10 life lessons from 14 months in Italy
Well, I’m back home in the U.S. after spending a little over a year in Florence, Italy, where I fulfilled my dream of going to culinary...
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Sara Cagle
Jul 31, 202017 min read
How to travel through Puglia without a car: A complete two-week itinerary
You’ll hear many times that traveling in Puglia, the southeastern heel of Italy's boot, is easiest with a car. This is true. It gives you...
Sara Cagle
Jul 28, 20205 min read
Why I love Puglia
Other than mounds of orecchiette and secluded rocky beaches, I didn’t know what to expect from Puglia, the southern region at the heel of...
Sara Cagle
Jun 30, 20204 min read
10 fun facts from a month on a farm
If there’s anything I’ve done more times during my month of WWOOFing than hug the Bernese mountain dogs or squint out at Florence in...
Sara Cagle
Jun 16, 20205 min read
WWOOFing in Tuscany, reveling in the repetitive and embracing change
One year ago, I came to culinary school in Florence seeking a change. Now I’m finished with classes and am volunteering on a farm in the...
Sara Cagle
May 10, 20204 min read
Thoughts after a week in Phase 2
Last Friday I took my first walk in nearly two months. It was May 1, and the Italian government announced that people would be finally...
Sara Cagle
May 6, 20206 min read
Recipes from my quarantine cooking challenge
If you are my mom, my friend, my mom's friend, or someone who likes pictures of pasta, you may have participated in my quarantine cooking...
Sara Cagle
Apr 19, 20205 min read
The big and little things I'm grateful for during the lockdown
I’ve been joking (or not so joking) to my friends and family that we all need things to look forward to these days. For some people (my...
Sara Cagle
Apr 3, 20206 min read
The friends I never knew I'd meet in culinary school
Olive Garden’s slogan used to be, “When you’re here, you’re family.” It suggests that your meal isn’t just about the food; it’s about who...
Sara Cagle
Mar 19, 20207 min read
How the coronavirus lockdown has changed the way I cook, plus my favorite #quarantinecuisine recipes
I would’ve thought that suddenly finding myself living through an earth-altering pandemic would change my priorities. Maybe I’d ponder...
Sara Cagle
Mar 13, 20206 min read
A long overdue food-shop crawl in Florence, a last hurrah before the coronavirus lockdown
Back in January, during the kind of sunset stroll in Florence that always makes me sigh with admiration and fantasize about making...
Sara Cagle
Feb 4, 20203 min read
February is a good time to be a dessert lover in Florence
In the fall, when Florence's supermarkets and pastry shops were full of schiacciata con l'uva — the city's famous flatbread studded with...
Sara Cagle
Jan 15, 20205 min read
My arms hurt! Pasta, squid, and yet another surge of respect for restaurant cooks
It seems that all of my cooking tasks this week were designed to work my muscles — not just my culinary mind and physical posture, but my...
Sara Cagle
Dec 31, 20198 min read
My favorite culinary techniques from Cooking Light and Molecular Cuisine
I had some doubts about the two classes I'd be taking at the end of my fall semester in culinary school. First, there would be Cooking...
Sara Cagle
Nov 15, 20195 min read
It sure feels good being useless
I usually feel guilty about doing nothing. It seems like doing nothing (i.e. watching TV, reading a book, lying down on my bed and...
Sara Cagle
Oct 28, 20197 min read
Turning over a new leaf in November — plus some recipes
October was not my month. After a week of eating everything in sight in Sicily, I returned to school at the beginning of the month to...
Sara Cagle
Oct 12, 20196 min read
The extreme act of eating in Sicily
There was blood everywhere. Pooled on the ground and into buckets. Crusted on fishermen's boots and in their fingernails. Swirling in...
Sara Cagle
Oct 2, 201910 min read
What it's like to work in a restaurant kitchen for the first time ever
I was so unsure of myself the first few days of working in a restaurant kitchen that I might as well have never cooked anything before in...
Sara Cagle
Sep 17, 20193 min read
My favorite bready thing in Florence doesn't involve cheese, cured meat or cow stomach...
It involves grapes. Tons and tons of sweet, squishy, in-season grapes. It's called schiacciata all'uva, and it's a fruity twist on...
Sara Cagle
Sep 12, 20195 min read
Mom's visit to Florence
I realized many moons ago that my mom will always love me no matter what, that she is the most important person in my life, and that I...
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