You can now view our show in a higher resolution within your iTunes Player, download the video files to your PC/Mac or your Apple TV, and eventually store them into your iPod...so you can show them to your Grandma next time you go visit!
Here is the only catch: the video files will need to be converted before you can actualy synch them to an iPod or iPhone (ctrl+click or mouse right button).
Also, as you might have noticed (or we hope that eventually you will), we are finally featuring original music thoughout the show, thanks to the great help and inspiration of Terry Radigan and Joshua Camp in New York and Pat Buchanan in Nashville. Many of our viewers have been requesting information about the music we feature in our videos, and also asked about what we listen at home while cooking or entertaining...stay tuned, as a few surprise posts will be coming soon.
For the moment,
enjoy Under The Tuscan Gun on a bigger screen...now you can!

Debi and Gabriele

Even if the dish we prepared is somewhat synonymous of “hot italian summer nights wearing shorts and flip flops on the porch”, it was refreshing to find an excuse to get elegant and celebrate.
Please join us for a midnight Spaghetti all’ Amatriciana.

This summer, if you intend to visit Tuscany and florence, be sure to look for this free magazine, or check their website, you will find tips and calendar events that will help you navigate the city with ease.
This month Debi and I are featured on The Florentine pages...just a few questions about how we met, and what’s going on with our lives.

Therefore, in a couple of weeks from now, our Podcast on the iTunes store will be Apple TV ready: the downloadable file will become noticeably bigger, and the resolution on your computer or TV will be doubled! The only somewhat disappointing note is that from now on, subscribers that wish to transfer our cooking show on their iPod or iPhones will have to convert the file within iTunes. We also decided to reconvert all our episodes and post them in Hi-Res, reorganized by season, with new graphics and a couple of special treats we are working on....so, please be patient as our episodes won’t be available on iTunes for a few days, we will come back stronger then ever!

The Show won’t be affected by this “summer cleanup”, and our episodes will still be posted regularly on the website!
We hope you all are well, we’ll be back with a new recipe next week.
Take care
Debi and Gabriele

We opened a bottle of Lumina from Ruffino, and wished we were at the beach!
Enjoy this new fresh recipe,
Have a good week end!
Debi and Gabriele

So, please come in and enjoy our new menu entry: Risotto alla Giorgio, with Peppers and Seafood.
Buon Appetito!

On your way to school/work...
because you need the excuse for another cigarette,
and because the first coffee is starting to ulcerate your stomach,
you stop at a bar, to revive yourself with a "cornetto", or any other piece of pastry...
Then you top it with your second coffee(might be the third, depends how many you drink when you wake up),
and another cigarette.

11.30 am 12.00 pm!
This is a very personal choice...
You can go for more pastries and more coffees or,
you can have your first drink of the day , in the form of a glass of prosecco wine and a little sandwich.
In any case, there will be the after cigarette.

The only times I had a semi-real breakfast was when in vacation...
mostly in winter, when I used to go ski...
then yes, eggs, toast, jam...nothing special though...
Otherwise, sorry...

Gabriele

Today we cooked Orecchiette with Sausage, Radicchio and Walnuts,
and a Roasted Peppers and Cheese appetizer.

We mark it on the calendar, Youtube has a custom logo, Madonna has another magazine cover, my kids have a project at school...
What about tomorrow? What about Yesterday? What about each single day of our life?
I apologize for the very personal space I am taking today on this blog, but...
in this exact moment, instead of a burst of energy, wishful thoughts and good attitude, well, I sit down and feel such a small creature of Nature.
I do remember when I was a kid, and the weather was different, I remember the fluctuation of seasons,the changing colors, the muffled sounds of life when everything was covered with snow, right before spring "used to come"...
We all feel the same way, to a degree...maybe people with kids care just a bit more; if we do not act for our sake, well, at least let's try to think about our children!

