Adri Barr Crocetti

Author of: The Front Burner

Home Base: California, USA

Interests: Food

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“Come in the kitchen.  Let’s talk.”  In the Crocetti household, that was the mantra.  If you had something important to say, some vital information to share, news of a wedding,  some gossip, or some trouble to report, you did it in the kitchen.

The kitchen was the heart of our home, and something was always cooking, and sometimes someone was stewing.  Growing up in Los Angeles in the fifties and sixties, I spent happy hours under the tutelage of my mother, grandmothers and aunts.  It seemed the talk was all about food.

As the years passed I explored many different cuisines, devoured cookbooks and magazines and attended cooking classes.  After all the exploration, I have returned to Italian home cooking.  Reflecting upon what I learned in culinary school and in my reading, I marvel that in a way, I had already learned most of it at home through the loving and patient hands of the finest teachers of all, the older members of my family.  That transfer of knowledge across the generations is what keeps a cuisine alive.

I live with my husband Bart in a suburb of Los Angeles, where I garden, growing a variety of vegetables, citrus and herbs for my cooking.  Now retired from a long career in nursing, I can devote myself to my passion, cooking and learning about Italian cuisine, culture and history.  I cook almost exclusively Italian food these days; the boot’s rich panoply offers a lifetime of cooking adventure.  I am pleased to share my kitchen with you, the Cooking with Nonna readers.