Author Archive
schmoozin’…on a sunny afternoon
First I want to thank all of you who commented on yesterday’s post Weighty Issues; I love this sort of dialogue, and I hope we can do more of it around here. If you have any topics you’d like to throw out, I’m all ears–send me an email if you don’t want to leave it in comments.
I’m still catching up on all your contributions, so bear with me, but on that note:
Behold the Power of Schmooze! 
Karina at Candid Karina and Meredith at Poppy Fields have both called me out as a blogger who manages to, and I quote:
effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello – all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship.
Well shucks, I sure am touched. Grazie mille!
**This just in: Jessica in Rome has bestowed this wonderful honor upon me as well. I’m *such* a winner today!**
I truly enjoy getting to know all of you through my blog, your blogs, your comments, and emails, and I do hope that you feel there is a community here you can come and visit–where, uh, everybody knows your name (at least your screen name). Or something like that.
For those of you who haven’t commented or emailed yet, I rather enjoy you too, and I hope you’ll consider chatting with us soon.
I’m going to pass this award along to some of my favorite Internet sparring partners, all fellow expats in Italy:
(1) Michelle of michellanea;
(2) KC of Niente di nuovo avviene sotto il sole;
(3) Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy;
(4) Shelley of At Home in Rome; and
(5) Cherrye at My Bella Vita.
While we’re on the subject, as I was preparing this post, I saw that Sara at Moving Right Along tagged me with the Thoughtful Blogger Award, created by Christy Z. at Writer’s Reviews, and it is:
[f]or those who answer blog comments, emails, and make their visitors feel at home on their blogs. For the people who take others’ feelings into consideration before speaking out and who are kind and courteous. Also for all of those bloggers who spend so much of their time helping others bloggers design, improve, and fix their sites. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.
Again, thank you so much for the honor!
As Sara wrote in her post accepting this award, there is definitely a place for blogs that aren’t so interactive, and I certainly don’t fault anyone who doesn’t respond to every single comment and/or email–these awards just serve to offer a little recognition for those that do, to say thanks, and to urge you to keep it up!
I am passing along this award to:
(1) somepinkflowers at somepinkflowers;
(2) Wanderlust Scarlett at from the shores of introspect and retrospect;
(3) Michelle at Smoochdog;
(4) Michelle at Scribbit; and
(5) Kimberly at Temporary? Insanity.
Also, I know that some of you don’t really “do” these bloggie award thingees, so please don’t feel obligated to pass along anything on my account. The honor is yours to do with as you wish!
Did anyone else notice, though, the prevalence of Michelles here? I’m one too, you know, so all I can say is…hmm….
Now just for some Friday fun, and in honor of my fellow Italian expat bloggers Shelley (At Home in Rome) and Sharon (Respiri di Vita) who have both won prizes through the Late Show with David Letterman Top Ten Contest, I thought I’d share:
The Top Ten Rejected Titles for this Post
10. I’m a Schmoozer Baby, So Why Don’t You Kill Me?
9. Blue Suede Schmooze
8. Schmoozy in the Sky with Diamonds
7. Schmoozin’ Ain’t Easy
6. If the Schmooze Fits!
5. Woo-ee Baby, Won’t You Let Me Take You on a Schmooze Cruise?
4. Schmooze ‘Em If You Got ‘Em
3. Fo’ Schmoozle My Boozle
2. All the Schmooze That’s Fit to Print
1. Lollapaschmooza 2007
Buon weekend!
weighty issues
I normally don’t discuss such things here, but I’m truly curious to hear your take on this.
I read an article on Msnbc.com called “With Friends Like These” about a study that found that obesity is contagious and that it spreads through social networks of friends even if those friends live thousands of miles apart.
Seriously.
Let me give you my take:
Until we start accepting responsibility for our actions, owning all of our experiences and choices (good and bad), and really, truly respecting and honoring our bodies through our choices of what we put in them and do to them, the obesity problem will continue–and I’m not just talking about the United States here as it’s becoming a problem in many countries around the world, including Italy.
Let’s leave aside drug and alcohol issues for the moment while we also recognize that there are absolutely similarities in all types of addictions that harm the body.
