Bread and wine: table for knightsValentina "cooked" up another book, a second one of Valentina's collection she plans to produce for the next few years. Valentina is a native of Italy and as all Italians she has a passion for fast cars, fast thinking, quick actions, snappy temper, hot and vivid colours, but she loves, loves, loves slow food. Her mission is to introduce the southern food of Italy to the world. It is the kind of food she grew up with, made it the centre of attraction for her entertainments and the subject of her classes. Southern Italian cuisine conserves all the flavour of the land, a kaleidoscopic burst of colours and tastes, in an incredible elegant simplicity. With this second book on Appetizers and Sweets, Valentina is aiming at showing the readers how to cook simple, versatile specialties that can be used as appetizers, as much as ideas for healthy meals. Make these specialties in larger quantities and you have a meal, make them in bite sizes and you have appetizers. Antipasti in Italian, Tapas in Spanish, Hors-d'oeuvres in French, Appetizers in English, however you want to say it, they all mean the same: prelude to a tasty meal. Appetizers are the way openers, the anticipation of what 's coming an hour later. Always served with lighter wines, Champagne or Prosecco, appetizers are the excitement of late morning before lunch, or the early evening relaxation moments before dinner. Yes, one can allow sweets at the end of a dinner, but they don't have to add tons of sugar and calories to be good. The sweets Valentina presents in this book are made mostly of fruit. Sins of A Queen contains Valentina's hand drawings continuing the style of her first book and many historical notes on Italian food and their celebrations, providing a pleasant reading and various subjects to talk about at dinner table with your guests. To know about food and to know how to eat, to know how to prepare and serve, to know which glass to use for wines, is all part of creating your own life in style. About Valentina CirasolaShe is a creative master in the art of living who makes little distinction between work and play. There is nothing ordinary about Valentina, designer and author.She is a curious person, interested in a wide variety of subjects, the reason why her life is a continuous evolvement of colourful events. Valentina is having fun writing Italian cultural cookbooks while still doing what she loves: designing homes! In business since 1990 as a designer, she has been harmonizing people's lives by finding their excellence, creating their energy and adding beauty. She places a special focus in Kitchens and Wine Cellar Designs, the rooms of a home that make people feel good.She blends her designing career with her passion for food, for cuisines of the world and studies of food in history. Valentina is the author of her first book: Come Mia Nonna - A Return To Simplicity, published by Outskirts Press, Nov. 26, 2009.Visit her first book: http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna "Valentina - an International Professional Interior Designer is now giving you an opportunity to redesign your palate". Visit Valentina, the designer: http://www.Valentinadesigns.com