I Am a Computer Techie - Repairing My Palm Pilot

I have a new best friend.  His name is Shawn and he lives somewhere in cyberspace.  Today I spent 50 minutes engaged in profound conversation with him and at the end of it all, I had the greatest sense of accomplishment.  Life is good!
In reality, Shawn is a chat technical support person employed by Palm, the maker of my T/X Palm Pilot.  A few days ago as I was activating the sync process to update the data from my handheld PDA (personal data assistant) to the backup file on my computer,  the application crashed and wiped out much of the information on my computer.  The Palm Pilot is my lifeline to my world.  It holds my entire life...my calendar, my addresses and phone numbers, my memos of important information.  I have been told that PDAs are obsolete, like beta and VHS cassette tapes and rotary dial phones, having been replaced with newer, smarter technology. But mine is still essential to me and I needed help!  By going to the Palm website, searching for their product support section, and activating the Chat support, I connected with Shawn.
Bottom line, my PDA is fixed, all done via a chat screen with Shawn giving me step by step instructions, accessing my desktop with my permission, using a red marker to indicate what I was to click and push and open, sending me a small repair application to debug my device and finally restoring all my old information.  It felt like magic and as I followed his prompts I was in a state of awe that all of this was even possible.

However, along with the sense of elation that comes with success, I am also left with a sense of anxiety as I realize how dependent I have become on electronic devices.  These tools are marvelous and I love them...the Palm, the cell phone, the computer, email, the Netbook, the Kindle.  They enrich and, in some ways, simplify my life.  Yet, I have become dependent on their availability and function.  My recipes...on my computer.  My letters...on my computer.  My maps...on my computer.  My checkbook...on my computer.  This has familiar ring to it..."all my eggs in one basket!"   While I am pondering this predicament,  I think it would be wise to print out hardcopy of all my information and then back everything up to my external harddrive.  Was life simpler and calmer with stone and chisel?

I Am a Blogger - Joining the "Italy in Books" Challenge

When I began writing my blog in August, I was using it as a selfish gift to myself, a mechanism to capture various events and activities that add the seasoning to my life and to create a discipline that would result in writing more regularly. As with any new interest that I begin I have discovered that there is more to blogging than that and as I have ventured forth I've discovered a "blogging underground" with dedicated, interesting, like-minded people who connect regularly, following each other's posts, sharing ideas, comments, encouragement, and in doing so creating a virtual community.  One way they do this is by joining various "challenges" where they commit to linking together and sharing regular posts on a specific topic.

Since I love to read and I love Italy and I love to write I decided to try one and will be participating in the "Italy in Books" challenge.  I will commit to read 12 books during the year, fiction or non-fiction, that are set in Italy and then post a review of the book. This challenge is being "hosted" by Brighton Blogger, on her Book After Book reading blog.  It is open to anyone...blogger or non-blogger, and the information is located here.

My shelves of books on Italy!

I have four shelves of a bookcase filled with books, already read or to-be-read, that are either set in or about Italy.  To read one book a month  for the coming year...now that is a New Year's Resolution I will thoroughly enjoy!

I Am a Pilgrim - The Annual Pilgrimage to Claro's Italian Market

All Italian-American children who grew up in the 50's can close their eyes and be transported to the Italian Deli where their parents purchased imported Italian meats, cheese, pasta, pastries to grace their tables on special days.  I can remember the one my dad used to go to, Ciconi's, a little red brick building on the corner of a street on the south side of Kent, Ohio. The owner was actually a distant cousin and it felt friendly when we entered but I didn't really like it.  It was small, crowded with items piled haphazardly.  It was dark because there were few windows and the ones they had were very high above the shelving.  It was smelly because it had cheeses and salamis hanging from the ceilings.  And it had sawdust on the floors that stuck to my shoes. But in we went and my dad would gather all the items on his list and then pile them into the car like treasures.

Years have passed and I now live in Southern California...where dining and shopping for food items has reached a state of glamour.  There is a Bristol Farms and a Whole Foods (or whole paycheck as some call it) within a stone's throw from my house.  But when the holidays approach and I begin to compile my shopping list, I tell my husband we must make THE trip, about 50 minutes to the east of us to San Gabriel, CA to purchase the Italian items I need for Christmas Eve.  "What is wrong with Bay Cities Market in Santa Monica?," he asks me, "It's Italian."  My eyes roll and I try not to sound patronizing as I reply ..."their meats are Boar's Head...that is NOT Italian."  So, this morning we climbed into our car...despite the fact that it was pouring rain and had dropped over 3 inches on the southland in the last 24 hours...and headed east to my mecca...Claro's Italian Market.

