Recipe

This is good, makes a lot, and doesn't even require fake meat. It's from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (edited slightly, in parentheses, by me). I added links for those of us who don't know how to cook.

Summer Spaghetti (Pasta) with Corn and Tomatoes

• 12 ounces corn-flour or regular spaghetti (smaller pasta, I think, works better than spaghetti). Be sure not to overcook.
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons corn oil (or vegetable/safflower/whatever oil, except olive) or butter
• 1 bunch scallions, including half of the greens, chopped
• 2 cups corn kernels, from 3 ears of corn (or 1 can or box of frozen corn)
• 1 bell pepper, any color (not green), diced (and seeded)
  
• 1 jalapeno, seeded(*) and diced
• 3 tomatoes, halved, seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped (I don't like cilantro, so I don't use any, and it's just fine)
• 2 ounces queso fresco or feta
• 1 lime, quartered

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted, boiling water until al dente (use cooking time indicated on package). Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet (something deep like this, not just a frying pan) and add the scallions, corn, bell pepper, and chile (I add the scallions and pepper first, so they cook longer and aren't so strong). Saute over high heat for 3 minutes, then add the tomatoes, most of the cilantro, and a ladle of the pasta water. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a little pepper and turn the heat to low. Drain the pasta, shaking off the excess water. Add it to the vegetables and toss well. Divide among pasta plates, crumble the cheese over the top, and add the remaining cilantro. Serve with a wedge of lime.

(* cut out the white parts and seeds. See link for bell pepper seeding.)

Merry Christmas!

New Music Recommendations

Some more songs I've been listening to recently:

• Blitzen Trapper: "Furr"
  NPR's All Songs Considered compared this song to "'39" by Queen, and it does have some similarities (listen when the bass drum comes in).
• Fleet Foxes: "Winter White Hymnal"
  Sweet vocal harmonies and excellent songwriting. Their album is on my Christmas wishlist, and has appeared on several year-end top 10 lists.
• The Decemberists: "Valerie Plame" and "Days of Elaine"
  Two upbeat tracks from their singles collection "Always the Bridesmaid". "Valerie Plame" even has a bit of a "Hey Jude" thing going on. This definitely makes "Hazards of Love" one of my most anticipated releases of 2009 (which, along with Neko Case's "Middle Cyclone", appears conveniently in time for my birthday wishlist).
• Music Go Music: "Reach Out"
  I'm not a big fan of 80's music, but this band takes all the clichees about it and combines it into songs that are so over the top, they're good.
• Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela: "Mambo" (Leonard Bernstein)
  Dudamel is the biggest rising star in the classical music conducters' scene, and judging from the energy this orchestra has under him, that's fully justified.
  

Christmas Decorations

A good thing: In Florence, people don't put up Christmas decorations until the end of November. And you don't have to hear Christmas music coming from every store all the time for two or three months.

The Weather

We seem to have entered the rainy season here. It’s rained almost every day for a month.

Afternoon in the City

This afternoon, we went downtown for a chamber music concert at the Teatro della Pergola, an old theater/opera house. The program included Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, and even though the advertised clarinetist Karl-Heinz Steffens was replaced with Eduard Brunner, the concert was still well played and enjoyable. Afterward, we walked to the Piazza Santa Croce, where the “Heidelberg Christmas Market” has been going on. It’s actually more of a European Christmas market, with stands selling French Christmas cookies, Austrian strudel, Dutch cheese, Hungarian sweets, among others. Well, and German Glühwein of course.

Rome - Day 3

Our last day in Rome was both a Monday and a religious holiday, a rather bad combination. Mondays, all the state museums are closed, and on religious holidays, churches have services and are therefore not open for sightseeing. So we started the day with a trip to the cemetery beneath the Chiesa Santa Maria della Concezione, which has been decorated by the Capuchin monks with the bones of their deceased brothers (we first saw this on Globetrekker). From there, it was only a short walk to the Spanish Steps, which were in the process of being decorated since the pope was scheduled to appear there later in the day. Walking on, we passed through some of the most expensive shopping streets in Rome to get to the Trevi fountain. Since at this point all the churches we wanted to visit (including the Pantheon, which is now a church) had mass in them, we then went to the Baths of Caracalla, a bit south of the center.
These were truly impressive ruins, and showed the giant scale of the buildings of ancient Rome. Some of the original mosaic floors were still in place (the second story had long since collapsed, but that floor was also on display in fragments). We took the bus back to the city, where our last attempt at seeing the Pantheon was foiled by its limited opening hours on public holidays. After walking back to the Campo de’ Fiori we made our way to the Teatro di Marcello, a Roman theatre on top of which apartments were built in the 16th century. Finally, we took the bus back to the train station, near our hotel. Since we still had a little time left, we wanted to see the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore with some 5th century mosaics. However, once there we discovered that the Madonna of Lourdes was there for the weekend, and that the Adoration of the Madonna was currently in progress. Still, we went into the church (there were plenty of people coming and going), and at least caught a glimpse of the mosaics. Then we got our luggage from the hotel and took the train (this time the fast one) back to Florence.
All in all, three days is far too little for a city with a rich history like Rome (‘Roma – non basta una vita!’). I’m sure we’ll be back to see the Sistine Chapel, the Via Appia Antica, the Villa Borghese, the Pantheon, and all of the other sights we weren’t able to see this time.