Sins of a Queen: Italian Appetizers and Desserts Book

Valentina "cooked" up another book, a second one of the collection she plans to produce for the next few years. Valentina is a native of Italy and as all Italians she has a passion for fast cars, fast thinking, quick actions, snappy temper, hot and vivid colors, but she loves, loves, loves slow food. Her mission is to introduce the southern food of Italy to the world. It is the kind of food she grew up with, made it the center of attraction for her entertainments and the subject of her classes. Southern Italian cuisine conserves all the flavor of the land, a kaleidoscopic burst of colors and tastes, in an incredible elegant simplicity. With this second book on Appetizers and Sweets, Valentina is aiming at showing the readers how to cook simple, versatile specialties that can be used as appetizers, as much as ideas for healthy meals. Make these specialties in larger quantities and you have a meal, make them in bite sizes and you have appetizers. Antipasti in Italian, Tapas in Spanish, Hors-d'oeuvres in French, Appetizers in English, however you want to say it, they all mean the same: prelude to a tasty meal. Appetizers are the way openers, the anticipation of what 's coming an hour later. Always served with lighter wines, Champagne or Prosecco, appetizers are the excitement of late morning before lunch, or the early evening relaxation moments before dinner. Yes, one can allow sweets at the end of a dinner, but they don't have to add tons of sugar and calories to be good. The sweets Valentina presents in this book are made mostly of fruit. Sins of A Queen contains Valentina's hand drawings continuing the style of her first book and many historical notes on Italian food and their celebrations, providing a pleasant reading and various subjects to talk about at dinner table with your guests. To know about food and to know how to eat, to know how to prepare and served them is part of creating your own life in style.