Author Archives: Robert

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY— It all starts with a lady named Annagloria. In 2009 I started planning a long trip that would take my family through 17 countries and 72 cities on two continents. We left the United States in August 2011, but a trip such as that takes a lot of planning. For the two yearsContinue reading “The A Team in Italy”

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY— For the good part of the past decade I have hosted groups of American travelers— mostly Southerners— in this part of the world. I have always believed that Tuscany is a lot like the American South. It’s an agrarian society, but instead of soybeans and cotton they grow olives and grapes. The TuscansContinue reading “Harrison In Florence”

SEVILLE— Nine days into this Spanish deep-dive, I find myself sitting in the front jump seat of a tour bus typing on a borrowed laptop because my laptop is in the possession of a sneaky thief who swept my backpack up in a hotel lobby in Valencia. I have preached over and over to myContinue reading “Nine Days of Spain in 1,182 Words”

MADRID— I spent the final month of 2011 in Spain. I was nearing the end of a six-month sojourn with my wife, 14-year-old daughter, and 10-year-old son. We covered a large part of the country— Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, and Malaga. There were several other stops such as Segovia for the meats and Bilbao forContinue reading “Yonderlust: Spain Week One”

For the past couple of months, we have hosted a special guest in our home. Feline Been is the daughter of our good friend Marina Mengleberg. Marina, Feline, and her brother Alec all live in the small Tuscan village of Barberino-Tavarnelle. In addition to being friends with Marina we work together hosting tours in TuscanyContinue reading “Feline”

December is considered the month for giving in these parts, but something is going on in February. Last week I was gifted an organized binder filled with many of my original handwritten recipes from the early days at my first restaurant. This week through the love, care, and concern of one of my longest-standing friendships,Continue reading “Sweet Roll Swan Song”

It doesn’t take much to make me happy these days. My wife might argue with that statement, but it’s true. It’s not that I have reached some state of self-actualization and have rocketed up to the summit of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs or anything like that. It’s just that— surprisingly— monetary and material things haveContinue reading “The Notebook”

So, there’s this thing called a “Mississippi Pot Roast.” I’ve seen it pop up on my social media over the last several years and I have seen other people comment on it and offer their thoughts online after preparing and eating it. Mississippi Pot Roast became a viral internet sensation after a woman in NorthContinue reading “The Great Pot Roast Cookoff of 2022”

I really don’t know when it started, or who came up with the idea. It could have been me. Or it may have been one of our chefs. All I know is that when we roll out King Cake Bread Pudding around this time of year, it’s all we can do to keep up withContinue reading “King Cake Bread Pudding”