A great book meme.

Since I started this blog of mine, many things have happened.

I have made incredible friends that I have never met face to face. Everyday we visit each other through our blogs, and everyday I have the pleasure of their company. I have been inspired, moved, surprised, and enlightened by their words and comments. I look forward to their posts, and I am delighted when they come and visit me. One of my favorite places in the blogosphere is Anno's place, for I love the way she writes, and the truth behind each and every one of her words. You won't be disappointed if you visit her. You can sit out in her yard while a chicken roasts over the fire, talk about books, and travels, all while sipping a great glass of wine. What are you waiting for?

You are back? Good, because Anno tagged me with a great meme about books. You have to love a meme about books!

I have also learned what a meme is, and if you want to know more, just follow the link .

But i digress. Here are the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

The nearest book is On Beauty by Zadie Smith, here are the three sentences:

Howard closed his eyes and drank deep from his glass.
'Howard, the music -' said Kiki, turning to Howard at last. It was amazing to see her words and her eyes entirely unconnected to each other, like a bad actress.

The third sentence is telling, for Ms. Smith works with words to paint pictures of her characters and their relationships. I like this book, I like the play of opposites, the broken stereotypes, the cultural clash. I like the smart language, the knowledge that this is not just a writer's world, but a factual, real possibility. I believe everything Ms. Smith tells me, and the way she chooses to tell everything.
I am half way through the book, so I still have a lot of things to discover. Well, I have to go read now...

I almost forgot rule #5! This is an open tag, play along if you feel like it, but please let me know. I would love to read what you are reading.

Quitting

There is a prelude to it that allows courage to accumulate.
There is no middle ground in quitting. Quitting is not easy, it hurts and liberates, it hurts and it frees, it hurts and it cleans.
Quitting implies leaving behind something that was intrinsically yours, or something to which you had slowly become addicted to.
Quitting is exhilarating, the moment in which rupture is real, when there is a before and an after, this is a moment of excess. One is truer, freer then.
This is not the quitting of giving up. This is the quitting that brings us closer to the idea of us. Quitting that erases the wrongs and opens possibilities.
Quitting opens up room for the things we really want to do.
We should all be quitters.

La cucina di Nicola: Donuts.

Last Wednesday while stopping at Judith's place, I was pleasantly surprised by her latest installment of "la buona cucina Americana." This recipe for donuts is so EASY it just screams: MAKE ME!
I have been told that I am a good listener, so I couldn't refuse such loud request. Right there, on the spot, I decided this recipe was going to be this week's recipe at "la cucina di Nicola." (By now, you might have figured out that cucina means kitchen/cooking in Italian.)
I did not change a thing about the recipe, this being our first time making donuts, it was a great success! I will have to watch the oil temperature more carefully next time, as some of our donuts got some "abbronzatura Italiana."
Nicolas invited his good friend over to share in the goodness of one of his favorite American sweets. To celebrate the food and its origins we just had to use some red, white and blue sprinkles. We did not forget about Italy, as we used NUTELLA for our frosting.
We all liked them a lot, so much that they almost disappeared before my photo shoot! I got a couple of good pictures (you can hardly see the bite on that donut on the back, can you?)

AMERICAN DONUTS MADE IN ITALY

I say seat-belts, you say: Cosa mangiano?

