After attending the SOBE Food and Wine Festival back in February and hearing Rocco DiSpirito divulge his secrets to perfect gnocchi, I couldn’t wait to get home and try it for myself. So of course, it took me 3 months to actually “get around to it” and try for myself.

One of my dear friends, @missattitude (Jen Straw), has been coming for cooking lessons and this was to be the next lesson. So before she and my neighbors arrived, I decided it would be a good idea to try some of these new tips myself.

As all the i’s get dotted and the t’s get crossed for our upcoming trip to the Amalfi coast, being the food lovers that Barry and I are, we have spent a large amount of time reflecting on the meals we had on our last trip to this paradise along the west coast of Italy. One of Barry’s favorite treats was of course a type of pie, he does have an enormously large sweet tooth. This particular pie was a specialty of the small villages along the coast.

We were introduced to this slice of heaven by one of our dear friends, Giovanni. We had invited him by the villa for dinner one evening and as you know, Italians never arrive empty handed, and this evening was no exception. He brought with him a pie; of course everyone was trying to politely pass on dessert after one of my “light” dinners. After some coaxing by Giovanni and me on the fact that this was a light treat, everyone agreed to try. And of course, no one was disappointed. This was truly a light, fresh dessert, perfect after a heavy meal and during the summer heat.

  (Click here to see Debbie on Daytime TV)

Thanks to my friend Sandi McKenna introducing me to a friend of hers, April Wilson, I had the fantastic opportunity and pleasure of being on Daytime with hosts Lindsay MacDonald, Dave Nemeth and Cyndi Edwards.

I wasn’t sure what to expect meeting these guys that I have spent years watching, what would I say, what would I prepare?  I only had 4 minutes to prepare something delicious and easy. Not to mention, would it be one of those situations you hear about, you know, big stars with big attitudes?

Well, I’m here to tell you that it was one of the most fun atmospheres, not to mention welcoming, that I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing.

After fretting over what I was going to prepare, I finally decided on my mother-in-law’s recipe she handed down to me for manicotti.  In fact, it was one of the first recipes that mom shared with me, the trick is in the making of the crepes.

Well, as this past Friday was getting closer I was still trying to determine how I was going to explain my menu that I had planned to demonstrate for my class that I was teaching at the Rolling Pin. For those of you who know me well, you know it’s a very rare occasion that I am without words, but I was beginning to become somewhat anxious about how I was going to explain the menu and what drove my choices; if I didn’t know why I had chosen the menu how was I going to create excitement with my guests?

I had chosen the dishes months ago in a manic state trying to meet deadlines and then after submitting them, promptly discarded it from memory, so the first thing was to revisit the dishes, if for no other reason but to refresh myself of what I was preparing.