I grew up in the country, and to a degree, I saw it dying...day by day, succumbing to industrial farming, not being able to perform under such pressure.
It made me sad, and made me feel helpless...I was young.
Now it's different. I am a husband and a father, I am older and just a bit wiser...well, at least wise enough to realize that now, finally and for real, I am running short of time.
And even if I have been conscious about these issues for many years now, something happened last Sunday that shook me very hard: I came across this Article on the New York Times Sunday Magazine.
Nothing really new, to any of us that are informed about the health condition of our planet...but for the very first time, I asked myself: "What am I waiting for?"

It is not anymore a matter of switching light bulbs around the house or start timing my showers. Things are getting more serious and more complicated by the day.
As of now, we consume 10 calories of fossil fuel to produce 1 calorie of organic vegetables, our (the world) need of meat is responsible for a massive carbon footprint that will lead one day to a dead end, we are still highly dependable on oil...I do expect vegetables from life, I will never stop eating meat, and like everybody else I will keep on driving my car and heating my house.

If two and a half years of diapers for each one of my kids equals to 5 cut trees, I am responsible for 10 trees in the past four years (plus about 1.400 Lbs of plastic and about 2.000 pints of crude oil) ...only in diapers...what about all the rest? What about the toilet paper they will need for the rest of their lives?
The catch here is that We Can Not Stop. We do need energy, we do need to live and survive, and keep on moving forward, we need to keep on cutting trees, pollute and produce an incredible amount of garbage.
These days, unfortunately, there is basically only one choice left. Try to be responsible for yourself, Do Not Depend. And this is very sad, because not all of us have to opportunity to choose this way of life.

Let me explain,
I decided that my Earth Day resolution is to go back to my land and live by the most natural principles I know.
Today, early this morning everything got finally very clear...not easy, just clear.
Today I decided that I will ask my wife to leave Los Angeles and all the associated glitter, and trade it all in for a life in Tuscany, with a vegetable garden, a few animals, the olive threes....and some good work to do, finally fix our house. We will trade our two cars for one small car, a goat and a cow!
You might have read before in these pages about our little pink house in Tuscany, and "our dream" of moving there...well, for me the dreaming is over as of now, it is time to roll up my sleeves, pack my family and ship our lives on the hills of Florence.

My children need to know. They need to grow in respect of our earth, our first and final resource. I have been privileged and lucky enough to have a visionary grandfather, that invested everything he had in land and olive trees...
Now all that is available for me and my family. It will require years of sweat and hard work, a lot of sacrifice on everybody's part.
But really, when the mud will finally hit the fan, where do I want my family to be?

Me, I want to make sure they have a solid roof over their head, fresh food daily and "energy" available throughout the year...no matter what war or what president....
I want solar panels in the field below my house, I want to recycle the rain water every season, I want to grow plants and fruit trees, get a few cows and a pony for my kids.
I will offer public education in Florence, a Roman Amphitheater around the corner from our house, and the opportunity to grow learning a few survival tricks that, trust me on this one, we'll all need to put to good use one day!

And now I am going to tell my wife,
wish me good luck.

Gabriele

Do not get fooled by what you're shown on the tube at night...what you see in the advertised pictures is absolutely impossible to achieve.
Look at the pictures below, can you try guessing which one is mine and which one is the advertised one?

We also would like to reassure you...
yes, more food episodes are coming. Evelina (our oldest daughter) has been enjoying her Spring Break, and we've had our hands full around here, for the past two weeks.
Next episode then, for sure, will be a recipe!
For the moment, we hope you enjoy this little clip.
Debi and Gabriele

We are very happy today there are not so many dishes to clean...
Just one, one and only, very very important thing. It does not matter which kind of appliance you use to make your coffee, never, ever, use soap to wash your coffee machines!!!

Debi and Gabriele

In Florence we call this dish "Arancini di Riso" (Little Rice-Oranges), because its shape and color....it is a great appetizer, or a warm dish for a wine tasting.
Enjoy!

If you did not have problems dealing with the Sausage and Asparagus Risotto that we cooked a while ago, this one should not pose any threats!

