Archive for 2008
and the winner is . . .
Yesterday the sun rose:
The girls frolicked:
The sun set and the moon made an appearance:
And a few hours later, I used the Custom Random Number Generator to choose a winner of the $30 Amazon.com gift certificate as promised in the contest post here.
Can you believe the winner was Lucky Number 7?
FYI, I used 161 for the upper value as it was the number of total comments, then started from the first comment counting down only those eligible, i.e., those that told me they had linked/relinked and/or subscribed/resubscribed (or that they were going to these things and then in fact did).
And the winner is . . .
none other than my most favorite baseball player in the Bel Paese:
I’ll be in touch Lango!
With all the work you’ve put into .italiaball.com recently, you certainly deserve it!
A lot of you probably don’t know how much I *love* baseball, but it’s definitely one of the things I miss most from America (read about what else I miss here); Lango’s site and stories help fill that void a bit, although I wish someone would build a field around here so I could go to some games. Where’s Kevin Costner when you need him?
Anyway, thanks *so* much to everyone who stopped by, commented, and made the transition to the new place such a wonderful experience.
And I hope those of you who were unsure of the change are getting used to it. Because honestly, I just don’t have it in me to change looks again anytime soon.
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[tags]contests, italy, expats in italy, expats, dogs, sunrises, sunsets, calabria, badolato, ionian sea, moon, custom random number generator[/tags]
Announcing World Nutella Day 2008!
***Be sure to check out NutellaDay.com for the most up-to-date info!***
Who can remember the first time they were allowed to eat chocolate for breakfast?
Nutella is more than just a “chocolaty hazelnut spread,” it is a way of life. From childhood memories to oozing hot crepes, from breakfasts on vacation to free-spooning sessions on the couch, Nutella is prominent in the memories of many children and grown-up children in the world.
Last year we gave it its own holiday, and this year we’re continuing the tradition.
Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso (and Shelley from At Home in Rome, in spirit) solemnly declare February 5th “World Nutella Day 2008” – a day to celebrate, to get creative with, and most importantly, to EAT Nutella.
How to participate:
- Make a recipe using Nutella. Take a picture of yourself eating Nutella with a BIG spoon. Make art with Nutella. Wax poetic about Nutella. Re-live your first experience eating Nutella. Have a Nutella-eating contest or a Nutella party!
- Take pictures, upload a video, and blog about it from now until February 4th, 2008.
- Email nutelladay [at] nutelladay [dot] com. with Subject: Nutella Day Entry and include your name, your site name, and your permalink/URL by February 4th, 2008. You can also attach one 100×100 pixel photo of your dish, etc. to be included in the roundup. We’ll be posting the round-up on the 5th of February.
- On your blog, please include the Nutella Day 2008 badge and/or a link pointing to this post so others can participate, too!
- Tag/categorize your post with “Nutella Day.”
- Flickr: Add your photos to the Nutella Day Flickr pool
- YouTube: Add your Nutella-inspired video to the Nutella Day YouTube station
For some inspiration on Nutella recipes, read:
- Last year’s World Nutella Day roundups – Part 1 and Part 2
- Steamy Kitchen with Nutella twisted up in her no-knead Challah
- Novice Baker’s Nutella Two-Tone Cookies
- Dessert First examining her love affair with Nutella and Pierre Herme’s Nutella tart
- Last year’s World Nutella Day introduction post with more information, history, and recipes!
Hope to see you around for this year’s celebration!
having a ball in rome
*Updated to direct you to what Juli, a trusty correspondent in Umbria, dug up about Graziano Cecchini and the ball stunt: Behind the Balls.
The other day Rome’s Spanish Steps were having a ball.
Well, actually a half million of them as red, blue, yellow, and green balls flowed down one of the Eternal City’s most famous landmarks.
The rainbow spectacle was the doing of Graziano Cecchini who commented that we use “art — if we want to call it art — to stress our malaise.”
Cleaners were on the ball, so to speak, and got the lot of balls cleared out rather quickly, although they also had help from tourists who grabbed some of the only free souvenirs they’d find in the Bel Paese. Word has it that some balls even quickly found their way to eBay.
Some of you may remember Cecchini as the mastermind behind this last year:
This is the Trevi Fountain dyed red in October. Leaflets found nearby said that the red represented the red carpet of the Rome Film Festival and the water was dyed red in protest of the expenses incurred organizing the event.
After the Trevi Fountain incident, Cecchini was investigated for possibly damaging historical monuments, but experts said that, thankfully, none of the red color had seeped into the 18th century fountain’s marble structure.
