Sharon Thompson: Sapori Market – Now, that's Italian | Lexington Herald Leader

Take it from me: Make a stop at the new Sapori Market.

The Italian market at 327 Romany Road sells pastries, cakes, fresh pasta, tomato sauces, balsamic vinegar, prosciutto di Parma and olive oils. Prepared dishes including eggplant Parmesan, seafood salad and caponata are available for take-out.

The shop is operated by Giovanni Capezzuto, his sister Annarita and her husband, Jason Gresham. Capezzuto is a chef and cheese master from Napoli, Italy, who makes authentic "old world" Italian cheeses for Sapori d'Italia of Nicholasville. The cheeses are made from goat, sheep and cow milk produced by Kentucky dairies and farms.

Capezzuto has "been working in the food industry since I was in Italy." His father owns three bar cafés, including a pizzeria and a traditional-food restaurant.

"Also, we have a farm where I learned to make cheese, salami, prosciutto, wine and all these Italian country goodies.

"During the week, I was working in the family's business making pizzas and coffees," he said. Twelve years ago, he came to the United States, working as a chef in Lexington California and South Carolina, "then I decided to put in practice what I learned on the farm in Italy."

Jason Gresham said almost all the products are imported from Italy. "We wanted to have the majority of our product to be completely different than everyone in the region sells," he said.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. Call (859) 514-7200 or go to Saporimarket.com.

A toast to marshmallows

At age 5, Canaan Smith started making marshmallows to give to teachers and friends. Now he's celebrating the third anniversary of his business, The Marshmallows Company. Holiday flavors are vanilla and peppermint, but if you request a special flavor, he might be able to make it. Go to Themarshmallowscompany.com.Akeilo Temple No. 128 Daughters of the Nile, Pageantry/Dance Unit, is having its annual Breakfast with Santa on Saturday. The all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast will be 8 a.m. to noon at Oleika Shrine Temple, 326 Southland Drive. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 for adults and $3 for children younger than 10.

Four courses and fine sipping

Triangle Grille at the Hilton Lexington/Downtown Hotel will hold a bourbon-and-wine dinner at 7 p.m. Dec. 17.

The four-course menu will feature Maker's Mark bourbon and wines from Napa Valley's Franciscan Winery. Chef Joshua Winslow's menu includes pan-roasted breast of duckling with sweet-pea risotto, seared day-boat scallops with roasted beets, espresso-encrusted rack of Kentucky lamb with a black currant-peppercorn reduction, and dark chocolate mascarpone profiterole and blackberry and cherry compote.

Representatives from Maker's Mark and Constellation Wines, the parent company of Franciscan, will talk about the process behind handcrafted bourbon and wine.

Tickets are $75. Call (859) 281-3773. Triangle Grille is at 369 West Vine Street.

Read 'em and eat

If you enjoy reading food blogs, check out the top 25 chosen by The Daily Meal, an all-things-food site.

Here are the top 10. The complete list is at Thedailymeal.com.

■ Simplyrecipes.com. A family oriented home cooking blog focusing on recipes that use whole food and seasonal ingredients.

■ Seriouseats.com. A site that celebrates and shares food enthusiasm through blogs and online community.

■ Thepioneerwoman.com/cooking. A continuing story about a spoiled city girl turned domestic country wife.

■ Thekitchn.com. A site for people who like to get their hands dirty while they cook.

■ 101cookbooks.com. A recipe journal dedicated to natural, whole foods and ingredients.

■ Smittenkitchen.com. A home-cooking weblog from a tiny kitchen in New York City.

■ Cakewrecks.blogspot.com. A gallery of deformed, distasteful and bizarrely decorated professional wedding and birthday cakes.

■ Eater.com. The national restaurant, bar and nightlife blog.

■ Bakerella.com. A site focusing on fun and easy baking and a place to explore recipes, desserts, decorating and even photography.

■ Grubstreet.com. New York Magazine's food and restaurant blog.