Archive for 2007
i primi passi
“I primi passi” means “first steps” in Italian,
and here is one of our 11-day old bunnies taking his:
“Courage is an accumulation of small steps.”
–George Konrad
Meanwhile, his brothers and sisters snooze the day away.
“I’ll get up when I’m good and ready.”*
–sognatrice
Whatever it takes, my friends. Whatever it takes.
Buon weekend!
*The original version read “Wake me in time for dinner,” but I realized (through the help of commenters) that it sounded like I was referring to these cuties as dinner. Well, truth be told, someday they will be in all likelihood (sorry for those offended, but it’s the way of life around here)–but that’s certainly not what I was thinking about when I posted the photos!
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[tags]rabbits, bunnies, conigli, coniglietti[/tags]
getting to know luna
In the comments to yesterday’s post, Ally Bean asked me whether my most perfect puppy Luna is bilingual. HeartinSanFrancisco praised her ability to bark in Italian.
I now realize that you all know far too little about this Furball o’ Love, and lucky for you, I found this great meme filled out by Mushu the Bichon Frise over at A Spot of T, my fellow She Who Blogs member, so you can get to know Luna a bit more (I added the last question, though, just for my pooch).
Oh, and if you’re one of those people who hate when bloggers write about their animal friends, I forgive you, and I invite you back tomorrow when there (probably) won’t be a mention of Luna.
But I make no promises. Look at this face!
1. What kind of dog are you? A really really cute one. Some say I resemble a Basenji, and indeed, my tail does curve in a most peculiar way.
2. Are you a boy or a girl? Girl power! You can read about some, um, complications of being a girl dog here.
3. How old are you? I’m 2 ½ years old but I don’t feel a day over 2 ¼.
4. Name one thing you received as a gift on your last birthday. Nothing. I hate my humans. No, seriously, my birthday is two days after Christmas, so I get a few days of fun—my favorite is always a raw hidey kind of bone thing (not actually raw hide but I don’t know how else to describe it) and beef jerky treats from my Nana in America.
5. Choose one word to best describe your physique. Forte (strong)
6. Share a quote. “I spilled spot remover on my dog. He’s gone now.” (Steven Wright)
7. Have you ever been stung by a bee? If so, where? No, knock on wood. Dang sometimes I wish I had knuckles.
8. Who’s your strangest family member? I’m going to have to go with Papà P because the shorter one with the longer hair usually feeds me (plus she’s typing this).
9. Who’s your favorite family member? See Number 8.
10. Do you make an effort to be environmentally friendly? I do keep my own “compost” pile.
11. If you were given a blank canvas and water colours, what would you paint? Il mare (the sea) that I have yet to set paw in.
12. When is the best time for you to take a 20 minute nap? This is a trick question, isn’t it, because when *isn’t* it a good time for a snooze?
13. Your hair? Floating about the house right now because of shedding. Oh, like the color and stuff? Caramel but for my white paws and strip down my chest.
14. What do you want to be in 10 years? A sly old bitch.
15. What you’re not good at. Playing nice with other bitches. And believe you me, they’re all bitches.
16. What are you wearing? A black leather collar with my name in faux-diamond studs.
17. What aren’t you wearing? My harness, which is only for walkies.
18. Your mood? Chill. Except that it’s boiling hot.
19. Your kitchen? My home, actually, since I don’t do the steps to go downstairs–they’re kinda scary. My food and water is in the kitchen and Mamma also put a bed in there just for me, so I don’t miss the downstairs at all.
20. What are you thinking about right now? How freaking hot it is.
21. Love? I’m full of it.
22. Foreign languages? I consider English my fourth language. Doggie is, obviously, my first. Italian is second, and Calabrese dialect is my third.
If any other animal friends would like to play, please do and link to me and to A Spot of T.
Oh, and Happy Love Thursday everyone!
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[tags]dogs, memes, love thursday[/tags]
What’s Cooking Wednesday: Pasta with Fresh Tomato and Basil
Summer’s here! Luna says, “Mamma mia, fa caldo!“
It’s hot. This means that cooking during the day is ill-advised, so our usual lunchtime pasta course often finds its place in the evenings (unless I’ve made a lovely summer pasta salad). But a requirement is still that it must be fast and easy; it cools down in the evenings, but not that much.
So this week’s What’s Cooking Wednesday is one of our summer favorites, a seasonal salsa with fresh tomato and basil–quite possibly my most favorite dish in the whole world. I can’t possibly overstate my love for basil, so you’ll be seeing a lot more of it around these parts, I promise.
I’m leaving the “pasta” here in the general term as we’ve had this dish in the past few days with penne and with linguine (as shown in the photos).
Always delicious.
