Crispy Kale

Alessandra brought this recipe home from college. It was an instant success— everyone’s favorite new way to eat kale!

I love this preparation because it is absolutely delicious, different and healthy. It’s also unbelievable how good it tastes considering how easy it is to make.

Ingredients:
1 or 2 bunches of Purple or Curly-Leafed Kale (this is the ruffly kind, but any type will work)
olive oil
sea salt
spices of your choice

1. Wash kale and strip the leaves away from the tough ribs. You can either tear them off with your hands or use a sharp knife.
2. Loosely shred or chop the kale leaves into bit size chunks
3. Arrange in a baking dish. A cookie sheet will also work.
4. Drizzle kale with olive oil (you don’t need much) and sprinkle with sea salt. (Add your other favorite spices if you want a specific flavor. My family likes spicy Italian pepperoncino flakes. Curry, cumin, or miso paste are other options.)
5. Leave kale in the oven until crispy. About 15-20 minutes depending on the amount. Check on the kale once or twice, turning over with a spatula.

Crispy kale makes a great side dish for dinner, but also works as an appetizer. It’s easiest to eat the chip-like kale flakes with your hands. Alessandra tells me she’s made this dish on numerous occasions and won over even avowed kale skeptics.

Bon Appetito!




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*photo courtesy of Daily Fill blog

Rosanna's Spring Giveaway

One of my fondest childhood memories is of May Day. Every year on the First of May, my mother would take us into the garden were we would gather spring blooms in an old wicker basket. Once we had filled the basket, we’d go inside to make paper cones and arrange our May Day flowers inside. Then came the fun part. With our May Day baskets in hand, my sisters and I would sneak up to our neighbors’ houses, place a bouquets on the stoop, ring the doorbell and run. From behind the cover of a bush, we would watch as our neighbors opened their doors to find a spring surprise. I made sure to teach my children about May Day like my mother did for us. I also taught this tradition to the little girl who lived next door. A few years later, the family moved away. But to this day every year on the First of May, Caskey still leaves May Day flowers on my doorstep. This tradition of leaving May Day bouquets has nearly faded out entirely. Nevertheless, it is still one of my favorite seasonal traditions. I look forward to it every year.

In honor of my new book Coming Home, we are having a giveaway that focuses on the theme of tradition. All you have to do is leave a comment about your favorite tradition. Tradition is about creating moments with those you love most, again and again. It can be a tradition you share with your friends and it doesn’t have to be seasonal. The contestant with winning submission will receive an autographed copy of Coming Home and a set of my Gelato cups. The deadline to enter is Sunday, February 28th. The winner will be announced by Friday, March 5th.

I am so excited to read about your traditions. My hope is that with these stories we will inspire each other to share new experiences with our loved ones.

May Day photo courtesy of skiptomylou.




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Opera en el Mercado

I came across this video and it made my day. It also made me cry. Sometimes the most beautiful moments in life come to us as small surprises. Here is the description:

Last month at the central market in Valencia, Spain, opera singers disguised as shopkeepers were selling produce at the various stalls.

Suddenly, Verdi's La Traviata starts playing over the loudspeakers and they burst into song. None of the shoppers had a clue what was going on. Sort of like candid camera, but completely charming....ENJOY!






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Giving

I recently read a wonderful, thought-provoking op-ed piece by Nicholas Kristof. In this piece he writes about our intrinsic inclination to give of ourselves to others. Apparently giving lights up the same pleasure receptors in our brain activated by eating or having sex.

I agree with Mr. Kristof about the value of giving. But I’d add another item to the list of benefits reaped from alturism: connection.

My oldest daughter Alessandra recently told me about a shoestring fundraiser her friends organized to help the people of Haiti. They decided to walk the length of Manhattan (15 miles) and sent out emails to people they knew asking for pledges per mile. Alessandra’s friend told her that their walk was unexpectedly beautiful, allowing them to interact and connect with all different kinds of people as they walked through the city that day.

Rallying people to gather and connect for the sake of a greater good is one of the best ways you can take part in your community and connect. You help others, connect with people in the process, and, as Mr. Kristof points out, feel great afterwards.




