today's thoughts...

It has been a while since I have written, no computer at home and I've been so busy at work. Hope you will pardon me. Positano's weather is getting fall-crazy again. Hot-cold, sunny-rainy. I even got torcicollo, a twisted-neck, just like I did at exactly this time of year last year. The beautiful weather changing to dampness and unpredictability takes its toll on my body. But I love this time of year in Positano because it quiets down. I get to spend more time with my Positano family and less time dodging lines of tourists. Also, this time of year brings my favorite food: zucca, pumpkin! On the roof outside my room, on the roof at Guido's, these big orange or long and green monstors are almost ready! I had fresh ravioli from Piano the other night and after settling on a nice pesto sauce, Nando and I realized they would have been heaven with zucca. Next time. Thinking of everyone at home and my friends I have met here who have moved on to other things...

Incendio: Positano on fire

I walked out of the door at work after being inside all day, took one look at the sky and thought, "This is not a color of Positano." The color in the sky reminded me of pictures I have seen of smog over Los Angeles or other pollution ridden cities. With temperatures that have been wavering around 100 degrees, I thought Positano was sitting on its hillside in a new cloud of smog.

After talking to a few people I managed to get to the bottom of the strange color of the sky: just beyond the Maddonina in the hills after Positano, there was a forest fire that had been flaring since the night before. "Si è incendiato la montagna," the mountain caught fire. Some had seen helicopters with what looked like giant ladels scooping water from the sea, in this picture you can see the small planes that dipped down to the sea for water then circled the mountain in flames.

I was horrified but understood with that the raging heat we have been suffering, and no rain, that must be how forest fires start. Instead, my Positanese friends enlightened me that it was most likely the firefighters themselves to start the fire. When a forest fire starts like this, it brings them work and money, they do their work and use some of the money, then pocket the rest. All the Positanese are in agreement about this, but no one talks of any type of investigation or solution to this corruption.

I haven't been up past the Madonnina, just past the panini sopra alla Garritta, but I have already heard about the hillside that now looks like a balding old man, rather than the full-headed Italian Stallion of a hillside we had before.

The next danger we will face comes with the first rains. Without the trees and bushes holding the soil, the Amalfi coast is in serious danger of a landslide, a frana.

zucchini parmesan, zucchini boats, zucchini flowers, zucchini omelette...

(said in the Bubba voice from Forrest Gump)

With an abundance of zucchini in the garden here on Via Monte, I can't help but think of Bubba's shrimp menu that lasted through military marches, storms and battles. We have so many zucchini that each day it seems we have a new way of preparing them.

Roasted zucchini, zucchini fritters, zucchini boats, zucchini parmesan, pasta with zucchini, stuffed zucchini flowers, zucchini with mint, zucchini omelette and the list goes on.

It is a good thing that I am more than happy to eat zucchini every which way. In fact, my eyes open wide and my mouth starts to water when the morning sun shines on long delicate slices of zucchini laid out on the table on the terrace to dry in the sun.

only in Italy

This is the first in what I am sure will be many posts about the crazy things that go on here in Italy. We are ordering aprons with our logo on them from a friend of the pizzaiolo (normal, you don't get anywhere unless you go through friend or friends, or cousins or friends or whathaveyou). Now, let's ignore the fact that Pizzaiolo had to have the aprons made in a different place than sews the logo; that is small potatoes.

We arrive at the day Pizzaiolo shows my boss an apron with Coocking Vacantions written on it. Coocking Vacantions. Did the apron man even look at our logo we gave him? I understand that English isn't his native language, but just COPY WHAT IS WRITTEN! No?!

Anyway, attempt number two had no profanity at least, but in an attempt to make the colors more bello, he just picked the colors with no resemblance to our logo. Sky blue and yellow became turquoise and orange.

On my joyous trip to Agerola, the apron man presented me with a palate of colored thread and in exasperated Italian, clearly not comprehending what the problem was, he said: "You choose." I tried explain how a logo works. It isn't a matter of making it more bello, the purpose of a logo is that it has to be the SAME; consistent.

I am interested to see attempt number three, even with specific thread chosen for him, and Cooking Vacations written clearly in front of him, where will his imagination take him?

Fornillo

Spiaggia di Fornillo is how I think of Positano. Laid back, fun, imperfect and absolutely stunning.