WATCH: A Night with Aurelio Zen, Giada and Wichita Red




Me in on the canal in Venice (credit: Talya Blackshear)

It should be said that without a doubt, I have a love affair with the Viva Italiano.  I love the food, the culture, the art, music and style.  There is a romance, decadence, exploratory curiousity with a fluid grace to the lifestyle and an emphasis on simple pleasure, beauty and enjoyment.  It is a love - love relationship that makes me somewhat giddy.



Detective Aurelio Zen played by Rufus Sewell (credit:PBS)



Over the last couple of weeks, I have been watching a fantastic series on PBS online, Masterpiece Mystery!: Zen: Vendetta, Cabal and the finale is tonight's Ratking.  The series is based on the cult noir italiano series of Michael Dibdin.




Giada De Laurentiis' Lemon Spaghetti (credit:GDL)

  The tales feature the subtly sexy, Dectective Aurelio Zen, played by the dreamy Rufus Sewell, through a series murder and intrigue laden adventures set in Rome and Venice.  The scenes are beautifully shot, acting is better than many movies that I have seen recently and the scripts are thought-provoking and fun.  Ironically, they made me want to pick up the Dibdin series from Amazon to add to my kindle.  I hope that they bring to life the other books in the series, just so I can get my fix. 

For the last episode I watched, Zen:Cabal (available online until July 17, 2012), I figured that I would make a night of it and create one of Giada de Laurentiis' pasta recipes.  Might I suggest, Lemon Spaghetti with a side of sauteed chicken (though shrimp would have been nice too) and garlic spinach.  Wish I had taken a picture. Here's Giada's.  Grab a glass of Wichita Red and settle in for a night.

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To watch the series, visit Masterpiece Mystery! on PBS, here.
To order the book series from Amazon, visit here.
To score the recipe from Giada de Laurentiis, visit here.
To order a bottle of Wichita Red, visit here.