El Marsam Cookbook: An Umbrian Farmhouse and its Kitchen

by Ginda Ayd Simpson

This is not simply a cookbook! Throughout its pages, Ginda Simpson, author and artist, offers readers tasty tidbits of everyday life in the Umbrian countryside where she lives. In short story vignettes, she paints a lively image of the people that teach her everyday to celebrate the food that graces her table. As Ginda gratefully acknowledges - famed chefs, friends, neighbors, peasants and strangers alike have all contributed in their way to her intimate knowledge and deep respect for the age-old traditions of an Italian cuisine that is simple and wholesome, satisfying and nurturing to both body and soul. The recipes are clear, the ingredients simple, the outcome worthy of a party! Cook up some goodness and invite your friends to dinner!

120 pages – 14 stories – 70 recipes – spiral bound, soft cover

Limited edition available from:
http://www.gindasimpson.com/El%20Mars...

120 pages, Spiral-bound

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1948, Ginda Ayd Simpson is one of twelve children. She has lived in Italy, Germany and Egypt and has traveled extensively in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Russia and in China. Married to Michael Simpson, Ginda and her husband have three married daughters and five grandchildren.

Educated in the United States and Italy, Ginda has degrees in Italian and French and an Associate of Fine Arts Degree. In addition to private art studies for many years, she also trained at the Glassell School of Art in Houston.

Ginda currently resides with her husband in the Umbrian countryside where she is daily inspired to record the beauty that surrounds her new home - with her pen or with her paintbrush. Ginda has continued to exhibit her paintings in Egypt as well as in Italy. Ginda is a past member of the West Bank Art Guild, the Degas Pastel Society and the Cairo Art Guild. She has written travel stories for Travel Today Egypt, Travel Today Arabia, Horus Magazine and writes monthly for BCA Magazine, Cairo.

Reviews

[Bernadette]

Yes, of course, I'm biased; the author is my mother and I have been blessed to eat at her table for decades! Guests to El Marsam, her Umbrian farmhouse/B&B/art studio, will agree that these recipes represent some of the tastiest dishes to come from her kitchen. The short stories and pencil sketches add wonderful Italian flavors for readers.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ginda’s cookbook is full of great recipes from Artichoke Chicken to Zuppa Frantoiana (Tuscan white bean soup), but if that isn’t enough to draw you in, you will love reading the anecdotes sprinkled throughout the book that tie all the dishes together. With some snippets you’ll learn the history of a recipe or a cultural tradition, with others you’ll devour how certain foods came into Ginda’s life, and then, of course, there’s my favorite — the one about the shepherd in Calabria making pecorino as it’s been made for centuries.

Ginda’s writing style is friendly and conversational, so you’ll feel like you have a supportive guide in the kitchen with you as you work your way through 70 gorgeous recipes; if you’re like me, though, you’ll read through all the stories first and then backtrack through the recipes, re-reading the stories as you make your way through the book again.

Highly recommended.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable.