A lovely Italian phrase that translates as " A small cask makes good wine" is an Italian compliment to a short person. I reply by stretching to my 5' 1" height, Grazie! (Art: Philippe Mercier 1689 — 1760)
Botte Piccola Fa Vino Buono Read More »
One of the greatest pleasures is reading Sicilian folktales midday while drunk on a dense-full-bodied beer (16.2 percent) produced locally in Boulder. Like the beer, the stories are rowdy, naughty, mythic, and full of gullible and wise fools who make donkeys appear to shit gold, drive menial men to do self-destructive things and conspire to
Plank’d and Research Read More »
I am a wee bit past Bastille Day, but in the spirit of that revolutionary and rather bloody event, I would like to offer a meal fit for Death. The Old Foodie, is a brilliant blog devoted to providing readers with 400 words a day on a historical food topic, along with recipes. This offering
Death and Dinner, Mais Oui. Read More »
I am so happy to celebrate St. Brigid’s Feast Day — especially as I have learned that in addition to being an excellent dairy maid (and therefore patron saint of farmers), she was especially fond of beer. We have been learning how to home brew beer (first batch was a successful dark beer with a
The Feast Day of St. Brigid Who Loved Beer Read More »
I rejoice at finding wonderful items on the internet, but I am also pleased in being found. I recently received a terrific email from a middle school English teacher whose sixth grade class was tackling poetry with some difficulty at the start. This is what she wrote to me: After teaching all kinds of dry
A Return to How They Drank In The 40s Read More »
When I was about five years old, (in the late-fifties) we went to Santa Fe to visit my grandfather, the artist Pierre Ménager. As well as being a wonderful painter and sculptor, he was also a fabulous cook…well he was French. But he cooked a mixture of Southwest and Creole — especially as a portion
Pierre, Rosalea, and The Pink Adobe Read More »
