Bleeding Espresso

The answer to the first question is:

Soon to be in Warner Village Cinema in Lamezia Terme anxiously awaiting:

Sex and the City!

And that’s where I’ll be shortly too.

Wanna come?

Or are you having your own girls’ night out in celebration?

But before you answer, let’s move on to the second question in the post title.

Did you hear about the Dunkin’ Donuts ad with Rachael Ray that was pulled because of what she’s wearing?

Scantily clad, you’re thinking?

Rachael Ray of EVOO and the Garbage Bowl?

OUR Rachael?

Not exactly.

Here’s a still shot from MSNBC.com:

Can you spot the offensive article of clothing?

Michelle Malkin said Ray’s neck accessory resembles a kiffiyeh, a head scarf “popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos.”

Um, is that what you thought when you saw that photo?

I mean, I’m not exactly lovin’ the scarf for fashion purposes, but personally
I just want some Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee, extra cream no sugar. YUM!

Buon weekend everyone!

And be sure to check out Ms Adventures in Italy for Sara’s
La Buona Cucina Americana recipe!

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Today is one of Italy’s biggest holidays: la Festa della Liberazione or Liberation Day, celebrating the country’s liberation from fascism thanks to Allied troops at the end of World War II.

When I first arrived here, many of the older residents, upon finding out I was American, loved sharing their memories of American soldiers who marched into the village from over the mountain and handed out chocolates to the children.

Sixty plus years later, and they simply can’t forget what life was like under “Il Duce.” My neighbor Anna Maria still remembers a children’s rhyme that lamented days without bread and nights without light: “u jornu senza pane, la notte senza luce.”

Liberation Day celebrations in Italy are two-fold–one part is to honor those who fought the fascist regime and the other is to protest against tyranny and oppression throughout the world.

Not coincidentally, Italian comedian, actor, blogger, and Champion of Change Beppe Grillo has chosen today to hold the second V-Day to encourage “freedom of information in a free state.” That V stands for “vaffanculo” and tells oppressors and criminals in positions of power in Italy what they can go do to themselves.

Now go celebrate!

And don’t forget to check out Cherrye’s Buttermilk Biscuits
for La Buona Cucina Americana!

Buon weekend a tutti!

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Today is Earth Day, 24 hours for us to stop and really think about how our actions affect the environment.

Of course we should do this every day, but, according to the Earth Day Network website, since 1970, April 22 has represented at least one day per year for people around the world to “celebrate the earth and renew our commitment to building a safer, healthier and cleaner world for all of us.”

The Earth Day Network site offers many ideas as to how you can get involved:

Volunteer. Go to a festival. Install solar panels on your roof. Organize an event where you live. Change a habit. Help launch a community garden.

Communicate your priorities to your elected representatives.

The possibilities are endless! Do something nice for the earth, have fun, meet new people, and make a difference.

This Earth Day, I’m going to tell you about the birds and the bees.

OK, really just the bees, but I wanted to make sure you were paying attention.

The plight of honeybees may seem small in comparison to many of the other problems our environment faces, but make no mistake–the fact that millions of honeybees are dying (Colony Collapse Disorder) can have disastrous effects not only on flowers and honey but also on food production, including many of the fruits we hold so dear.

Honeybees pollinate about a third of the food we eat, and without sufficient numbers of bees, these crops simply can’t survive.

Why are bees dying?

A few reasons:

• stronger pesticides (which, incidentally, can be toxic to humans as well);
• loss of natural habitats due to urban expansion;
• changes in farming techniques that replace native vegetation with pasture grasses for cattle; and
• more frequent severe droughts in some areas like southern Italy

The endangerment of honeybees has been big news in Italy. The National Beekeepers’ Association (UNAAPI) has seen drastic drops in honey production–as much as 50%–because of a silent “slaughter of bees.” Along with southern Italy, Tuscany and Umbria have also been hit hard.

Environmental group Legambiente and the Slow Food movement have teamed up to help the UNAAPI create a buzz about the endangerment of bees; hopefully world leaders and lawmakers will work together to ensure that we all avoid getting stung by a major loss of honeybees.

For more information and what you can do to help, see PBS’s program Endangered Honeybees and Häagen-Dazs’s page on how to Help the Honey Bees.

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Did you know that it is now illegal for Italian men to touch their genitals in public?

So ruled Italy’s highest court, which wrote that such touching “has to be regarded as an act contrary to public decency, a concept including that nexus of socio-ethical behavioral rules requiring everyone to abstain from conduct potentially offensive to collectively held feelings of decorum.”

Such big words for a simple act!

As all of us living with Italian men know, a man’s touching of his, ahem, nether regions is a well-established and time-honored method of warding off malocchio.

And I don’t just mean someone giving someone else the Evil Eye–I’m talking about the mere mention/implication/thought of death or other bad things happening (I can see P “protecting” himself even as I type this!).

So, Italy’s highest court, until you’re willing to outlaw bad luck, I’m thinking gratuitous crotch-grabbing in the Bel Paese is here to stay.

I’m just sayin.

And speaking of cannoli . . . hah!

Buon weekend!

P.S. Thanks Carol for the tip on the news piece!

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Technorati Tags: malocchio, italy, italian men

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Last week, a high school in my former adopted city of Philadelphia was closed for a day while personnel cleaned up after 85 Rhode Island Reds.

For the fowly-challenged, those are hens.

On Sunday, February 10 around 9:30 p.m., four unidentified males entered Northeast Philadelphia High School and let the birds loose, supplying them with plenty of chicken feed throughout the hall. For some reason, no alarm sounded upon their entrance and the hens weren’t discovered until hours later when the “school building engineer” showed up for work.

Can you imagine that guy’s face?

School was, not surprisingly, canceled that day, and the incident is under investigation by the Philadelphia School District, the Philadelphia police, and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

Students returned to the bird-free zone the following day. Here’s one them, senior Laura Weiszer, with a t-shirt commemorating the hen invasion:

“I’m into chickens ya’ll” is what’s written on there.

As for the hens, they were taken to nearby Fox Chase Farm. Sorry, but I can’t help wondering about the wisdom of letting the hens in the foxhouse. Hah!

The Philadelphia School District has two farms and will keep some of whatever hens aren’t claimed by their rightful owners.

I have to admit that I thought this was all pretty funny when I read it–especially after I was assured that the pranksters left food for the hens.

Even school officials saw the humor; in reference to the fines that those responsible will have to pay, district spokesman Fernando Gallard said, “It’s not going to be chicken scratch.”

See, if this happened in Italy, all the hen droppers would need to do is come up with a motive behind the “protest” and they wouldn’t have to pay anything.

And really, wasn’t this *so* much more inventive than simply throwing some balls down the Spanish Steps?

A whole lot messier though.

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Technorati Tags: philadelphia, hens, rhode island reds, northeast philadelphia high school, fox chase farm

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