Archive for the ‘books’ Category
Three Questions with Tania Pascuzzi of Cooking in Calabria Tours
If you haven’t run into Tania Pascuzzi around the Interwebs yet, let me introduce you.
Tania is an Aussie from Calabrian parents, and she runs InItalyTours.com, which offers a variety of tours throughout the Bel Paese, including several in Calabria–one in particular that you can also read about in Susan Van Allen’s book, 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go.
Wouldn’t this book make a great holiday gift for the Italophile on your list? Get a sneak peek of what Van Allen has to say about Tania’s cooking school in Calabria at Divine Caroline.
Now, as I was exchanging emails with Tania, I found myself wanting to know the answers to questions you may have as well, so I asked Tania if she wouldn’t mind an interview. Enjoy!
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1. What inspired you to come to Tropea/Calabria and start cooking tours?
I had no intention of staying in this region. I had lived and worked in the fashion industry in New York City for 13 years and spent my vacations in Italy.
Somehow I decided I wanted to live in Italy. I took the CELTA course to teach English in Rome and lived there for 6 months but could not tolerate a teaching positon. Just wasn’t me.
I returned to NYC for 6 months and had an idea to create a small business involving tourism. Given that I am from Italian/Calabrian parents, I thought it to be a great idea to focus on food and wine tours. My mother is an amazing cook and having the knowledge of real Italian cuisine behind me, I got the idea to share this with visitors of italy.
I started in Positano and had a plan to start my project there. I had to go to Calabria to apply for my citizenship and was to learn that these things don’t happen overnight so I stayed waiting for months in Calabria. I ventured into the region to find the most amazing places and when I finally visited Tropea , I did some research and noticed that not many tour operators had organized cooking tours there.
I was amazed at the beauty! I am a person who is only influenced by beauty so it really impressed me and at the same time had me question why it was cut off the tourist map. So I decided to stay and do some research. I found a place and given that the people had no idea what a cooking class to foriegners entailed, I spent days teaching the local women on how to organize and teach my potential visitors.
I was in search for cooks: the signore of the town — not chefs because I knew that the local women of the region were the real masters of authentic Calabrese cuisine, not prententious just real people and with a knowledge on how to cook and also grow good healthy food that can cater for all types of food lovers (vegetarians, seafood/meat lovers) and generally people who appreciate good cooking, good wine and good company.
Basically I was inspired by the actual place in that doing up an itinerary for food and wine lovers, it also accommodated for a relaxing vacation, i.e., one where you are not running around visiting museums and churches only to find yourself exhausted and ready for another vacation.
Here we have the beach and beautiful nature, hills and mountains…so many beautiful hidden beaches can be found here to relax on aside from the main beach of Tropea. The area offers good food and wine and a chance to be part of the culture and not just feel like a tourist.
2. What can someone expect from your tours? Do they get secret family recipes?
Our visitors can expect a real experience of the region. Our tours are so personal that by the time our guests leave, they have made wonderful friends in us. We personalize our tours in such a way that one can feel welcome and at home and also get the chance to see undiscovered places within the area that cannot be reached alone. They can also expect to be guided by an English speaker which is a rare find in this region.
We offer cooking classes that really end up being a big festa with plenty of food and wine and knowledge of recipes that our guests can take home with them.
We use local real people from the town who are always delighted to have guests from overseas. I use local women from the area for our cooking classes who have the knowledge from past generations of traditional and authentic recipes. Our guests can expect to make at least 6/8 recipes in just one cooking lesson.
We do our classes in an outdoor kitchen with a woodbrick oven, outdoor grill; even the stove is under the veranda with plenty of wine — a perfect setting during the summer months. We pick fruits and vegetables from the garden and cook many recipes. We then dine under the stars till late in the evening.
As for secret family recipes, yes! During a cooking class we have our guests participate, so they have hands on knowledge and given that Calabrian women rarely measure and weigh their ingredients one gets inside information by the use of the senses…how things feel…watching our cooks work instinctively is an unforgettable experience so by being there you can understand as opposed to reading instructions. We make up a recipe book with all recipes made during a class, but to actually partake is a different experience and one has that to take home with them.
We also take our guests to places that can not be reached by traveling alone. We drive them to beaches that are hard to get to unless you have a car and the knowledge of where they are. They visit food producers of the area and they also can go fishing with a local fisherman and cook on the boat from the day’s catch They also have a wonderful dining experience as I oversee every restaurant in the town and surrounding areas. I am forever trying to create unique excursions, and I drive the locals crazy with my ideas…ha ha ha….
We create our itineraries in such a way as to not bombard our visitors with too much to do. We make sure they can enjoy the beautiful beaches along the coast and at the same time explore areas rarely visited and taste cuisine that is rarely offered even in the local restaurants of the area and to also meet the wonderful people whom we call our close friends in Tropea.
Although most tour operators don’t come here, when I speak to Italians from all over the country, their response to Tropea is always, “Che posto bellissimo!!!” It is the northern Italians themselves who flock to our beaches here in the summer. Hopefully that will catch on with the foreign traveler.
