BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS!

Last weekend we celebrated Art's birthday not once but twice! On Saturday evening we drove to Panicale, a charming village overlooking Lago Trasimeno. Our friends Greg and Marguerite have a house there and were able to spend several weeks in Italy this summer. Marguerite fixed a wonderful dinner - lasagna, roast chicken, veggies and potatoes, salad and bread. A stroll around town helped to make room for the wonderful dessert they had for Art - this beautiful chocolate cake! I know Marguerite won't be offended when I tell you that she didn't make it, but discovering the new pasticceria that made this cake was definitely a find!














On Sunday we had a wonderful lunch at Angelino and Peppa's, Art's favorite local restaurant. Luckily I had run into Angelino at the doctor's office early in the week and told him we were bringing a group on Sunday. He told me they were going to be very busy but assured me there was still room for us. When I called to make the reservation later in the week the woman who answered the phone said no, they couldn't take us because they were full! I told her I had spoken with Angelino, and everything was okay.

It was a beautiful day, not as hot as it had been, with a nice breeze. Our usual table outside was waiting for us when we arrived. I had made a lemon meringue pie as a substitute for Art's favorite Key lime pie, and Stefano, Angelino's son graciously offered to put it in the refrigerator for me while we ate.

If you've been reading this blog for long I know that you know about the amazing quality and quantity of food that's served by here, all lovingly cooked by Peppa, Angelino's wife. Hot torta al testo, fresh pasta, home made lasagna, chingiale, meats roasted on the grill....everything was as delicious as it always is, and of the the wine flowed freely along with the conversation.

Once dinner was over Angelino came out to apologize for not having made a special dessert for Art, but I explained that I had made Art's favorite American sweet. The servers brought out the pie, and along with the leftover chocolate cake we all somehow managed to eat a few bites!





We all chipped in a few euro each to buy a lottery ticket for the record-breaking €105+ superenolotto to be drawn on Tuesday. Winning that would certainly make this a birthday to remember, but even if we don't win, having such great friends to share special occasions with comes pretty darn close!

JUDITH'S ZUCCHINI PIE

This summer quiche seemed like the perfect opportunity to use up some of the ever-abundant zucchini AND to try out the recipe that Judith had posted on her blog. It was also the perfect opportunity to try the recipe for the pie crust made with olive oil that I wrote about HERE. I felt quite confident that both recipes would be successful, but it turns out I was only half right.

When I made the olive oil pie crust the only difference between it and the pie crust I usually make was using olive oil instead of Crisco. Once the dough was formed and I started to roll it out I noticed that it was much more elastic than 'regular' pie dough. The two secrets to a flaky pie crust are to make sure the fat is thoroughly blended into the flour before adding the ice water, and to handle the dough as little as possible once it's formed. A few quick passes with the rolling pin, fold it in half and plop it into the pie pan - all done with a light, quick touch. This dough was much firmer and required a much more forceful push of the rolling pin, but as with every new recipe, you just forge ahead and hope for the best.

While the pie dough was resting in the frig I assembled the ingredients for the quiche. Because I was running late I squeezed the zucchini after about 15 minutes to remove most of the water. Swiss cheese had been on sale at the grocery so that's what I used, although I think a nice smoky Provolone might be good too. It wasn't until the pie was in the oven and I was putting away the rest of the groceries that I thought about using some of the green onion I'd just bought. In retrospect I can say that it would have been a wonderful addition, so next time for sure.

And yes, there will be a next time for the quiche, but NOT for the olive oil pie dough! Tough, tough, tough! What a disappointment! Here I was hoping to have found a recipe for pie dough that would save my Crisco stash for other things, but no such luck. Oh well, live and learn! If you by chance have better luck with the olive oil pie crust recipe I'd love to hear about it!

For Judith's zucchini pie recipe click HERE.

AUGUST FESTAS IN SAN VENANZO

Just in case you're in the area, here are the festas scheduled for August:

August 4-10 Festa di San Lorenzo (Ospedaletto)

August 6-9 In Medioevo (Rotecastello)

August 20-23 and 27-30 Festa dello Sport (San Venanzo)

Stop by and say hello!

LIFE ON THE FARM VIDEOS

And of course more on OUR YouTube PAGE.

