What to do with all those peaches

I live in the desert and folks that don't live here would probably not believe that it has been a bumper crop year for peaches. My dear friend, Su, has three ancient trees, with scraggly limbs, falling over with the beautiful fruit. Two weeks ago friends Jan, Annette and I went to Su's and picked about a bushel of peaches. There were so many baskets filled to the brim, we barely had room for ourselves in the car. Here are some pics of our time at Su's farm. I made peach jam from half the peaches and froze the remainder to be used later for peach pie or cobbler and smoothies. I made sure to sprinkle them with a bit of Fruit Fresh (citric acid) so they don't turn brown. Sometime in December I'll take those peaches out, make a luscious pie and day dream about warmer weather.

it began in the kitchen

Hi, I'm Gioia (pronounced joy-yah - it's Italian for joy) and I love to cook. For as long as I can remember, I've cooked. My earliest memories in the kitchen were helping my paternal grandmother make pasta - tortellini, tagliatelle, ravioli, whatever! She was patient with me as my fingers struggled with folding and squishing the ends to seal the little packages of goodness. We'd have them in a delicious chicken broth, with grated parmesan cheese and a dash of red wine (yep, we put wine in our soup)...YUM!

Since those days, I've expanded my culinary abilities. I attended cooking school in Paris (that was a blast) and spent 10 years working as a chef. Now I teach others how to cook, and am always developing new recipes for my students. My husband and I are vegans, so I've got lots of recipes that don't include meat or animal products as well.

I am happiest in my kitchen or anyone else's for that matter. It's where I'm most comfortable and find myself drawn to. When I'm stressed, I cook, when I'm happy, I cook, when I'm sad, I cook. And then of course, I eat!

I hope you'll come back to read my blog where I'll share recipes and some culinary musings.