September in Italy

Six months ago, my husband and I decided to spend most of September in Italy, though for the most part not together. He wanted to take some intensive Italian language classes, and I wanted to add to my Italian cuisine repertoire – specifically, fresh pasta and gnocchi. After a great deal of research, I found three programs that sounded like they would meet my needs (more or less) and that cost no more than 1,300 euros for the week, including lodging. There were a number of other great-sounding programs that cost upwards of €2,000 – and one that was nearly €5,000! Even staying in a 5-star villa, I can’t see how a week of cooking could be worth the better part of a year’s rent. So I chose from the cheaper end of the scale and, for the most part, I was fairly happy with my classes. I’ve written detailed reviews of the three cooking programs to help out anyone else who is considering a culinary vacation. There were some problems and disappointments, but overall, I loved it.

Program 1: Organic Tuscany (Certaldo)
Program 2: Convivio Rome (Toffia)
Program 3: Apicius Culinary Institute (Florence)

English Blog

My English site, e learn English Language, has information both for non-native speakers (ESL lessons), written in English, French, and Spanish, as well as a series of lessons on typically confusing English pairs for native speakers, (it’s vs its, affect vs effect, etc.) I recently created a blog to highlight new features – check it out!

Artistic tomatoes

I know this photo looks totally staged, but it wasn’t. I had a bunch of not-quite-ripe cherry tomatoes, so I set them out on the marble table in a strip of sunshine. Then when I glanced at them a few minutes later, I saw this lovely reflection.

Artistic tomatoes

Life without chocolate?

I’ve always known that I have something akin to an allergy to caffeine. If I drink one cup of coffee today but not tomorrow, I will get a pounding headache. Lots of people get headaches when they’re used to drinking coffee and then miss a day, but mine is immediate – coffee yesterday but not today = headache. And it’s the kind that doesn’t go away with aspirin – it lasts for at least 24 hours, unless I give in and have coffee. Another problem is that if I have the slightest bit of caffeine within 5 or 6 hours of bedtime, I won’t be able to sleep until 2am finally rolls around.

I can live without coffee, but I’ve now confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that chocolate has the same effect on me. If I eat a couple of chocolate almond clusters, the headache is waiting for me right around the corner. So the question is, should I just give up coffee and live headache free? Or should I continue to enjoy this wonderful treat and just make sure to have some every single day? The latter seems very appealing, but I’m not wild about the idea of consuming something that my body has made it so clear I shouldn’t. Too bad it can’t seem to get the message across to my tastebuds. :-(

.htaccess password generator

Password protecting a file or folder on your website isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but this .htaccess password generator helps a lot. (Actually, the trouble I had – including temporarily password protecting my entire site and being asked for a password over and over – was due to my own feebleness. Theoretically, it really shouldn’t be hard at all.)

Happy Bastille Day!

14 July is the French national holiday. Learn about the history behind the celebration of Bastille Day and make some French food to celebrate! :-)

Metz, Lorraine, France

The north-eastern French region of Lorraine is the only one that borders three countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany) and that has two cities of equal importance (Metz and Nancy). Despite what some people told me, Metz is a very beautiful city, and the cathedral in particular is spectacular. Note that the links on this page will lead to French descriptions, but if you scroll down you can read the English translation: Metz, Lorraine, France

My Fishbowl

My FishbowlUsually I get an idea for an art project and let it simmer for a while. I have a few ideas that I’ve been kicking around for years – they may never get done. But My Fishbowl was different: I thought of it while lying in bed, spent the morning working on it, and it was up on the wall shortly after lunch.

Finally, a way to forward Hotmail to another account

I’ve had a Hotmail email address forever, and for nostalgia if nothing else, I don’t want to get rid of it. However, I hate having to log into it to check for new mail – I’ve been wanting to be able to read my Hotmail in Gmail for years. And now I finally found a way to do it – here are detailed but simple instructions for enabling your Hotmail to be forwarded to another email account: Hack to Enable Hotmail POP3 and SMTP Support Many thanks to the person(s) who figured this out!

Non-peer pressure

So you’ve probably seen the Sound of Music Train Station Dance video – if you haven’t, you should. Nevermind that it’s a publicity stunt – it’s touching and funny. Even though it’s planned out, there are obviously some random people who jumped in to join the fun.

It reminds me of the IMAX movie theater at Six Flags Great America (Gurnee, IL). I grew up near there and used to go all the time, and before the movie started there was always this long ad for Chevy. In fact, I’m not sure if it was actually a commercial or just the logo up on the screen, but there was this song, “The Heartbeat of America,” that played for a while – 3-5 minutes, maybe? – and it had an intoxicating effect on the audience. After a minute or two, men, women, young, and old would all start swaying, and then clapping hands to the beat, and sometimes even sing. It was great. I don’t remember any of the movies I saw there, but I sure remember those audiences that spontaneously joined in with the music.

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