Claro's Market, Valley Blvd., San Gabriel, CA

To give you an idea of why Claro's meets my standards for authentic Italian, look at the floor that greets me as I push open the door....SAWDUST!

I walk slowly up and down the aisles like a child in a candy store, trying to restrain myself from impulse purchases.  My sense are overwhelmed with the smells from the meats and cheeses and the sounds as workers and regular customers shout out to each other and Italian Christmas music plays in the background.

An old (older than I) Italian woman stands at the meat counter insisting that the young man serving her, cut her cappacolo thinner so she can practically read the newspaper through it.

The main item we cannot leave without is the homemade Italian Sausage.  Sausage with Peppers and Onions is a requirement on our Family Christmas Eve Menu.

Jay is eyeing the canned Scungelli (conch) hoping for a seafood salad.  I am asking if they have any fresh or salted sardines and the clerk yells out across the store, "Hey, Frank, we got any sardines??"

When all the items are selected, we join the line of customers waiting to reach the cash register

...our total $111.33...and that is without any wine!  What did I buy?
10 pounds of sausage (5 sweet and 5 hot)
3 pounds of ricotta
a chunk of imported Pecorino Romano cheese
a slice of Ricotta Salata cheese to grate on pasta
three packages of imported pasta (one of Gabriel's new favorite...cavatappi)
a deli container of dried black olives (prepared on the premises)
a deli container of cracked Sicilian green olives (prepared on the premises)
a deli container of salted anchovies
a quart of Spumoni Ice Cream
1/2 pound of sliced cappacolo ham (imported...NOT Boar's Head)
1/2 pound of imported pancetta (Italian bacon)
1 package of imported Torrone candy
1 stick of imported pepperoni
1 can of Scungelli (yes, he will have his seafood salad)
2 ounces of anise oil...not extract!
bread
and....oh, yes, as we hand the checker an empty wrapper, $3.99 for the Italian sandwich Jay already ate while we were shopping.

Authentic Italian Delis are becoming rare in our world.  I am grateful that there is still a Claro's Italian Market, even if it means a long drive to get there.  The pilgrimage is half the fun!

I Am an Heir - My Family Inheritance

Families have been known to come to blows over the family inheritance and who inherits what.  "I get the ruby pendant," "I get grandmother's silver," "I get Dad's gold ring."  Well my family's last name is Rinaldi, not Rockefeller and the items bequeathed to us are of a much simpler nature.  We don't necessarily have to wait for a reading of the will because some items are gradually being passed on to the recipients as my mother feels inclined to do so.  On various past Christmas eves she has given her children her wedding crystal and her china tea cups.  At a family gathering a few summers ago, she gave her 2 granddaughters each a ring that my father had given to her.  Each item was always been received with gladness and appreciated for the sentimental value more than the monetary value.  Today I became an heir.  I received something I have always wanted as my own...something that I have been telling her for years that I want handed down to me.  "Please, please, please," I have begged.  And it happened...today I received...the cannoli sticks.

Cannoli are a traditional Sicilian dessert, prepared and served at all holidays and special occasions.

Every good Sicilian woman knows how to make them from scratch and every good Sicilian woman has her own set of cannoli sticks. When my mother was a young bride her father, Sebastiano, made her a set of cannoli sticks.  He took a broomstick, cut it into 6 inch lengths, sanded them, oiled them and baked them in the oven to season them.  Every year, for over 60 years, my mother has used them to make her own cannoli shells and over the years their constant use in hot oil has refined them so that they are now worth their weight in gold.  Modern women purchase aluminum sticks from a specialty cookware shop or even Amazon.com  and I suppose they work very well but for me, my treasures are the wooden sticks.

For the past few years I have gone to my mother's kitchen before Christmas and together we have made the cannoli shells.  It takes an afternoon, she making the dough, rolling it out, wrapping it around the sticks, using egg white to attach the two ends.

I am at the stove, dropping the shells in the hot oil and frying them until they are golden.

As we work, we talk, we remember, we laugh.  She tells me what to remember about the recipe...to keep the dough thin so the shells will be light and crisp.  To not get the oil too hot or they will not be cooked on the inside.  To gently tap the one stick with another to loosen the fried shell.  This year, her 94th Christmas, she has decided that while she will still bake her two types of biscotti, maybe the Reeses Peanut Butter Balls, and her meatballs and sauce, she will not make the cannoli shells.  When I offered to make them at my home, she got the sticks down from the cupboard and she said..."You might as well keep them at your house.  They are going to you anyway!" 

