PORK CHOPS WITH MUSHROOMS

To make this pork dish I followed [more or less] a recipe in the November edition of Alice Cucina.  The sauce is made with red wine, passata and just enough balsamic vinegar to give it an interesting tartness. Sage, bay, onion, garlic and juniper berries also flavour the dish and mushrooms are added towards the end of cooking.  I added potatoes because I was hungry and couldn't be bothered to mash some as an accompaniment as the recipe suggests.

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE? - A "LET'S BLOG OFF" POST

Every two weeks, the blogosphere comes alive with something called a Blog Off. A Blog Off is an event where bloggers of every stripe weigh in on the same topic on the same day. The topic for this round of the Blog Off is "What did you want to be when you grew up?"

In my life, I've wanted to be many things and I have achieved a few of them.  But the first career desire I remember expressing was to be a hairdresser, probably because I liked the word.  Making people feel good about their appearance still seems to me a worthy occupation and a survey conducted in Britain a few years ago found that hairdressers were among the happiest inhabitants of my native isle.

With my Sicilian hairdresser, Raffaele

Like most little girls, I went to dancing classes and for a while I wanted to be a dancer:

Then we all wanted to be pop singers like the teenage star Helen Shapiro.  My friends and I worked at lowering our voices long before a certain Margaret Hilda Thatcher thought of it.

Later I wanted to be a doctor, like the character Audrey Blake in the television series Emergency - Ward 10 but unfortunately I was hopeless at the sciences at school and soon discovered my linguistic bent.  And that rather sealed my fate for in those days the only career that anyone suggested to a female linguist was teaching.

I did actually want to teach by then, though and entered the profession willingly rather than drifting into it.  And despite several attempts to escape from the educational sphere, I have always ended up back in it.

In one of my many classrooms, c.1976

Another thing I wanted to be was a wife and mother but that destiny has eluded me.  In my youth, pregnant women sat around in smocks in cosy front rooms and were cosseted and I've always thought that that would be rather nice.  George Eliot said that it is never too late to be what you might have been and for some women science has made very late motherhood a possibility.  I do not wish to pass judgement on their decisions here but that path is not for me.  I have not, however, given up on the hope that one day I will meet someone who really loves me enough, for, like most people, I would like to be "first" with someone.

If I had not become a teacher I like to imagine that I would have become a journalist and in recent years I have been a columnist and been paid for it.  My remaining ambition is to become an author but if any self-publishing companies out there are thinking of spamming me with their details, please don't.  I'll do it "my way."

So there is still something I would like to achieve.... when I grow up.

Now for some nostalgia:


Emergency - Ward 10

Helen Shapiro - Walking Back to Happiness




Here is the complete list of bloggers participating in this round of the Blog Off:

THINKING OF GENOVA

My thoughts today have been with the people of Genoa, where flash floods which hit on Friday claimed seven lives.  Today has been a day of mourning in the city with flags flying at half-mast and a minute's silence was observed for the victims at midday.

The first funeral, that of a 40-year-old nurse and mother who was originally from Sicily, has also taken place:  Angela Chiaromonte and her 14-year-old son had taken shelter in a doorway and Angela died whilst trying to hold her child above the level of the torrent of water that was raging along the street with no mercy.  Helped by another citizen, the boy survived but it was too late for anyone to be able to help Angela.  In the same building, an Albanian mother and her two children, aged one and eight, died as they were trying to reach the safety of the upper floors:  the water just swept them down into the basement.  Nearby, a nineteen-year-old woman who had gone to collect her brother from school was crushed by cars which were being carried away by the flood.

Considerable anger has been directed at the city's Mayor for not closing the schools on Friday and it has also been implied that irregular building had been taking place in the city.  However, geologists are now trying to ascertain whether delays in the widening of the Bisagno Torrent were the cause of the flood.   The amount of rain that fell on Genoa on Friday was equivalent to the average rainfall in the city for the whole month of October.