Also, we planned ahead a bonus episode that will be posted early next week. We will recycle some risotto leftovers into delicious Arancini di Riso, the Italian fancy way of calling Rice Croquettes!

Go wash your hands, turn on the music, fill up a glass,
and let's make dinner!

So,
pull out a couple of good CDs from your shelf (yes please CDs, mp3s sound like crap) and turn the stereo on,
wash your hands, fill up a glass with some good wine...
Have Fun.

Come in to enjoy The Show and to access the Recipe. Buon Appetito.
Debi and Gabriele

Looking at their shots makes me feel home...they have the same power that food has...comfort and peace...
my history, the smells and the colors I know...

Enjoy your three minutes walk...from Florence to Siena.

Come in and enjoy your first Schiacciata alla Fiorentina!

We realized all of a sudden that this was going to be our Valentine's episode...but we already picked up our recipe for the day: Pasta e Fagioli.
"Ugh, a bean soup for Valentines'?" we thought, almost ready to improvise something different...

Then, all considered. The love is in the act of cooking, not necessarily just in the dish you decided to prepare.
So, if you feel like handling the beans tonight....there you go, have fun!

Featured in this episode a great red Wine and a superb Olive Oil from the hills of Chianti, courtesy of the Ruffino estate.

left: Ruffino "Il Ducale", 2003 - right: Laudemio "Sante Dame" 2006

So, here you go, lunch is served.
Today in the menu: Veal Rolls with Ham and Emmenthal cheese and a traditional Caponata (Vegetable Stew).

Buon Appetito
Debi & Gabriele

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina = Food expenditure for one week $341.98

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily = Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca = Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna = Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo = Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo = Food expenditure for one week: $31.55

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village = Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp = Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

Thank You to
Lisa Leone
for forwarding this great slideshow.

Florentine farmers used to cook this soup using stale bread that was saved during the week, garlic, tomatoes and basil from their gardens: this is the most humble dish I know,
well, after boiled white rice...
Now, if you go to a restaurant, the tradition is slowly disappearing, and it is becoming very hard to find a good old recipe that works; that's why Deb and I decided to feature in this first episode two very dear friends of ours, Rosanna and Matteo. The good recipes are still secretly hidden into very old Tuscan homes, like The Farm Pacina, in Castelnuovo Berardenga, a little town that rests on the hills between the Chianti Area and Siena.

Pacina was originally an Etruscan site, then it became a convent in the nine hundreds and after eight centuries the property was sold by the church and became private. Today Pacina is an Agriturismo and a Yoga retreat, Olive Oil and Wine are produced and distributed in Tuscany...a place worth a long weekend!

We came back to an overwhelming response to our People Magazine piece...
The website have been slowing down a bit for this reason, things are happening faster than we expected and we are already working
on a new version of the site, optimized for this amount of traffic, and also a mobile mini-blog, so you can carry us everywhere...how lucky are you.

We have over seven hours of footage that we will start editing for some new upcoming episodes to be posted starting in a bit more than a week.

Welcome Back to Under The Tuscan Gun!!!
Gabriele and Debi

More Clips from


Favorite Kitchen Equipment

Tablesetting Tips

Making Tuscan Beef Stew

The four clips in this post are mainly focused on our kitchen and our approach to cooking; the last clip is a 4 minutes edit on my Beef Stew episode...in case the edit is too short for you to get a grip of it, go visit our post for the recipe.

Ciao

The Tuscan Gun is coming to life.

Debi and I hosted a lunch this past Sunday in our home in Los Angeles. A few celebrity guess attended, a lot of food was cooked and eaten, a lot of Chianti bottles were opened and finished. It was truly a happy celebration.

The piece will come out the 2nd or 3rd week on January, and one of my best kept secret recipes will be revealed: Pappa al Pomodoro. This Tuscan Peasant Soup made of stale bread and tomatoes is one of those dishes that look very easy on paper, but then you go to the restaurant and you are always served something different; usually it comes to you in form of tomato soup with a slice of bread...with some garlic, if you're lucky...how sad!
This is why, as soon as the article will come out, Debi and I will cook this dish and post it as the first episode of our second season.

