Below is the latest trailer for my book Beyond the Pasta: Recipes, Language & Life with an Italian Family. RELEASE DATE: September 1, 2010 by Gemelli Press, LLC. The finishing touches are being done and soon this two year process from first keystroke to published book will be complete. Stupefacente! When I started writing this …
Back to business~
See and download the full gallery on posterous **Thanks to everyone for their tremendous interest in my forthcoming book Beyond the Pasta: Recipes, Language & Life with an Italian Family. The book’s website is still under construction, but you can go to it and add your name to the e-mail list which will notify you …
Il Sole~
See and download the full gallery on posterous Let the sunshine…let the sunshine in~ For the past three weeks I have been in Birmingham, Alabama working a production of The Marriage of Figaro. It has been glorious to sit in a room and listen to beautiful voices sing in Italian. What has not been glorious …
New old friends~
See and download the full gallery on posterous Everyone into the pool~ Going to a friend’s house for dinner is always a wonderful way to spend an evening. When that friend is someone you haven’t seen in 20 years, it can turn out to be an incredible evening. And when that long lost friend, his …
Lunch in Venice~
See and download the full gallery on posterous I Love You—now hush~ Yesterday Richard sent a book title to me that perfectly captured a lunch experience with a French couple that we had in Venice. But before that, let me tell you about one of our first lunch experiences in Venice—a very popular inn and …
They say Venezia; we say Venice~
See and download the full gallery on posterous Una bella vista~ We were only there five nights, but Venezia made such a strong impression that it needs more than the previous blog posts to do it justice. With Carnevale season here, I think it is appropriate to talk about the two sides of Venice that …
It’s a small world~
See and download the full gallery on posterous It’s all a ride~ My father was in the Navy when I was very young and for a couple of years he was stationed in San Diego, CA. While my father was away in the Pacific for months at a time, my mother was at home with …
Venice, from both sides~
See and download the full gallery on posterous “Venezia, Venezia…Chi non ti vede non ti prezia”~ What can I say about Venice that hasn’t already been said over the centuries by people more brilliant than I? Nothing. The above quote is from Shakespeare’s play Love’s Labour’s Lost and translated in the play it means, “Who …
La Parola del Giorno~ The Word of the Day~
STUPEFACENTE~ This is one of my favorite Italian words, if only for the fact that it is one of the few words I know to express astonishment. The word is pronounced “stoop-ay-fah-CHEN-tay” and you can no doubt see that it is similar to the English word “stupefying,” so you already know how to translate it. …
Romeo. Romeo. Wherefore art thou, Romeo?
See and download the full gallery on posterous Day 5: Verona~ Having worked at a theatre specializing in Shakespeare for over 20 years, it is no surprise that the first thing that comes to my mind when hearing “Verona” is the tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet. I know—predictable. Luckily, it was one of the …