Barber Caleb - In late winter we ate pears: a year of hunger and love

Praise for In Late Winter We Ate Pears

"This winning little tome will convince you that the owners of Woodstock's Pane e Salute are bringing true Italian sensibility to this snowy northern state with their osteria."

Epicurious

"In our mad-rush society, these enchanting essays and delicious recipes remind us of what Italians have always known: one of life's greatest pleasures is to linger at the table with good food and the company of loved ones. And now Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber have given us a truly original guide that teaches us, once again, to taste, to savor, to love."

JOHN SEARLES, author of
Boy Still Missing

"The vignettes of their working Italian sojourns, during which they absorbed many secrets of kitchen and culture, bring a vivid allure to their narrative, just as the fruits of their experience are everywhere apparent in their marvelous osteria."

The Common Reader

"As beautifully and evocatively written as any novel."

Hartford Courant

"Not just a cookbook but a love storybetween a man and a woman, a couple and two countries, a chef and a writer and the food they love. Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber understand the meaning of nurture, and they serve their readers lavishly, inviting us into their story and their kitchen. We savor the flavor of their lives and their table in prose that is good enough to eat."

JULIA ALVAREZ, author of In the Time of
the Butterflies and A Cafecito Story

A winning and well-written volume full of honest Italian cooking and memories."

Publishers Weekly

"Just right! An inspiring and informative personal quest and a deeply felt journey into the heart and soul of Italian artisanal cuisine."

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, author of A Cook's Tour
and Kitchen Confidential

"Enchanting!"

JOAN NATHAN, author of Jewish Cooking in America

"A treat for the senses. The writing will encourage all readers to sit down and savor. You can almost taste the recipes as you read them. Simple and clear instructions will bring Italy into the kitchens of even the most faint-hearted of cooks."

BILL EICHNER, author of The New Family Cookbook

"I was charmed by the devotion of these two young Americans to the cuisine and customs of Italy. Deirdre Heekin's thoughtful narrative captures the essence of my country so that I'm made to see it through fresh eyes."

FRANCESCA DURANTI, author of Left-Handed Dreams
and The House on Moon Lake

In Late Winter We Ate Pears

In Late Winter
We Ate Pears

A YEAR OF HUNGER AND LOVE

DEIRDRE HEEKIN AND CALEB BARBER

CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VERMONT

Printed in the United States of America.
First printing April 2009
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 09 10 11 12 13

eBook ISBN: 978-1-603582-26-1

In Late Winter We Ate Pears was first published in 2002 as
Pane e Salute: Food and Love in Italy and Vermont.

"If You Look on a Map" appeared in another from in
The Vermont Standard, 2 June 2000, Woodstock, Vermont.

The authors acknowledge the following sources:

Martino, Maestro. "Il Libro de arte coquinaria." In Arte della cucina, Libri di ricette: Testi sopra lo scalco, il trinciante e i vini dal XIV al XIX secolo. Edited by Emilio Faccioli, 1: 115-204. Milan: Il Polifilo, 1966.

Piras, Claudia, and Eugenio Medagliani, eds. Culinaria Italy.
Cologne: Knemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 2000.

Quasimodo, Salvatore. "Antico inverno." In Introduction to Italian Poetry: A Dual-Language Book.
Edited by Luciano Rebay. New York: Dover Publications, 1969.

Redon, Odile, Francoise Sabban, and Silvano Serventi. The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from
France and Italy. Translated by Edward Schneider. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Tihany, Adam D., Francesco Antonucci, and Florence Fabricant. Venetian Taste.
New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1994

Book design and composition by Tim Jones for Sterling Hill Productions
Illustrations by Mary Elder Jacobsen

Our Commitment to Green Publishing
Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for cultural change and ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book manufacturing practices with our editorial mission and to reduce the impact of our business enterprise in the environment. We print our books and catalogs on chlorine-free recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks whenever possible. This book may cost slightly more because we use recycled paper, and we hope you'll agree that it's worth it. Chelsea Green is a member of the Green Press Initiative (www.greenpressinitiative.org), a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the world's endangered forests and conserve natural resources. In Late Winter We Ate Pears was printed on Natures Smooth Antique, a 30-percent postconsumer recycled paper supplied by RR Donnelley.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file with the publisher

Chelsea Green Publishing Company
Post Office Box 428
White River Junction, VT 05001
(802) 295-6300
www.chelseagreen.com

All of us surely house within ourselves another unwritten book. This would consist of an account of ourselves as eaters, recording the development of our palates, telling over like the beads of a rosary the memories of the best meals of our lives.

CLIFTON FADIMAN, 1954

contents

SPRING

Antipasti

Primi

Secondi

Contorni

Dolci