Author Archive
love thursday:
tomato love
This heart-shaped tomato was the sweetest I’ve ever eaten.
Maybe (just a little) because P handed it to me with a kiss.
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
Recipe: Olive Oil and Limoncello Cake
The original recipe comes from a restaurant in the Valpolicella region in the province of Verona in northern Italy — but I gave it a southern Italian twist with limoncello.
Read on...May, Poppies, and Remembering Veterans
Even though I’m not in America any more, the end of May still means bright red poppies to me.
Yes, these in the fields around here, but I’m talking about the ones that remind me of the sacrifices veterans have made for you and me and how many of them still suffer today even while in the “care” of our veterans’ hospitals.
Every year around Memorial Day, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)’s Buddy Poppy Program and the American Legion Auxiliary Poppy Program distribute millions of crepe paper poppies in exchange for contributions that benefit disabled and hospitalized veterans and their families.
Where do the poppies come from?
Why, the hospitalized veterans make these nine-piece wonders in “Poppy Shops,” gaining a small wage and also some physical and mental therapy.
What is history of the paper poppy?
During World War I, ever-resilient poppies grew and thrived in the war-torn battlefields of Belgium, inspiring this poem by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae:
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The symbol was picked up by Allied countries immediately after the war ended and paper poppies began being sold. In 1921, the Franco-American Children’s League sold French-produced poppies to benefit the children in areas of France and Belgium hit heaviest by the war.
When the Children’s League dissolved in 1922, the VFW took over the cause and two years later began the Buddy Poppy Program with veterans producing the poppies for the benefit of veterans and their families.
As much as I love the gorgeous wild, natural poppies that surround me, I’m still nostalgic for those paper beauties and all they represent.
So if you’re in America, can you do me a favor? Please make a contribution to the VFW or American Legion Auxiliary and get yourself a poppy.
That way you can remember too.
La Porta Nuova in Palermo, Sicily
It’s Palermonday again!
After visiting Teatro Massimo, La Fontana della Vergogna, and Quattro Canti, we’re now continuing along on Corso Vittorio Emanuele through la Porta Nuova (left) in Palermo.
This is one of my favorite photos of Palermo. I love how it captures the history, the hustle and bustle of the city, and even a Smart car–essential for any European street scene.
Plus I’m pretty proud of myself for not caring that I looked like a total tourist while stopping on that tiny sidewalk (believe me, the photo makes it look *gigantic* compared to the reality), burning my eyes looking into the strong midday sun, and snapping away.
I used to have issues with that, but I’m apparently past them.
The original Porta Nuova was built in 1583 to commemorate the victory of Charles V (known as Carlo V in Italy) over the Turks, but was destroyed in an explosion in 1667. Two years later, architect Gaspare Guercio redid the entrance to the city, adding a majolica-tiled pyramid with an eagle on the top (as always, click on photos to enlarge):
For centuries, Porta Nuova was the most important entry way into the city of Palermo, but Cherrye and I had a few moments of doubt as to whether we could actually pass through it on foot and continue along Corso Vittorio Emanuele without taking a detour.
We are living proof that you can indeed walk through the Porta Nuova.
Sure, it’s against traffic, but don’t worry, it opens up a bit inside to about the same width as the sidewalk outside. In fact, I felt safe enough to stop and take a photo of the inside of Porta Nuova, something you’re not going to find just anywhere:
Adjacent to the Porta Nuova is the Palazzo dei Normanni, the seat of the Regional Parliament in Sicily and also home of the Cappella Palatina, the royal chapel of the Norman kings of Sicily and one of the most beautiful and impressive sites in all of Palermo.
Or so we’ve been told.
It was closed the day we were there, which means we have yet another reason to return to this beautiful city.
On to the Duomo next Palermonday!
how do you get out of a rut?
It’s disturbingly easy for me to fall into a rut and take for granted that what I’m doing is working so long as is it’s not *not* working.
During those times, I like plenty of quiet time to just think.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been examining my writing career and where I want it to go. I’ve realized that I’ve let some goals slip away while focusing simply on making a living.
Through my quiet time, I’ve been re-energized and re-inspired to pursue things that I had kind of forgotten even existed . . . like completing the novel I started a few years ago, or even the other one I started in November with NaNoWriMo, or goodness didn’t I start yet another nearly 10 years ago?
My personal way of organization has a lot to do with lists. When I’m making them, it means I’m in a good place.
I’m happy to report that lately I’ve been making lists and crossing things off like crazy–and I’ve finally realized that something rather interesting happens when I look at a list with lines through many of the items:
I feel like accomplishing even more.
I know it’s good for me to stop and recharge like this every now and again, to refocus and realign my priorities with my actions, but sometimes I forget. I get caught up in the daily grind and end up rather uninspired, unprepared to push myself and take risks. And I don’t like that.
I much prefer feeling ready to take on the big, bad world.
What do you do when you need to recharge?
P.S. Be sure to check out Judith’s Unraised Doughnuts at Think on It!
for this week’s La Buona Cucina Americana recipe.
P.P.S. Click on the photos to see them larger (advised!) and no, this is not one of Stella’s puppies, but he is a cutie, no?
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
Recipes