Pasta with Fresh Tomato & Basil
(Pasta con pomodori e basilico)
4 tbl olive oil
1 small sweet onion, chopped
3 small cloves garlic, crushed
2-3 large, ripe tomatoes, chopped coarsely
8 large basil leaves
1/4 cup water
salt to taste
1. Put water on to boil for the pasta of your choice.
2. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and then add onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes until onions are translucent and garlic is just starting to brown–don’t let it brown though.
3. Tear 6 of the basil leaves and stir into the mix.
4. Add tomatoes and salt, and mix everything well.
5. Add water periodically if sauce begins to look too dry (depends on how juicy your tomatoes are).
6. Let cook for about 15-20 minutes on medium-high heat, and with about 5 minutes to go add the rest of the basil.
7. In the meantime, once the water is boiling, prepare the pasta; everything should be ready at about the same time.
8. Toss the pasta with the salsa, coating it well, and serve hot with a sprinkling of grated cheese on top (and peperoncini on the side if you like it spicy).
Buon appetito!
i wandered lonely as a cloud
When my mom visited a few years ago, she called me out on the balcony to ask about the group of black and white birds that begin circling, screeching, and swooping around 7:30 p.m. every evening without fail.
I still don’t know what kind of birds they are (neither does P despite knowing about a lot of wildlife), but every time I hear their cries start up I think of my mom and many warm memories of when we bummed around southern Italy with nary a word of Italian between us. We’ve always been close, but during that trip I learned that nothing can bring two people closer than trying to decipher Italian road signs and strange hours of business.
The other night I glanced outside when the screeching reached its highest levels, and I found an amazing sky through my balcony doors.
At first glance, I thought this looked like a bird with wings above its head, flying to the right; then it seemed like it was flying to the left. Now I think it looks like two birds joined in the middle. What do you think?
The sky’s gorgeous coloring only lasted a few minutes, but luckily I snapped a few more photos.
In the last photo, you can see one of the birds quite clearly, but in the middle two, they appear only as grey streaks–they move that quickly. It’s really quite a spectacle, and I’m lucky that I get to see it every evening.
Just goes to show you that sometimes in order to catch a great moment all you need to do is stop, listen, and look up.
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[tags]clouds[/tags]
heeeey…brasilena!
A little while ago, Shelley wrote about gassosa, a rather unique carbonated beverage. I’d say it’s the Italian equivalent of 7-Up or Sprite, but that doesn’t really do it justice. From Shelley’s post and subsequent comments, it seems that each area of Italy has its favorite manufacturer, and down here in Calabria is no different.There’s ours on the left.
This is actually new packaging–see how they’re playing up the “national beverage” aspect of gassosa with “Bevanda Tipica Nazionale” in green, white, and red? Clever, eh?
As I mentioned in my comment to Shelley’s post, it’s common here to mix gassosa with beer (birra e gassosa), especially at midday. It’s similar to a French Panaché, and I thought it was kind of odd until I tried it; then it reminded me of putting a wedge of lime in a Corona–citrus and beer can be tasty together!
Shelley’s post also made me think of another special drink we have in these parts, one that is unique to Calabria, to the province of Catanzaro (Girifalco) in fact–the Brasilena, described on the packaging as a “bibita al caffè,” a coffee drink.
And it is. This is a cold, non-alcoholic, carbonated coffee drink, so you can just as easily slug this down for breakfast instead of a caffè freddo or my own invented morning brew.
Its website (yes, it’s *that* big time) says that the Brasilena has been produced for 60 years and is made with Calabrian sparkling mineral water and “the right dose of coffee,” which means that young people can drink it too. Other than in Calabria, you can find it in Puglia, Sicily, and Campania, and now it’s also entering the markets of Canada, United States, and Australia–and there are even requests from China.
I told you it was big time.
There is apparently also something called “Moka” produced in the neighboring province of Cosenza, but I’m not going to get involved in the apparent rivalry between the two. Those links are in Italian, but trust me, loyalties to one drink or the other run deep. I’ve never had a Moka, so I have no comment on this cosentina (from Cosenza) cousin.
Where does the name “Brasilena” come from? The website didn’t give any clues that I could find, but brasileña is the feminine adjective for something/someone from Brazil–in Spanish (not Italian). Perhaps the founder was Brazilian (or Spanish) or had ties to the South American country as many Calabrians emigrated there (or to Spain)? Or maybe the name is just a play on Brazil’s coffee bean production?
Or perhaps it all boils down to advertising, and an exotic name plus a cute Brazilian-ish girl adds up to sales. Cha-ching!
If anyone knows the real story, do share, but please don’t waste your hard-earned euros buying Brasilena on eBay from Italy or something–it’s good, but really not worth those shipping costs.
So, next time you’re in Calabria, the Brasilena is on me (if you’re wondering, it costs a euro a bottle at the bar), and I promise to try and refrain from singing its name to the tune of the Macarena when I order.
But be forewarned–I haven’t been successful so far.
Heeeey Brasilena!
*clap clap*
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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