comes out
15:07
of the oven sometimes I'll sprinkle it with um grated Parmesan cheese and then serve it that's really good too
15:13
oh definitely I love to use parmesan cheese it's it just it does add a different flavor to the pizza then when
15:19
you just use mozzarella for sure yeah exactly it's my one of my favorite cheeses oh yeah do you ever use like the
15:26
on pizzas use like the asiago cheese or oh yeah that's good too and uh yeah
15:31
that's a good one actually yeah I like that then over here they have some Blends I'm trying to remember what it's Asiago parmesan oh Romano I think it's
15:38
Romano oh okay that's good too yeah yeah a lot of those three cheese Blends which I like to buy those too some people like
15:45
goat cheese too oh yeah yep I have tried goat cheese by itself I have not put it
15:51
on a pizza before oh okay yeah it's good on pizza I bet so tell us some of your
15:57
Canadian treats I saw that listed on I think it was maybe your Instagram what exactly does that mean because I'm not
16:02
familiar with what a Canadian treat would be well probably more it's just North American American
16:08
sure peanut butter cookies lemon bread yeah blueberry bread
16:14
strawberry yeah I have all my mom's Christmas cookies
16:20
that do pretty good too that's awesome now do you take your mom's recipes and put them on your blog I like to do that
16:26
too yeah I do yeah it's really fun isn't it it's fun to like keep remaking those
16:31
recipes and then sharing them yeah because it brings back good memories too when you do that it does it does food
16:37
really I've written about this before food really holds memories and when you eat it and you see it you make it you
16:43
eat it it really it really juices up and re you know livens up those memories even more it does food carries memories
16:51
and it's just it's amazing how even you can see it in kids like they're like you know come to a certain time of year oh
16:57
are you gonna make blah blah blah mom you know like whatever it is exactly so true it is absolutely
17:04
so I noticed on your I think I'm not sure where I saw this maybe something about August being
17:10
canned tomato month and you were talking about you know all the tomatoes harvesting them and then you even freeze
17:16
them I didn't know that was a thing you could freeze tell us all about that um well you can freeze tomatoes whole in
17:23
a bag or you can even cook them down and then freeze them either way I've never
17:29
tried that that's so interesting so you don't even have to do anything to it you just you leave the stem on it or just
17:34
take it oh no you just like take the stem off but then just freeze them huh I just thought it would like turn the wash
17:39
but I guess they do they kind of get sauce so they're good for cooking okay yeah so that's what they'd be used for
17:45
right in recipes or sauces or whatever exactly yes you don't need to like de-seed them or anything oh no I don't
17:51
okay yeah unless people can't have seeds I mean I know there's some conditions where people can't have seeds which I think would be very miserable I think
17:57
that's yeah you certainly can cut them in half take out the seeds and then freeze them
18:03
that's no cookies that would work too okay yeah it probably never thought it's a good idea to freeze them on a cookie
18:09
sheet and then when that's a good idea yeah
18:16
so you do a lot of canning of tomatoes that time of year not really because in
18:21
Italy you probably basically get all good fresh food year round okay oh okay gotcha so you don't really do much
18:27
freezing no I mean when my mother-in-law was alive we used to do a lot of canning
18:32
to me okay but we don't do that anymore unfortunately yeah it is a lot of work my mom used to do some of that too it's
18:39
just a lot of work it is it's used to canned beets because my dad liked beets and not ones kids always hated beets but
18:46
my mom and grandma would always Can beets because they would grow them in the garden and then can them interesting
18:53
yeah we always knew when we came home from school my sister and I would walk on the door immediately we knew it was
18:58
beat canning day because it was a very distinctive smell you know yeah yeah I don't like beets either I don't
19:06
know some people use them in recipes maybe they're okay in recipes but I don't like them by themselves no me neither even canned I just yeah no I
19:14
didn't know it not my thing strange I don't know why because I like
19:19
vegetables I know same with me so I noticed that you like to take baking
19:25
classes which you know some people might say well you already know how to do all you know you've been cooking for years why do that
19:31
um well you can always learn right now you never always know everything true so
19:37
that started basically I guess with covid because then I could do stuff online and so much fun and there's a few good
19:45