LIFE ON THE FARM

Another weekend, another celebration! Summer in Italy is one big party,and any excuse will do. Our neighbor, Daniele Spaccino decided to throw a party on his farm, showcasing an old wheat thresher and life on the farm (fattoria) as it used to be.

We didn't arrive until about six, and the small gravel road was lined with cars. It wasn't easy getting closer to the farm, and at one point we thought we'd made the wrong decision to drive on. We were afraid there would be no place to park and no way to turn around. Luckily there was a parking lot area roped off in a flat area right next to the old hay-baling machine so we parked the car and began wandering.

Of course there were horses and cows and baby goats. In the barn were tons of porchetta sandwiches, plenty of water and wine, and of course biscotti and coffee to finish. And what would an Italian gathering be without music? Elvio had his accordian, and later there was a band hired to entertain us. Naturally dancing followed!













































All the pictures from that day are on our FLICKR PAGE.


The following video was shot by poggiospaccato, a fellow sanvenanese who also posts videos from our area!

PAUL INITIATES CITI FIELD

I wrote last week about how much I enjoyed the George Benson concert - and I did enjoy it, really I did. But then the next day, as I was posting my videos on YouTube, I searched to see if I could find any footage from Paul's first concert at the new Citi Field in NYC. Since the Beatles were the first band to play in the old Shea Stadium (the one Citi Field replaces), and since Paul also played at the last concert in Shea (making a guest appearance with Billy Joel), it was only logical that Paul perform the first concert at Citi Field.

And as I sat watching the concert, song by song on various videos, I suddenly realized that for me, George Benson, however good, is not and will never be a substitute for Macca, and I was sad, thinking that I'd missed this historic event. If you're interested, here's Paul performing my favorite Beatles song, "Hey Jude", and a search on YouTube will yield many others....

DESSERT - AND A WORK OF ART!

A few weeks ago I wrote about our lunch with Brad and Palma, and about how all the dishes were works of art. Not surprisingly, the desserts were the most elaborate and over-the-top.....here's one. with close-ups!

ANOTHER CHOCOLATE AND ZUCCHINI CAKE

Last week I posted a recipe for the CHOCOLATE AND ZUCCHINI CAKE I made for our 4th of July picnic at Larry and Shelly's house. The cake was moist and chocolate-y, but I had a second recipe that I needed to try out before deciding which one would earn a permanent place in my recipe folder.

Dinner with friends the other night provided the perfect excuse to use more zucchini and make the second recipe. This recipe calls for chocolate chips to be spread on top, but I decided that I liked the brown sugar/chopped hazelnuts of the first recipe better. (40 g light brown sugar mixed with 1/2 Cup (70 g) hazelnuts, toasted and chopped).

Here's the recipe I made for dinner with Bill and Suzy:


Chocolate and Zucchini Cake 2

2 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups grated unpeeled zucchini (about 2 1/2 medium)

Topping
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts


Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter and flour 13 x 9 x 2” baking pan.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl.

Beat sugar, butter and oil in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.

Mix in dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions each. Mix in grated zucchini. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts over.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool cake completely in pan. Serves 12.

I think the second recipe (this one) is my favorite, but you can always make both and decide for yourself.

MACCA ON LETTERMAN

Thank God for YouTube!!!



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DINNER AT LA FATTORIA DEL GELSO

Our dinner with Bill, Suzy and friends at La Fattoria del Gelso was a feast for the eyes as well as tastebuds!





And here's a slideshow of all the photos from that night. Sorry there aren't more pictures of the food! Trust me, the pasta, meats and vegetables were just as gorgeous (and of course delicious), but once the food started coming all I was thinking about was eating!

GEORGE BENSON AT UMBRIA JAZZ

We had front row center seats to see George Benson the other night at it wa a great concert! Honestly I was afraid it would be a little too mellow for my tastes, and the first half, a tribute to Nat King Cole was mellow, but still enjoyable. Benson's voice is a perfect fit for the Cole songbook and the full orchestra gave the songs a rich, lush texture that I definitely wasn't expecting at a jazz concert. The second half of the show was a bit funkier, and Benson hit the guitar hard - and with feeling.

