Lifestyle – Page 19

Philadelphia Fiori

Posted March 7, 2009 by Sharon 4 Comments

cherub Just got back from a whirlwind trip to “Bella Italia,” the 2009 Philadelphia Flower Show produced by The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The show, which runs through Sunday, March 8, supports the many greening programs of the Society.

neptune

Stepping through the main doors, I felt like Dorothy when she was transported from drab Kansas to Technicolor Oz.

A massive fantasy rendition of an ancient Roman garden, created by J. Cugliotta Landscape Nursery, brimmed with roses, ageratum, delphinium, wisteria, pink marble walls, imperial columns, statuary and reflecting pools, crowned with a stage where acts from opera singers to Italian folk musicians perform.

Wow, and that’s just the grand entrance.

[Read more…]

Wine Not?

Posted February 24, 2009 by Walter 5 Comments

Sharon and I will be opening a 1999 Tenimenti Angelini Brunello di Montalcino. My favorite wine opening gizmo? The classic waiter's corkscrew.

By Walter Sanders

I’ve never met Dorothy J. Gaiter or John Brecher, the informed and entertaining proprietors of the “Tastings” column in The Wall Street Journal, but I’ve heard them on NPR and have been reading their column for a long time. They are smart, real, and fun-loving in their approach to wine.

They created the “Open That Bottle Night” concept 10 years ago … and what a wonderful concept it is. It grew as a response to the most common question they receive from people who are saving a bottle of wine for a special occasion. “When is the bottle ready to drink?”

Their answer is perfect. “You know that bottle of wine you’ve been keeping around for that special occasion that never arrives or because the wine is always going to be better tomorrow? Open that bottle!”

OTBN is celebrated on the last Saturday in February … so this year, the 28^th. What a perfect time of year to invite friends over for a wonderful dinner and share the wine you’ve been saving. And while you’re at it, propose a toast to Dottie and John for helping you open that bottle.

You can watch Dottie and John talk about Open That Bottle Night at www.WSJ.com/Tastings

Speaking of opening that bottle, tell me what kind of corkscrew, equipment or gizmo you prefer to get the job done.

Remembering Amarcord

Posted February 13, 2009 by Walter 2 Comments

By Walter Sanders

Maybe the greatest cinematic love letter ever filmed, Federico Fellini’s 1973 Amarcord is a special treat on Valentine’s Day.

amacord It’s a multi-layered, lasagna-like love story-a good looking taste treat of Fellini’s remembrances of growing up in Rimini. Through the eyes of his alter-ego teen character Titta Biondi, Fellini tracks a year (from spring to spring) in pre-WW II Fascist Italy.

Amarcord, dialect for “I remember,” is about his love of youth, his love of the seasons passing, his love of women, his love of political folly, his love of the foibles of love, his love of Rimini, and his love of being in love, his love of memory and how it expands some images…and laughs at others.

The characters are lush and over the top. Zio Teo, the crazy uncle, sprung from the asylum for a family picnic, climbs a tree and howls for hours like a horny wolf “Voglio una donna!” (I want a woman.) [Read more…]

Bitter. . .Sweet. . .Love

Posted February 12, 2009 by Sharon Leave a Comment

Italian Paolo Conte composes love songs for grownups.

Italians can seem jaded about the idyllic promise of romantic love. And who can blame them? They’ve been at the dating game for thousands of years longer than we have. As a culture they’ve known youthful passion, mature affection, illicit sensuality and unrequited love—over, and over, and over again. Millennia are just a long time to keep chasing “happily ever after.”

Paolo Conte, the idiosyncratic Italian singer-songwriter, set me pondering love in all of its complexity. The other night as I listened to Gelato al Limon, one of his early hits, I felt compelled to pick up the liner notes and read the lyrics, poetry really.

In his rough baritone, accompanying himself on jazz piano, Conte brilliantly uses the metaphor of gelato al limon, tart-sweet lemon ice cream, to represent bittersweet love, the passing of time, the loss of youth and fleeting pleasures.

“A lemon ice cream. It’s real lemon—do you like it? Another summer’s bound to end.”

We fear that the guy in the song has just given up. . .he sings of “the sensuality of desperate lives,” and “woman just entering my life. . . don’t be afraid that it may already be over.”

Ah, but then a sanguine saxophone wells up behind the piano and the mood changes. He lets us know, with humor, that he’s still up for the game. . . “This man can still give you much more. E un gelato al limon, gelato al limon. Gelato al limon.”

best-of-paoloconte For a more complete introduction to the musical genius of Conte, check out the 1998 compilation CD The Best of Paolo Conte (Nonesuch)

Also, a very good fan site is at Paolo Conte online.

Say Ciao to Your Inner Italian

Posted December 4, 2008 by Sharon 3 Comments

Dolce fa niente…it’s sweet to do nothing.

Envying the simple, yet rich, life in Italy is nothing new. Shakespeare, who understood that location is the thing, set All’s Well That Ends Well, Much Ado About Nothing and many of his plays in this luminous land.

Five hundred years later, the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” defined the dream for millions in the new millennium. The adaptation of American Frances Mayes’ best-selling memoir begat caravans of tour buses chugging up and down Tuscan hills. The pilgrims fantasize about life in Cortona, Montepulciano, or San Gimignano populated with flirtatious dark-eyed shopkeepers, sunflowers by the armload, and languid afternoons at a caffè. There are no sick kids, overdue bills, cold rainy days, PMS, or arguments with your partner.

The allure of this ideal is quite simply irresistible-even to natives. My Roman friend Anna, who comes from an aristocratic family in Emilia-Romagna (and, from my perspective, has a pretty enviable life) was even given a translated copy of Under the Tuscan Sun by her mother!

The bad news about this fantasia all’italiana is that few Americans, Italians, or anybody else for that matter, can afford an ancient stone house like Bramasole. Fixer-uppers start at three-quarters of a million dollars. The good news is that imaginary Italian real estate is free. [Read more…]