Archive for 2008
love thursday: when dogs become sisters
Are you feeling like there’s been a severe lack of canine love around here lately?
Maybe on the blog, but here at home Luna and Stella have only become closer and closer; a little while ago, I showed you how they ganged up to destroy an unsuspecting snowman and started snoozing together in front of the space heater.
Well they’ve since turned their (adopted) sisterly love up a notch or twelve:
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
What’s Cooking Wednesday: Pasta with Calabrian Sausage
I have to admit that I was not a fan of sausage before I moved here. Calabrian salsiccia is really something special though, and this simple dish has become one of my absolute favorites.
If you’re going to make this week’s What’s Cooking Wednesday recipe, please try your hardest to get some Calabrian sausage. The main flavor you should be looking for inside la salsiccia is peperoncino — hot pepper. Look at the photo below–see how red the inside is? That’s not undercooked, that’s piccante. And YUM.
The recipe is super easy–just your basic tomato sauce really–so feel free to experiment, throw in some peppers, mushrooms, or whatever you like, although you probably won’t need extra peperoncino!
I know a lot of people take the sausage out of its casing and crumble it into the sauce, but the method described below really lets the sausage shine. Keeping the sausage in its casings would also allow for the traditional Italian meal of pasta for the first course and then meat for the second course–although we eat it all together anyway. My American influence on P perhaps?
Pasta with Calabrian Sausage
(serves 2)
- Pasta of your choice [recommended: fusilli or penne(short) or bucatini (long)]
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small red onion, chopped finely
- 1 clove garlic, cut in half
- 2-4 Calabrian sausage links, depending on their size and how many people are eating
- Small handful of parsley, chopped
- Splash of red wine (optional)
- 1 can of tomatoes
- salt to taste
1. Heat about half a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in saucepan.
2. Poke holes in the sausage with a fork, add sausage to the pan, and and cook until browned on the outside, about 10 minutes. The sausage should also spring back from your touch a bit. It doesn’t have to be cooked through completely at this point as it will continue to cook in the sauce later, but you do want it mostly cooked.
3. Add another half a tablespoon of olive oil if the pan is dry; it may or may not be depending on the fat content in the sausage. Add onions, garlic, and parsley and sauté without letting them burn; you may have to turn down the heat a bit here.
4. Optional: Add wine and let cook off.
5. Turn the heat down to low and add tomatoes (put through a grinder or chopped to your liking), about a 1/4 cup of water to clean out the can, and salt to your taste. If sauce is still too thick, add some water; we often add up to 1/3 cup depending on the tomatoes. Cover and let simmer for another 10-15 minutes or until the tomatoes are done to your satisfaction (including proper thickness of sauce). If the sauce is too thin, let it cook for a bit without the lid on.
6. Prepare pasta and toss well with sauce. You could add some grated cheese, but I think this is delicious without.
Buon appetito!
1st of the month featured blogger: april
Sorry, no April Fool’s joke this year even though last year’s was *so* much fun for me, because today we have the:
1st of the Month Featured Blogger
Yes, singular. Just one featured blogger this month, and you know why? Well other than being one of my very most favoritest bloggers and photographers in the whole world (her photos decorate this post), she is the proud owner of five blogs.
You read that correctly, and here is a list of blogs by Featured Blogger Frances:
- Blogjem: Main blog that covers pretty much everything including great photos
- Blogforth: Creative writing blog featuring Sunday Scribblings
- On the Go Blog: Pictures and thoughts posted from Frances’ cell phone
- Photostroll: A leisurely walk with stops to take pictures
- The Meme Section: A home for memes
Frances is also the founder and fearless leader of the group She Who Blogs, a lively group of women bloggers who offer friendship, laughs, shoulders to cry on, advice, and plenty of other great things.
I’m a member, and in fact, Bleeding Espresso is this week’s featured blog at the main site, so click here to check out my interview. And for more information on joining She Who Blogs, contact me or leave a comment.
I’m not sure how Frances and I first “met,” but I’m so happy that we did. I can always rely on Frances for a kind word, inspiration, a fabulous pick-me-up photo, or a thought-provoking post about friends, family (especially growing up with Italians), and life in general.
And New York City? If you don’t love it already, Frances will convince you that it is one of the most beautiful places on Earth–I would love to teleport myself there each morning (NY time!) and walk through Central Park, sharing a coffee with Frances as she snaps photos like this:
Enough of my rambling; you should be busy getting to know Frances.
Go Blogforth
(or Blogjem, On the Go Blog, Photostroll, or The Meme Section)
and multiply the blog love!
How to Vote as an Italian Living Abroad
There has been a *huge* increase in requests for recognition of Italian citizenship over the past several years–my and my father’s requests included.
Along with “creating” many more Italian citizens in the world, this also means that many (non- or little-speaking Italian) people are becoming eligible to vote in Italian elections for the first times in their lives.
And believe me, the process is *very* different than in the United States.
As I think there may be quite a few people out there confused by the instructions, I’m going to break it down here, in English, and urge you–if you are an Italian citizen, PLEASE exercise your right to VOTE in this election.
AND PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE NOT FOR BERLUSCONI!
