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Dolce Vita Diaries: The Recipes
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Product Description
Product Description
A deliciously different travelogue
In 2005, Cathy and Jason threw in successful careers as TV presenters and producers to become olive farmers in Italy. With their one year old daughter and Italian dictionary in tow, they found themselves in the middle of a European nowhere untouched by modernity. They were on a steep learning curve in more-or-less everything – finding out how to prune an olive tree so that a sparrow can pass through its branches, learning what beauty products are de rigeur in the changing rooms of a local Italian football team, being trained, by a local Italian choir, how to sing in English but with an Italian accent – and learning the rigorous rules of when one is allowed to consume a cappuccino. Armed with their indefatigable love of food, they headed off many a potentially tricky situation by cooking their way out of it, a sure route to the heart of any Italian.
They discover that olive farming is dominated by the big boys and desperate to turn their new home into a way of making a living they cast around for ideas of how they can do so. A flash of inspiration led them to launch an 'Adopt-an-Olive-Tree' scheme. For a fee buyers could adopt a tree, receive produce from it and even go and visit it to give it a hug. The scheme became hugely popular with trees selling out way ahead of expectations. A contract with Selfridges followed and suddenly Cathy and Jason's dream is realised. Or nearly anyway. It's a hard slog and they meet every challenge with fortitude and humour but what they hadn't expected was that the biggest challenge would be the quiet of the countryside. Soon they find themselves hankering for the sounds and stench of the city and facing a difficult decision on what they should do next.
About the Author
Cathy Rogers and Jason Gibb both enjoy life shake-ups. Between them they have notched up careers as TV producers, marine biologists, medics, touring musicians, diving instructors, TV presenters, and even church organists. In 2005, they decided to toss themselves the new challenge of becoming modern European peasants, living and working in an olive grove in the Italian countryside.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Hats off to the family for all they achieved in difficult circumstances but unfortunately this is without doubt one of the worst books I have ever read.
I suppose that the staggeringly un-original title should have warned me but I ploughed on looking for charm and insight into beautiful Marche and its wonderful people but found nothing but vacuous observations and................................ well nothing actually.
Have you ever wondered how much "research" goes into a television program? The answer lies in this book. Two media types decide to move to Italy to grow olives. Their level of research is so pathetically laughable (they don't seem to know that Marche gets cold in winter and they both HATE the cold) that if they spend this amount of time planning such a momentous move they would obviously spend about ten seconds researching a TV program.
A more self deprecating eye may well have brought some charm to the description of their adventure but Cathy was clearly not born to be an author. The first part of the book is written in a stream of consciousness email style (including such gems as "(?)") with so much disjointed jumping around an ADD specialist would have a field day. Thereafter there is no coherence or flow throughout the book. So disjointed that we go from finishing the second harvest to living in Earls Court in 10 pages with no substantial explanation but hey ho, that's Hollywood intilekt folks. (Personally I think that the reason was that the physical work was just tooo hard for the little diddums and being ssooooo far away from Starbucks CAN be a killer.)
However the thing that really gets me is how passionless and bland this book is. It is narrated with no empathy, no feeling and no real insight. The desperate search for anecdotes plumbs the depths of trivia from a man in a bar who didn't know how to make cappuccino to the footballers who were too tired to go out for a drink with Jason. Whereas Annie Hawes can turn a snippet about a barista fighting her request for more water in a coffee into a wry observation of cultural clashes, Cathy's anecdotes come across more like overcooked pasta; bland and pointless. Small wonder that the only angle they could work in the newspaper interviews was to slag off Marche and the people. I can only think that the above reviews are written by family and friends and I for one will be returning my book to get my money back.
On reflection, this book fails to disguise its true purpose; just another item to be ticked off the self promotion bandwagon. What's next? A reality show where contestants compete to pick the most olives and whoever slags off Marche the best wins? Or will Jordan be convinced to make an appearance quaffing olive oil?
If you want to read some decent writing on the moving to Italy vein not something churned out to sell a product, try Annie Hawes or Isabella Dusi or if you want something about the real Italy get the excellent Pietro's Book, The Story of a Tuscan Peasant and give this a pass.
Extra Virgin: Amongst the Olive Groves of Liguria
Pietro's Book: The Story of a Tuscan Peasant
Vanilla Beans and Brodo: Real Life in the Hills of Tuscany
I suppose that the staggeringly un-original title should have warned me but I ploughed on looking for charm and insight into beautiful Marche and its wonderful people but found nothing but vacuous observations and................................ well nothing actually.
