Easy to prepare. The secret behind it is the way you match ingredients. But I don’t think it is possible to explain it. Or at least, for an Italian, the ingredient matching is something we have in our DNA; probably due to the fact that we learnt from our ancestors how to prepare pasta or meat or even a simple salad.

During lunch I had to dress my green, crunchy, thus boring salad. There was some parmesan cheese on the table… so, oplà! My veggie portion has turned into a delicious green salad with parmesan flakes and balsamic vinegar.

Isn’t it simple? Yummie though. And don’t forget to use high quality products like real parmesan cheese or vinegar from Modena. Italians do not respect cheap ingrediants.

Mariano is officially amongst other things a writer, magician, computer expert, editor, blogger and who knows what else. He is a continuous surprise to me.

In one of his latest posts he reports about a new book entitled “The ACME Catalogue”  by Charles Carney; now available in Italian. The book features a collection of tools used by Will Coyote against Road Runner, a series of “100 products untarnished by government regulations from iron birdseed and anvils to fake holes”. And guess what Mariano also posted?
The drawings he used to do at University which outlined a devil machine to kill his Professors. His Physics teacher used the drawings to start her course at the Computer Department at the University of Torino. In doing so, we have confirmation that she is still alive.

Here is one of the sketches and a little glossary for you to understand the project. As far as I know, no Professors  were harmed during Mariano’s University career. The aim of this article is to try to describe Mariano’s incredible personhood. This blog will dissociate itself for any kind of illegal activity deriving from the realisation of such machines.

Don’t do them. Don’t use them. And, above all, don’t say you read it here

(http://www.marianotomatis.it/blog.php)

Benzina: gas
Massi: stones
Quando si solleva il cancellino il filo si spezza: when you lift the board rubber, the wire will break
Prima: before
Dopo: after
Pulsante: button
Sensore a pressione: sensor sensitive to pressure

Mariano signing me one of his last book on numbers

On every chair there was a strange logo that stated +space +time

I thought it was some viral campaing from a furniture company.

So I asked the barman where sometimes I stop for a coffee the story behind it.

Few months ago the street committee had collected old chairs from artisans and shops in the area. They gave to the elderly persons, who lived nearby the chairs to be prepared (they had to sand them down to remove the old paint).

Then they gave the chairs to four nearby nursery schools to be repainted by the children.  And here are the results.

I’d like to have few of those chairs so badly. Or at least, give me a few names and phone numbers so to hire the little artisans, pardon, designers.

The street San Donato connects Corso Tassoni with Piazza Statuto, in the city centre. You can find handcraft shops, restaurants and nice bars. It’s worth a walk. And if you are tired… well, you know where to sit.

We are known as the ‘City of Chocolate’, and every year we are host to an exhibition called CioccolaTò; from the amalgamation of Cioccolato, ‘Chocolate’ in Italian, and To, which stands for Torino. The pavilion is a preview of this year’s edition which will be held from 23^rd March until 3^rd April. Here you can find the official web site of the whole event.

You may wonder how the mini-choco-Italy, a 13 m long sculpture, looked. I don’t know. I went there last 17^th March and it was impossible to approach the pavilion. The long queue stretched right around the structure. It reminded me of the Holy Mosque in Mecca where the Black Stone is held. The purpose of the Italians waiting to see the sculpture was a bit different… but since Chocolate has been called the “Gods’ Nectar”, it would be unfair to say we aren’t spiritual at all.

I will try to see the sculpture and of course I can’t wait for CioccolaTò 2011, mainly to write and show people exactly what it is all about. I’ll do it for the blog’s sake. No kidding! (*hides crossed fingers behind back.)

But you are also a charming lady. You have culture and style, monuments and great traditions.
You are blessed by a shining sun, beautiful landscapes and, as Goethe stated, you are the land where lemons are grown.

I will keep on posting (this is a promise after the long break) to tell what I love most.

Happy Unification Anniversary my beloved country.

Italy is famous for a criminal organization called Mafia, but this is not the only one we have in our territory.
“Gomorra”, the best seller written by Roberto Saviano, has highlighted the terrible situation that occurs in Campania, where Camorra rules and controls the Port of Napoli, as well as the drug traffic and many other activities in South Italy.
There is another organization called ‘ndrangheta who is involved in criminal activities in Calabria, another region in South Italy. Thanks to the efforts of the University of Calabria, the Region Board, the Province and an association called Antigone there is a brand new museum, in Reggio Calabria, that aims to denounce and be an observatory on a phenomenon that is silent but extremely powerful. Those kind of organizations flourish thanks to the silence that surrounds them. When Saviano was invited in Tv shows to talk about Camorra, a Mafioso turned informant, from the prison, has declared that he was worried because “Saviano is on all the media, and media are giving information and importance to his book”. For criminals the big fear is not a book, a movie, an article but the fact that if those documents are spread, people may talk. And the more they talk the less powerful those organizations become.
That’s why a museum concerning ‘ndrangheta is so important. In a villa confiscated from a boss, you can find documents resulting form trials, movies, a multimedia laboratory and events such as conferences and exhibitions.
The visit is worth seeing and the whole region can be a delicious place for a holiday. Calabria, in fact, is especially a land with a beautiful sea, good food and amazing traditions.

It says: “I only hope that looking into my eyes you’ll understand all that, for the second time, you’ve destroyed, it’s inside me…now I know what I’ve lost: nothing! Bye.”
Ain’t we sweet even when we kick ass?

Chiara Zardi was a normal young lawyer yesterday. This morning she has received a phone call like:
“Hallo, Ms Zardi? We are calling form the court of Milan”
“Yes?”
“You should come here as court-appointed lawyer, as we should carry on with a process, but the defendant’s lawyers seem to be on holiday”
“Ok, let me finish my croissant and cappuccino and I’ll be there in a second”.

Well, maybe those where not the exact words. I mean, we also have toasts or bread and butter at breakfast, but, whatsoever.

As soon as Ms Zardi has joined the court she has discovered that her defendant is Mr Silvio the Prime Minister Berlusconi.
Hey Chiara, I’m so happy for you. You did it, man! You are an important lawyer now. Your client is the Presid…ehm…well, actually….
What happened today is that there was a process against Berlusconi and a certain David Mills, charged of curruption. The two lawyers that were supposed to be on holiday, ehm sorry, at the court today, were already working in a justice commission in Chamber and Senate. At the trial there was only a legal practitioner, not properly qualified to represent the two lawyers. As no lawyer seemed to be in the nearby, the judge Nicoletta Gandus, who wanted to keep on with the process,  has decide to use the call centre to find a replacement.

Why can’t I simply ignore the words “President” and “corruption” and be happy for Ms Zardi?

A month after the end of my holydays in Haute-Savoye (France) I admit
of being a member of the sacred and devotional Order of the Reblochon
cheese, which is the core of the – almost psychedelic – French dish
called “Tartiflette” (a delicious concoction of potatoes, smoked
bacon, onions, double cream).
Our slogan has been used also by French skying company skypass.com,
which is now selling t-shits with the logo “In tartiflette we trust”.
http://www.skipass.com/shop/in-tartiflette-we-trust
Be the “reblochon” with you!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartiflette
Why such a news on “The Italian Blog”? Because in the past the Savoie
was an Italian region, and I’m so angry it’s now a French region…
Angry and hungry.
Mariano