Italian Intermezzo: Recipes by Celebrated Italian Chefs, Romantic Italian Music [With CD]

Great to spend time with my husband. It brings us both back to Italy while we cook together and listen to great Italian music.

This might be Sharon O'Connor's most complete dining experience, though for the music I prefer two other books by Sharon, the LIGHTHEARTED GOURMET, and ROCK N ROLL DINER, which has all those tracks from AMERICAN GRAFFITI and which I play whenever I find myself unable to visit Mel's Diner here in San Francisco. If you are not familiar with the Menus and Music books, they are simplicity itself. On the one hand, a lavish cookbook with recipes taken from the finest restaurants in the world, and on the other, lovely music drawn from Sharon O'Connor's historic past as a musician and record producer. On the Italian CD, you get a very fun band playing background music for when you dig in to her recipes. My favorite dish here is a little something that melts in your mouth, called Faraona Arrosto con Fonduta. You won't believe you're eating something not too far removed from ordinary chicken parmesan. But oh, the difference is delectable! If it's Rome, Naples or North Beach, Sharon O'Connor has been there, probably with Placido Domingo, the famed opera singer and a personal friend (of Sharon's, not mine). I wish!