things that have come from covid and I'd say that would be it there was more there's more online availability of things yeah that was great because you
19:52
know before how could you do it you couldn't so I did quite a few actually online I
19:58
did a couple of bread and I did a chocolate course yeah I did quite a few
20:04
I think it helps people to create online things that didn't exist before you know
20:09
like creators were making courses or whatever it created this environment that was really rich for that and people
20:15
just glom onto it and it's it's I don't think it'll ever go away no I don't think so either It's too convenient and
20:22
you can meet nice people too in the group you know depending on how yep absolutely
20:29
and so tell me what I noticed on your you had something in the Huffington Post a bake off I don't even know how to say
20:36
it cassatella and what is that is it cassatella or Casa
20:41
that's a uh an Italian Easter bread oh nice yeah I think it's from Naples if I
20:49
remember correctly okay nice now are there different types of food kind of distinctive to different regions of
20:55
Italy oh yeah everybody has their their own way of making things I find from the
21:02
south like south of Rome probably like Naples and Sicily and they're all quite
21:08
rich like heavier okay whereas the north is a little bit on the lighter side and
21:13
it's not as rich I would say sure yeah enrolled probably in the middle it
21:20
probably combines the both do you prefer one type over the other no I prefer them I like them yeah
21:27
yeah I I totally understand I really enjoy Italian food too I don't
21:34
know it's just something about it and just and you know it's just always tastes good with wine too are you into
21:39
wine much yeah a little bit I like to draw it yeah yeah I'm sure now do you
21:45
tend to enjoy cooking meals meats or desserts best
21:51
uh I really like to bake I must didn't okay I will I mean I enjoy cooking too but yeah it's baking is I love that
22:00
yeah and I like Italian sorry oh no go ahead I like Italian
22:05
um recipe sweet recipes because they're not as sweet like there's less sugar and they're not as yeah I now when I go in
22:12
and I try North American stuff it's like wow this is really sweet yeah I think we
22:18
use way too much sugar here in too many things that it doesn't need to ever end exactly something I don't like about our
22:25
country is and you know it's like really hard to buy things in the store that don't have sugar added you know it's
22:32
just very it's kind of a epidemic all over like they need to stop doing that
22:38
it's too bad because you know you don't really taste the real food I know and it's just so not necessary you know it's
22:45
just people trying to avoid sugar it ends up being a challenge in the states to avoid sugar and it shouldn't be that
22:51
way exactly so I thought one of your recipes look
22:56
really amazing on Instagram which I had never thought of trying before the yogurt bark tell us about that that
23:02
sounds amazing oh yeah my daughter sometimes well she'll do she does YouTube so she'll do YouTube videos for
23:08
me and also reels so that was the one reel she did and she said oh it was so
23:14
good she says I'm making it again it sounds amazing
23:19
amazing so it looks amazing too yeah something a little bit healthier than regular
23:25
and I didn't read the full recipe do you freeze it or put in a fridge freeze it freeze it okay does it need to stay
23:31
frozen then until you're gonna serve it yeah exactly okay okay looks amazing
23:36
it's a great idea you know what I mean just using that fresh fruit and it's so fast too yeah any fresh fruit you like
23:43
throw it on even nuts or coconut oh yeah that sounds good yeah some people seem
23:50
to think like a simple recipes aren't as good and I don't think that's true like I've heard some people say that like
23:55
they want it to be more involved in Gourmet I'm like it doesn't have to be no it doesn't
24:01
simple also it takes less time like we're all
24:07
busy it's like simple it's just better all around yeah exactly now since you do focus on Italian
24:14
cooking quite a bit do you cook other types of foods like different like you know Asian or something like that or do
24:22
you just pretty much not go there do you mean on the blog well your blog is probably mostly
24:28
Italian right because that's the title of your uh website but in your personal life do you do oh yeah I'll try anything
24:34
and I I'm lucky my husband he'll try anything too even though most Italians
24:39
aren't like that it's like give me Italian and that's it but okay
24:44
he'll try he's your he's your official taste tester yeah and of course my kids
24:50
well they're both in Toronto now but when they come home they'll try like they try anything too so that's good
24:57
that's awesome so where do you see yourself going in the future for your blog you're growing in different ways or
25:03
just kind of keep doing what you're doing because it's working probably just keep doing what I'm doing like I'm
