Friday, May 28, 2010

Italian Food


I am deep into preparatory research on the countries, cities, and towns that we will visit this year. Planning a trip is at least half the fun! I've been reading memoirs by Americans who love and live in Paris, but now I'm learning about Lucca, the ancient city in Tuscany where we will spend a few days.

The other day I came across Why Italians Love to Talk about Food by Elena Kostiukovich in the library's new book section. This is a very readable treatise on Italian history and culture through the medium of its food by a Russian translator who has lived in Italy for 2o years.

Each section of the country gets its own chapter, and I'm lapping up the ones on Veneto and Tuscany where we will visit. I especially like the nice list of famous foods and food products for each section at the end of its chapter. Here's hoping I can avoid looking totally clueless in Venetian and Luccan trattorias.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Dirt Cheap (or Free) Phone Calls

Somehow this article from PC Magazine got passed along to me, so I'm sending it to you! See slides on 10 ways to make phone calls - from Bing to Skype to Google to..........

Friday, May 7, 2010

The 2010 Census Won't Tell Much About Us

Did anyone else wonder why there were so few questions to answer on the 2010 census form? Having unearthed lots of really interesting information from past census records about the early days of my family in this country, I'm thinking that my great-great-grandchildren (if any) won't be able to find out much about me in 2010.

Past records had great stuff like where your father was born, your occupation, etc. This time, it looks like all the government wants to know is whether you own your own house, what race you think you belong to, and who else lives with you.

Apparently, most people get the 10 question short form, but some people get the big 69-question form. Here's something from the Better Business Bureau explaining how people getting the 69-er are thinking it's a scam! Genealogists in their families will be lucky. The rest of us fall into oblivion.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Lots of Tomatoes!

This year one of my daughters suggested we can tomatoes since she heard that the white coating on the inside of commercially canned tomatoes leaches bad stuff into the food. So, instead of putting in 4 tomato plants, I set out 10. I grew these from seed starting in March. There are 5 little San Marzanos and 5 Big Boys. This may be a big, and I do mean big, mistake. Stay tuned.


Meanwhile, I discovered that my cute little strawberry plants are really covered in blossoms. Last year there were only a few. This is now their second spring, so maybe they have decided to stay. The rhubarb plant is doing nicely as well. It will get to grow undisturbed for probably another 2 years. I have excellent will power so far, but I do love a rhubarb pie.