tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64547552422639221142024-03-13T10:35:28.563-06:00Peggy Markelpeggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.comBlogger193125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-59188298440359722742013-04-26T11:35:00.000-06:002013-04-26T14:01:14.055-06:00Sweeping
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-62167646555400031882013-03-08T02:44:00.003-07:002013-03-08T02:44:49.218-07:00
Light streams through my window making a shadow of trembling leaves on the wall.I'm barely awake having slept for maybe 12 hours. I woke slightly unsmiling. But I wentto bed that way too. Why? I don't know. I'm happy that I made it to Marrakech on astriking airline in a wind storm from New York. I watched my luggage sit on the tarmacin Madrid in the rain as our flight took off. Plane too peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-42994268244696255242013-01-08T16:04:00.000-07:002013-01-16T08:39:34.067-07:00Announcing a New Program! 5-Day Culinary Immersion with Chef Fabio Picchi.
March 20-25, 2013
Florence, Italy
$2995.00/per person for a double room
To be invited into a chef’s kitchen is an intimate gesture. He (or she!) allows you to see the inner workings of his mind, like a personal laboratorio.
It is my great pleasure to work with Fabio Picchi, the chef, owner, and genius behind the culinary kingdom of Cibreo in Florence, Italy. Cibreo has been a point of peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-37570585880520999842012-12-20T08:11:00.000-07:002012-12-20T08:11:13.505-07:00Recipe: Preserved Lemons
For one jar of preserved lemons:
(canning jar with plastic or rubber lid covering is best) 5 - 6 small organic or meyer lemons sea salt (enough for stuffing a few T into each quartered lemon)
Cut the lemon from top to bottom in quarters, but not all the way through. Basically a cross at the top, all the way down, but not through. Stuff each quadrant with approx. 1 tablespoon of salt. peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-54966590657785098642012-12-10T09:09:00.003-07:002012-12-10T09:09:32.492-07:00Reasons to Visit India.
Everyone, including me has had reservations about India. It’s large. Daunting and Deep. It’s one of those places that intrepid travelers go. Those of us that are strong, curious, and unaffected by the extreme.
We have heard stories from our friends, and friends friends, about coming home with their lives forever changed. Perhaps they have even had a taste of enlightenment from studying withpeggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-88661525142822527172012-11-25T19:55:00.000-07:002012-11-28T11:35:00.236-07:00Down Home
Even during a crisp November, the Alabama air was cool and humid. The skies were often grey and the ground, a wet looking brown. A sense of melancholy hung on the bare trees like something was missing.
Sitting on Aunt Siddy's porch 1980's
It took two hours to drive from Albertville to Ashland in Clay county.
Every Sunday we hitched the wagon and off we would go. (Well, at least that's whatpeggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-4148384805509565222012-11-06T08:24:00.002-07:002012-11-06T08:24:48.599-07:00Where do you find Ordinary Magic?
The Chhatra Sagar luxury tent village, India: Tasting Royal Rajasthan
"Another
incredible place! They took Ann Coffaro and I on a guided bird walk. I
saw one hundred and twenty new birds in India. My favorite was the
Bee-eater. Talk about birding in style! A porter to carry the scope and
refreshing drinks on a tray at the end of the trail."
~ Tara O'Leary, India 2012.
peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-85693424060684947362012-09-15T16:03:00.000-06:002012-09-15T16:03:23.986-06:00Afternoon Apertivo at Cibreo.
At Cibreo Caffe, alcohol is served in varying degrees of strength throughout the day, but never without food, and rarely does a Florentine order more than one drink.
There are morning aperitivi before lunch and evening aperitivi before dinner. The Italians are modest when it comes to drinking, as if there are unspoken cultural rules. There’s only one thing worse than wine for the liver…peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-76517577141720947432012-09-08T15:28:00.000-06:002012-09-14T11:06:48.883-06:00pasta with oil-cured tuna, capers, red onions, tomatoes and basil
Feeding large parties that also include a gang of hungry Italian musicians is challenging. With one small kitchen, a few large pots and a lot of volanta..(willingness), I cook pasta for the masses with as much 'gusto' as possible. Gusto also means 'taste'. Italians are tough critics, so one can't mess around when feeding them their favorite food. I have to invent, but stay within reason.
Onepeggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-56308515593454445762012-08-01T18:30:00.000-06:002012-08-01T18:30:40.779-06:00Photo Recap: Our 20th Anniversary Tour
Emily Markel Luebcke, Giulio Picchi, and Graham Markel. Ristorante Cibreo, Florence. June 8th, 2012
Emily and
Graham were 12 and 9 when I started. Their sweet natures allowed me to
travel back and forth all these years. Emily lived with the
Picchi/Vitali family for a semester when she was 15 and Giulio was 13.
She now has two children, 4 and 6, and he manages Cibreo as peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-85632720901734337322012-07-30T16:54:00.000-06:002012-08-01T18:28:54.998-06:00Miss Peach And Her Peaches
miss peach and her peaches
The peach tree was laden down with the softest, peachiest peaches you can imagine. Although a small tree, she took the burden of the bountiful crop. It was a Sunday, a good day for making pies. Miss Peach, took her wooden bowl and filled it up with the sweet, downy fruit. It was a better idea than reading. After all, she's only six. And reading is peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-53547587363680191942012-07-26T00:11:00.001-06:002012-08-04T15:39:26.090-06:00The Country Girls' Approach to Saving Small Lives
Caroline and I are both Colorado country girls.
She lives in the mountains at 8,000 ft with a magnificent view of the Continental Divide and I live in the countryside at 5280 ft next to a creek that spills into two ponds.
