After 19 years, I finally went back to Ko Lipe, the Thai island I spent close to a month on in 2006. Back then, it was one of those super off-the-beaten-path destinations that few but the most intrepid travelers visited, where electricity only ran a few hours a day, basic bungalows right on the beach cost something like $2 USD, and there really was a last boat for the season.

Apparently I’m not the only one who loves polenta cake. The Italians like it so much that it’s called Amor Polenta. Which means “Polenta Love.”

Well, at least that’s what I thought it meant, because amour in French means “love.” And I assumed that it was the same in Italian. (Another reason for finally getting on that life-long ambition to live in Italy and learn Italian.) But for now, checking in an Italian dictionary, I found out that “amor” means “sake.” (As in, for the purpose of.) So I’m not sure how it got its name, but this cake makes a pretty good argument for the sake of whisking polenta into a cake.