Frances Mayes

Frances Mayes lives on a farm in North Carolina and in Bramasole, the house in Tuscany she bought twenty-four years ago. Her most recent books are The Tuscan Sun Cookbook and a memoir of growing up in Georgia, Under Magnolia.

Eleven Things I Can’t Do Without (because I thought of one more)

1. A local bookstore
2. Sunrise over the ocean
3. Jars of homegrown tomatoes in winter
4. Farmers’ markets
5. Cicada and tree frog concerts on summer nights
6. Tuscan wine
7. The nonstop flight from Charlotte to Rome
8. My yellow Fiat Panda
9. A restaurant that’s a second home
10. Pasta with ragù and many other pastas!
11. Gelato in Rome and my wooden ice-cream churn in N.C.