By: Deanna Linder Growing up in Los Angeles, I was blessed to be exposed to a vast variety of ethnic foods, from Vietnamese, Persian, Peruvian, Korean, etc. I love tasting different flavors, ingredients and textures, and in general, just the feeling of sitting in a very authentic restaurant, that almost makes you feel as if you have actually travelled across the world (my second favorite hobby). To this day, now living in Israel, I still try to find and eat at ethnic restaurants like The Thai House and Salaam Bombay. But for some reason, when it comes to cooking at home, the style I prefer is almost always Italian. Italian cooking is characterized by fresh, available, local ingredients, not altered too much, seasoned just right, and unpretentious as can be. Take a perfectly ripe tomato, crisp basil, good quality olive oil and some fresh mozzarella, and you have the tastiest, simplest salad ever.  Viva Italia! I’m a huge Mario Batali fan. In his book, Molto Italiano, Batali offers really... 
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