Posted by Bob on Aug 18, 2013 | 0 comments

I came across this and thought i would share it, made me smile…..it is so typical of Italian culture, so refreshingly different. Italian Food Culture in 20 rules From memoriediangelina.com – July 28, 9:10 PM There is much more to Italian food culture than many people outside Italy realize. Mastering the art of Italian cooking is not just a matter of learning recipes but rather requires coming to understand a whole approach to the preparation and eating of food. This approach can be understood, among other ways, through a series of unwritten “rules” that guide most Italians’ culinary habits. (I use the term loosely, as there are exceptions to most of these ‘rules.’ And there is no Italian food police to arrest you if you break them.) Rule 1: Eat in season. Rule 2: Eat locally. Rule 3: Look for a harmonious combination of ingredients and avoid clashing combinations. Rule 4: There is no such thing as a ‘main course’ in a proper Italian meal. Rather, a true Italian meal is a series of courses of varying number, depending on the occasion, but usually including a primo (first course of pasta, soup, polenta, rice, etc.) and a secondo (meat, fish, vegetable), often served with a contorno (vegetable side dish). Fresh fruit usually serves as dessert. Or more formal occasions, an antipasto comes before the primo, and a proper dessert may close the meal. Rule 5: The courses of a meal should provide variety without clashing. A delicate egg pasta would not generally be followed, for example, by a spicy dish like fettine di manzo alla pizzaiola. Rule 6: Pasta, risotto, gnocchi and the like are not served as side dishes but as a separate course. Rule 7: Salads are most often served as contorni (side dishes). Rule 8: Pasta should be eaten ‘al dente’. Rule 9: It is important to pair the ‘right’ pasta shape with the ‘right’ sauce. Rule 10: It is equally important not to over-sauce your pasta. Rule 11: Don’t assume that grated cheese goes on every pasta dish. Rule 12: Pasta salads are made with pasta secca, Rule 13: Except in the fanciest of restaurants, vegetables are not there for garnish. They are meant to be eaten. Rule 14: Salad dressing is made from oil and vinegar (or, less frequently, lemon). Rule 15: Cappuccino is drunk only in the morning, and never after a meal. Rule 16: Mineral water and/or wine are the beverages of choice to accompany your meals. Rule 17: Use a knife and fork! Rule 18: Do not cut your spaghetti. Rule 19: Do not eat bread with pasta. Rule 20: If you leave food on your plate, your host may wonder if you didn’t like it.  ...

Posted by Bob on Aug 7, 2013 | 0 comments

An interesting and thought provoking letter that deserves some consideration.   Stephen Fry The odd quotation, thought or reference that’s too long for Twitter   Open Letter to David Cameron and the IOC Dear Prime Minister, M Rogge, Lord Coe and Members of the International Olympic Committee, I write in the earnest hope that all those with a love of sport and the Olympic spirit will consider the stain on the Five Rings that occurred when the 1936 Berlin Olympics proceeded under the exultant aegis of a tyrant who had passed into law, two years earlier, an act which singled out for special persecution a minority whose only crime was the accident of their birth. In his case he banned Jews from academic tenure or public office, he made sure that the police turned a blind eye to any beatings, thefts or humiliations inflicted on them, he burned and banned books written by them. He claimed they “polluted” the purity and tradition of what it was to be German, that they were a threat to the state, to the children and the future of the Reich. He blamed them simultaneously for the mutually exclusive crimes of Communism and for the controlling of international capital and banks. He blamed them for ruining the culture with their liberalism and difference. The Olympic movement at that time paid precisely no attention to this evil and proceeded with the notorious Berlin Olympiad, which provided a stage for a gleeful Führer and only increased his status at home and abroad. It gave him confidence. All historians are agreed on that. What he did with that confidence we all know. Putin is eerily repeating this insane crime, only this time against LGBT Russians. Beatings, murders and humiliations are ignored by the police. Any defence or sane discussion of homosexuality is against the law. Any statement, for example, that Tchaikovsky was gay and that his art and life reflects this sexuality and are an inspiration to other gay artists would be punishable by imprisonment. It is simply not enough to say that gay Olympians may or may not be safe in their village. The IOC absolutely must take a firm stance on behalf of the shared humanity it is supposed to represent against the barbaric, fascist law that Putin has pushed through the Duma. Let us not forget that Olympic events used not only to be athletic, they used to include cultural competitions. Let us realise that in fact, sport is cultural. It does not exist in a bubble outside society or politics. The idea that sport and politics don’t connect is worse than disingenuous, worse than stupid. It is wickedly, wilfully wrong. Everyone knows politics interconnects with everything for “politics” is simply the Greek for “to do with the people”. An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential....

Posted by Bob on Jul 16, 2013 | 0 comments

We welcomed another of our international workawayers this week,  Branden from Canada and we  learn’t yet another name for a strimmer. So now we have a “WEED WACKER”  representing New Zealand and a “WHIPPER SNIPPER” representing Canada. No wonder nobody here understands what i am on about !