So what do you think about such displays?
Art? Vandalism?
Inspiring? Disgusting?
Does it make you want to browse listings of Rome hotels, make a reservation, and wait for another show?
And would you have, ahem, grabbed a ball–or did you?
Do tell.
Buon weekend!
love *is* all around
P is currently working on a house for a Swiss man, so I have been taking photos and sending them by email to the new owner to keep him up to date on the progress.
Of course this gives me an excuse to wander around a bit and take more village photos–but as it turns out, I don’t have to roam very far from that house to remind me that love really *is* all around.
These are all a few steps from where P parks his motorino:
These images are overseen by a gorgeous stone angel who is on la Chiesa di San Nicola, the center of the small quadrant of the village that the families of both P and me are from.
The church was built in 1239 and is mentioned by name in George Gissing’s classic travel memoir By the Ionian Sea: Notes of a Ramble in Southern Italy; the author had happened upon the church’s parroco on a train, which led Gissing to write:
I would ask nothing better than to visit him, some autumn-tide,
when grapes are ripening above the Ionian Sea.
I wonder if Gissing ever did get the pleasure of having this face look down upon him.
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
**If you haven’t yet, remember to check out my welcome post and find out about how you can win a $30 Amazon.com gift certificate!**
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[tags] love thursday, hearts, angels, george gissing, by the ionian sea, ionian sea, badolato, san nicola, chiese, churches[/tags]
what’s cooking wednesday: roasted peppers with garlic & olive oil
Just those words have your mouth watering, don’t they?
Well not if you don’t like peppers, but if you’re like me and could eat any kind of pepper–sweet, hot, red, yellow, green–at just about any given time, you probably love roasted peppers as well.
And there’s no reason why you can’t have them made at home whenever you want (provided that you can get peppers). My favorite are roasted red peppers because they’re oh-so-sweet, but you can use any kind you like.
There are a few different ways to prepare them, but to me, grilling them is best. We do ours over smoldering coals:
But if you use your broiler, the peppers are still going to be delicious. Check out this great tutorial from AllRecipes.com on how to roast peppers in the oven.
Yes these get a little messy (I’m spoiled in that P actually enjoys all the dirty work here), but they are so worth the effort–you’ll never buy pre-prepared roasted peppers again after you taste them homemade.
Perhaps some of you are already wondering what to do with roasted peppers. A simple Google search led me to this page from Prevention’s The Healthy Cook: The Ultimate Illustrated Kitchen Guide to Great Low-Fat Food.
Some of The Healthy Cook‘s suggestions are pepper and cheese canapés, pepper fritters, peppers and shrimp salad, antipasto, and peppers parmigiana. They all sound fabulous, as does this book in general now that I’m looking at it more closely. . . .
Some more ideas? Add them to sandwiches, salads, dips (great in hummus!), tomato sauce, or as a topping on pizza.
This is what we usually do with our roasted peppers: we like to dress them up with olive oil, garlic, and a touch of salt and then eat them with fresh, warm bread–even on toasted bread for a nice bruschetta with peppers.
Remember how great that bruschetta with tomatoes was? This is a great winter variation.
So without further ado, this week’s What’s Cooking Wednesday:
Roasted Peppers with Garlic & Olive Oil
- Peppers–as many as you like, of the variety you prefer
- Enough good olive oil to cover them
- Clove of garlic, chopped (depends on your taste how much you want to add–do experiment!)
- Salt to taste
Wash and dry the peppers and then place them on the grill whole and intact.
In preparing the peppers, the most important thing to remember is to turn them so that all sides are blackened. Trust me, you want the sides BLACK as this makes peeling them a lot easier.
Here are the remnants of our last batch (with an unroasted pepper):
Once you take them off the grill and have given them a chance to cool off a bit, pull out the stems. Now peel the skin. P uses a small knife, but he uses a knife for everything (he *is* a southern Italian man). You can also do this with your bare hands of course.
Be sure to remove all the seeds, which you can do by squeezing the pepper from top to bottom between your index finger and thumb.
If there are any of the membranes left inside, scrape those out too.
Now you’re ready to do whatever you like with them. For the preparation shown above, slice and place in bowl and then cover with olive oil. Add as much chopped garlic and salt as you like and let them marinate at least an hour before eating.
I know it’s hard to wait, but you’ll thank yourself later.
Buon appetito!
**If you haven’t yet, remember to check out my welcome post and find out about how you can win a $30 Amazon.com gift certificate!**
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[tags]roasted peppers, roasted red peppers, peppers, cooking, what’s cooking wednesday[/tags]
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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