This ad pops up on my cell phone–for a moisturizer called Bava di Lumaca Miracolosa. Miraculous snail drool. Really? I have a hard time picturing a fashionable Italian lady striding up to the cosmetic counter and stocking up on drool. But who knows? Maybe drool is a thing over here. Your skin looks divine. Thanks!…More
Tag Archives: San Marino
My Friend Fennel
Of course growing up in a farm town in Michigan, I never had even a distant encounter with fennel. My parents joked once that Greg Fraser, a kid in town, was sent by his mother to the drug store to ask for anise. And he pronounced it anus. The local druggist, Fred Gaul, must have ratted…More
When Bacco Smiles–from American English, Italian Chocolate
My wife’s old aunt has an omino (the diminutive of uomo, the Italian word for “man”). Omino. Little man. When she wants to cook a rabbit for lunch, she has an omino who sells her the rabbit. She wants fish, she has another omino. She has a repair job to do in the house, she…More
Exceeding Your Limit–car, earthquake, gun
This week I’ve had a few occasions to reflect on the concept of risk. Earthquake, tornado, air travel, rental car. Thursday Tizi and I went to the Bologna airport to pick up a car. At the rental car booth it always takes a while. There are documents to present, long phone calls to make (by…More
Made to Last–the water, the fabbro, and tonino guerra
When we arrive in Serravalle, the village Tizi is from in San Marino, and open the apartment, as soon as we’ve wheeled suitcases through the front door, I drive down to the street below the building to turn on the water. To do that, I visit our tombino. Our little tomb. There are four of…More
I Can See Clearly Now–you look great!
The first pair of sunglasses I owned cost $1.50. I bought them at Pat’s Food Center. Ronnie Fritz and Bob Young showed up at my door one summer day wearing wrap-around sunglasses with black frames. We were in fifth grade. At the time, on a TV show called 77 Sunset Strip a character named Kookie,…More
Bird Beans (Fagioli all’uccelletto)
I can’t get enough beans, ever. This dish resembles, probably badly, a Tuscan bean dish called fagioli all’uccelleto. I’m translating that roughly, and probably badly, as “bird beans.” For this dish you need: dried beans, tomato, sage, garlic, and love. The recipe calls for cannellini. I usually substitute Michigan navy beans, whose goodness is unsurpassed.…More
Covid, Quarantine, Italy–getting ready to not go home
My last name ends in yogurt. Tizi is on the phone with a health-care professional up the hill, at the hospital in San Marino. It’s the day before our departure. Both of us have just tested positive for Covid. Over here they call it a tampone–the skewers that go up your nose and into your…More
About the Parsley and Rivoltini
The parsley war continues. My wife and I disagree. The question is not whether to use it. We’re both parsley positive. The issue is when, during cooking or added afterward as a garnish. I’m during, she’s after. It has not always been thus. For many years we lived in perfect harmony, parsley-wise. Diced parsley was…More
Erbe in abbondanza–greens with every meal
A staple at the table around here is “erbe.” Google Translate says erbe means “herb” in English. Google Translate is entitled to its opinion. The word erbe covers a wide spectrum of green stuff. (Plug “cut the grass” into Google Translate and you get “tagliare l’erbe.”)More