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*photo courtesy of nephos

Coming Home Book Update

ART, our Italian distributors, just wrote us to report the enthusiastic response Coming Home received at the Italian trade show in Milan. People loved the book, despite the fact that it’s written in English. I was so excited to hear that the book resonates across cultures. I take this embrace of the Rosanna brand halfway across the world as a testament to the strength and appeal of the brand.




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Coming Home...and Leaving Again

My daughter Alessandra just left to start her last term at Brown. My heart breaks all over again every time she gets on a plane going east. I loved having her home for Winter Break because it encouraged me to experience the world in a new way. Whenever she comes home I connect in different ways, with different people.

Having a college-age child back home is an invigorating experience. College years are a time of growth and exploration. It is a time of constantly going outside of one’s comfort zone. I find when Alessandra is home she brings this energy into my life, too. Over the past month I’ve done a few things that I don’t do in my normal routine— I’ve gone out to a late night movie on a weeknight with Alessandra and a few of her friends. She’s taken me to drinks in a neighborhood I rarely frequent, and introduced new recipes to the family that I wouldn’t think to make.

Writers don’t often discuss the college-age child. It’s all about the toddler, the tween and the teen. And that makes sense; the 20’s are a decade of gaining independence from one’s parents and finding a separate identity. But your relationships with your children don’t have to suffer, even as they begin to make their own ways in the world. I think the key is to accept invitations to peek into their new lives as they become adults. Parent-child relationships change as children grow. It’s often difficult for parents to relearn to negotiate a world in which they don’t have to constantly consider a child’s needs.

This shift is tough, but there are ways to make the transition gracefully. For example:

Always accept an invitation extended by your college-age child. These experiences provide a poignant reminder of what it feels like to be flexible, curious and spontaneous.




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Francesca turns 13 with Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, and Friends

Whew! What a party! We just finished celebrating Francesca's 13th birthday. The last girls walked out our front door at 11 am on Sunday after a nearly 24-hour long celebration. Seven girls slept over (though I doubt that anyone actually spent much time sleeping) and dined on chocolate chip birthday breakfast pancakes when they awoke.

Francesca’s guests arrived on Saturday afternoon to participate in 43rd Street Runway based on the hit TV show Project Runway. (We named the party “43rd Street Runway” after the street we live on.) Each girl brought three items of clothes from home to create a runway look.

My older daughter Alessandra was in charge of the judging. She recruited two friends to play Tim Gunn and a guest judge from London named Ling Ling. Alessandra played Heidi Klum. Once everyone had arrived, the judges presented the girls with a “challenge:” to create three distinct runway looks based on the film of their choice. The girls then drew numbers one by one choose 4 additional items from the abundantly stocked 43rd Street Runway Dressing Room. After they chose their new items, the girls split in to groups to create their looks, and walked the runway half an hour later.

The fashion show was hysterical. The girls were very creative and presented some great looks.

I was also very impressed with the judges’ ability to stay in character and channel the haute couture attitude of the fashion world. The girls and the judges alike really “made it work.”

No birthday party at our house would be complete with out a matching table design. I started with Rosanna Dauphine Candlesticks in black to create an edgy fashion look. I arranged the homemade red velvet cupcakes on our matching Rococo Noir Cake Pedestals, and made a surprisingly cool-looking tablecloth out of pages torn from Harper's Bazaar.

The day’s entertainment didn’t stop with the fashion show. Not many people know this, but Tim Gunn is also a magician (at least he was at this party) and wowed all of us by levitating a table and transforming a paper flower into a real one with a flash of fire.

After the cupcakes had been devoured and presents torn open, the girls retired to the basement to play-- what else?-- Band Hero Featuring Taylor Swift on the Wii. Various parents dropped by as the day wore on to watch the fashion show video footage. Heidi, Tim Gunn, and Ling Ling also stayed on for a pizza party. It was a great day and great fun.

I have to admit that putting 43rd Street Runway together was hard work. It required attending to many details and called for a few strategic planning session. But all of us, the 13 year-olds, 21 year-olds, and 50-some year-olds, had a wonderful time together. That fact alone made it all well worth the work.
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auf Wiedersehen,
















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*the invitation for Cesca's party at the top of the post was created by Trista, one of our talented graphic designers