25:08
always uh and then now you have to worry about Ai and all that stuff so there's always something right to keep you going
25:16
now it's hope for the best yeah it's ever changing right it really is it
25:22
really is you're gonna stay on top of it or you're lost exactly and you do have to change for that with it otherwise
25:29
you're going to get lost too you know like anybody who refuses to do certain things you might just yeah disappear you
25:35
know like I always use video as an example because if if I hadn't gotten
25:40
into video like my page would have been nothing what it is and I get a lot of views from Facebook so that helps too
25:46
right yeah it really does make a difference that video is much bigger than I mean just look at YouTube look
25:53
how big YouTube is a platform is because I know like that yeah it's crazy what's
25:58
your YouTube channel um I think it's in Italian in my kitchen okay
26:03
yeah I'm pretty sure it is like just Google an Italian in my kitchen on YouTube and you see it it's
26:09
my daughter does it sure oh that's so nice yeah that helps oh absolutely and she does that for you
26:16
does she actually make the recipes too and then oh yeah does she take your content okay oh she takes my content and
26:23
makes a video okay yep yep that's cool that's really nice yeah thank goodness
26:28
and she loves doing it so yeah it's definitely something to learn you know like I'm not real good at editing audio
26:34
I I mean I'm good at any audio not in so much video like that's something I haven't learned as much but I'm really
26:40
good at editing audio because I do a lot of audio but yeah editing video is a whole different game I bet yeah yeah she
26:47
does all that she does the editing and everything so tell me about your cookbooks uh The cookbook I think I my
26:55
first one the the hard copy I didn't I think I did it in 2018 or 2017. okay
27:03
yeah and um oh it was a lot of work I had my cousin test taste test recipes and wow
27:12
at first they didn't want me doing the photos because my photos weren't that
27:17
great so but I really wanted to do the photos because I said or it just won't
27:22
feel like my book I was just amazing that and um so I really worked on my
27:28
photography and and I was taking photos and they ended up saying okay great they
27:33
look good so I was able to do my own photos good for you that's awesome
27:38
did you take a class for it or is it kind of more self-taught no I do self-taught yeah
27:48
she's really good and I learned so much from that weight shot she's called him yeah
27:55
she's really good yeah it's amazing how you can find resources like that online and you can just learn from them I've
28:01
done that a couple times from other people too I don't remember their names but you can find out so much online
28:06
yeah everything on YouTube absolutely so your main platforms people
28:12
can find you on our Pinterest Facebook and Instagram and YouTube yes we're also on Twitter but I don't know how she does
28:19
tick tock too but okay yeah tick tock's all about videos too they like videos over there I don't think you can I don't
28:26
think you can post there without it being a video actually no it has to be video I think yeah
28:31
which platform do you think is works the best for you as far as getting traffic and people finding you
28:39
um well Google's my number one but social I would used to be Pinterest and
28:44
unfortunately it's not anymore it's Facebook oh interesting I always struggled with Facebook I don't feel
28:50
like they do much for me like it's but I kind of stopped posting on them because it just didn't seem like I was doing
28:55
anything but oh but you do video so and I didn't do a lot of video back then so maybe I should return to that there's
29:02
some video on there yeah they like it so what have you learned throughout
29:09
doing all of this cooking is there anything that you've learned you or wish you would have done differently um
29:15
I don't think so you know I really don't because it all really just went really well for me I can't really think of
29:22
anything that I would have done different that's awesome yeah well you've had great success so that's
29:28
that's what you want right yeah maybe starting a YouTube channel sooner yeah
29:34
yeah that's one thing I'll hear from people too it's like people you know sit around waiting to do things and then
29:40
their biggest regret usually is that they didn't start doing something sooner yeah it's true even if you're not doing
29:45
it perfect you know you should just start yeah it's true just start that's
29:50
all you have to do yep I mean yeah like you said you know you're going back and fixing things you didn't like in the
29:56
past but if you hadn't started you wouldn't be where you are now so we need to keep that in mind that we can just we can go back and fix things
30:03
yeah so tell me about your no churn vanilla ice cream I saw that on Instagram too how do you make no churn vanilla ice