By the end of the concert everyone was on their feet, swaying to an extended version of "On Broadway". Here's a clip of the end of "On Broadway", including my favorite part of any concert, the drum solo.....




There are a few more videos on OUR YouTube PAGE.

LESS THAN SEVEN DEGREES OF SEPARATION

A few days ago I wrote about how most of the expats we meet here seem to know one another, or they know someone who knows someone else, and we're all pretty much connected by far fewer than seven degrees of separation. This fact was recently proven to me (again) when we were having dinner with our friends Bill and Suzy at their villa just outside of Cannara. They've brought several couples with them for a tour of Umbria and some concerts at UMBRIA JAZZ, and had invited us to join them for dinner.

When we arrived about 6:30 people were scattered all over the place. Some were lounging around the pool, some were helping out in the kitchen and others were resting or showering for dinner. We were introduced to everyone as they wandered in, but didn't really know how each person was connected to Bill and Suzy, or to each other.

At dinner we had two long tables - one for the men and one for the women. Suzy said they'd used this method before and found that it worked really well. I certainly enjoyed getting to know all the women, but after dinner still had no idea who was married to whom! (Let's face it, I wasn't even sure of the names of all the women - Suzy, Frances and Wendy I knew, Debbie was Suzy's sister, but then the others - Nancy? Linda? and maybe that was Diane on the other side of the table?)

During dinner I heard one of the women, (Diane) refer to one of the men as both 'John' and 'Jonathan'. That fact would later help me to realize who this man was - and how he was connected to me through just two degrees of separation.

After dinner everyone got up from the tables and stood around chatting and enjoying dessert. I heard one of the men talking about writing, and although I don't remember exactly what was said, I suddenly realized who he was and how I 'knew' him. When there was an opening in the conversation I asked him "Jonathan, didn't you live in Perugia a few summers ago?". When he answered "Yes", I said "I think you lived right next door to our friends Bob and Rosemary" - and yes, I was right! This man was the author Jonathan Harr! When he was in Perugia his book "The Lost Painting" had just been published and because of Bob and Rosemary's recommendation I later read the book. (I wrote about it here.) I enjoyed the book so much that on our next trip to Rome Art and I did a mini Caravaggio tour.

So, throught two degrees of separation - Bob and Rosemary being one, and Bill and Suzy being the other - we'd once again proven that all expats in Italy are somehow connected to all other expats in Italy.

(Jonathan also wrote "A Civil Action" which was made into a film of the same name starring John Travolta and Robert Duvall. Jonathan's wife Diane is also an accomplished artist. You can view some of her work on her website, dianeharr.com.)

Zero50Dieci in San Venanzo

Zero50Dieci is a local group (05010 is our postal code), and they played at our truffle festa. I think the singer must be a different girl than we saw last summer - either that or she got a lot better. We were all a little surprise when the band did an Abba medley, a Queen medley, and an Elton John medley! There were a lot of other songs in Italian, and the music was so rockin' it didn't matter that we couldn't understand the words. Here's part of the Abba medley, and there are more videos on our OUR YouTube PAGE.

DINNER AT OLIVASTRELLA

You know how it is - you meet up with an old friend unexpectedly and when you part ways each of you says "let's get together and do something! I'll call you!".....and then nothing happens? I guess we're all so busy and it's hard to make the time, but sometimes all it takes is for one person to call, to set a specific date and suddenly you're having dinner with friends and having a great time!

That's how our dinner at OLIVASTRELLA happened. A few weeks ago at the festa in San Venanzo Janine was telling a group of us about the great meal they'd had at a local agriturismo, OLIVASTRELLA. Of course we all agreed that it sounded great and that we should get together for dinner to see (and taste!) for ourselves. But - had it not been for Janine, we'd still be waiting. Janine took the bull by the horns, emailed everyone to ask what days were good for them, settled on one day that was open for everyone, called Salvatore and made the reservation - DONE!!!

Here are a few pictures from our dinner at OLIVASTRELLA. ( You can read what I wrote last summer about Olivastrella HERE, and all the pictures are on our FLICKR PAGE.

