Quaintrelle Weekender
Four ways to a better weekend
Welcome to Quaintrelle Weekender.
This is a short list of things I am currently loving to make eating, drinking, and hosting easier and a lot more interesting.
Good morning from Toronto!
Today’s tips are inspired by my trip to Italy, for a little le dolce vita in The Big Smoke and wherever you happen to be reading this.
To inspire culinary creativity:
You’ve now heard me mention Il Ghiottone a few times now, and if you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen a million pictures, with many more to come.
I really enjoyed my week at this beautiful cooking school in the hills of the Umbrian countryside, but if you can’t fly away just yet (plus their 2024 schedule is fully booked), you can purchase their Kitchen Notes. A 30-ish page collection of recipes and Italian insights is released seasonally for 10 Euro a year. Subscribers also get 10% off their stays at Il Ghiottone.
To Shop:
While in the cooking spirit, Consiglio’s is my go-to for kitchen gadgets. From ravioli presses to pasta machines, they have the best prices and frequent sales on top of that. You can visit their west-Toronto showroom or get free delivery in Canada for with purchases over $70; they also ship to the US. Toronto delivery is generally next day, and I must say top-notch for tracking systems and care of packages.
To Eat:
I stuffed myself silly trying carbonara all over Rome. And yes, some were better than others. And yes, many were euphoric. One of the keys to really good, next-level carbonara is guanciale. I’ve typically used pancetta, and do include it in my carbonara recipe (see below for the link), as it’s both easier to find and can be used in many more recipes. However, guanciale, the cured, unsmoked pork jowl, is the real deal. I buy mine at Sheffler’s Deli in Toronto’s St Lawrence Market for (I think) $5.99/100g
Get Outside
Now that we’ve talked about food, the tools to make it, and the inspiration for it. let’s talk about walking it off. In Italy, I averaged nearly 13k steps a day – never falling below 10k, and sometimes, on hike days, hitting 20k+. This kept me sane, and able to do up my pants. Here at home, I still aim for 10k steps a day. I use the Pacer App, and have for about three years, to track my progress. I cheap out on the free version which gives me all I need: daily steps, calories burn, and miles (not km) logged, monthly averages dating back a year, yearly totals, a day-by-day calendar, and a weight tracker, which I used to use, but found it too depressing, so I stopped. They also give a dopamine-boosting confetti burst once 10k steps are reached and track your daily streak (I’m currently at 294 10k days.)