Hopefully, with my small role and given that I live here and am here personally for my visitors, this will change the stereotypical pretense that exists today. What makes our tours special? They are intimate, sweet and special and to add to that they are set in one of the most beautiful beach towns in Italy: a secret jewel, Tropea.
3. What is your favorite aspect of doing tours in Calabria?
I love every aspect. I guess my favorite is having people come to us. I love meeting people and I love that everyone who has been here with us to date has been so amazed and happy with what we do here. That really pleases me. My goal really is achieved when I know that my guests have had a great time with us.
Another aspect that I like is when the season ends, I get to explore and research beautiful areas and things to do for my guests. Calabria is a big region so there is a lot to discover here.
I recently discovered a picturesque town called Aietta which sits above Praia Mare. We are currently doing up an itinerary contadino style: life with real farmers, pastures and locals of the village.
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Thanks so much for answering my questions, Tania! In bocca al lupo!
If you have any questions for Tania, feel free to leave them here or visit her at InItalyTours.com.
[All photos throughout interview text are courtesy of Agnese Sanvito. Photo Antonello, In Italy Tours.]
Remembering Corporal Pat Tillman: Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer
Today would’ve been Corporal Pat Tillman’s 33rd birthday.
Tillman was an American professional football player who gave up his own freedom (and millions of dollars) to serve with the United States Army Rangers after 9/11 during the so-called “War on Terror.”
Tillman’s journals show that he quickly became disillusioned with the presence of the U.S. military in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but even when offered a discharge before his time was up–after a tour of duty in Iraq–Tillman refused, and was sent to Afghanistan.
He was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in April of 2004, but from the moment of Tillman’s demise, circumstances surrounding his death have been debated, to say the least. The government initially told the world (including Tillman’s family) that Tillman died a hero, protecting his men from enemy fire; it turns out that, actually, everyone on the ground knew the truth immediately: Tillman had been shot by one of his fellow platoon members–and yet General McChrystal pushed through paperwork to get Tillman awarded a Silver Star, which isn’t given in fratricide situations.
Here is the heartwrenching testimony of Cpl. Tillman’s brother Kevin, who served beside him with the Rangers, in front of the 2007 Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in a hearing entitled “Misleading Information from the Battlefield”:
And here’s an interview by Jim Rome with Mary Tillman, Pat and Kevin’s mother, talking more about the cover up after her son’s death:
There is also a fabulous new book about Pat Tillman’s life and death called Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer; I first heard about the book during Krakauer’s interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show–and ordered it from The Book Depository the next day.
It is an amazing, highly emotional, highly recommended book.
Much of the information in the book comes directly from Tillman’s handwritten journals, which show him to be a smart, sensitive, driven man with a great love for his friends, his family, and above all, his beloved wife. It also demonstrates how disgusted Tillman would be with how his death was used by the government to ramp up support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tillman’s family has created the Pat Tillman Foundation “to carry forward Pat’s legacy of leadership and civic action by supporting future generations of leaders who embody the American tradition of citizen service.” The Foundation provides scholarships, programs, and resources for students to develop leadership skills; it also holds an annual Pat’s Run, “a 4.2 mile run/walk around Arizona State with a finish on the 42-yard line of Sun Devil Stadium (#42 was Pat’s number while a Sun Devil).”
Rest in peace, Pat Tillman, and all of our fallen.
**Edited one year later to add a video of Bill Maher’s interview with Pat’s brother Richard, who stars in The Tillman Story about Pat’s life and death.
La Bella Lingua/Celebrate Italian Heritage Contest
Remember when we talked about Dianne Hales’ book, La Bella Lingua? Well here is your chance to win another copy–plus four other Italian-themed books from Random House through the:Celebrate Italian Heritage Contest
From the contest page:
October is Italian Heritage Month so Living Language and Broadway Books are pleased to provide five lucky winners with an all-about-Italian prize package, valued at $115.79.
Each prize package will include the following:
• (1) signed hardcover copy of La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales
• (1) Living Language Complete Italian: The Basics package
• (1) Living Language Baby’s First Words in Italian package
• (1) Living Language 2000+ Essential Italian Verbs with CD-ROM
• (1) Fodor’s Italy 2010
The contest runs until November 7. The email addresses go straight to a computer in Random House’s vault and will not be used for any solicitations. The contest is limited to people with mailing addresses in the U.S and Canada.
Read more at the contest page, and hurry!
Viva l’italiano!
Winners of 2nd Annual O Foods Contest for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
As promised, today we’re announcing the winners of the 2nd Annual O Foods Contest for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month! Check out all the great recipes at the roundup:
Below you’ll find the Grand Prize Winner and the Awareness Prize Winner; head to Sara’s Ms Adventures in Italy for the 2nd and 3rd place winners.
Gina DePalma picked all three recipe winners, and we’re including her personal commentary so you can see her thought process–and just how hard it was to pick among all your fabulous creations!