WYNTON MARSALIS AT UMBRIA JAZZ

Last night we saw Wynton Marsalis in concert at UMBRIA JAZZ. After a very hot day, the evening cooled off nicely. Thanks to our friends Bill and Suzy we had fantastic seats, and the concert started almost on time! Needless to say the concert was fantastic - and here's a clip.....



On Friday, George Benson, and after UMBRIA JAZZ ends on Sunday, TRASIMENO BLUES , July 23rd through August 2nd! Umbria's a great place to be in the summer!

ARTTRAV - A VALUABLE RESOURCE

I’ve written about ARTTRAV before, but never properly introduced the site or it’s owner, Alexandra. ARTTRAV can be a valuable tool for those traveling to Italy as well as those of us who are fortunate enough to live here. Let’s face it: the amount of art and history within Italy is overwhelming, and the tons of guidebooks and online resources can be just as overwhelming.

Alexandra teaches art history and lives in Florence, and since 2004 has run the ARTTRAV site to help us find the best information on Rome and Florence quickly and easily. She decribes ARTTRAV as an

online “magazine where the layout encourages people to browse deeply as they would a "portal page" or news page by exploring the various categories like Rome or Florence, churches or museums, "fuori porta" which is basically anything beyond Florence, "conversations" or interviews with interesting people, etc”.

If you’re planning a trip to Rome or Florence then ARTTRAV is definitely a site worth checking out, and even if a trip to Italy isn’t in your near future, the ARTTRAV site might make you feel as if you’re in Italy, or at least have a better understanding of the art and history Italy has to offer!

BLOGGERS STRIKE!

This information was provided by AT HOME IN TUSCANY:


"On July 14, 2009, Italian bloggers will muzzle themselves in the Web as well as in Piazza Navona in Rome, at 7PM where they will meet to protest against an Italian government bill (the Alfano decree) introducing a number of new rules which will limit the freedom of expression in Italian internet.

The plurality of information, regardless of the media, internet, newspapers, radio and tv networks etc, is a fundamental right of men and citizens, on which democracy and freedom are based. The Alfano decree is an attack to the freedom of all media, from the major newspapers to the smallest blog.

For this reason we invite all Italian blogs and sites to a day of silence, in the day in which newspapers and tv networks will also remain silent. It is a message of all operators in the media world, who jointly shout to the political world: “we do not want to be gagged."

PASTA CON TARTUFO!

We discovered the reason for the mini-festa this weekend: the speech/presentation about tartufi that was given earlier in the evening was filmed for television! The show will air on Umbria TV, SKY (Italia) channel 943 on July 24th at 10 p.m., 25th at 11:30 p.m., and July 26 at 8:30 a.m.

Easting pasta with tartufi (truffles) in San Venanzo

LUNCH WITH BRAD AND PALMA!

Our SLOW TRAV friends Palma and Brad are back in Umbria! They've brought three other couples with them and are exploring some of the wonderful things that this region of Italy as to offer. Of course they've visited beautiful cities and seen ancient ruins, been amazed by artwork and crafts that are the same today as they were hundresd of years ago, and naturally, shopped 'til they dropped, but still this IS Italy, and it's all about the food!

Palma and Brad asked us to join them for lunch at L’Antico Forziere, a country inn and restaurant located not far from us, just outside of Deruta. We've driven by this place many times but somehow never stopped, so we were anxious to see what they had to offer. Seeing Brad and Palma again after two years would make the day even more special!

Every dish at L’Antico Forziere was beautifully presented, but in the end the food looked better than it tasted. My main course, pork, was cooked just right: tender, not tough, but there just wasn't much flavor to it. The dessert, a magical display of spun sugar clouds surrounding meringue and strawberries was amazingly beautiful, but I wish there had been more than just a few small pieces of strawberry! I think this restaurant has great potential, but the quality of the food has to come up a notch or two.

Below is a slideshow of the photos I took that day. Palma has more (and better) photos on HER BLOG, and if you want to see more of our photos the link to OUR FLICKR PAGE is always in the right hand column.

ANOTHER FESTA - AND ERIKA!