So, now I have the cannoli sticks, my legacy from my mother.  My heart is full and I treasure the gift...but it is a bittersweet gift because it represents a passing on of a tradition, from her kitchen to mine. 

2006 - The cannoli shells

Thank you, Mom!

I Am a Knitter - The Baby Surprise Jacket

My maternal grandmother first put a crochet hook in my hand around the age of 9 and taught me to crochet edging on a handkerchief.  Crocheting is a craft that Italian woman have handed down to daughters and granddaughters for generations. 

Sicilian women - photo by Jann Huizenga

Never having idle hands, they would gather together in courtyards and around kitchen tables, fingers flying as they crafted edges for pillowcases, doilies for furniture and even potholders, while they talked. My hope chest and those of my cousins were filled with these items. While I knew how, I didn't use the skill until I was older, but the appreciation of doing something useful with my hands and creating something unique was within me.

When I was expecting my first child, two dear friends taught me the basics of knitting.  I began to make what seemed to me to be more practical items such as sweaters, scarves, and afghans for my sons and other family members.

Grandson Nikolas - age 4

Over the years I have continued to find comfort, meditation, relaxation and accomplishment in knitting.

I recall a time when my young son was watching me knit and finally said..."Gosh Mom, you are making that out of a just a string!"  And it is true...a ball of yarn, a ball of string, a couple of needles and a pattern and the result can be a work of art.

Since we began using a DVR, enabling us to record TV shows to watch at a later time, our television watching has changed and increased.  To keep my hands busy so they aren't reaching for chips I like to have a knitting project at hand.  My friend, Monika, introduced me to the most clever pattern I have ever worked.  It is called the Baby Surprise Jacket and was designed by knitting guru, Elizabeth Zimmermann.  It is available from Schoolhouse Press or possibly a local yarn shop.  The pattern is worked all in one piece so there are no separate fronts, back and sleeves.

When it is finished, you just fold it in a unique manner and voila! you have a sweater that only needs the stitching of the shoulder to be complete.

Once the seams are sewn, add buttons, maybe an edging or a collar and it is done!

Once I mastered the pattern, it became a mindless task and I am able to complete one very quickly.  As with every new interest, once it hit my radar screen, I discovered a veritable underground of Baby Surprise Jacket knitters throughout the world who communicate through discussion lists, youtube videos, knitting websites like Ravelry.com and forums...all sharing their ideas for this pattern.

One problem I have is that in this chapter of my life, I know very few people who are expecting babies or have little ones who could use a sweater.  So, I knit for charity and donate my sweaters to various groups that give the items to mothers in need.  This latest one is going to my cousin, Dee, in Ohio who participates in such an organization.  What I love most is that as I am knitting any item, I am thinking of the recipient, so my thoughts, hopes and dreams for them, my love of them gets entwined in the stitches and becomes more than just a garment but a gift of self and a connection to a heart that I value!

I Am a Chef - Grazia's Sicilian Lasagna

In 1998 Jay fulfilled one of my greatest hopes...he took me to Sicily, birthplace of my maternal grandparents and I left a piece of my heart there.  Over the years we returned 4 times, connecting with distant cousins, visiting various locations and learning the history. I have walked the same streets as my Grandmother in Cefalù

Cefalù

and my grandfather in Ferla.

Ferla 2004

In Sicily everything is "more!"  The vistas are more lovely, the people are more authentic, the flavors are more intense, the aromas are more pungent.  So, on one visit when a "prima cugina" of my mother, Grazia, invited us to have pranzo with her family and I bit into her lasagna, I was blown away by how delicious it was.  I had never had a lasagna like this and when I got my hands on a piece of paper, I attempted to write down the ingredients I could remember: noodles, soft cheese (maybe a mozzarella?), thin meat (maybe prosciutto?), hard boiled eggs, peas, bechamel sauce, broken up tomato, greens.  When I returned home, I decided that before I made it I would send her an email through her son and ask for her recipe.  So, in my faltering Italian I explained the items I remembered and asked if he could send me his mother's recipe.  He wrote back.  Put this: noodles, soft cheese (maybe a mozzarella?), thin meat (maybe prosciutto?), hard boiled eggs, peas, bechamel sauce, broken up tomato, greens.

