Who am I?

Hello anyone and everyone!
This is a blog about food by someone who cares about food and cooking.
My name is Francesca Flore. I live in Rome, Italy, where I was born almost 45 years ago from a Neapolitan dad and a London mum.  My background is very much influenced by all things british, starting from the food we ate at home, mostly cooked by my English (almost) grandmother, a formidable lady who lived with us until she passed away at the considerable age of 98.

I became interested in cooking as a child, when with my brother and a friend who lived round the corner we spent many a saturday or sunday afternoon messing around in the kitchen. I later became in charge of the weekly pasta sauce (we were 8 at home, and my mum used to by 5 kilo cans of tinned tomatoes), most of which got gobbled while cooking, when I dunked pieces of crusty bread into it with the excuse of 'tasting it for salt'. I was skinny at the time and unconcerned by weight issues =(
More or less at the same time I was entrusted with the preparation of vinaigrette for our daily, compulsory salad. 'Eat your greens' was very much a part of my childhood and adolescence and, whereas at the time I couldn't stand the boring round leaf lettuce, later I became a salad fiend, especially after rocket, or arugula, or rughetta, was introduced!  I then added fresh fruit tart to my culinary assets, around the age of 16.

Becoming increasingly interested in cooking, I obsessed by buying endless amounts of cooking magazines.
I later moved to London, at the age of 26, and there food shopping became something of a hobby. I felt like Alice in Wonderland in the supermarket, with all things bright and beautiful at the tip of my finger, or at the end of the cash card.  Herbs and ingredients I would not have found in Rome were to be had as a matter of course, and this widened my horizons.
Still, never had the thought of cooking professionally entered my mind yet.  But at the end of 5 stressful, rushed years in London as a PA, in June 1998 I decided I'd had enough of office work and took off to... Sydney, of all places, to study at the 'Académie Culinaire Le Cordon Bleu (Paris)' cooking school, which had recently opened there.
This allowed me to combine two passions, or kill two birds with one stone. I had been to Sydney on holiday at New Year and was absolutely besotted with it. The place, the people, the atmosphere.  My year in Sydney was one of the best, if not THE best (my time with James is OUT OF contest!).

In August 1999 I returned to Rome, having decided to become a caterer. So here I am: La luna nel piatto, The moon in your plate. This combines two sayings: 'vuoi la luna' (you want the moon) when someone wants something impossible to reach; and 'la luna nel pozzo' (the moon in the well): when you see it, you can make a wish.

I like to offer disparate types of cuisines, such as Italian obviously, but also Thai, Indian, Mexican, Indonesian, French, you name it. If I've tasted it (authentic), I'll cook it! And the menus are taylor made to the client's wishes. I once did a wedding with a Sicilian lunch but 'ethnic' appetizer finger food from Asia, for instance
I cook for 8 to 200 people, or more. I also translate books, and have had music in my life as a hobby forever: I started singing in a choir at the age of 3 and still sing, with a small vocal female group.

And now I have also James to make me happy and share cookbooks with and to give me advice =)