Every Italian citizen residing abroad should be registered with the local consulate in the A.I.R.E. (Anagrafe Italiani Residenti Estero). If you are, you should have already received a packet from your consulate including:
- Your electoral certificate (with your name on giving you the right to vote);
- Two (2) different colored ballots (pink for the Camera dei Deputati and blue for the Senato); if you are under the age of 25, you will receive only a ballot for the Camera;
- Two (2) envelopes (one small, blank, and white and the other larger and self-addressed and stamped to your consulate);
- The list of candidates for your area; and
- An information sheet.
1. First of all, grab and use a blue or black pen.
2. Now, an aside to explain a little of what’s going on with the ballots: below the main candidates, all of the people on their “lists” are from the “estero” or outside Italy; those elected will represent your interests as an Italian citizen residing abroad.
Depending on where you live, you will be able to vote for differing numbers of deputati and senatori–don’t worry, the number of blank lines will tell you how many you are allowed to write in.
If you are in North or Central America like my dad, for example, you can vote for 2 deputati and 1 senatore.
So . . .
3. To vote, you place an X over the logo of the party of your choice.
My advice is this one:
Vote for Veltroni! Woohoo!
4. Now you can write in your choices for senatori and deputati as described above being extremely careful to copy the names exactly as printed on the list. And don’t write anything else!
[If you would like my suggestions on senatori and deputati please contact me privately; find information on the candidates (in Italian) here.]
5. Fold and put your two ballots in the small blank white envelope and seal it.
6. Put that envelope inside the bigger envelope addressed to the consulate.
7. Tear off the bottom part of your electoral certificate at the perforation, put that in the big envelope with the ballots, and seal it.
8. Mail it off–it must be received by your consulate by April 10–and wait for election results.
Optional: buy some prosecco if you’re feeling particularly confident in your party.
This page has a fabulous graphic of this whole process. If you have any questions, please leave a comment or contact me.
And, in case I haven’t been clear . . .
*Special thanks to the website of Gino Bucchino, candidate for Camera dei Deputati for Central and North America with Partito Democratico‘s (and my) main man, Walter Veltroni; and I’m not just saying this because Bucchino was born in Calabria, I swear.
Where I’m From (Inspired by George Ella Lyon)
Some of you may have seen George Ella Lyon’s gorgeous, moving poem Where I’m From. If you haven’t, go here but then please come back.
Now, after reading my thoughts below, do yourself, your well-being, and everyone around you a favor and use this form to guide you in writing something of your own.
And then please, please share it with us.
————–
Where I’m From
I am from coal, the black diamond, from the depths of the earth, from the veins of life mined by my ancestors so that I would never have to, those who toiled away sotto terra as their wives worked hard at home or in factories hoping to never hear the whistle call them to the breaker in the middle of a work day.
From Big Ben’s blue birch beer, a taste so unique and delicious, only a chosen few have ever had the pleasure.
I am from a quaint, white house with a brick-colored porch, off on its own on a block of row homes, rebuilt by my family after a fire destroyed it, smelling often of garlic and onions, but also of fresh-baked everything.
I am from the spider fern, launching its branches far and wide, hoping that someone, somewhere will take in a baby off-shoot, plant it and nurture it.
The lily, the gorgeous lily that was a fixture in the house at Easter time, sitting in front of the fireplace, dying with each passing day but bringing such joy to all who saw her.
I am from Christmas Eve at my grandmother’s house, squeezing into the kitchen, eating baked ham, potato salad, cheese, meats, and so many sweet pickles and black olives, I thought I might burst.
And different shades of dark hair from my mom and my dad and my brother.
I am from the daily dinner table shouting (not in a good way) and keeping feelings inside, quiet, and out of view (except for the shouting).
From the “no soda before noon” rule and stories of what is was like to grow up as an immigrant family in America in the 1930s and 40s.
I am from a strong base of Catholics, with a slight dose of agnostic, and have come to follow a similar path. I am from a study of many world religions and finding some of each that bring me at peace with the world, and yet complete failing to understand how so many religious people hate so much and so many in the name of one god or another.
I am from the desire to learn, to understand, to love, to be loved, and from the wish that we all, truly, can live in harmony.
I’m from a small town in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, from Lithuanians, Italians, and Germans, from pierogies, gnocchi, and sauerkraut.
From the great-great-grandfather who was saved from a bull by his trusty black mutt, the aunt who constantly changed her first name because she didn’t like her given one, and the father who served in Vietnam.
I am from an accordion-file folder back in the States, a wall in my brother’s house, and a small black-and-white photo album here with me—a collection of family pictures, documents, stories, and history that are worth little monetarily, but that couldn’t possibly mean more to me.
A struggle of one family that has moved around the world, been laborers and professionals, helped build countries, fought wars, healed the sick, played professional sports, cooked for the masses, touched the hearts of many, seen the best and worst of people, experienced many successes as well as failures, but, most importantly, persevered as a unit, as a family.
————–
Reminder: check out Judith‘s Chicken Pot Pie for La Buona Cucina Americana!
Buon weekend!
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.
Calabria Guidebook
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