Calabria in 2006 was a lonely place to be an expat. My husband worked nights, I didn’t know the language and I was scared out of my wits to sit behind the wheel of a car.

Then one day I stumbled upon Expats in Italy, a website and forum dedicated to expats in, well, Italy.

I soon “met” Judith Greenwood, personal chef and cooking instructor and even though she is 740 kilometers north of me … I didn’t feel so alone.

I recently caught up with Judith via email and she agreed to be part of my Expats-in-Italy Business series.

So today, I present to you, Judith Greenwood-personal chef and cooking instructor extraordinaire.

photo credit: Radio Nederland Wereldomroep

1. Judith, you are one of the first expats I virtually met when I arrived here in 2006, yet I’ve never asked … how did you end up here?

“The minute  stepped foot off the train from Brussels in 1973, I knew a mistake had been made and I was supposed to be Italian. This was in Stazione Centrale at Milano, so there was no romantic imagery to make that happen. I had to take it seriously. It took me 27 years to get here.

When I was finally able to see my way to get here, I took a series of trips looking for the right place and the right house. It took 5 years, but when I saw my little terra cotta city dozing under the sun from the elevated highway, I thought, “This must be it.”  And it has been.”

2. You recently celebrated your 9th anniversary in the bel paese and your 7th anniversary as a cooking instructor. How did you start that?

“I started a cooking school with an Italian partner, but we ended up having philisophical differences, so now we are just friends and I teach at people’s rented villas or homes. I am planning a move and then I will design a big comfy teaching kitchen.”

3. What is your favorite dish to teach students to prepare?

“I don’t have a favorite, but I do wish I could teach some of the dishes that take a day or more!  Most people want to learn to make pasta as part of their class, and that’s really easy for me, but in truth they go home and almost never do it. So most people are benefitted more by learning lots of sauces, condimenti, that they can do at home. That way, within a five course meal, they can master three pasta dishes with variations for each on the recipes.”

4. You are also a personal chef. What process do you use in choosing a menu for your clients?

“If my clients know Italian food, they work with me to make menus from seasonal items. If they don’t or they want to be surprised I just ask about hates or allergies and go. I always try to plan a balanced menu with lots of changes in color, light following heavy, a wide variety of flavors. Most of all I insist on the absolute best of seasonal ingredients and have found out where to buy them.”

5. If you had one piece of advice to offer someone who was interested in Italian cuisine, what would it be?

“My constant advice to everyone is buy the best ingredients and then respect them. No amount of folderol will ever make up for poor quality.”

***

Thank you so much, Judith, for agreeing to the interview.

To all of you Umbria-bound travelers out there-give Judith a ring or visit her blog, Think on It! And if you are heading to Umbria before you come to Calabria, feel free to bring something for me. I won’t mind. I promise.

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Thank you to everyone who entered the ItalianPod101 and My Melange Photo giveaways last week.  If you didn’t win the giveaway-names coming up, I promise-you can still save up to 25% on your ItalianPod101 subscription as part of their Christmas Countdown special and you can visit Robin at My Melange regarding her weekly photo specials!

Without further hesitation … congratulations to:

Marla of Bella Baita B&B for winning a one-month premium subscription to ItalianPod101

and

GB of The Italian Notebook for winning his choice of an 8X10 photo from the My Melange gallery.

There is still time to win a custom Calabria itinerary and free weekend at our bed and breakfast in Catanzaro, but act fast, ’cause time’s a tickin’!

I have exciting news coming up in the next few weeks regarding My Bella Vita, Il Cedro and some new products and services that are tailor-made to southern Italy travelers. I’m excited-and I can’t wait to share. Another thing I couldn’t wait to tell you about is the overwhelming support I’ve had from friends in the blogosphere who are in the travel industry. They’ve sent me emails, brainstormed with me on Skype and offered their two centissimi that was worth much more than I could have paid them in sterling, euros or even that pitifully low dollar. And even with all of the encouragement they’ve been giving me, they are still busy as elves at Christmastime.

Photo: Haven in Paris

Megan of Bella Vita Italia recently crossed the border with her blog and wrote about a luxury apartment rental agency, Haven in Paris, that was opened by an American in 1993. Megan is also staying busy planning weddings and events in Italy and she and her husband just celebrated their wedding anniversary. Auguri!

In other Italy travel consulting news, Madeline of Italy: Beyond the Obvious recently published an article on ItalianKids.com. In her article, Madeline describes the best restaurants in Torino for tiny tots and divides them into categories based on outdoor scenery, local food, atmosphere and more. It was a great article. But, heck. Don’t take my word for it. Go read it yourself!

Speaking of reading-and cool things to do in Italy-Melanie of Italofile recently wrote a post about the top five things to do in Le Marche. She has also been busy building a social networking site for Italofiles at Italofile.Ning.com. Check it out-and tell her Cherrye sent you.

photo credit: 1la

Paula Russell from Paula’s Tour Talk and Time of Your Life Tours released the dates for their Spring and Fall 2010 Tuscan Treasures Tour. If you are interested in Tuscany-and come on, who isn’t?-then check out their website or Paula’s Tour Talk blog for more details. And I’m not the only one with changes a’coming. Paula recently announced some impending changes at her place, too.