30:10
cream it's just three ingredients cream sweetened condensed milk and vanilla
30:16
extract oh okay my husband absolutely loves no Churn ice cream considering we
30:22
live in the land of gelato right yeah but it's really good sounds so simple I
30:28
like so want to try that you just mix it up put in a pan and put it in the freezer right yeah and once
30:35
it's firm there you go ice cream that's awesome I need to try that and you know if you add different things to
30:41
it sometimes sure you can add pieces of fruit or a sauce on top whatever yeah
30:48
absolutely or even um puree some fruit and then just mix it in before you put it in the pan
30:55
it just sounds so simple you know it's like you're going to buy this expensive ice cream and you're like geez I could
31:01
just make that cheaper and easier and better at home exactly and it's true yeah
31:07
I mean if you have a machine then that's different too you can make ice cream with a machine if you don't
31:13
no problem that's good to know because I really have never tried to make ice cream I've
31:19
you know yeah just never done it yeah it's good it's hard not to eat it all
31:25
yourself I can imagine have you ever tried making it like lower
31:31
fat with a cream that's maybe like I did a yogurt one frozen yogurt that was wrong
31:36
yeah yeah now can you use fat free yogurt or does it have to have some kind of fat in it for it I think it really
31:42
needs some kind of fat in it yeah I mean you could try why not you
31:47
could always try it and see I'm sure it'll still work right yeah I just didn't wonder if it needed that to be
31:52
just you know just for the flavor or just the consistency if you need a little bit of fat yeah yeah
31:59
so I can't even say this right Pasta Pasta cotty italiani did I say that
32:04
right or did I kill it I don't know sorry it's on your it's on your Instagram it's cream filled tarts oh
32:12
Pastor chotti pasta chotti okay I knew I butchered it
32:18
that sounds so interesting so is it kind of like a muffin sort of or what is it
32:23
like oh no it's it's almost like a filled pastries it's pastry dough pastry
32:29
dough and you fill it with Italian cream cover it and bake it they're really good okay it looked interesting and like it
32:35
looks looks really good I've never heard of it before you're not mistaken that's what I think is fun too that you're
32:41
putting all this stuff out there that's like to the you know real like you said authentic and it's just fun that people can try this at their in their own homes
32:48
and be like oh this is authentic of what I can make through yourself plus I get a
32:53
lot of people who say oh you brought back memories of my visit in Italy and
32:59
that's always absolutely so do you do much traveling over there and try other foods like in
33:05
France or any well we just started not that often my husband's not a big
33:10
traveler but okay We've Been to Spain Ireland Spain is really nice
33:16
very nice and um let's put it of course in different places in Italy
33:22
but yeah right right I think you know it's just true that people I mean even
33:27
if whatever you're going through in your life you can still look forward to food you know yeah yeah it's one thing that
33:34
we can all almost always enjoy for our entire life some sort of food is enjoyable and it should be good too you
33:40
know you don't have to open a can absolutely that's just and it's integral
33:46
we all need to eat obviously so you know it's just a fun way to enjoy life enjoy
33:51
you know your taste buds are stroke and it's fun you know once you start cooking
33:57
it's it can be fun absolutely you can share it with your family you can make
34:03
things together like that's one thing my son likes to do there's been a couple of times where like we've all five of us have like made pizza you know like
34:09
that's just like a fun like event yeah that's true it unites people food unites
34:15
people yeah it's true eating with Italians it's like okay
34:21
you're eating dinner and then everybody's discussing what they're gonna have for lunch [Laughter]
34:27
it's a really really discussion and you have a sort of way of eating
34:32
there too where you do like multiple courses right is that a pretty common thing well that's like they eat really
34:37
well actually because lunch is a bigger meal oh okay yeah and then you know
34:43
small size portions like nothing is like over the top or like big plates of
34:48
anything and then dinner is usually just a salad and maybe uh some sort of protein probably a healthier way to eat
34:54
like I feel like in the United States more of heavy in the dinner you know and then you go to bed or you know you don't
35:00
do anything so um seems like a healthier way to be I almost feel like you know just
35:06
people in Italy or Europe or they just have a better way of eating than Americans do it's just overall better in
35:13