Without further ado…
The Grand Prize Winner…
as chosen by Gina DePalma…
who will receive her very own signed copy of
Gina’s fabulous book Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen…
is…
Well, here are Gina’s words:
Ohgodohohgodohgod….
Really, this is so hard. I’ve been looking at these for days now. I feel super guilty that I can’t award a prize to every single person.
Can’t pick my cousin, that’s nepotism.
That’s the only one I can rule out.
But, if you had to go on which recipes truly made my mouth water, there are FOUR top contenders in my mind, and I might add that unfortunately, except for one, they all take advantage of the fact that all I do lately is crave ethnic foods from other cultures.
But eventually, I had to pick one.
MY TOP CHOICE: Judith’s Olive Spread [at Think On It!] really stopped me in my tracks.
So simple and perfect from a minimal amount of ingredients with maximum flavor and impact. It is easy to throw together and it keeps well. And it is endlessly versatile. Truly the kind of recipe that everyone should have in their war chest – it reminded me of something I would find in a classic cookbook, that you pull out and make over and over again. I love it! Kudos, Judith! And thanks for a great recipe…
Yes, congratulations Judith! I know I’ll be making this one just as soon as our olives are ready!
Now for the randomly drawn Awareness Prize Winner of a Teal Toes tote bag full of cool ovarian cancer awareness gifts:
Jen really did an amazing job spreading the word about our contest and about ovarian cancer awareness, and I know she’ll do wonderful things with her new Teal Toes goodies as well. Thanks Jen, and congrats!
Thanks so much to everyone who participated, and remember you can still donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund at our Firstgiving donation page! We need to raise awareness year round, so anytime you see a chance to raise ovarian cancer awareness, please take it! Women everywhere thank you.
Buon weekend a tutti!
Commemorating the Real Moonwalkers: Andrew Smith’s Moon Dust
Let’s cut right to the chase here: many of you reading this weren’t even alive on July 20, 1969.
Neither was I.
And for that reason, it’s simply impossible for us, who have always known moon landings to be possible but have never seen one live, to grasp what those days leading up to the Apollo 11 mission felt like and the wave of emotions that swirled through the 500 million people watching Neil Armstrong take his “one small step.”
But that doesn’t stop me, who has always had a fascination with the final frontier, from trying to imagine.
And one summer day in 2006, I got a little help from my old friend William, he of the orgasmic Ionian Sea view.
In one of our many morning conversations over cappuccino the year before, I had told William that one of my earliest career aspirations had been to be an astronaut; I waxed poetic about Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama (surely a uniquely American concept, no?), and how if I had been able to attend (it wasn’t even remotely financially possible), my whole future coulda woulda shoulda blah blah blah.
Well, when William came back down here the following summer, he brought me a copy of Andrew Smith’s Moon Dust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth from England; I had never even heard of it. He insisted that it was all the rage in the UK, and, indeed, it was shortlisted for the British Book Awards Best Read of 2006.
Moon Dust is Andrew Smith’s account of what has become of the remaining Moonwalkers–only nine of the twelve men who have walked on the moon’s surface from 1969-1972 are still alive to tell their stories.
Smith was inspired to pursue this idea because of what happened during a 1999 interview with Charlie Duke, who became the 10th man to walk on the moon with Apollo 16. In the course of the meeting, Duke received a call with news that Pete Conrad, third man on the moon with Apollo 12, had died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in Ojai, California. “Ojai,” incidentally, is a Native American word for moon.
Duke plainly stated, “Now there’s only nine of us,” words that stuck in Smith’s head for years. Then he finally decided to pursue the answer to the question, “Where do you go after you’ve been to the Moon?” by tracking down all the surviving Moonwalkers to see how their lives were changed by their experiences and what they’ve been doing since their lunar days.
I devoured this book that summer, and I still think about it periodically, but it wasn’t until the coming of the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing that I picked it up again.
Just like the first time, I became fully engrossed in the stories of these extraordinary men who accomplished things I can’t begin to wrap my head around. Smith does a fantastic job of transporting the reader right there before, during, and after the moon landings, putting human faces, dreams, and feelings to names I’d only heard of.
Yes, Smith’s narrative could have been a little less about him and apparently there are some rather glaring factual errors (not that I could have picked them out), but none of that mattered to me. All I wanted to do was sit down with the Moonwalkers and just listen, and Smith’s Moon Dust gave me the chance to do just that — in many instances leaving me with even more questions about the men who walked on the moon, the space program’s past, present, and future, conspiracy theorists’ beliefs that the moon landings were a hoax and never actually happened, and so many other things I hadn’t even considered before I read the book.
Just like an excellent nonfiction book should.
Whether you were alive or not on July 20, 1969, I highly recommend this book for an amazing look into the minds, hearts, and souls of nine of the 12 most interesting men to have ever walked the earth — and the moon.
What do you associate with the July 20, 1969 moon landing?
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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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