I had a meeting at the European School yesterday. All five fifth grade classes are going on a week-long field-trip, the meeting was meant to bring all the parents together and answer some questions we might have regarding the trip. There are five sections at the school: Italian, English, Dutch, German and French. The largest classes are the Italian and the English one, so there were many more Italian speaking and English speaking parents at the meeting. The meeting was held in Italian; many parents in the English speaking section are not fluent in Italian... I did my share of translating to the people siting next to me, but many others were not getting a word of what was being said. Finally one of the mothers raised her hand and asked the director to get someone to translate. A teacher was summoned to the table, and took on the job. Chaos was avoided.
We learned about the logistics of the trip, and found out all the fun activities the children are going to enjoy. We are talking about 10-11 year olds, 106 of them, all together on a beautiful farm, playing soccer, making ceramics, going to visit caves, castles, beaches... 5 days of independence!
When the time came for our questions, it was very interesting how culturally different they were. The Italian mothers wanted to know why the kids were not allowed to bring their cell phones to the trip, as they were going to be away from home for FIVE whole days! The kids, they reasoned, will want to talk to mama. The organizers answered that this was an opportunity to start cutting the umbilical cord and grow up. I couldn't agree more, yet the Italians were not happy about their children not being able to stay in touch.
Next question: What about those t-shirts that the kids will wear during outings: When will we get them? -They will be given to each child on the first day of the field-trip. NO, NO replied the Italian mothers. We need them ahead of time. We need to wash them and get them ready for the kids. -OK. We will get the t-shirts before hand, I hope I remember to wash my son's!
Another question? What will they eat? came the question from the Italian side. They have their priorities straight, don't they? --Not to worry, the farm is a famous agriturismo with really good reputation. One of the teachers said that he gains a couple kilos every time. Approving nods all-around.
Yes? a question from the English section? -What about the issue of seat-belts on the buses? We have discussed this issue at large in our class, as it seems that every year there are buses without seat-belts. We have been assured in writing that the buses will have seat-belts. Yes, we replied, but that was the case last year and they did not comply! This time they will, the organizers replied. How do we know this is true? It is a 6 hour trip on Italian freeways! Boh! was their reply. Our class representative volunteer to go to the bus provider and check the buses before hand. Thanks we said, this is important to us.
We came out of the meeting knowing this trip is going to be unforgettable for the kids. They do not know how they will get there, or what food they will eat. All they know is that they are going to have the time of their lives.
Have fun Nico!

Open wide

One more ingredient into the mix. This is my first post for Illustration Friday, the topic is WIDE.
My blog has multiple personalities... What can I say?

I shouldn't blog about this

OK. First and foremost, if you visit my blog because of our delicious recipes, the beautiful pictures, and/or because you dream of Italy, then you better stop reading this post now. I mean it. NOW!

On the other hand, if I have picked your curiosity and you are dying to know what it is that I shouldn't be blogging about. I should warn you: this is not pretty! You have been warned, go ahead and read at your own risk...

We have lice people, lice! yep, lice. Those pesky insects that take over your child's head and while you work hard trying to get rid of them, they just move into a comfy new place, let's call it YOUR head.

Some will call what we are going through a rite of passage. I knew it was coming my way, I have heard the stories, I have read the school letters, I should have known. I am telling you, one is never ready for this. I was not. Now that we are victims, we hear the stories from all the other ex-pats. There is always disbelief on the American ex-pat community, sarcasm on the European side, some comfort in all fronts in knowing that we are united in our war against these invaders. We talk in muted tones, exchanging tips in how to get rid of the obnoxious pests. I have heard all about the chemicals, how inefficient and how dangerous they are. I have heard about the natural remedies, olive oil, crisco, coconut shampoo, etc. I have done my share of searching on the internet, finding a lot of discouraging info like this:

-A full-grown louse can crawl 9in in a minute and is genetically programmed to move on to new heads.
-It is a myth that nits prefer shiny clean hair. They're not picky.
-Lice have average lifespans of 30 days.
-The female louse only needs to mate once (she simply stores what she needs to make nits throughout her lifetime), but she can lay 10 eggs a day.
-A nit attached to a fallen hair will hatch and can live off the head for up to 48 hours.

Actually writing this post is helping me deal with our situation. I can see the humor in all this. I just have to remember to laugh tomorrow while combing my long hair for an hour!
If you are still reading this, I think you will enjoy a couple of links on the subject. What about it? Are you up for it? The first one is about the hair force, a little business in the UK that will take care of doing the hard work "picking" through your child's head while you read a magazine and relax. The second one is about lice as art.
Go read and scratch your head!

