Italian Easter : Cooking Legacy

Italian Easter : Cooking Legacy

If ever there were a week when Italians must do a lot of cooking, it’s the week before Easter.  When I was a child, lent fasting was a severe prescription for Catholic families. I remember my grandmother Modestina took it so seriously that only when the bells...
The Patient Nightmare

The Patient Nightmare

The Patient Nightmare There are two words with the same meaning, the English un-ex-pect-ed-ly and in-as-pet-ta-ta-men-te in Italian, that I can’t say light-heartedly. I need to pause. I need awareness and concentration so my mouth can perform all the required...
Thank you,  Emilie Wapnick!

Thank you, Emilie Wapnick!

Thank you, Emilie Wapnick!  If only you were not so young.   I have nothing against young people. The problem is that Emilie was born too late. Too late for me. Too late to make the significant change she would have made in my life if only I could have met her...
Italy is Out

Italy is Out

Italy is Out Time to change perspective   “What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth, created by a frame, the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface. Perspective is necessary. Otherwise there are only two dimensions. Otherwise you live with your...
The Big Other

The Big Other

The Big Other It was last August, an uncomfortably warm afternoon with nothing else to do but wait for the sun to go down so I could go out a bit. There I was with my red pencil and my notebook, ready to spoil the movie by Jan Schomburg The Big Other, with Callum...
Abigail Speaker

Abigail Speaker

(…continues from: read the previous post clicking HERE Abigail Speaker path breaker I always have goosebumps when I receive a parcel from Brooklyn, New York, with a book in it. I’ve never been to New York, but the city that is a myth to many worldwide is so part...