She is a vegan Kundalini yogini and I am not. I eat everything that's good, all over the world, and bend my left elbow more than any other body part. Yet, I am as peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-63150266405363463232012-07-07T07:57:00.002-06:002012-08-01T18:16:59.220-06:00Living Between Curious Worlds
The creek is high, rushing and coffee colored. Surrounding trees are full and green, happy with a full drink of water from yesterday's rain. The Flatirons sit pretty in the distance looking down on the plains with barely a glow of early morning light coming from a vast, cloudy, yet blue Colorado sky. Birds and hidden animals take delight in the moist air and cool temperatures, and so do I.
peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-1909157548409915842012-07-01T15:33:00.000-06:002012-08-01T18:18:52.135-06:00Undoing it in Kerala, India. Eco on the beach.
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Palatino;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-134238209 peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-44448237528746674472012-06-06T12:00:00.000-06:002012-06-06T12:00:52.717-06:00Join us in Spain this October!
Spain: Granada and the Alpujarras Mountains
October 20-28, 2012
October 19-27, 2013
In this distinct region of southern Spain, we will find almond groves and lush valleys bearing figs, pomegranates, kakis and apricots. As we drive from the city of Malaga, higher in the Alpujarras, we will look down on to green gorges, gushing streams, and the white dots of villages.
Near to peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-62967237361160202042012-06-06T11:49:00.002-06:002012-06-06T11:58:47.104-06:00Spain: Morning in the Alpujarras Mountains.
Peggy and Kim Schiffer explore the mountains around Ferreirola.
The first thing I do when I wake up in the Alpujarras mountains at the foot of the Sierra Nevada is put on my shoes.
The earlier the better, even with a brisk chill in the air. I head happily through the village and down the trail to the fuentes (natural spring). I know that the more I drink of this water, the peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-26173152852241979182012-05-12T23:46:00.002-06:002012-05-14T12:23:02.765-06:00Becoming Mothers
"Well here's to you.. Mrs. Robin..son. Jesus love you more than you will know.. "
Where does the instinct to mother come from? A mother robin builds a fine nest in a bird feeder, quite smartly with windows on three sides and a safe opening. She will sit there most of the time waiting for her little blue eggs to hatch, unless she needs to fly away to feed herself occasionally or perhaps peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-34002801749446507172012-05-01T21:59:00.000-06:002012-05-03T10:38:32.993-06:00Ode to Okra
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-58748412688273489292012-04-29T12:59:00.002-06:002012-05-14T12:23:21.072-06:00Where The Wild Wind Sings
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-48741058524331389962012-04-10T09:01:00.001-06:002012-04-16T10:05:35.982-06:00India: Shahpura Bagh, Part One.High over the mustard field tiny warblers jump from plant to plant. It early morning, but not for the jackals and peahens. A warm breakfast of freshly made yogurt from the dairy and poha, a puffed rice colored with turmeric and flavored with a masala blend of spices, mustard seeds, and red capsicum graces the clean white porcelain plate with color and appetizing aroma.
A barefoot priest inpeggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-19003336771796961622012-03-15T14:59:00.000-06:002012-03-15T14:59:21.361-06:00India: A Simple Recipe for Tomato Chutney
Tomato Chutney
1 cup fresh tomato
1t garlic (peeled and chopped)
3 sprigs of fresh mint
1 red chili, chopped
1 green chili, chopped
a pinch of sugar
salt to season
Mix all ingredients in a food processor, or pound together in a mortar and pestle.
Add salt to taste.
peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-56214500390322197822012-03-08T16:03:00.003-07:002012-03-09T00:38:28.502-07:00India: Ayesha Manzil's Malabar Coast Cooking.Ayesha Manzil, an old Heritage mansion, sits on a hill with a close view of the warm Arabian sea.
It was built by an Englishmen, who was one of the first to set up the East India Trading Office, trading spices from the port of Tellicherry. Pepper, the main sought-after commodity was grown nearby,
as well as cinnamon bark and cardamom. These spices along with coffee were stored inpeggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-21021632451251964912012-03-08T13:39:00.001-07:002012-03-08T15:53:00.342-07:00The Fish Market of Tellicherry.I have visited fish markets all over the world, in many different cultures, and love the vibrancy, the smell of salt and sea, the earnest looks of fishermen presenting their hard work for chefs and villagers each day. But for some reason, this fish market in Tellicherry, India made me sad.
I'm starting to look at fishing as something that will disappear, a way of life that is actually peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-17539620501326262862012-02-17T11:50:00.000-07:002012-02-17T11:50:03.392-07:00Alumni Story: Elena's Seventh Program
You could say that Elena Portoles wins the prize for PMCA's 'Most Frequent Traveler.' Since 1997, Elena has been on almost every single one of Peggy's programs, tasting and exploring her way across Italy, Spain, Morocco, and just this last month—India.
Here, we interview Elena in the midst of her seventh program with Peggy, India: Tasting Royal Rajasthan. Moments later, Peggy peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454755242263922114.post-86961764344612509702012-02-14T12:58:00.002-07:002012-03-04T10:57:53.626-07:00Culinary India: A Cooking Lesson with Salma Husain
Today I had a cooking class with Salma Husain, a Persian scholar, noted food historian, and the author of The Emperor's Table, The Art of Mughal Cuisine.
In Salma's home outside of Delhi, I watched as she and her cook of 28 years showed me how to temper spices in oil, make poori, chapati, and roti, potato curry, chicken torma and pea and corn pulao. A full menu!
peggy markelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12430232797452213885noreply@blogger.com1