As a little kid, I used to imagine that my Viking ancestors took a side trip to Italy, which explained my love of all things Italian, especially the language. And the hand gestures.
In 2016, I started classes at the Italian Cultural Center in Minneapolis. One of the tips for listening practice was to watch videos on topics that you already liked. I love cooking shows, so I watched videos from Food Network Italia. I might not have understood ogni parola, but I recognized gli ingredienti. Some day, I vowed, I would know enough Italian to hang out in a little village and make pasta with le nonne.
Flash forward to this spring. Now I want to cook with le monache.
I grew up Lutheran, but I also saw The Sound of Music, so I have a mild fascination with nuns. Imagine my delight when I found La Cucina Delle Monache, an Italian cooking show starring four nuns. Not only do they cook, they’re funny, and they share historic recipes from their archives. At this point, you’re probably dying to watch too. Here’s the first episode.
And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to learn how to make pollo ai pepperoni.