La cucina di Nicola: Double chocolate muffins

Nicolas wanted to make chocolate chip cookies again, and even though I told him that he has the last word when it comes to the recipes we make together, I had to re-direct him. I faced my first dilemma at trying to multitask, as our cooking time "doubles" as my thursday weekly post at your favorite blog! See, I have already posted a recipe for chocolate chip cookies! But my sweet Nicolas understood my pain, and he chose a great recipe.
This one comes from "Cooking with Kids" by Linda Collister and it is simple and delicious.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS (THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN COOKIES!)
Makes 12 deep cup muffins or 18 small muffins



Ingredients
1.3/4 Cups (175 gr.) all purpose flour
1/2 Cup (55 gr.) cocoa powder, unsweetened
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 Cup (95 gr.) sugar
1/2 Cup (90 gr.) semi-sweet chocolate chips (as we are running dangerously low on these, we chose to cut some fondente chocolate into small pieces)
2 extra-large eggs
1 Cup (250 ml.) milk
1/2 Cup (125 ml.) safflower oil (we used sunflower oil)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons chocolate chips, for sprinkling (we used the real deal here)



Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C). Put a paper liner on each cup. Over a large bowl sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and sugar. Add the chocolate chips-chunks.
In another large bowl mix eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and gently stir with a wooden spoon.
Pour the mixture into the paper liners (half full) and carefully dot with chocolate chips.
Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes for the large ones, 16 minutes for the smaller muffins. Remove from pan and put them onto a wire rack to cool for about 30 minutes.
Now get a nice glass of milk and enjoy!

Mother's day with a bunch of clowns!

We spent Sunday laughing out loud at the Ascona International Street Artists Festival. What fun!
Ascona is a town on the shores of lago Maggiore, in the region of Ticino, in Switzerland. We live really close to the Swiss border, and we enjoy short trips to the land of good chocolate and great cheese.
We had a great time at the festival, the sun shined through the clouds without making it too hot. It was a perfect day to get some smiles out into the air, and what better than to do it with my two loves?

La cucina di Nicola: Cheesecake!

Nicolas had the great idea to make luscious, delicious, mischievous cheesecake. We were going to try my friend Paola's delicious recipe for crustless cheesecake but I did not have all the ingredients needed. We, as 21st century cooks know that we can always browse a little on the internet and find the right recipe for the ingredients at hand. We found just what we were looking for here. This recipe was perfect for us... with some exceptions: We did not have graham crackers, nor did we have sour cream (remember that we are in Italy, and these ingredients are as foreign as a Colombian living in Azzate!) Fear not, as my friend Joanne from Frutto della Passione had posted this wonderful expat food survival tips for people just like us. Saved by our virtual friends!

I have to mention that the original recipe asks for milk in the ingredients, but it is never added in the recipe. I figured the author had forgotten it, and I added the milk. Our cheesecake came a little wobbly, so I am not going to include the milk in the recipe bellow as I do not think is needed. Also as we made our sour cream using lemon juice, our cheesecake ended up tasting "lemony." We like this serendipitous result.

BAKED CHEESECAKE (ITALIAN STYLE)


Crust:
2 1/4 Cups graham cracker crumbs (we used Mulino Bianco's macine crumbled in the food processor)
1/2 Cup butter, melted

Filling:
1/2 Cup sugar
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Dash of salt
2 eggs

Topping:
1 Cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. sugar

Combine crumbs and butter, press into buttered 8 inch pie plate to form crust on bottom and sides.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add in lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, salt and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Pour filling into crust.

Bake at 325F for 25 to 30 minutes or until set.

Combine the 2 tablespoons of sugar, sour cream, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla; spread over top of cheesecake then bake for 10 minutes longer. Chill for 5 hours or more before serving with a nice side of seasonal strawberries, delicious!

Short trips

From the lakes, to the mountains, to our backyard (kind of), we have been enjoying the beautiful spring weather AND the many holidays that included a couple of long weekends. First it was Independence day, then Labor day or May day. We like day trips because they can be improvised at the last minute. One only needs to have good weather, gas in the tank, a couple of friends willing to take off without much notice, and off you go.

