All About Alltop and Why You Should Be On It
Have you heard about Alltop?
Through the magic of Twitter, I have been seeing the term floated around for several months, but now I have a very good reason to tell you more about it:
I’m now listed on Alltop Expats!
OK, so what is Alltop?
Alltop’s homepage says it’s “an ‘online magazine rack’ of popular topics”–439 popular topics to be exact. Founder Guy Kawasaki describes it as “aggregation without the aggravation” with a “goal is to satisfy the information needs of the 99% of Internet users who will never use an RSS feed reader or create a custom page.”
Basically you browse Alltop by category or alphabetically if you have extra time on your hands, find what you like, click, and end up with all the top stories on a given subject via the RSS feeds from selected sites.
So, for example, if you were interested in, say, expatriate life, you’d go to
for “All the Top Expatriate News” and there you would find a collection of expat-related information, including the latest posts from Bleeding Espresso.
Easy peasy!
So go have a look around Alltop; I guarantee you’ll find lots of great new places to visit no matter what your interests are. As if you needed more blogs and websites to read, right? Yes, but this *focuses* your time, and that’s always a good thing.
Have you heard of or used Alltop? What do you think?
finding inspiration from charlotte’s web
Everyone have a nice weekend? I spent a lot of mine working, which is fine as I enjoyed the work, but come time to blog and, well, I was in desperate need of inspiration.
Growing up, one of my favorite books was Charlotte’s Web. It is the first full-length book I remember reading, and from that point on, I would scribble stories that happened in my head into my notebook. Not only did E.B. White turn me on to reading, he also turned me on to writing.
And now what a coincidence! One of my favorite blogs is Charlotte’s Web, written by Charlotte, a self-described “transplanted South African living in Germany, land of rules, orange tans and cheesecake.”
Charlotte is a freelance writer and editor and visiting her is always a treat, even when she does memes like this one that I’m borrowing:
1. My uncle once: let me have most of his old photos from his European tour of duty in World War II.
2. Never in my life: have I smoked a cigarette nor would I.
3. When I was five: I was probably being told off for being too sassy.
4. High school was: best experienced in memories.
5. I will never forget: the day I got my acceptance letter to Duke.
6. Once I met: Brian Williams (really we just exchanged smiles).
7. There’s this girl I know: who loves to talk on the phone and say random Italian words to me.
8. Once, at a bar: P and I had our first unofficial date, playing cards and talking.
9. By noon, I’m usually: wondering what happened to the morning.
10. Last night: I slept very well, thank you.
11. If only I had: a free round-trip ticket to the US to see family and friends.
12. Next time I go to church: it will probably be struck down by lightning.
13. What worries me most: is losing people I love.
14. When I turn my head left I see: a blazing fireplace.
15. When I turn my head right I see: P, asking me what I’m looking at.
16. You know I’m lying when: my voice gets a higher pitch.
17. What I miss most about the Eighties is: my innocence about the world and the players in it.
18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be: Viola in The Twelfth Night.
19. By this time next year: I’ll be 33 years old. Thanks for bringing that up.
20. A better name for me would be: Michela since people here would know how to spell it.
21. I have a hard time understanding: war, especially “holy” ones.
22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll: study Italian literature.
23. You know I like you if: I respond promptly to your emails and phone calls.
24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be: Mom and Dad.
25. Take my advice, never: touch the inside of your oven door after it’s been on for an hour; third-degree burns are likely to ensue.
26. My ideal breakfast is: pancakes, bacon, two eggs over-easy, toast, apple juice, and coffee at Perkins Restaurant.
27. A song I love but do not have is: Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel.
28. If you visit my hometown, I suggest you: plan something else to do with the rest of the day–there are only two streets.
29. Why won’t people: live and let live?
30. If you spend a night at my house: you may have to share your bed with Stella; she’s a cuddler.
31. I’d stop my wedding for: a natural disaster.
32. The world could do without: celebrities.
33. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: eat the belly of a cockroach.
34. My favourite blonde(s) is/are: my niece and nephew, although he’s less blond by the day.
35. Paper clips are more useful than: safety pins if your goal is to bind papers together.
36. If I do anything well it’s: procrastinate.
37. And by the way: if you do this meme, let me know so I can read your answers!
And be sure to check out Charlotte’s Web !
eh cumpà, auguri on that cia thing!
