Ashley Strickland is an associate producer with CNN.com. She likes twisting her own soft pretzels, perfecting pineapple upside down cake, tackling English toffee, sharing people-pleasin' pizza dip, sunflower cheesecakes and green soup and cajoling recipes from athletes.

Each year, I can tell by the languor of the tomato vines in our backyard that it’s time. They recline like some exhausted 1940s Hollywood starlet, even though we’ve already relieved them of their burden.

The kitchen countertops become laden with fiery red, homegrown tomatoes. Garlic, onions and bell peppers appear in the kitchen in bulk, while fresh herbs disappear from the garden and local grocery store and take up pungent residence in the refrigerator.

Add a quartet of the largest stock pots to the stovetop, and the ritual has begun. It’s time to capture the last sunset of summer in a jar.
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I thought I knew how to make eggplant Parmesan (or ParmiGIANa if you're feeling especially Italian). Eggplant, a little breading, sauce, cheese – what can go wrong with that?

Then I met Chiara Lima. She's the bubbly Italian woman who taught the best way to make this traditional Italian favorite at Mamma Agata's Italian cooking class I recently took in Ravello, Italy.
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Ray Isle (@islewine on Twitter) is Food & Wine's executive wine editor. We trust his every cork pop and decant – and the man can sniff out a bargain to boot. Take it away, Ray.

If you want to get a sense of the scale of Italian wine, you could do worse than to go to VinItaly, the annual wine-related trade fair in Verona, Italy. I was there a few days ago, along with, according to the VinItaly press office, more than 140,000 other people - roughly the population of Fort Collins, Colorado, if every inhabitant of Fort Collins were obsessed with Italian wine. Regardless, being in Italy means the opportunity to eat, regularly, platefuls of fantastic pasta.

Since I’ve got pasta on the mind - in fact, since I’m mostly composed of pasta at the moment - here are some thoughts about pairing wine (Italian wine, of course) with some classic pasta dishes. Of course, the actual pasta itself doesn’t make much difference: When it comes to wine-pairing, a rigatoni is a penne is an orecchiette. Pasta alone is the ultimate blank food canvas; what matters is the sauce.

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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Over the weekend, Kentucky became the only number one seed to make it to this year's Final Four. While the Wildcats celebrate their Big Dance victories alongside Louisville, Ohio State and Kansas, most of us are crying over our busted brackets.

Eat your March Madness emotions through the rest of the tournament - Italian-style - with chef Doug Psaltis, Executive Chef of RPM Italian in Chicago, Illinois.

Five Cicchetti (Italian snacks) to Munch on During March Madness: Doug Psaltis
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Unless you grew up with an Italian family - or one well-versed in culinary cultures for that matter - Italian food probably meant spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna and the occasional chicken parmesan thrown in here, there and every other Tuesday.

But the cuisine of the boot-shaped country is more - oh so much more, in fact. From the to artichokes of Venice (fondi di carciofo) to the Piemonte region's penchant for truffles, Italy on a plate is as much of a melting pot as the United States is.

And its culinary heritage has been shaped by a series of fortunate events that chef Marco Frattaroli of Bastas Trattoria in Portland, Oregon, has kindly summed up.

Top Five Events That Changed the Course of Italian Cuisine: Marco Frattaroli
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Francine Segan spent a year in Italy eating desserts for her new cookbook Dolci: Italy’s Sweets. Tough gig, we know.

Sure, she found the usual beloved suspects - tiramisu, panna cotta, affogato, cannoli - but she also discovered a sampler platter of regional specialties that have been popular in Italy for decades, centuries even, that we've hardly ever heard of on this side of the Atlantic.

Here's to la dolce vita.

Five Sweet Treats from Italy You Need To Know: Francine Segan
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Tonight's forecast: cloudy with a chance of meatballs.

Spiced ground meat, shaped into balls, before being braised, baked or fried is well-rounded comfort food at its finest.

But if you're not quite sure how to get the ball rolling, Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow of The Meatball Shop and The Meatball Shop Cookbook can give you a little nudge in the right direction.

Five Tips for Great Meatballs: Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow

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It's July - you've got basil coming out the wazoo - what to do? It's the herb that just keeps giving - and this time of year, the more you pick, the more it grows. Here's an idea: make like the Italians and whip up some bulk pesto to freeze and use throughout the year.

Follow along as one Italian chef reveals the perfect pesto for the proliferation of basil taking over your backyard.

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After opening its doors last year, Eataly has become Manhattan’s newest attraction for Italian food fanatics. However, the gleaming marketplace hasn’t left New York’s historic Little Italy district with empty tables. Both Italian pasta havens are known for serving up authentic Italian food, but the different dining experiences keeps the dough rolling for everyone.

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Food says so much about where you’ve come from, where you’ve decided to go, and the lessons you’ve learned. It’s geography, politics, tradition, belief and so much more and this week, we invite you to dig in and discover the rich, ever-evolving taste of America in 2011. The week will culminate with a Secret Supper in New York City, and Eatocracy invites you to participate online starting Monday July 11th at 6:30 p.m. E.T.

“If you have a choice between a three-star Michelin chef and Grandma’s, where you going?” Joe Scaravella asked.

“Well, I’m going to Grandma’s. I’m going to the source."

Scaravella is the owner of Enoteca Maria – a restaurant where, by design, there is no resident three-star Michelin chef. Instead, the kitchen is fueled exactly as Joe said: by an arsenal of local, authentic Italian grandmothers who cook up the specialties of their respective native regions.
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