About

“Cooking is like LOVE. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all” (Harriet Van Horne, Vogue Magazine, Oct. 15 , 1956).

Hi, my name is Paola Lovisetti Scamihorn. I am Italian, born in Como (Italy) on the shores of the beautiful lake which bears the same name. I studied Pharmacy at the University of Milan and lived abroad for nearly a decade, first in London, Brussels, then in Innsbruck. Cooking has always been my passion. When I was a little girl I loved to cook, spending hours in the kitchen with my mother, making a mess but learning delicious traditional Italian recipes, using authentic, fresh ingredients and preparing everything from scratch. Today, I am still that same little girl playing in the kitchen; I like to experiment with different tastes and textures, tingeing from the Italian culinary culture to create my own personal recipes. However, I try to remain faithful to the authentic Italian traditions, flavors, and ingredients. In Italy we say that “A tavola non si invecchia” (one does not grow old at the table); the pleasure of good food, wine, and company is such that the passage of time is suspended.  

Food is not only nourishing but also comforting, loving, fun, pleasurable, stimulating.

I hope this blog will give you a flavor of the true Italian lifestyle, through traditional cooking, “an experience for all your senses”.  The stories, the food, the photographs, all reflect the way I live here in Italy, as an Italian.  I personally do the shopping and the cooking of the recipes, as well as the scientific, culinary and cultural research.  Even all the pictures are “homemade” in my dining room, since it’s the best spot for natural light.

If you would like to read these recipes (as well as some of my other favorites) in Italian, click on http://www.unadonna.it/author/paola-lovisetti-scamihorn/, and check out the web magazine “Una Donna” that I write for.  My recipes will also soon be found at http://www.wetheitalians.com/, a bi-lingual window on the Italo-American world.

Last, but not least, for both lovers of Italian food and the merely curious, I offer fun and informal lessons about Italian cuisine and culture. I teach in English or Italian, using both metric and imperial measurements. If you are interested, or someone you know is, please contact me directly.

Paola Lovisetti Scamihorn – Contact: paola@passionandccoking.com