By CHRISTINE GARDNER, cgardner@tylerpaper.com

Last week in FLAVOR I told you all about my favorite place to visit in Dallas, Jimmy’s Italian Food Store. I also mentioned an olive oil they carry called Gocce Di Natura, which is grown and made at the D’Assisi family azienda agricola. (Italian for agricultural company, or farm.)

For more than a century the family has been producing extra-virgin olive oil of superb quality by using olives grown in their olive grove on the sloping hills of Casalduni in Southern Italy near Naples.

The olive picking process is entirely manual to preserve the highest integrity of the fruit; the grinding of the olives takes place in certified oil mills within eight hours from the picking and the oil is obtained with a continuous-cycle cold extraction process.

Luigi Mungioli has brought his family’s oil to the United States and they have just begun distribution in the U.S., and primarily in the Dallas area. It is used in many Dallas area Italian restaurants, but is primarily sold to the public at Jimmy’s Food Store.

I met Mr. Mungioli during my last visit to Jimmy’s and enjoyed tasting the oil and hearing all about his family, their place in Italy and the wonderful tradition they have kept alive through the generations.

Recently, he was in East Texas with his wife and I joined them for lunch. We talked about Italian food, of course, and our many interests in Italy. His family’s olive grove and home is less than an hour from where I lived when working in Southern Italy.

He is excited to expand the availability of his oil into locations, other than Dallas, and the oil is now available at Sweet Gourmet in Tyler.

The store will be holding an Olive Oil 101 class on Thursday, Sept. 25 at 11 a.m. There is a lot of terminology thrown around about olive oil and much of it can be confusing. Extra virgin, cold press, lite, pure, country of origin, smoke point — what does all of this mean? And how do I know what type to buy and use for different purposes in the kitchen? A lot of people cook with olive oil, but that is not recommended. Why not? What about the health benefits, and if I don’t cook with it, then how else is it used? These are all questions that will be answered in the class and you will have a chance to compare some olive oils and understand their flavor profile.

The class is $10 and that amount can be used toward in-store purchase. To make reservations call 903-534-0840.

Meeting Luigi and his wife was such a treat. It’s a small world, and it’s filled with so many interesting people.

Along those lines, I was invited to participate in the East Texas Book Fest this past weekend. The festival featured more than 50 Texas authors showcasing their books. Although I was the only cookbook author in attendance, it became a great starting point for conversation. After all, we all eat and we all have food in common — our likes, dislikes and favorite places to eat.

Marona Posey, author of The Look Away series, has written a fictional, yet historical, account of a Southern family and their experiences that span from Pearl Harbor to the World Trade Center bombings. We talked at length about old Southern recipes, such as sausage gravy, cornbread and her recipe for creamed corn.

I can’t wait to try it. Simply combine 4 cans of drained corn, 1 block of cream cheese and 1 stick of butter. Heat in a pan until melted and warmed through. Sounds fantastic.

Author and inspirational speaker Patti Foster was at a table next to me and she was a blessing to meet. Her joy and enthusiasm pours out to everyone she meets. Her book, “Coping with Traumatic Brain Injury” recounts the horrible car accident she survived in 2002, her road to recovery and the amazing ways the experience changed her life.

She got me thinking, in food terms, of course, about our recipe for life and what ingredients and directions go into the path of life we choose. And, on a lighter note, she has commissioned me to create the ultimate recipe using peanut M&Ms, which she considers manna from heaven.

It was also great to meet Antoinette Jackson and Martha Hook who are both loyal readers of FLAVOR every Wednesday. Antoinette sent some of her mother and grandmother’s recipes for last year’s Mothers Day feature. Her family is from Sicily and she has been working on a cookbook that features all of the family’s Sicilian recipes along with stories that explain the heritage and tradition.

Martha emailed me recently about her favorite Helen Corbitt recipes and will be part of that story on Oct 1. She gave me a copy of her book, “Glory Be” which is a post Civil War Christian romance novel. She also told me about a family cookbook that she compiled. What a great project and a great way to pass down treasured family memories and recipes.

It’s been wonderful to hear everyone’s responses and stories about most-loved Helen Corbitt recipes. I have been in touch with the University of Dallas, where Corbitt endowed many of her personal belongings, , letters, photos, dishes and crystal. Through this discovery, I hope to find a few hidden gems about this wonderful lady that so many Texans adored.

I will also be demonstrating a Corbitt recipe for FRESH Ideas that week. I haven’t decided which one, but will pick one from all of the suggested recipes. Of course, everyone loves her chicken salad, cornbread and poppy seed dressing, but there have been a lot of mentions about her chicken consomm￩, clear tomato soup and desserts such as Chocolate Marshmallow Pie, Sand Tarts, Coffee Angel Food Cake and the famous Neiman Marcus Flowerpots.

I have also learned that the well-known Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookie is not a Helen Corbitt recipe.

One of the more interesting bits of Corbitt information came from my friend, Linda Walton, who I featured in YES a couple of weeks ago when she gave me a canning lesson.

She lived in Dallas in the early 1960s and attended one of the continuing education classes that Corbitt taught at SMU. She still had the handout, notes and recipes from the class. She passed them onto me and the packet includes entertaining advice, cooking tips and recipes that were unpublished in her cookbooks.

I was so excited to receive this and, of course, share it with everyone. Because I can only put so much in the newspaper, I have planned a Helen Corbitt cooking class at Sweet Gourmet that will include the notes, recipes and a demonstration of some of Corbitt’s most-loved recipes — and plenty of samples too.

It will be on the evening of Thursday, Oct 9. Reservations can be made by calling 903-534-0840. There’s still time to send me more information for the story on Oct 1. You can send a favorite Corbitt recipe or Zodiac room story. The cutoff date is Sept 24. I am also in the process of contacting everyone who has emailed or called over the last few weeks. Thank you all for the interest and response. The email address is food@tylerpaper.com or leave me a message at 903-596-6247.