many ways yeah and you've obviously experienced both so you see that as well yeah for sure yeah and there's so much
35:21
when I'm in Canada there's so much fast food too oh yes exactly here too yeah
35:27
and some things are better like you go to the sub shops you know they're using all fresh ingredients and stuff like
35:33
that so it's not you know that's better than some of these fried places fried
35:38
you know yeah yeah true I suppose you probably don't have fast food restaurants in Italy do you oh yeah
35:44
there's McDonald's Burger King and then oh okay but they're not like they're like not all on every corner you know
35:52
what I mean right yep they're like here it's like you don't go very far and you run into another
35:58
McDonald's you know like yeah exactly just down this down the block yeah exactly
36:03
convenience since that is one thing about Americans people want convenience and that's convenient you know it's true
36:11
so do you have a favorite month of the year that you like to cook and is it because of the foods you're cooking
36:18
um December yeah between cookies and different breads and
36:24
stuff yeah yeah I like Christmas do you tend to make the same things or do you find yourself sometimes adding in
36:30
something different um well I'm always on the search for new
36:35
cookie recipes and desserts I'll ask friends and relatives
36:42
but probably basic three cookies you know you do shortbread and a bar cookie
36:48
yeah how do you get your inspiration to try new recipes
36:53
oh well I have my sister-in-law is really good for that she'll say oh if you've tried this and tell me about a recipe yeah or just
37:01
there's a lot of cooking shows on Italy too in Italy oh you know I'll watch cooking shows and see what what's
37:08
popular you know you just that way too magazines too you know like
37:15
you know the usual yeah yeah and then do you like think oh I'm gonna do this and you write it all out and then you try it
37:21
because that kind of like or do you ever take recipes and like alter them to your thoughts oh yeah both yeah yeah or just
37:29
sometimes even in a grocery store I'll look at food and think of an idea yeah or even people in grocery stores will
37:35
give me an idea or like tell me a rosary it's so fun yeah
37:41
so that's very cool I think it's fun it's there's so many different things you can
37:47
do and there's so many different ways to combine foods and so many different foods to come by and that yeah it's like
37:52
a never-ending no it's true yeah so what recipes are you developing right now
37:58
I'm thinking about a couple of pasta ones although I have a lot of recipes that I've already done and I'm just
38:04
posting them over the summer I don't know if I'm going to be really doing anything really too new right now
38:12
it's kind of posting what you have yeah I'm also in Toronto so
38:17
I usually take less and make less yeah sure if you go there quite a bit or is
38:23
it kind of a rare thing oh no quite a bit quite a bit okay so back and forth quite a bit back and forth yeah
38:29
it's fun yeah my kids are here so it's always fun seeing you know okay sure to
38:34
see the kids so is it the cultures are probably pretty different between Canada and Italy or are they somehow similar
38:40
yeah pretty different it was hard getting used to it and like they're they're slower and um yeah
38:49
yeah I I always like the fast pace and stuff so it was pretty hard for me to get used
38:54
to slowing down and and now and now with the blog I do things find myself still like going back
39:00
to doing stuff quick you know I got to do this this and this so I like being like that so it's okay yeah
39:08
it's a total different mentality I noticed because I'm like that I'm like oh I gotta do this I gotta do that I got all I got this big giant ideas all these
39:14
lists that I want to do yeah exactly but then I also get mad at myself I'm like why am I not doing this faster
39:20
yeah true it's too much I want to do and I get
39:26
impatient like I just need to slow down but I don't yeah especially when I'm in
39:31
Toronto like I'm on the same of course I'm on the same hour as everybody else basically more or less so I always find
39:39
that I I'm behind whereas in Italy I'm six hours ahead so I always feel like oh
39:44
I'm on top of it do you know what it is yeah I can see how that would totally be
39:49
a thing yeah
39:55
oh I gotta get this out now whereas in Italy oh I got four hours
40:02
exactly exactly so I suppose you had to learn Italian once you moved to Italy I
40:09
sure did because nobody spoke English yeah so what a challenge it was I'm still terrible at it but are you really
40:16
yeah well I always say I destroy the language but
40:22
it doesn't stop me yes so that's good so in talking about your newsletters people can sign up for
40:28
your newsletter on your website yep yeah I think there's a few places right
40:33
on and every uh every post has a sign up how often do you send your newsletters
40:39