Lesson number one...Sicilian cooks do not write out exact measurements.  In fact in some old cookbooks I have seen an ingredient written like this:  grated cheese q.b.  I hunted furiously to find the meaning of the abbreviation "q.b."...it means "quanto basta" which translates to mean..."when it is enough."  Cooking is done by feel and by the collective memory of a people or a family.

Sicilian Lasagna

So I have continued to prepare this recipe from my memory of our pranza which means each time it is a little different but each time it is savored and enjoyed by anyone who eats it.
Here is my recipe:

Grazia's Sicilian Lasagna
1 package of no boil noodles (I get mine from Trader Joe's)
4 cups of prepared bechamel sauce
prosciutto q.b. - thinly sliced and torn into small pieces.
1 pound of mozzarella cheese shredded
frozen peas q.b. (usually about 1 1/2 cups thawed)
4 hardboiled eggs, thinly sliced
some frozen chopped spinach q.b. (maybe 1 1/2 cups)
1 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes drained
grated cheese q.b. (like Romano, Pecorino, Parmagiano)
salt and pepper
butter

Now you just layer everything, beginning with a thin film of bechamel sauce ladled over a buttered 9 X 13 baking pan. then...
layers of noodles with the various ingredients putting them in any order you want.  I usually do a layer of prosciutto, eggs and peas, followed by a layer of spinach and tomatoes, followed by another layer of prosciutto, eggs and peas etc. making at least 4 layers. 
Each layer is covered generously with bechamel sauce because the noodles will absorb the liquid, and has some shredded mozzarella on it to help it all stick together. Season the layers as you go.
End with a last layer of noodles, cover with bechamel sauce, sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmagiano cheese and dot with butter.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the lasagna is cooked though and is bubbling and golden.
Let it sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.

This is a very forgiving recipe.  You can really layer anything you want in it.  I have used roasted red peppers, basil leaves, sauteed mushrooms, added some pesto the bechamel sauce.  It is always wonderful, light and tasty.

Grazie, Grazia!

I Am A Student - Participating in Lifelong Learning

Whenever we receive applications and forms to complete, I always pause at the field marked: occupation.  Most of the time I comply with the expected..."retired."  But occasionally I write in "student."

In 2000 when Jay and I retired, we had T-shirts made that said, "Not Retirement...Re-Creation" and that was our mantra as we set out in this new chapter of our life..to explore, learn, grow in areas that had been left untapped or put on the back burner during our working years.

Retirement T-shirt

One of the first avenues we found to aid us in our quest was a Learning-in-Retirement organization called Omnilore.  There are many types of lifelong learning programs, usually under the auspices of a local college or university, but we found Omnilore to be unique in that it uses an active learning format.  The members run the show...creating their own curriculum that is offered three times a year. At this time, members sign up for the course of study that interests them and they are put into Study/Discussion Groups of 8 to16 people.  OK...so what is unique about that you might ask?  Well, the members are both the students and the teachers.  Each member selects a topic related to the group's subject to be studied and then does extensive research on the topic and, at an assigned class, teaches what has been learned during the research to the rest of the class members.

We recently received our class assignments for the upcoming Spring Trimester.  I am taking two classes this time: one class will study the Cuisine of the Mediterranean, using food historian, Clifford Wright's, book and the other will study a collection of short stories written by Californian authors about the state of California.  I already have a stack of research books to begin working on my chosen topic for the first class..."The History of the People and the Cuisine of the Island of Sicily."  50% of my Italian heritage springs from Sicily and I am drawn to its story like a duck to water.  I have been pouring through fascinating books, calling out to Jay various factoids as I read them, like..."Did you know there were over 19 occupations of Sicily by various cultures?" ...a people always occupied but never conquered!  or "Did you know that it was the Arabs who brought sugar cane and sweets to Sicily?"...ah, cassata, gelato, cannoli!

So it has been 10 years, 30 trimesters, approximately 60 courses and research projects.  I have learned about Impressionist Painting, Bach, The Italian Renaissance, Islam, the countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, and India, Immigration, the Genome, Globalization, the Food Industry, Jazz, Ethics, Energy to name a few.  Can't you just imagine what a conversationalist I am at a social gathering!!  In the process I have stayed informed about the world and discovered new interests that never hit my radar screen before.  Jay and I love learning and we love teaching.  We have gone from using little index cards with our notes to full-blown PowerPoint Presentations as we share our research.  If the current research on the brain is correct, then hopefully I am giving my gray matter a work out...developing new connections, synapses.  There is a whole world out there.  There is so much to learn and explore.  Who ever said retirement was boring?