In the past few days there has also been flooding in Tuscany and an elderly woman died in her flooded home on the Island of Elba today.  There are also alerts along the course of the Po and there has been a flood in Naples.  As more rain falls, Genoa will remain on flood alert until at least 18.00 on Tuesday.

A VERY SPECIAL HOUSE

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."

- Rabindranath Tagore

As an added attraction during Chocobarocco, the Comune of Modica set up a very special "house" in the atrium of the town hall - the casa delle farfalle or "butterfly house", which has actually been open for a month and closes tomorrow.  It has been a huge success.

Around 300 butterflies fly freely in an environment especially created for them and biologists are on hand to care for them. Visitors are greeted by calming music and the sound of running water as the beautiful, ephemeral creatures fly all around them, alighting on a lapel, shoulder or head as they please.

Congratulations to Modica on creating this magical oasis in the city centre and for giving so much pleasure to residents and visitors alike.

Look on the right!

I couldn't decide whether I liked the blue, green or the last pure yellow butterfly best.  How about you?

The experience reminded me of some lines written by Colette about her mother, Sido:

"Son grand mot: 'Regarde!' signifiait: 'Regarde la chenille velue, pareille à un petit ours doré!  Regarde la première pousse du haricot, le cotylédon qui lève sur sa tête un petit chapeau de terre sèche..... Regarde, vite, le bouton de l'iris noir est en train de s'épanouir! Si tu ne te dépêches pas, il ira plus vite que toi!"

"Her great word was 'Look!' meaning: 'Look at the hairy caterpillar - it's like a little golden bear!  Look at the first shoots of the bean, the seed leaf popping up with a little hat of dry earth on its head......  Quick - look! The bud of the black iris is opening.  If you don't hurry it will go faster than you!' "

SABATO MUSICALE

Here's a pretty love song from 1988 for you to enjoy this Saturday:

Ana Oxa - Quando nasce un amore

DONA NOBIS PACEM - BLOG BLAST FOR PEACE 2011

Peace is in the interest of the people.  Sadly and scandalously, it is not always in the interest of governments.  What to do about it? Refuse, as individuals, as groups, and then in our multitudes, to play the games devised by our political masters. This, I believe,  is what is happening in another sphere with the Occupy movement, proving that it is possible for the people to make their voices heard. If we want it enough, together we can stop the killing and achieve a new way of living - in peace.

Here, with my translation, is one of the greatest anti-war songs ever written: 

Boris Vian - Le Déserteur




Monsieur le Président
Je vous fais une lettre
Que vous lirez peut-être
Si vous avez le temps
Je viens de recevoir
Mes papiers militaires
Pour partir à la guerre
Avant mercredi soir
Monsieur le Président
Je ne veux pas la faire
Je ne suis pas sur terre
Pour tuer des pauvres gens
C'est pas pour vous fâcher
Il faut que je vous dise
Ma décision est prise
Je m'en vais déserter

Depuis que je suis né
J'ai vu mourir mon père
J'ai vu partir mes frères
Et pleurer mes enfants
Ma mère a tant souffert
Elle est dedans sa tombe
Et se moque des bombes
Et se moque des vers
Quand j'étais prisonnier
On m'a volé ma femme
On m'a volé mon âme
Et tout mon cher passé
Demain de bon matin
Je fermerai ma porte
Au nez des années mortes
J'irai sur les chemins.

Je mendierai ma vie
Sur les routes de France
De Bretagne en Provence
Et je dirai aux gens:
Refusez d'obéir
Refusez de la faire
N'allez pas à la guerre
Refusez de partir
S'il faut donner son sang
Allez donner le vôtre
Vous êtes bon apôtre
Monsieur le Président
Si vous me poursuivez
Prévenez vos gendarmes
Que je n'aurai pas d'armes
Et qu'ils pourront tirer.

