Italian Journal Post #1

I actually used a pen and paper (gasp) to document my Italian Trip earlier this month. Sporadic posts will occur when I have time to read my chicken scratch and type them in when I am good and ready... Here is entry #1:

September 4th - Florence

I fed my Duomo Obsession and had to squeeze in a day in Florence even though it didn't fit in with my trip at all. So after gazing at the Brunelleschi's engineering marvel which never ceases to amaze and trying to imagine how the heck they built that thing in the 1300s, I numbed my overworked brain with some gelato and headed to dinner. 

Well, first I headed to Il Due Fratelli "wine bar" to chase down my gelato with a pre-dinner glass of wine and cured meat of some sort sandwich. This little wine shop is teeny so you order your wine and drink it out in the street. 

For dinner I suffered a physical test that rivaled boot camp - a meal at I Latini. I was skeptical because it was so heavily tourist-ed (giant casks of Chianti on the table and all) but the communal tables appealed to me more than dining alone. I did not realize that I was signing up for a Food Olympics (which I obviously medaled in).

There is no menu - waiters come by and sort of consult you but really they just bring out whatever they feel like serving you. I joined a table with an Austrian businessman and a couple from Ohio who may have thought Italian cuisine was best represented by the Olive Garden before their first trip to Italy. So Arnold and I did our best to order for them and educate them. Meaning that I ordered their food and he kept ordering us different kinds of booze. 

First, the antipasto course. I asked for a small sampling of meats and cheeses. I received 5 plates of food - crostini, finocchiona (fennel salami found only Tuscany), a cheese plate with at least 2 pounds of cheese on it, a plate of prosciutto and a farro salad (tho I like Farro, a really yummy grain, I decided I didn't want to waste stomach space in this one):

I made it thru most of the paper thin prosciutto and cheese before I gave up. Note: I was also shooting little teeny glasses of Chianti from a cask in the middle of the table. 

I moved onto the soup course and couldn't decide between two traditional soups I wanted to try:

Pappa al Pomodoro (Bread and Tomato Soup)

Ribollita (literally "re-boiled" and made form day old bread, kale, beans) 

This is Italian peasant cooking at its best - using old bread to make some tasty and filling food. Mmmmm...

Ultimately, the waiter decided for me - one of each!

The initially somewhat shy couple from OH opened up after a few bottles of chianti, an asti, a limoncello, a Vin Santo (with Cantucci "biscotti" for dipping of course), and a grappa followed by an espresso.  I am still not sure if they ever actually made it to their hotel or are still passed out near the Medici Chapel somewhere...

I regret that I did not order the Bistecca Fiorentina which this place and the entire region of Tuscany is known for. This is basically a giant steak cut thick and served rare. Though we did notice that the American diners got theirs cooked a little more well done than the Italians (still mooing). 

Anyhow, if you find yourself in Florence, it is pretty hard to steer away from touristy places so you might as well get the fun atmosphere of I Latini. 

I suspect this kid was put in time out instead of spanked...

Dear Petulant Teenager in the Club Level Breakfast room at the Sheraton - You are a spoiled brat. This is a business traveler hotel and its a Wednesday morning. Stop screaming at your parents in public. They took you on a vacation (granted it was to Philly), so be nice. I was tempted to give you the spankings you obviously missed out on as a child, but you were taller than me.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaa-adddd MY TOAST ISN'T DONE YET!"

Shush. 

I'm Disturbed and there is little humor in this post...

Rant #1 
Today was the Glenn Beck march in DC which he claimed was a nonpolitical event yet then invited the most political person out there to speak (Sarah Palin). Al Sharpton did a counter march because today was the anniversary of the I Have  Dream Speech and saw the Beck rally as an affront. And because he is Al Sharpton he cannot stay away from anything he can construe as racist (WHAT? Did you call it dark out tonight? You are rascist!)

Having been in DC for more than a decade I get caught up in these things. But then I realize and hope that most of America went on with their lives today and the real outcome of both marches today will be: nothing. Because the solutions to our problems do not lie in the extremes. 


Yet I feel the need to write...

It's time to put the race card and the religion card away. Government isn't supposed to have either one in it. Someone needs to play the jobs card, the border securing card, the infrastructure card and the education card. 

Fundamentally I believe in the Tea Party Movement - Reduce the scope of the Federal government so it stops meddling in the free market to redistribute wealth, give power back to the states and be fiscally responsible (Fun Fact: China and Japan own 44% of our debt). I am not sure how these beliefs got construed as racist. That all being said, I do not side with what the movement has become - re: Glenn Beck and the religious right hijacking it with social issues). But it bothers me to NO END when seemingly intelligent people debase their intelligence and use the word TeaBagger when describing anyone who might agree with the fundamental ideas. 

Rant #2
This week I saw a posting on John Dennis' (he is running against Pelosi) Facebook age about Nancy Pelosi. I admit I have not done my due diligence on this guy because at this point I would vote for Lucifer himself in that election because I fundamentally disagree with everything that woman stands for and all of her actions since the Democrats took control of Congress. But Mr Dennis decided to call her the Wicked Witch of the West and superimpose her face on the Wizard of Oz Character. I actually felt compelled to post a comment that maybe he should try a little decorum and be serious since we have some big and serious problems in this country right now. The other 60 commentators thought he was funny and cheered him on. Sigh. 

Almost One out of every 10 Americans don't have a job yet our politicians are trying to outsnark each other. 

Rant #3

I am still disappointed in O and I will never get over it. 5 rounds of golf on vacation - Really? 9.6% unemployment? Foreclosures rising? I don't care how many more vacation days Bush took - YOU were supposed to be different. 

If I were the President and Congress (which I would never be because I have a soul that isn't for sale and a brain that works): I would have not taken a recess. I would have called an emergency session to hold hearings and get idea on how to fix this economy. NOW. I would have listened to EVERYONE - CEOs and Unions, Blue collar and white collar, religious and non religious, gay, straight, white,  black, red, purple polkadotted. And taken the best ideas and voted on them. 


Maybe even come up with a long lasting plan that doesn't revolve around HANDOUTS of 99 months of unemployment checks and tax credits for housing that artificially prop up the economy. That is just prolonging the pain.The housing market fell apart when the credits ended. No one wants to be employed when the checks come for doing nothing so we will have to keep borrowing (from China) to pay for these checks.   

Yea right...Then I woke up from my dream of a perfect world and watched Glenn Beck invoke God and watched Al Sharpton pretend that he is the rightful owner of MLK's legacy ... 


The DL
Here is what is really happening: We have an election coming up so the Republicans are going to block everything to not give the Democrats any wins before the election. The Democrats are going to continue to feed proposals that have no chance of passing but sound nice because they are handouts and entitlements.  As obstructionist as the GOP has been the left has been as unimaginative in trying to find any idea or plan that doesn't involved giving away stuff we don't have the money to pay for (uh, Hey China, can you spot me again?).  

In sum, we are screwed.