Hello Itlalian Food Forever Subscribers!

Wow, can you believe it is October already? We are winding down our season here in Umbria and in just a little over two weeks we will be heading back to North America for the winter and will hand over our two farmhouses to our caretakers. The next two weeks will be busy ones as we try to get together with old friends here in Umbria to say goodbye, harvest our olives, and visit our favorite local hangouts.

We are already fully booked for the 2014 season, so we are planning to head back to Umbria mid April. We will enjoy the winter break with family, and will be freshed and excited for the 2014 season. We have been very lucky the past 5 years having had the absolute best guests staying with us, and have made some great friends along the way. Next year, many of our guests are return ones, so we are excited to revisit with them as well as getting to know the new ones.

Creamy Pumpkin & Sausage Sage Pasta
Fall has arrived, and brought with it an amazing selection of new fruits and vegetables for us to enjoy. I am now buying apples, pears, greens, and pumpkin each and every shopping trip and am thoroughly enjoying the fact I am able to create new fall recipes with these ingredients. I do love summer, but nothing inspires a cook more than to have a whole new selection of produce to play with! Here in Umbria, we do not have the large selection of winter squash that I am used to back in North America, but as soon as the cool weather is here, zucca (pumpkin) can be found in every grocery store or outdoor market. Since there is no such thing as canned pumpkin here in Italy, I often buy the pumpkin fresh and roast it, puree it, and then use it for my dessert recipes. Get The Recipe......

Pasta With Figs, Prosciutto & Pine Nuts
Fall in Umbria is truly a magical time. The frantic summer season packed full of festivals celebrating food, art, and history give way to what is really important to the region. Namely, making amazing wine and olive oil. We do still have a handful of significant food festivals each fall dedicated to such important local treasures as Umbria's earthy black truffles, chestnuts, black celery, and, of course, the grape and olive oil harvest, but things settle down each fall as folks prepare for winter. The arrival of fall is also reflected in our local outdoor markets, which are now overflowing with pears, apples, quince, plums, and my favorite fall fruit, figs. Get The Recipe......

Slow Cooker Pork Stew on Creamy Parmesan Polenta
Fall has arrived with the expected cooler temperatures along with some very long rainy days. When I am bundled up in the house looking out at the dreary grey skies and heavy rain, I love to cuddle on the couch with my pup under a warm throw blanket and read (or catch up on computer work). On days like that, there is nothing as comforting as the fragrance of a slow cooking stew wafting through the house, and I've find it so easy to create a great in a slow cooker or crockpot. I cannot believe that for so many years I never wanted a slow cooker and wasn't even tempted to buy one until last year. Although I do occasionally oven roast a big roast, when it comes to such dishes as stews or chili, I find the slow cooker is the perfect kitchen appliance to use. Get The Recipe.....

Fig and Almond Cake

I am sad to say that I am getting very close to the end of my fresh figs. The two trees that I pick from are just about finished and I may have just one small bowl left to pick in a day or so if the heavy rain storm last night hasn't already knocked them off the trees. I canned 8 jars of a fig and apple combination yesterday that I use to make tarts with so next season when we return to Umbria I'll have my filling ready to make tarts for our farmhouse guests. After making my canned tart filling, I had 8 nice sized figs leftover (after I gobbled up 4 raw), so I decided to throw together this easy fig cake recipe.
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