Marika shares her impressions and her bubbling enthusiasm for the Expo 2015 held in Milan until the October thirty-first of this year. We hope you get the chance to go!

Melanzane alla Parmigiana, or La parmigiana di melanzane (Eggplant Parmesan) is a classic recipe from the Campania region. Marika shows us how to make it, one step at a time.

Marika prepares the eggplant slices by baking them in the oven—a much lighter way of preparing the eggplant layers than the traditional frying method.

It's time to check the eggplant in the oven. And what about the slices that were a bit too sottili (thin)? Will they have burned? Note that English mostly uses eggplant as a collective noun (in the singular) but Italian, unless referring specifically to a single eggplant, uses the plural le melanzane when referring to eggplant in general, and to the slices themselves.

We've finally reached the last part of this recipe. Now you can make this dish yourself. Don't forget to pre-heat the oven to two hundred and twenty or two hundred and forty degrees (428-464°F). If you happen to have any leftover afterwards, you can safely freeze it. Buon appetito!

Several Yabla users asked about elisions and contractions, and how, when, and where they're used. This is Marika's first of three videos on this essential topic.

Marika's first of three lessons on truncation, where she compares elision to truncation. There are many useful examples, such as: mar, san, buon, ben, and signor.

Marika outlines exceptions to the rules governing truncation, and provides many useful examples.

The final segment on truncation covers imperative mood verbs that take apostrophes, as well as expressions concerning maladies.

What in English is called a tongue-twister, in Italian is a scioglilingua, or tongue loosener. The Trentine one, with the alliterated Ts, is the most successful in English translation.

Marika, in response to Yabla user requests, begins her 3-part lesson on those pesky little words (Me plus lo, la, li, le, and ne, together with Ti plus lo, la, li, le, and ne), otherwise known as combined pronouns or double pronouns.

Marika covers these super tricky combined pronouns: glielo, gliela, glieli, gliene, and gliele.

Marika wraps up her lessons on combined pronouns in which ci acts as a stand in for places.

Marika discusses adverbs of time, including: subito [immediately], mai [never], and talvolta [sometimes].

Marika shares some of her childhood with us, specifically, her experience of having a puppy grow up beside her as part of the family. Now she has children of her own, and wants to give them that same special experience.