I share the following as background, so you can understand where I’m coming from on this one:
You can’t tell much from my little head shot up there, but I’m not skinny. I don’t think I ever was (doctors put me on a diet when I was less than a year old–how’s that for setting someone up for life?), and I don’t imagine I ever will be. And that’s fine with me because I feel good and healthy and know that I’m doing my best to be good to my body.
Over the last few years, I’ve been working on developing a better relationship with food, understanding nutrition, listening to what my body tells me it needs, and doing more physical exercise than I’ve ever done in my life. I’ve lost a good bit of weight, but the best thing about all this is that I feel like I’m taking better care of the only thing that’s really mine in the world.
And it feels wonderful.
And no, I’m not perfect–last night for dinner I had a big ole steak and french fries. And it was delicious. I’ll probably have a gelato later. And I’ll probably never lose the last 5-10 pounds I should, according to the Body Mass Index because of it. So be it. A lot of people are at so-called healthy weights but they aren’t healthy in the least (so many skinnies that I know smoke more than the Marlboro Man), so who’s really to say what’s best for me but me?
But enough about me. I’m interested in what you think about the study.
Was it worth studying? Do friends make somebody fat? Family? How much influence do your family and friends have over what you do?
Obviously certain medical disorders cause weight gain, but aside from such causes, what are the real reasons for obesity? Who or what really is to blame? How can we stop this epidemic?
Do you care? Should the government care? If so, how should it go about caring, so to speak?
I’d love to hear some of your experiences and opinions on this issue.
This is a touchy subject, so I do ask that you be as kind as possible if you decide to share your thoughts. I look forward to reading them.
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[tags]weight, losing weight, gaining weight[/tags]
Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Ricotta, Spinach, and Prosciutto Crudo
*This recipe has been featured in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.*
Today’s What’s Cooking Wednesday has us playing with some flowers.
Those of the lovely zucchini, or courgettes to some of you:
Don’t they just look good enough to eat?
Fiori di zucchine come in two varieties, male and female, and they’re both edible. You can tell the females by the fact that they are attached to the zucchini whereas the males have stems like regular flowers. The ones pictured above, then, are males.
Plus, of course, the females have pistils and the males have stamens (you remember biology class, right?). They say you can leave these in when you prepare the flowers to be eaten, but I always remove them with a quick twist. Ouch!
There are a lot of very basic, very delicious recipes for fried zucchini flowers out there–just whip up a tempura batter with flour, egg, milk, and salt (slightly more exact measurements below), and fry ’em up.
And that’s what I did with about half of the flowers, the smaller ones.
With the rest, though, I wanted to try a little something more adventurous. So I spiced up my ricotta and spinach cannelloni filling with some prosciutto crudo. I loved the results, the way the saltiness of the prosciutto picked up the sweetness of the flowers and how the spinach brought it all back down with its earthy flavor.
All measurements are approximate, so feel free to play.
Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Ricotta, Spinach, & Prosciutto Crudo
(Fiori di Zucchine Ripiene con Ricotta, Spinaci e Prosciutto Crudo) 
Approximately 25-30 large zucchini flowers
Filling:
1 egg yolk
One small container ricotta cheese (fresh if you can find it)
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped spinach
prosciutto crudo, torn into bits or diced
grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
dash nutmeg
salt to taste
Batter:
(Note: I used this for all the flowers,
so this was enough for about 60 in all)
3 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt (to taste)
Oil for frying
1. Prepare the batter and set aside; it shouldn’t be too thick for this recipe, although here they definitely make this batter quite thick and you end up with almost a fritter–tasty too, but not what we’re going for here.
One note: do remember that you’re dealing with flowers, so be gentle.
2. To prepare the zucchini flowers, remove the stamens and stems and then wash the flowers carefully and put them on paper towels to dry. Note that you can also leave the stems on for presentation purposes, but I usually take them off.
3. Prepare the filling by combining all the ingredients above and gently stuff the zucchini flowers up until the point where the petals start to open. I used a makeshift pastry bag (Ziploc with the corner cut off). You can twist the petals a bit to close in the stuffing. If you aren’t going to fry them right away, you can store the stuffed flowers this way in the fridge for a few hours, although I wouldn’t wait too long because the ricotta can get watery.
