Archive for 2008
news from italy: love, olive oil, and lamborghinis
Ninety-nine-years-young Maria Caterina Reitano moved to Australia at age 41 from Reggio Calabria and will turn 100 years old in January. She has turned down several marriage proposals in her lifetime (two from the same man) and has never made love to a man, but that doesn’t mean her search for love is over.
When she was interviewed by The Daily Telegraph for a story on her, ahem, status, she made it a point to say, “Tell them I’m single.”
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Do you think you know your olive oil?
If so, you might look into joining Italy’s anti-food piracy unit, 20 specially-trained officers who are in charge of tasting olive oil and identifying counterfeit versions claiming to be extra-virgin.
In April of this year, 25,000 liters of oil were confiscated and 25 people arrested when it was discovered that what was being sold as olive oil was really vegetable oil infused with beta carotene and chlorophyll. Similar tales of fake olive oil have become disturbingly common in recent years, so hopefully this squad knows their stuff.
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As the home of Armani, Prada, Versace, Gucci, and Dolce e Gabbana, Italians are known for style. Rest assured the police can continue that reputation now that Lamborghini has donated a specially-designed car to the polizia.
This €175,200 ($220,000) Lamborghini Gallardo has a 560-horsepower engine and can reach speeds of up to 325 kpr (200 mph); it also has a mini-refrigerator inside for organ transport and a built-in defibrillator for emergencies.
Pretty stylin’ huh?
So what’s up where you are?
La Buona Cucina America: Apple Pie – Torta di Mele
We couldn’t possibly compile a collection of American recipes without including apple pie–and here is my mom’s version (and yes, her hands feature in the photos below).
This is of course my all-time favorite apple pie, but I realize that everyone has their own tricks and secrets as to what makes a delicious apple pie, so please share your thoughts in the comments!
Apple Pie
Dough:
- 2 c flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 c shortening/lard
- 5-7 tablespoons cold water
Filling:
- 8 tart apples
- 1 c sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons flour (more if apples are moist)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter
1. Chop together flour, salt, and shortening until pieces of dough are the size of peas. Add water slowly, mixing with hands and being sure dough isn’t too moist or too dry.
2. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and put it in refrigerator for about twenty minutes.
3. In the meantime, peel, core, and cut apples into thin slices.
4. Mix apples, sugar, flour, and cinnamon together.
5. Remove dough from refrigerator and cut in half.
6. Roll one half of the dough between two sheets of wax paper until 1/8″ thick, and use the rolling pin to transfer to pie pan.
7. Fill shell with apple filling, and put butter in pieces on top (as shown).
8. Roll other half of dough until 1/8″ thick and transfer it to cover the pie.
9. Seal edges by pinching dough around the edges as shown.
10. Put small slices in top crust to prevent it from overflowing, and sprinkle top with sugar.
11. Bake in 400°F oven for 15 minutes, and then turn oven down to 350° and let bake for about another half hour. The apples inside will be soft when the pie is ready.
12. Let cool before cutting.
Torta di Mele
Pasta:
- 280 g farina
- un pizzico di sale
- 75 g lardo
- 5-7 cucchiai di acqua fredda
Ripieno:
- 8 mele aspre
- 200 g zucchero
- 3-4 cucchiai farina (di più se le mele sono umide)
- 1 cucchiaino cannella
- 28 g burro
1. Mescolate la farina, il sale e il lardo finché i pezzi della pasta sono la misura dei piselli. Agguingete l’acqua lentamente, mescolando con le mani assicurando che la pasta non è troppo umida ne troppo secca.
2. Mettete la pasta nella pellicola e mettetela in frigo per circa venti minuti.
3. Nel frattempo, sbucciate, togliete il torsolo e affettate le mele a fette fine.
4. Mescolate insieme le mele, lo zucchero, la farina e la cannella.
5. Togliete la pasta dal frigo e tagliatela a metà.
6. Stendete una metà della pasta tra due foglie di carta oleata finché la pasta stesa è circa 3 mm. Usate il matterello per trasferire la pasta stesa alla teglia.
7. Riempite la teglia con il ripieno, e aggiungete burro a pezzi (come è mostrato sopra).
8. Stendete l’altra metà della pasta anche di 3 mm e coprite la torta con la pasta stesa.
9. Chiudete il bordo come è mostrato sopra.
10. Fate piccoli tagli nella pasta stesa sopra e spargetela con un po’ di zucchero.
11. Mettete la torta al forno a 200°C e fate cuocere per quindici minuti. Quindi abbassate la temperatura a 175°C e fate cuocere per un’altra mezz’ora. Quando la torta è pronta le mele dentro sarà morbide.
12. Lasciatela raffreddare prima di tagliare.
Buon appetito!
love thursday: autumn love blooms
Even in Calabria we have falling leaves and some gorgeous autumn colors (albeit later in the season), but not everything is dying off right now.
This little group of hearts blooms along the path I walk several times a day with the pooches:
And they make me smile every time.
What makes you smile each and every time you see it (or him or her)?
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
important notice for americans voting from abroad
We interrupt today’s regularly scheduled What’s Cooking Wednesday (but do come back Friday for La Buona Cucina Americana and Mom’s American as Apple Pie!) to remind Americans abroad who want their voices to be heard, from the US Department of State:
If you haven’t received your ballot within three weeks of your state’s ballot receipt deadline, and you are required to return your voted ballot by mail, you should complete, sign, date, and send in a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB). Make sure it is witnessed, if required by your state. If you subsequently receive your regular absentee ballot, execute it and return it regardless of when you receive it. Court decisions sometimes require late counting of ballots voted by Election Day, but received by local election officials for a specified period of time following Election Day.
How can you get a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot?
You can find instructions here (PDF) at the State Department website, through the Overseas Vote Foundation here, or through VoteFromAbroad here.
Want something more interactive?
Check out this tutorial from the Overseas Vote Foundation:
And here is a great post from expat James at Wandering Italy on why he votes.
No excuses! VOTE!!!!!!!!
Sex, Lies, Handwriting, and Presidential Candidates
A few months ago, I was working on an article about graphology, or handwriting analysis, and I came across the website of Michelle Dresbold, author of Sex, Lies, and Handwriting: A Top Expert Reveals the Secrets Hidden in Your Handwriting. Dresbold is one of the country’s top experts on the subject of handwriting interpretation and analysis, and has been helping law enforcement agents solve cases for a decade.
In fact, go HERE to enter to win a free copy of Dresbold’s book!
Hurry! Contest ends October 31!
OK, I don’t know about you, but I find this sort of thing fascinating. I find it most interesting that people can’t really “fake” their handwriting consistently without their “true” handwriting revealing itself. No, graphology doesn’t predict the future, but it can reveal a person’s motivations, intellect, idealism, vanity, honesty, psychological strengths and weaknesses, and even emotional and physical health.
And all of this is nothing new. Confucius philosophized, “Handwriting can infallibly show whether it comes from a person who is noble-minded or from one who is vulgar.” Aristotle wrote, “Just as all men do not have all the same speech sounds, neither do they have all the same writing.”
So why am I bringing all this up now? Well other than to give you a chance to win a copy of Dresbold’s book, I also want to point you to some analyses that Dresbold has done on signatures that you might find interesting about now:
Interesting, no?
Have you ever had your handwriting analyzed?
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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