three times a week oh you do a many of them oh that's a lot yeah that's a big
40:45
undertaking it is yeah and you actually include the recipes in
40:51
the the newsletters or is it more of a link to hey this is where you can find it I include a link yeah a photo and a
40:57
link photo and a link perfect that's nice have you learned any tricks about how to do good newsletters it can
41:03
be a challenge another thing to learn right when you're blogging not really I just
41:09
do the best I can like because really like you it's really
41:15
tough because you don't know if you know it's just okay if so
41:20
you try things and you just do like you said you just do it to me that right now it's everything's working so I'll just
41:26
stick to this for a bit until I need to change it up absolutely absolutely which I'm just curious as a
41:34
blogger which which email platform do you use convert kit okay yeah I've used
41:39
that one in the past okay yep yep I did use that one for a while and I went off of it and right now I'm trying
41:45
mailerlite which I'm liking mailerlite too yeah actually I use mailer lights for my other blog and I really like it
41:52
okay yeah it's good it is yeah and you know that makes a big difference if you have the right tool to
41:59
do the newsletters because you need that yeah you do yeah for sure definitely
42:04
important well is there anything that we haven't talked about that you would like to mention or highlight a specific recipe
42:11
or also tell us where we can find your cookbooks uh well my my hard copy
42:18
cookbook is in bookstores and on Amazon and my ebook you can get
42:25
through the blog okay and then do you have both the authentic Italian desserts and it's all about pasta in hardcover or
42:32
is one okay the dessert book is hard copy and the pasta book is just ebook
42:38
okay gotcha yeah and are they available on Amazon you said yeah the the hard
42:44
copies you can get on Amazon which is a dessert book or bookstores and the ebook is
42:52
available through the blog okay nice so people can access that very
42:57
good you have any other plans for a future cookbook did I already ask yes some people people have been asking me
43:04
but I don't know it has it really is a lot of work yeah
43:10
everything is something interesting maybe we'll see yeah it's easier to do like on your blog
43:16
you know what I mean like it's easier to post there books are nice too but yeah no people
43:22
are so digital they love the fact that they can just go to your website and see it you know right on their phone you
43:27
know exactly yeah well this has been amazing any any recipes you want to highlight for us
43:32
that we should all go check out well if you like Nutella you could try my Nutella crumb cake that one's really
43:38
good I just ended up making it again when my daughter came well I love pasta so any pasta really
43:45
yeah lasagna classic lasagna that's a good one you make your own sauce oh yeah
43:51
yeah yeah and I must say the pizza dough is really good too yeah I can't wait to try that pizza dough one it's just my
43:59
son likes to make the pizza dough from scratch and so we've tried a couple we've kind of had success here and there so I'm really excited to try yours out
44:05
and let me know how that was I will I'm sure my kids are gonna love it we're total pizza-holics at our house oh yeah
44:11
nothing like pizza that's great do you think American Pizza is like totally different than Italian pizza yeah it is
44:18
Italian pizza is very it's much thinner but I like both to tell you like I
44:24
really like coming at home and Order having a pizza here like any pizza is a good pizza I know I mean I can't even
44:31
really think of bad pizzas I've had you know what I mean yeah it doesn't exist
44:38
oh Pizza is such a good meal oh well thank you so much for coming on
44:43
this has been really fun and is there anything else you wanted to add or say about what you do or where people can
44:49
find you just that you can find me on Instagram Facebook and the blog all and
44:56
Italian in my kitchen and and I love cooking and sharing Italian food so and
45:01
I hope if you try anything you let me know what you think of it absolutely do you do you respond to take
45:08
time to respond to people when they comment oh yeah I always respond I think that's really important too to let
45:14
people know that yeah yeah it's very it's personal and yeah it's just definitely valuable for sure
45:20
yeah well I'll put all of your links down in the podcast showing Notes too so that people can click through and I probably
45:28
will have somewhere maybe to do a few links to your recipes that you mentioned here too so that people can easily go
45:34
through and and find that great but thank you so much this has been amazing oh thanks so much to you Julie for
45:41
having me yes you have a good day thanks you too bye-bye bye
45:46
thank you [Music]
45:57
[Music]

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