- Boris Vian

Mr President
I'm writing you a letter
that perhaps you will read
if you have time.
I've just received
my call-up papers
telling me to leave for the war
before Wednesday evening.
Mr President,
I don't want to do it.
I'm not on this earth
to kill unfortunate people.
I don't want to make you angry
but I must tell you
that my decision has been made
and I am going to desert.

During my life
I've seen my father die,
I've seen my brothers leave
and I've seen my children cry.
My mother suffered so much
that now she's in her grave
laughing at bombs
and laughing at worms.
When I was a prisoner
they stole my wife,
they stole my soul
and they stole my beloved past.
Early tomorrow morning
I'm going to close my door
in the face of the dead years.
I'm going on the road.

I'll become a beggar
on the roads of France
from Brittany to Provence
and I'll shout this message to people:
"Refuse to obey,
refuse to do it.
Don't go to war,
refuse to go."
If blood must be shed,
Shed your own.
You're a good apostle,
Mr President.
If you have me hunted down,
warn your policemen
that I will be unarmed
and they can fire.

[My translation]

To find out more about #blogblastforpeace, please visit the inspirational and wonderful Mimi Lenox here.  You can see more peace globes at the Peace Globe Gallery.

TREASURE TROVE IN MODICA BASSA

One of the places I have an affection for in Modica Bassa is the Casa del Formaggio, partly because of its fantastic, traditional products and partly because it is situated in the street where Simi and I lived for five weeks when we first came to Modica.

So on Sunday, when I visited the Chocobarocco Festival, I took the opportunity to call in on Giuseppe:

Cotagnata [quince paste] and mostarda are on display [centre]

Some local cheeses are kept cool in the traditional way.

Do pay a visit to this little shop if you are ever in Modica - you will be surprised and delighted by what you find there.

ECOLOGY - SICILIAN STYLE

Image:  Wikipedia Italia

The citizens of Palermo have for some time been urged to separate their rubbish and place it in special communal containers for plastic, paper and organic waste on specific days at specific times and many of them have spent much time and energy making sure that they comply with these requirements.

Imagine their anger, then, at learning that their efforts have apparently been in vain: on Saturday night a passing resident surprised refuse collectors who were loading rubbish from all three containers onto the same lorry with the intention of unloading the mixed waste in one go onto the same dump.  The passer-by took photographs and sent them to Corriere della Sera.

"We were just following orders", said the hapless refuse collectors. 

A TOUR OF CHOCOBAROCCO

This evening I am going to take you on a tour of the 2011 Modica Chocobarocco Festival, which began on Friday and finishes today.

But first here is an image of another journey, that of chocolate to Modica in the sixteenth century.  The tradition of chocolate making arrived here with the Spaniards and they, of course, had learned their techniques in Mexico.  The Aztec method of chocolate making, which uses no dairy products, is still observed in Modica.

Are you ready?  Hold on to your hat!

As you board the little train, you will see an advert for the English International School  and I unashamedly give the school a plug here.

As you tour the exhibits, you will see chocolate worked into all sorts of shapes and forms:

Fancy a new caffetiera?

The chocolate computer mice proved more popular with children than the skeletons!

Want to update your winter wardrobe?  How about a chocolate shoe?

Or maybe a rose for your love?

Modican chocolate experts were joined by colleagues from other towns with a chocolate making tradition, such as Perugia:

Anna from Modica shows us a white chocolate creation:

Antique implements for working chocolate were on display:

Moulds like these are still in use.

One of the festival's main attractions has been this water-powered clock, inspired by the clock on Modica's Norman castle and made by local craftsman Enzo Terranova. The clock, made of iron and steel,  is 1.5 metres high and 600 litres of water, in a container below it, power it by means of a hidden electric motor, which takes the water up.

There was chocolate-inspired art to enjoy:

This map is made of foil chocolate containers.

And there were chocolate pizze of all flavours:

I took home a slab of the chilli pepper chocolate above.  My, it packs a punch on a cold, rainy evening!

This article is cross-posted at the blog of the English International School, Modica.