Have you ever wondered how much "research" goes into a television program? The answer lies in this book. Two media types decide to move to Italy to grow olives. Their level of research is so pathetically laughable (they don't seem to know that Marche gets cold in winter and they both HATE the cold) that if they spend this amount of time planning such a momentous move they would obviously spend about ten seconds researching a TV program.
A more self deprecating eye may well have brought some charm to the description of their adventure but Cathy was clearly not born to be an author. The first part of the book is written in a stream of consciousness email style (including such gems as "(?)") with so much disjointed jumping around an ADD specialist would have a field day. Thereafter there is no coherence or flow throughout the book. So disjointed that we go from finishing the second harvest to living in Earls Court in 10 pages with no substantial explanation but hey ho, that's Hollywood intilekt folks. (Personally I think that the reason was that the physical work was just tooo hard for the little diddums and being ssooooo far away from Starbucks CAN be a killer.)
However the thing that really gets me is how passionless and bland this book is. It is narrated with no empathy, no feeling and no real insight. The desperate search for anecdotes plumbs the depths of trivia from a man in a bar who didn't know how to make cappuccino to the footballers who were too tired to go out for a drink with Jason. Whereas Annie Hawes can turn a snippet about a barista fighting her request for more water in a coffee into a wry observation of cultural clashes, Cathy's anecdotes come across more like overcooked pasta; bland and pointless. Small wonder that the only angle they could work in the newspaper interviews was to slag off Marche and the people. I can only think that the above reviews are written by family and friends and I for one will be returning my book to get my money back.
On reflection, this book fails to disguise its true purpose; just another item to be ticked off the self promotion bandwagon. What's next? A reality show where contestants compete to pick the most olives and whoever slags off Marche the best wins? Or will Jordan be convinced to make an appearance quaffing olive oil?
If you want to read some decent writing on the moving to Italy vein not something churned out to sell a product, try Annie Hawes or Isabella Dusi or if you want something about the real Italy get the excellent Pietro's Book, The Story of a Tuscan Peasant and give this a pass.
Extra Virgin: Amongst the Olive Groves of Liguria
Pietro's Book: The Story of a Tuscan Peasant
Vanilla Beans and Brodo: Real Life in the Hills of Tuscany
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Fantastic - a great read, an inspirational story, some great recipes, beautifully presented
27 April 2009
Format:Hardcover
A fantastic book. A funny, inspirational story; some cracking and simple recipes; and all wrapped up in a beautiful cover. If you don't buy this book for yourself, buy it as a gift and you won't go wrong.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
My wife bought me this book after I had adopted one of the authors' olive trees. It's a great read. If you've ever wondered what the truth is behind those `place in the sun' style stories that always seem to be too good to be true then you should enjoy this.
It's easy to warm to this couple, who had the courage to exchange their life of luxury in LA for a ramshackle pile in the back of Italian beyond, and the good humour to see the funny side of some pretty poor luck.
The book is written in a breezy, easily readable style, with a fair number of hilariously long and ambitious to-do lists as they adapt to their new, rustic lifestyle. There are also recipes inspired by local characters. I cooked the Lemon Ravioli with Sage Butter which was straightforward, quick, and delicious.
It's easy to warm to this couple, who had the courage to exchange their life of luxury in LA for a ramshackle pile in the back of Italian beyond, and the good humour to see the funny side of some pretty poor luck.
The book is written in a breezy, easily readable style, with a fair number of hilariously long and ambitious to-do lists as they adapt to their new, rustic lifestyle. There are also recipes inspired by local characters. I cooked the Lemon Ravioli with Sage Butter which was straightforward, quick, and delicious.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Teeth gringingly irritating
If this couple had taken the time to read "Under the Tuscan Sun" by Frances Mayes - half of their problems would never have happened and their witty stories would not exist. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Madame Cholet
Dolce Vita Diaries
A fun book with lots of easy tasty recipes, a travel, life-style and cookery book all in one! I thoroughly recommend it.
Published on 22 July 2009 by Ms. A. Farrand
Dolce Vita Diaries
"Generally, we led a pretty charmed, if rather shallow life", wrote Cathy Rogers at the beginning of the book, describing a career spent between London and LA working in... Read more
Published on 20 May 2009 by Mrs Curzon Tussaud
What a beautiful book
This is terrific reading for anyone who loves olives and the Med! The story is inspiring, but I headed straight for the delicious (and simple) olive oil recipes. Read more
Published on 9 May 2009 by K. Donald
A book for anyone whos ever dreamed of living beyong our shores...
This is an excellent read full of inspiration and also some hard truths. Add to this some mouth watering recipes to try out at home, it's hard not to fall in love with this book. Read more
Published on 24 April 2009 by Biscotti & Cream
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