CHAMPOLUC is a small village nestled in the Val d'Aosta, close to France. My good friend Pien loves this town, as she and her family have spent many winters here. We went to check a particular trail where the town hosts an annual run. We will like to run it (ahem! walk it!) too, and so we went to get a feel of the land. It is STEEP! I will have to train really hard in order to run it... but it is beautiful! From Champoluc you hike up to a little town called Mascognaz, which still boasts traditional architecture. A very nice hotel, with an spa and fabulous pool and restaurants is opening soon, and it looks like a great place for a weekend getaway. From Mascognaz, you keep on trecking up the mountain in the direction of Crest, and somewhere up there you turn away from the mountain and back into Champoluc. A beautiful, yet hard hike. My son and the dogs had the time of their lives. When we got to town, we had lunch at a great little restaurant, where we drank really good local wine and eat whole grain pasta with vegetables and cheese... My mouth waters just remembering.

SANTA CATERINA DEL SASSO is a sanctuary built on the rocks on the Lombard shore of Lago Maggiore. The sanctuary can be reached by ferry, which provides amazing views of the buildings, or by car. If by car, one has to go down 283 steps to reach the sanctuary (and then go up those same steps to the parking site!)



The sanctuary was founded by Alberto Besozzi di Arolo, a merchant that survived a shipwreck in the rocks bellow the site. He built a small chapel to Santa Caterina. The Dominicans built other two chapels to Santa Maria Nova and San Nicola in the XIV century. The three chapels were unified into one in the XV century. Today, after a lengthy restoration supported by the Province of Varese, the monastery has been entrusted to the care of the Benedictine monks and has once again become a religious and tourist destination.

Thanks to the restauration, the visitor can admire magnificent frescoes dating from the XV century. What a beautiful place to visit for some inspiration!



PIC-NIC IN THE BACKYARD 

A lazy afternoon spent with friends in the neighboring fields, eating great food, drinking good wine, and tossing a frisbee. What else can you ask for?

Recycle your computer

Welcome to this little corner of the blogosphere where you can get informed about e-waste, the problem, and its possible solutions.
First you need to know that e-waste is a growing problem. Advances in the electronic industry make our computers, televisions, phones and other gadgets obsolete in a short period of time. So, what happens to all the gadgets that are no longer useful? The large majority of them (up to 87%) ends up in landfills and incinerators (these are US figures.) Most e-waste ends up being exported to developing countries with lax health and safety laws. Other "recycling" programs use plants operating in some federal prisons. E-waste contains materials harmful to humans and to our environment. If you want to find out more about this, please read this brief book on the subject.
So what can we do about it? There are many ways to get involved, and you can do so by clicking in some of the links at the bottom of this post.
I propose that we take responsibility for the electronics that we use. We should make an informed decision when disposing our electronics. By posting the button that I have created on your blog or website, you are taking a pledge to recycle your computer (TV, cell phone, you name it) in a safe, environmentally sound manner. Here is the button and its code:



<a href="http://suitcase-contents.blogspot.com/2008/05/ready-set-action.html"><img border="0" width="150" height="200" alt="recycle your computer" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3129/2538187748_9394d29bc3_m.jpg"/></a>

Here are some of the resources that I have found, so that you can fulfill your promise:

Computer Takeback Campaign A U.S. based site full of resources from statistical information to legislation and policy, and information about responsible recycling.
Greener choices U.S. based Consumer Reports' Electronics Reuse & Recycling Center, with the latest on your options as a consumer, and news about what the government and the industry are doing about e-waste.
Staple's recycling program U.S. based Stapples recycling program latest news.
Earth 911 U.S. based delivers actionable local information on recycling and product stewardship that empowers consumers to act locally, live responsibly and contribute to sustainability. Ideas that can be implemented anywhere in the world.
WEEE Directive for the European union A European Union directive that has been enacted into law. It imposes the responsibility for the disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) on the manufacturers of such equipment. Also, the companies are compelled to use the collected waste in an ecological-friendly manner, either by ecological disposal or by reuse/refurbishment of the collected WEEE.
Take back my TV A U.S. site focusing on TV e-waste, which is getting out of control with the imminent change to digital television. Many opportunities to take action beyond recycling.

Please leave comments with additional information, and any feedback that you think will make this work better. Thank you for stopping by, and please do not forget to take your button/badge with you. If you will like to contact me directly, please send me an e-mail at: beatrymacias at yahoo dot com. Thanks.