When I started the blog five years ago, I didn't really know what to expect. I had so many thoughts, so many stories, so many experiences, and it seemed nice to share them. Over time, many collaborators have joined, some with their advice, thoughts, experiences and stories. Others with a culinary contribution, still others with … Continua a leggere “Five Years Ago…”
Tag: books
Classics: “The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”
But is it really that simple?
Is the good / bad distinction really that clear?And does a good action make a person a good one?
And a bad act, does it inevitably make that individual evil?I disagree. I think that even in the kindest of human beings there is an ounce of badness and that even in the most dangerous of villains, there is a hint of goodness.
“I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both.”[1]
We all have a dual nature within. A more animalistic, instinctive, ferocious, irrational part; gift of our ancestors, of our evolution. It is a trained part, more docile, rational, civilized; skill of progress and self-proclaimed social-animal.
Usually the two parties coexist peacefully, and depending on the needs one or the other prevails. Always moderate. Always interconnected.
It happens sometimes, however, that due to the mysterious effects of our human chemistry, of occasions, of chance, one of the two comes to the surface more than the other. Overpoweringly it looks out and invades the other without any limitation.
If what we call “the good side” takes…
View original post 871 altre parole
“A Long Summer with « My Brilliant Friend» “
Summer is still far away, although the first days of intense heat are coming – even if go together with three or four days of rain and cold. – But, by booking now, perhaps, a trip to the Sorrento’s coast will not cost you a fortune.
There is something magical in the scent of lemons at sunset.
Have you ever been to Sorrento in July? with the scent of lemon that spreads everywhere, it mixes with the sea, with fish, with the fried food of street vendors, with freshly baked biscuits.
Have you ever been on one of the wonderful terraces looking at the Golfo, sipping limoncello * and enjoying mozzarella in carrozza[1] or other specialties?
No?
What are you waiting for?
Life is one and some whim must be satisfied!
Summer is still far away, although the first days of intense heat are coming – even if go together with three or four days of rain and cold. – But, by booking now, perhaps, a trip to the Sorrento’s coast will not cost you a fortune.
There is something magical in the scent of lemons at sunset.
Or maybe it’s simply the idea of a holiday, of relaxation, which I don’t see on the horizon…
View original post 849 altre parole
Classics: “Pride & Prejudice”
Austen is considered one of the first to tell about the condition of women and the difficulties she encounters in wanting to be free from the usual patterns, the first to incriminate the fact that knowledge was exclusively male prerogative and how marriage was the only beach assigned to women to have respect and a certain self-sufficiency.
“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”[1]
I have never been a big fan of love stories, but when, for school reasons, I had to read “Pride & Prejudice”, I changed my mind, not all the “pink” genre is to be discarded. There are stories that go far beyond simple sentimentality, that get inside, that transmit us so much that we want to reread them.
And so, it was with Austen’s novel, which I reread over and over until I could almost recite it from memory. Love stories are usually almost always the afflictions of little girls, attempts at emotional pornography when compared to the social anthropology that Austen develops novel after novel.
For two hundred years…
View original post 486 altre parole
“The Fitzek’s Therapy (with Chocolate)”
if you want a relaxing and sweet novel, you can stop reading this post, because Therapy is exactly the opposite, it is one of those books that insinuate themselves in the mind even during the day, and that start to show you strange things.
Maybe I loved it because of this (in)natural skill to make itself real despite the plot was going to complicate more and more towards the unreal.
My friends and I for some years have got into the habit of making a “wish list” for the birthday and for Christmas, in order to be sure to make and receive only what we like, but above all to not collect spares.
In my 2016 list there was a book that I am very, very happy to have received: “Therapy” by Sebastian Fitzek.
I’m only asking for five minutes and then you can tell me to my face.’
‘Tell you what?’
‘Whether or not you’re interested in my case.’
‘I don’t have time for patients,’ he said weakly. ‘Please, just go.’
‘I will go, I promise, but I want you to hear my story. It’ll only take five minutes, and you won’t regret a single second.’[1]
I immediately felt attracted by the title, having always been interested in psycho-thrillers and having been in abstinence from the…
View original post 784 altre parole
“A Soundrack for llaF”
In that library I found a book that still remains one of the most poetic I have read, sitting on the big carpet eating strawberries out of season, I found myself in Vienna, between violins and loves, between music and passion
STRAWBERRIES WITH CREAM CORRECT WITH BELLINI
(the recipe is mine)
Ingredients (4 – 5 people):
– strawberries, g 600
-sugar, 60 g
– lemon, 1/2 (the juice)
-liquor, 1 small glass (of the type you prefer)
– fresh whipping cream, 300 ml
– icing sugar, g 40
– 120 ml of peach juice
– 4 glasses of prosecco
Preparation
Quickly wash the strawberries under running water and put them to drain. We remove the stem and cut the strawberries into small pieces.
We put the strawberries in a container, preferably glass, add the sugar, the juice of 1/2 lemon and the liqueur
We mix very gently, then cover the container with a lid or kitchen cling film. We put the strawberries in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
We take 120 ml of peach juice and mix them with the prosecco, then set aside in a cool place.
We…
View original post 513 altre parole
“Bonjour les &nfants”
I was attracted by the plot: a mix of psychological thriller and romantic romance, and I must say that, unlike the birthplace, the author did not fail my expectations!
**https://youtu.be/CAMWdvo71ls?list=PLEuPJYtHKcIEfT0zUr8ceTxnr5by0zDdi
<< A little girl had died in terrible circumstances. Without anyone hearing her, she had walked several flights of stairs, she opened doors, a window…. The omission of control was obvious. >>[1]
When I was a child, I was incredibly fascinated by France, I don’t know why, but I was almost obsessed with it, I often dreamed of going for a walk in the vineyards, to walk through the Champs Elise’s, to paint on the river, and to taste the fine French cheeses.
When I finally flew to Paris at 13, I have to say I was a bit disappointed, maybe the expectations were too high, or I was unlucky, because I met a lot of rude people, I found bad food and very cold and rainy weather despite it being late July.
In any case, with the cheese and wines excluded, the passion and charm…
View original post 585 altre parole
“Skipped Christmas with Cookies and Margarita”
“Skipping Christmas” is one of those novels that you read laughing and with absolute joviality, but which at the same time glees you with its harsh criticism, far from veiled, towards the hypocrisy and intransigence without limits of the middleclass, mostly conformist.
When I watch the TV series set in warm places like Australia or California and I find the Christmas episode, I get a great envy. I can’t tolerate the cold, and as much as I like the snow, hot chocolate and the front of the fireplace, I would exchange all this immediately and without regret for a fine sand beach, a margarita[1], a good book and the salt water of the ocean on the suntanned skin.
“No, it’s wonderful. And it’s just for one year. Let’s take a break. Blair’s not here. she’ll be back next year and we can jump back into the Christmas chaos, if that’s what you want. Come on, Nora, please. We skip Christmas, save the money, and go splash in the Caribbean for ten days.”[2]
So far, however, the dream of going to celebrate Christmas by the sea is just a dream…
View original post 799 altre parole