President-elect Obama recently named Leon Panetta, former Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton, as the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Panetta, 70, is a former Congressman from California, prominent attorney, First Lieutenant in the US Army, and founder of the Panetta Institute, a nonpartisan public policy center that operates out of California State University.
But most importantly to us in southern Italy, he’s Calabrese!
Panetta’s parents were born in Calabria before they emigrated to the United States. His father worked in a copper mine in Wyoming before moving to Monterey, California (Panetta’s hometown) and opening up a restaurant.
So how close is Panetta to his Calabrese roots?
He reportedly doesn’t get back here as often as he’d like, but he does speak Calabrese according to his cousin Domenico Panetta, former mayor of Siderno, which is about 50 km from me.
Of course Panetta’s nomination wasn’t without its detractors, but things now seem to be going smoother on his road to lead la CIA (pronounced “CHEE-ah” in Italy by the way).
And here in Calabria, we couldn’t be prouder. So in honor of Direttore Panetta, please join us in a traditional Calabrese tarantella:
Veniti tutti ‘cca e ‘mparativi abballari!
Capiscisti?
In bocca al lupo, cumpà!
Buon weekend a tutti!
Love Thursday: Ring Around the Wrist
Back in 2007, I wrote about my mom’s friend/mother-like figure Kitty in Remembering the Silver Years. As Kitty was being moved into a nursing home, she was giving my mom all kinds of amazing gifts from her past, many of which my mother passed on to me, as I wrote about in the post.
Our dear Kitty passed away a few months after that, and my mother then inherited more of her things, mainly jewelry. When my mom came to visit me last summer, she brought remembrances of Kitty’s life with her and we went through them, piece by piece.
I’m not a big jewelry person. I would never request any as a gift because I just don’t wear it often enough, but jewelry as keepsakes of those who have passed on? The best.
A ring, necklace, bracelet, or watch not only physically touched the person at one time, it also surely touched her on some emotional level–a memory of picking it out in the store, the first time she wore it, who had given it to her (for better or worse), how it was always too big or small, etc.
So many of Kitty’s pieces are beautiful, and I’m sure each could tell quite a tale as she lived a most interesting life, but my very favorite is this one:
What could be more special than a heart wrapped around my wrist, reminding me of a person who always made me smile and who loved me like a granddaughter?
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
Do you have special pieces of jewelry that were passed down to you?
What’s Cooking Wednesday: Purpette – Polpette – Meatballs
I have been blogging for over two years and I haven’t posted my grandmother’s meatball recipe? What’s that about?
It could be because we really don’t eat them very often here. As you may or may not have heard, even though it’s probably the most popular menu item in Italian restaurants abroad, Italians in Italy really don’t do the whole “spaghetti and meatballs” thing–and if they do, the meatball is huge and served as a second dish after the pasta. Usually.
I say usually because in my house, I make the meatballs much smaller, like my grandmother taught me, and we (yes, including P) eat them right alongside the pasta–just like I love them. But only if they’re homemade.
When I was in the States, you see, I never, ever ordered meatballs in an Italian restaurant because I knew I wouldn’t like them; fellow diners would get them, I’d try a bite, and nope. Never like my grandmother’s.
If you’ve never made meatballs (polpette in Italian; purpette in Calabrese), trust me–they really *are* worth your time, and they don’t actually take too much effort to make, especially once you’re past the stage of measuring anything, which I’ve been for many years. I used to be the meatball mixer and roller with my grandmother on Saturday nights after church, and some things just stick with you, you know?
I’ll never forget how cold my hands would get while digging into the mixture. My grandmother used to run warm water over them when I’d complain too much, but then I was right back to work.
So below is my grandmother’s recipe for this week’s What’s Cooking Wednesday. Measurements are extremely approximate, but they are the ones she gave me way back when, and now they are yours.
Mangia mangia!
Meatballs – Polpette – Purpette
- 1/2 lb ground veal
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- 2 teaspoons onion powder or 1 onion very finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 large clove of garlic very finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- olive oil (for frying)
1. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and combine until the mixture sticks together.
2. Roll into golf-ball sized balls.
3. Fry in hot oil, turning with a wooden spoon until all sides are browned.
4. Add to sauce of your choice and let simmer for at least fifteen minutes to be sure the meat inside is cooked.
Buon appetito!
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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