After our week long festa in San Venanzo we were surprised to see that another one was scheduled just a week later. This one was sponsored by one of the political parties, Partito Democratico. As usual the food specials for each day and the evening's entertainment were listed on the poster, and we were thrilled to see that The Erika Mastrini Band would be playing on Friday night! It was exactly one year to the day when we'd been at a party celebrating our friends Larry and Shelly's anniversary to the music of Erika and her band!

Here are two short videos from that night - and yes, they do love their line dances around here! More videos from Erika and other nights at the festaa are on OUR YouTube PAGE .


Erika Mastrinin Band



More line dancing

CIABATTA BREAD

The world gets smaller and smaller every day, and the expat world in Italy is no exception. We've met expats in Italy at the grocery, on the internet and through other expats. It's sort of like the seven degrees of separation: every one of our expat friends seems to be somehow connected to each other, and it's only a matter of time before we cross paths.

Our friend Kathy, who publishes DREAM OF ITALY, recently devoted an entire issue to Umbria. In this issue three fantastic villas are featured, one owned by our mutual friends Bill and Suzy Menard (you can read about their villa, La Fattoria del Gelso by clicking on the link). She also wrote about about two other beautiful vacation rentals, one between Perugia and Assisi called Le Vigne, and a third place not too far fromus,just outside of the tiny village (borgo?) of Piedicolle, Il Casale di Mele Rosse.

As I read about Il Casale di Mele Rosse and looked at the pictures I knew exactly where it was. I said to Art, "hey, remember those two identical houses that we watched being built just outside of Piedicolle - the houses that were built by the two best friends? " Of course he remembered, and then I told him that I thought this villa I was reading about was the same place.

After reading the site for Il Casale di Mele Rosse , I discovered a link to a blog called Italian Food Forever . It was written by Deborah Mele, who owns Il Casale de Mele Rosse along with her husband. Of course I couldn't resist reading the blog, and I found this great recipe for ciabatta! I have to admit that I did make a few changes: I used all all-purpose flour since I didn't have any bread flour. I guess I could buy bread flour from the bakery, but as I've writtne several times before, the flour here is a mystery to me, so I stick with flour "Americana", which is much more like American AP flour than the Italian "0" or "00". Those Italian flours just don't have enough gluten in them. In order to boost the AP flour I also added some vital gluten. Oh, and I have to confess that I didn't deflate the dough every 30 minutes during it's long rise - I might have deflated it 2 or 3 times. And I also added powdered nonfat milk in with the flour, in effect using milk instead of water. I think it helps the bread brown nicely.

Here's the recipe as I've written it out for my cookbook, but of course you can read Deborah's take on it on her blog, Italian Food Forever.



Ciabatta

1 Recipe Biga (made the day before -Recipe Below)
3 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
2 tsp Salt
1 ½ Cups Warm Water (You can substitute milk or buttermilk for all or part of the water)

Biga
1/4 Teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
1 Cup Warm Water (About 110º F)
1 1/3 cups Bread Flour
2/3 cup Unbleached All-purpose Flour

Sprinkle the yeast over the water in a large bowl enough and let sit 5 to 10 minutes. Add the flours and stir to combine. The dough may seem stiff, but will soften up as it sits. Cover the biga tightly with plastic wrap, and let it sit for 6 hours at room temperature. Stir it, and refrigerate it until the next day, or at least 12 hours.

To Make The Bread

Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Add the water and biga, and stir until the dough is mixed. It will be quite wet, and rough in texture. Turn the dough out onto a floured breadboard, and using as little flour as possible, knead for 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth. Keep the dough very loose and moist; it will firm up as it rises. Place the dough into a large greased bowl three times the size of the dough. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let sit in a warm spot for 2 - 3 hours, or until the dough has doubled, punching down and turning the dough every 30 minutes or so.

Divide the dough in two pieces and fold each into a rectangle. Stretch the rectangle until it is about 12 to 14 inches long. If you are using a baking stone, flour two kitchen towels, or bread peels with flour, and place the shaped loaves on them to rise. Cover loosely with towels. Preheat the oven (with stone) to 450º F. If using baking sheets, sprinkle them lightly with cornmeal. Place each prepared loaf onto a baking sheet, and cover lightly with a towel.