Oh yes, we're done for the moment. Deb is shooting this week, and in a few days we will leave for Italy, where we finally enjoy a few weeks of family life in the country. And again, food and wine, lots of both.
We are already working on a shoot list for our trip, as we want to acquire as much footage as we can, to be featured next season on the show.

Thank you all for your incredible support! This project started almost as a joke less then four months ago, and the feedback is somewhat humbling.

Remember, it is not about being a chef, or thinking that being a cook is less then being a chef...it is about feeding!

So, these coming holidays, feed your loved ones, fill them up, serve good wine, make them smile. And come back to visit us next year, we'll give you more of all of this!!!

Ciao,
Buon Natale and Buon Appetito

Gabriele and Deborah

We are (uff, I am...) performing a major clean up, and reorganizing all our files...

In a few ours everything should be back to normal.
If by any chance, a very possible chance, our feed is lost forever we will provide you with a new link asap.

Sorry about that.

In the meantime though, all our episodes are still regularly streaming.

Gabriele

Go check out the new episode of our show, we finally taped our first guest in our humble kitchen....

Who is she?

Come in!

We cooked for you a delicious beef stew, and we served it over polenta with string beans sauted in cherry tomatoes as side dish.

Since most likely the segment featured on Epicurious won't be more than 3 or 4 minutes long, Gabriele and I decided to shoot the same recipe again next week,
so to give you all "our side of the story"...

Come back then for our fifth episode, and you also will find the downloadable pdf of the recipe.

Ciao

Debi

SO...
We let it collect dust, while we had a 2nd child (I gained 80 lbs on that one!!!). I’ve have never been interested in writing books for just money. As an actor, I have had opportunities to try. I remember when I was pregnant, I was asked to write a pregnancy style book, but I thought..."Why?"...
I need to work from my heart, and do things more organically. I’m sure I’ll write a great "something" one day, but it has to come out of passion, and having some free time would help...
Both Gabriele and I thought it would be wonderful to share the book, as is, publish it ourselves, and distribute over the Internet…
I thought it would be fun to try to film a recipe, and literally show people how easy, getting a great meal together actually is. We shot an episode and had so much fun, that we were inspired to continue. Food has formed me as a person in a lot of ways, literally.
To share a meal with anyone is so intimate, and real... I thank my husband for making the effort...After all, he isn’t a chef by profession, and I feel blessed to have someone love me enough to feed me and our kids everyday, and keep it interesting and delicious!
This is my first 'blog' entry ever...I’ll keep it shorter in the future!!!

Debi

The incriminated book was peaking proudly from the shelf, and the Ph.D. title of its author could not have been omitted...
As if it was a guarantee of a proper and well thought out perspective on the things of life and marriage.

Well, not even a 25% discount on the cover price should be tempting for any of you.
What I'm trying to say here is....if you really think you need a two hundred pages manual to help you straighten your hubby up, well, I'd say you got the wrong guy to begin with! Or, worse, you are incredibly under estimating yourself.

Rules to follow with a lazy husband are very simple and straight forward:
- he is facing you: a nice kick in the guts should do the trick.
- he is not facing you: brake a broomstick on his shoulders.

Get your life back into your own hands, let it out with a nice kick between the jewels, and then...calm down reading something a bit more inspired than a manual for overwhelmed grocery shoppers and frustrated housewives!

In case you are more prone to a non-violent kind of negotiation, remember: any man would move mountains, if promised some oral sex!
Therefore, you might want to invest your money on a shiny red lipstick, instead of buying this book...just a thought...a very manly thought.

Yours Truly
Ga'

The Total Blender from Blendtec is here featured disintegrating anything available.
Obviously the goal is to demonstrate its efficiency, I guess the point is:
If this blender does not have problems polverizing a pound of golf balls, a broom stick, or even an iPhone, well, it should not give you any sort of trouble when you will attempt to make your Pesto Sauce.