🎄 A Cheesy (not blue) Christmas

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I wanted to send you a message of love and hope for this holiday season and the new year that's just around the corner.

I'm about to embark on a long journey that will finally take me back home for the holidays, after a year and a half away from Italy. You can bet I'm excited to see my extended family and spend some time in the motherland (sometime it feels weird talking about Italian stuff on my other blog, while being so far removed from it. So this will definitely be a much needed refresher, so to speak).

When I think of an Italian Christmas, the first thing that comes to mind is panettone

Next week, Alan and I will start our trip in Bergamo and Brescia (my home city) — which have both been chosen as "Twin Capitals of Italian Culture 2023". We're hosting the big Christmas lunch this year, so the menu will be a bit of an untraditional...Italo-Irish fusion 😁

We'll then take the family up the Dolomites for a few days in the snow...before flying to Catania, Sicily for New Year's Eve by an active volcano. A few days later, we'll celebrate my birthday at...an airport hotel in Milan 😒, before heading back to San Francisco at the break of dawn. Italy from north to south — I couldn't be more excited (and I'm not sure how to pack...it's going to be freezing and then mild).

When thinking about past Christmases, I realized that the last time I was in Italy for Christmas was in...2015 🤯

That's crazy, I know — but it's what happens when you're in an international relationship and live in a third country: you have to take turns to make everyone happy (including yourselves).

Which is why I'm particularly looking forward to this Christmas. 8 years later, I get to spend it in my home country. It's going to be magic!

When I think of an Italian Christmas, the first thing that comes to mind is panettone, obviously. Which is why I wanted to leave you with this article I wrote and video I made:

And even more, a personal tradition and recipe: serving panettone with a homemade mascarpone cream (yes, the same we use to make tiramisù).

This may not be a country-wide tradition (which in Italy is anyway?), but it's one that's very close to my heart. When I was a kid, my parents used to work till late on Christmas Eve, so I looked after my little brother and we'd both cook a dinner for 4, following the recipes of a Disney cookbook. Spending that time with little Lorenzo is one of my childhood's fondest memories. Except for once...when we could't find mascarpone cheese in the grocery store and we ended up buying a... soft gorgonzola instead (a blue cheese...what was I thinking?!)

Needless to say, that "mascarpone" cream with blue cheese turned out inedible...but we still all laugh to this day about that funny episode 😂

So there you have it: a sweet (not blue!) family recipe that I hope will make your festivities extra special, just like it did with mine.

Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Buon Natale!

Whatever you celebrate (or not) don't forget to look out for each other and spread some love within your communities but also - and especially - with others 💝

Un caldo abbraccio,
Marco