Here is hoping the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010 bring great changes to all of my Italy travel and tourism buddies. In bocca al lupo!

Next week is my second wedding anniversary-which means we get to start celebrating this weekend. Since I’m in such a loving mood, I invite you to have a great weekend, too. Enjoy!

For the last three months I’ve featured expat-owned businesses in Italy and today I’m offering up a double feature.

Baur B&B is owned by not one, but two expats in Italy-Diana and Michael-who moved from the US to Acqui Terme, Piedmont in 2003 to open their full-service bed and breakfast.

It is an incredible story and one I am happy to share with you today at My Bella Vita. Without further ado, I present to you my recent interview with Diana of Baur Bed and Breakfast.

1. You say on your site you and your husband “gave it all up to follow a dream.” What inspired you to do that?

Several things came together at the same time.  We had done several corporate moves, either for his job or mine, the last being the largest — we moved from Philadelphia to Hamburg, Germany for Micha to become the Geschaeftsfuehrer (fancy German word for president) of Staples, The Office Superstore’s German division.  I gave up my career in hotel and restaurant design and dove into the King of all Expat Professions – I taught English for seven years. I ended up as an Executive Language Consultant helping top business people prepare for job interviews and presentations in the UK and the States.  But at the same time I did a pottery apprenticeship, since it was the first time I actually had time to develop my creativity.

Neither of us was crazy about all of the stress or travel involved, although living that life in Germany was a fantastic opportunity.  We always said,  if it gets to be too much, we would do something else.  The point came when the company wanted to centralize and move us to Brussels – new culture, new language, not where we wanted to be.  It was enough.  We had been long thinking about getting a vacation home in Italy and switched that gear over to finding a permanent home. We wanted the next big move to be our choice, not the company’s.  When thinking of how we might want to support ourselves, the idea of renting rooms for international guests grew organically.

2. How did you choose Piedmont? Do either of you have ties to the area?

My family comes from Emilia Romagna.  All four grandparents immigrated to New York from the hills of Bardi and Berceto between 1915 and 1920. We also both have always had a deep affinity for this country.  But we looked in several regions before deciding on Piemonte.  Piemonte had everything we were looking for – beauty, an undiscovered culture, food and wine, good infrastructure, good proximity to both the Mediterranean (one hour) to the rest of Europe, good major airports, and three great Italian cities, all very diverse, within 2 hours:  Torino, Milan and Genoa.

3. I see your B&B is a work in progress. What other projects do you have in the works?

We are presently constructing a third room.  A few months ago we finished a beautiful wine cellar, the year before that a gourmet kitchen and pottery studio.  We have a couple of additional renovations after the one we are working on, but have become philosophical — we will get done what we can get done and not stress about the rest.  The Italian way of thinking has started to rub off on us.

This is definitely a ” work in progress “.  Construction is evident; we don’t try to hide it (although we come to a grinding halt as soon as our season starts). I always worried about how the guests would view this — but in reality, they love that aspect of it.  We have had people come back five and six times now over the last five years, always excited to see what new thing we have done. The guests feel part of our lives and part of the process of this project, which they clearly are.

4. I know people think the life of a innkeeper is glamorous, but tell us the nitty gritty. What is not so fun about running a B&B?

We’re a full service B&B, and provide the guests with lots of individualized attention. We do day long wine tours which end with dinner here at the B&B, we have cooking classes, I offer pottery classes, and we spend lots of time each day with guests on itinerary planning, reservation making, and other concierge functions.  I bake every day.  Our breakfasts are 5 to 6 different dishes, each prepared as the guests would want them, taking into consideration dietary requirements as well.

We find that in order to stay “fresh” for our guests, and to deliver the level of service that we do, it is key that we get our rest and a bit of downtime during the season — meaning blocking out a few nights off every month — if we don’t, then we do get exhausted.  Since this was a post mid-life change for us, we have to watch our energy level.  We would rather have a little less income but enjoy the process more, and be raring to go when the guests come.

If you would ask me mid-season, I think that I would say that ironing sheets would be the thing that puts me over the top sometimes:)  We have 100% linen on our beds and each sheet can take up to 20 minutes to iron.  I am thinking of investing in one of those awesome Miele “Mangle” roller ironing systems next year to cut down on that task.

5. You and your husband obviously adore your jobs, but what is the one thing you love most of all?

Oh, it would absolutely be the guests.  We have unbelievably interesting people come and stay here.  The discussions get philosophical; we end up talking about everything and more.  We have had guests from Italy,the US, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Brussels, Norway, Sweden, Australia, China, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, England, Canada, Tunisia… I am sure I am forgetting a country or two.  What a gift that is for us!  The guests enrich our lives every single day.

For more information on staying at Baur B&B, visit their website or read Diana’s blog, Creative Structures. Other expat-owned businesses that have been featured here at My Bella Vita include:

Bella Baita B&B: An Italian Vacation in Piedmont

Bella Vita Italia: An Italy Travel Concierge