4. When you’re ready to fry, heat the vegetable oil in a medium to large pan.
5. One by one, dip the stuffed flowers in the batter (you’re going to have to use your hands here) and let excess batter drip off. Then drop the flower in oil and allow all sides to brown before you lift out and put on paper towels to drain. I’d recommend only frying two flowers at a time otherwise they become difficult to keep track of increasing burning possibilities.
Although they require a bit of prep work, these make tasty, impressive-looking appetizers, but you need to serve them warm. If you won’t be serving right away, use an oven to keep them heated until you’re ready to serve.
Buon appetito!
Breaking Up Isn’t Hard to Do: My Decision to Leave the Law
OK, continuing in my answers to the questions you asked to help me fill out JennieBoo‘s eight things meme, (see parts one and two of my answers if you need to catch up), today I’m taking on NYC/Caribbean ragazza’s million-dollar domanda regarding my move to Italy:
“How did you decide to leave the law? Were you afraid about making money?”
This question required much more than a few sentence answer, so I’m devoting a whole blog post to it—but I’ll start with the quick answers:
Quite easily, and of course.
Now to expand a bit. Beware for a roundabout, but we’ll get there.
I never actually wanted to be a lawyer. Well, maybe when I was in high school, but what do you really know about anything then anyway? Have you seen photos of yourself from those years?
*shudder*
And yet it was always set in my head to go to law school once I finished college. I think, quite honestly, that it was just so ingrained in me (by myself) by the time my senior year came around, that I just did it without much thinking. That’s what smart, overachieving (working class) people do, right? They do things like become doctors and lawyers. Writers? Too risky!
Sure, I considered grad school for English or history, but never really seriously—and only as an additional part to law school.
Truth be told, I always knew I’d end up writing for a living. I could’ve done an Master of Fine Arts or gone to work for a publishing company right out of college (and perhaps I should have), but I figured the law would give me something solid, respectable if you will, as a back-up. Not a back-up career, mind you, but a back-up skill set.
I promise to post another time on the wisdom of this thinking, but I’ll get too off-track if I do that right now.
So, suffice it to say, that my decision to leave the law wasn’t very difficult; when the itch to move to Italy struck, I was in the middle of a 2-year appellate clerkship, which for those who don’t know, is fancy schmancy way of saying you work for a judge, researching and writing memorandums on the cases s/he hears.
I was going to have to do something different when the clerkship was up in August of 2003, and after I got stuck on Italy, I thought, well, here’s your chance.
Was I worried about making money? Sure, but I had some savings to tide me over for a while. I had done a bit of freelancing/contract work throughout law school, so I carried those contacts with me; since then I’ve gained many more of course.
Now to be clear, I’m still actually a lawyer (paying dues and whatnot) and I still do legal work–I just don’t do it the traditional way in a firm or, you know, the United States. The Internet is a lovely thing (now with broadband!).
Changing careers is always difficult—doing it while changing countries/continents/languages/cultures too, well, perhaps that’s kind of insane.
And if I had the chance, I’d do it all over again–exactly as I did the first time.
Sometimes you just need to be brave enough to take that first step,
and the rest seems to happen on its own.
life-changing events
Hello Internets! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend because I sure did.
Two things came to me that will make day to day life *so* much easier. And no, neither one of them is knowing what happened to Harry Potter (la la la la la…I’m not listening…).
Here are some clues:
Aren’t they beautiful?
My Italy-based readers will probably appreciate these more than others, but I can’t contain my excitement. So expats, please explain why I’m so happy to the rest of the class.
I also did other fun things this weekend like hang out with P down at our garden and take far too many photos–but you’ll have to wait for those just a bit longer. Work calls!
And, by the way, if anyone still wants to play Sognatrice is…, you have more time before the final reveal! You’ll get to see how close you came to the real answers, but I’ll also be picking favorites as well. Tough choices ahead, I tell you.
And another week begins!
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[tags]telecom italia, alice, washing machines[/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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