After 30-45 minutes, place the baking sheets into the hot oven, or move the loaves onto the hot baking stone. Place a pan of hot water at the bottom of the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, rotating the loaves once during this time, or until the dough is a dark golden brown all over. Remove and let cool on a wire rack.

We hope to meet Deborah and her husband sometime this summer, and I'll bet we share a few recipes when we get together!

PAVAROTTI

Just because I love Pavarotti - and this one is spectacular.....

From La Boheme (Puccini), "Che Gelida Manina"

ZUCCHINI! ZUCCHINI!! ZUCCHINI!!!

Yep, it's that time of year again - the time when many people are saying to themselves "Why did I plant so much zucchini??!! What was I thinking?" As we all know, once the zucchini starts to ripen there's just no stopping it, and even a small garden can produce more zucchini than friends and neighbors can eat. Eventually you just give up after cooking zucchini every possible way you know how. The freezer will be full of zucchini bread and bags of grated zucchini, just in case you need to make MORE zucchini in the middle of winter (doubtful).

As usual I'm probably the last one to come across this deliciously different way of using some of that zucchini - in a chocolate cake! I made this recipe below for our 4th of July celebration with friends and it seemed to be a big hit. I was pleased with how it turned out as well, which is equally important - if a recipe is too complicated or just doesn't deliver, I toss it immediately. This recipe's a keeper! I think you could just as easily bake it in a bundt pan or a 13" X 9" pan, or even in several smaller containers (mini bread pans?).


Chocolate & Zucchini Cake Serves 10


2 Cups/240 g all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Cup (110 g) butter, softened
1 Cup (160 g) light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp instant coffee granules (the stronger the better)
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 Cups zucchini, unpeeled, grated (about 280 g, two medium)
1 Cup (170 g) chocolate chips

Topping
40 g light brown sugar
1/2 C (70 g) hazelnuts, toasted and chopped


Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 3 quart (3 L) springform cake pan, and flour it or sprinkle with cocoa powder; this is to help the cake unmold easily, especially if you're not using a non-stick pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In your food processor, combine the sugar and butter, and mix until fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract and espresso powder, then the eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition.

Spoon in the flour mixture, reserving the last half-cup of it. Mix thoroughly, the batter will be thick.

Add the grated zucchini and the chocolate chips to the reserved flour mixture, and toss to coat. Fold in the batter, and blend thoroughly. Pour into the prepared cake pan, and flatten the surface with a spatula.

In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients, and sprinkle all over the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Turn out on a rack to cool for half an hour, then unmold.

I have to confess that I didn't use chocolate chips - they're too precious a commodity here, so I just broke up a semi-sweet bar of chocolate.

HAPPY 4TH!

Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone is enjoying a nice long weekend and maybe having a cookout. We'll be joining our friends Larry and Shelly for their annual 4th of July picnic - I'm bringing the dessert - brownies and a chocolate cake made with zucchini! Be safe with the fireworks!

A SLIDESHOW OF OUR HOUSE FOR SALE IN ITALY

LT DAN CHOI NEEDS YOUR HELP AGAIN!

On Tuesday, a military board told Lt. Dan Choi -- an Iraq War veteran and Arabic linguist -- that it was recommending his discharge from the Army for "moral and professional dereliction" under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Despite this setback, Lt. Choi is not giving up. Dan is taking his fight to repeal the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy to Congress and he needs your help as soon as possible.

I just signed the letter below to Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Lt. Choi is going to personally deliver to her. The letter is being launched on Lt. Choi's behalf by the Courage Campaign, Knights Out and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

We need Speaker Pelosi to take leadership now and speak out publicly
in favor of current legislation in Congress that would repeal the
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Will you join me in signing Lt. Choi's letter and urge your friends
to do the same? Just click on the link below to add your name:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/RepealDADT

CHOCOLATE IN CORTONA

Yesterday's post featured a short video by ARTTRAV.COM. This site helps the traveler learn more about the art and history in and around Florence and Rome. While wandering around on the site I was naturally drawn to the mention of chocolate. Apparently there's a fantastic chocolate shop in Cortona called COCOA. I wish I'd known about this place when we were in Cortona earlier this month, but I have a sneaking feeling that a trip back to Cortona might be in our future!

If your travel plans include Cortona, you might want to check out COCOA!