scattered thoughts and recipes for pasta

hello dears,
many threads running through the tapestry in my head right now. i just finished packing, as i am leaving Badia Petroia for the rest of the summer. i will be moving back to Castiglion Fiorentino, which i can't deny being really, really happy about. my new address will be:

Vanessa Peters c/o Amanda Ross Versari
Via San Michele 44
Castiglion Fiorentino
52043 (AR) ITALIA

My cell phone, should you need me, is: (0039) 3387626613. A good dialaround is 10-16-868.

Okay, onto other things. Band practice has been going phenomenally well. These guys are great fun and very talented and I wish you could all be here for our debut show! I hope we can record it, or at least part of it. We have a very rockin' version of "the maybe love song" that I would love to preserve, if for no other reason than to satiate those of you that keep begging for a recording of that one.

Conversation at the grocery store (an actual grocery store, not a local shop) the other day led to a discussion on globalism, the environment, and tourism. It all stemmed from seeing a bin of avocados, which are not grown in Italy but shipped over from California. I heard this really fascinating program on NPR before I left about how the shipping of food (and free trade) is destroying the enviroment, raising the cost of fuel, and forces the government to spend enormous sums in subsidizing their own farmers because every one buys food from out of state or out of the country. I was telling my friend Britt about that story and it led to another discussion about travelling versus tourism. She went to a lecture at Santa Chiara last spring about tourism and the detrimental effect it has on the environment and, in general, the sense of a place (see my entry regarding Firenze). People spend billions of dollars a year to fly across oceans, drive through cities never meant to contain cars, pull up in front of a cathedral, pose in front of it...and drive off. Tourism has so taken over certain places of the world that the language is being lost (again, see my entry regarding Firenze, which is actually the city the speaker was referring to). Few people visit a place for more than a day, and so they never allow more than surface absorption of the sights, sounds, smells...and besides, on any given day in Firenze, you are absorbing the sights and sounds of your fellow Americans (or Japanese, or British, or whatever). It is rare to find a traveller anymore; everyone is a tourist. The smog and smudge left behind by the SUVs rented and driven through the streets of any medieval town is enough to undo the sanity of its residents and to undo years of restoration work on the facades of the churches and chapels. It is remarkable.

So is "Bowling for Columbine." I saw it for the first time yesterday; very interesting and thought-provoking film, as is the book I am reading, also by Michael Moore, called "Stupid White Men." I highly recommend reading and watching them both.

Anyhow. I keep threatening to post about the new album and about the fall tour but I just haven't had the time to really gather my thoughts (hence today's title and the random nature of this entry). I will do that soon.

First though - I had to make lunch yesterday with what was at hand, and it was delicious and mind-numbingly simple. Try your hand at it when you have ten minutes to spare.
baci,
vanessa

Pasta d'Estate (summer pasta)

Put some water on to boil. Make sure to throw in a liberal dose of salt. While the water is boiling, take a decent-sized handful of cherry tomatoes (pomodorini). Quarter them and throw them into a pan with 2 cloves of garlic, chopped or whole (if you want to take them out later; I always leave mine in). Turn the heat to medium high and add olive oil (good, good, good olive oil). Sprinkle salt (sea salt if possible) on top and a few cranks from the pepper mill. While those are heating, take about 1/5 of a yellow pepper and dice it. Throw that in as well. Find some basil, if available, mince it, and toss it in as well. While the pasta is cooking, you can lightly mash the tomato/pepper mixture to make the juices run. Remove from the stove when it has a thick, soupy/stew texture. When you drain the pasta, save a bit (a few tablespoons) of the pasta water and add it to the tomato sauce. Drain the pasta and then add it to the pan, tossing it to coat evenly. Stir in some freshly-grated Parmesan (the real stuff) and you will have a very very yummy meal. Turn on "Bowling for Columbine" and you will be doing exactly what I did yesterday at 5 pm.

Buon Appetito!