My recipe for Social Kitchen: lemon flavored spaghetti with clams, zucchini and bottarga

It seems that it took me quite a long time to settle my kitchen out of the sand!

The last time I wrote here on the blog (apparently four months ago, sigh) I was probably too optimistic about the fact that we would have found an apartment and, most important, settled in the new house in a decently reasonable time.

I changed house several times in the past, in different cities and different countries, so I know it's not an easy and quick job, but this time too many things didn't go as they should ...

The positive part is that I've learned something new and unexpected about renting an apartment and Italian bureaucracy that could be of some help in future (and of course, if any of you needs some advice, do not hesitate to contact me; it would be a pleasure to help).

Of all the things we had to get arranged in the new house, the last I got was an home Internet connection which, if you want to be a blogger, is of vital importance - at least as much as the kitchen.

It took me longer than starting the whole blog from scratch, but now I can say I am (almost) ready to get back into blogging regularly.

Cooking at the Farmers Market on the Terrace: pasta, pasta, pasta

Me and my son asking: "Mamma, what are you doing?" 

That I am a huge fan of the Farmers Market on the Terrace is very well known by all my friends and acquaintances here in Dubai,as well as by the readers of this blog. And also the other members of my family, who hesitated for a while before joining me on my Friday morning visits to the market (I like to go early to avoid the crowd and choose the freshest produce), are now regular visitors, having found good "personal" reasons to go, apart from being with me. And in fact, while I get the fresh,  organic, locally grown vegetables for the week, my son, too young - and too active - to enjoy shopping with me from the farmers, loves running and jumping in the garden, playing with a lovely white cat always present at the market and always looking for a stroke, as well as tasting honey from the Balqees stall and bread from Baker & Spice; my husband appreciates having a post-shopping breakfast in the garden with one the delicious items prepared by Baker & Spice's cooks (with the Spinach and Egg English Muffin being his favorite).

Pasta Master Class with chef Claudio Sadler

I couldn't have had a better occasion than this to inaugurate a new section of the blog where, besides recipes which remain the protagonists of this website, I want to talk about other food-related experiences worth being remembered and shared. Since the birth of this blog - relatively recent though - I hadn't experienced yet any food event really deserving a detailed review, with the only exception of some restaurants that I visited here in Dubai and really enjoyed, but whose reviews would maybe be superfluous or redundant considering the many and valuable ones already published by others. But the "original" occasion finally came and I am now very happy to talk about it.
During the month of November, more precisely from the 7th to the 20th, Dubai is hosting the sixth edition of the Italian Cuisine World Summit, an event celebrating Italian food and culinary tradition which gathers in the city some of the best and most renowned Italian chefs: the list includes guest master chefs at the helm of prestigious restaurants in Italy but also ambassadors of the Italian cuisine all around the world. The summit program is very intense and absolutely exciting: some of the finest Italian restaurants in Dubai are hosting gala events as well as dinners with special menus created by the Italian visiting chefs; an extensive series of cooking lessons, courses and seminars are being held at different venues, featuring chefs, experts, sommeliers and food writers; events, cooking shows, competitions and more will take place at several locations in the city. Check the summit's website to know the detailed programme or visit Dima Sharif's blog which, having being appointed as the official blog of the event, is following closely what is going on, anticipating upcoming events, introducing chefs, showing what is taking place throughout the summit, including some behind-the-scene. The event is really a great opportunity for Dubai's residents and visitors for having a first-hand experience with top quality Italian cuisine and food tradition, be it a dinner prepared by a celebrity chef or an family-friendly event or a seminar on olive oil (or something else) or a cooking lesson. Among this huge range of possibilities, thanks to Dima's invitation, I had the opportunity to attend a Master Class on dry Pasta held by the Michelin-starred chef Claudio Sadler.