And now a bow to the master

Princess Anne embarks on a highly publicized tour of Europian capitals. When she and her royal entourage arrive in Rome, she begins to rebel against her restricted, regimented schedule. One night Anne sneaks out of her room, hops into the back of a delivery truck and escapes her luxurious confinement. However, a sedative she was forced to take earlier starts to take effect, and the princess is soon fast asleep on a public bench. She is found by Joe Bradley, an American newspaper reporter stationed in Rome. He takes her back to his apartment. The next morning Joe dashes off to cover the Princess Anne press conference, unaware that she is sleeping on his couch! Once he realizes his good fortune, Joe promises his editor an exclusive interview with the princess.

See it! It is worth it!

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When asked which movie you associate with Holiday and Rome you'd probably say ROMAN HOLIDAY with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Such a nice, soft, wonderful movie.

But I did not mean this, I actually saw something else on a obscure channel today, with the following theme:

Three pretty American tourists head to Rome, looking for romance.

What’s this all about?

Well it is a remake of Three Coins in a Fountain movie made in 1954, called not so inspired Coins in a Fountain J

The cast is made out Loni Anderson (who coproduced the remake), Stepfanie Kramer, Shanna Reed. Also appearing is Anthony Newley, reprising the waspish character played in the 1954 version by Clifton Webb.

The initial plot was better:

American girls dream of finding romance in Rome, but there is none for secretaries, Anita tells her replacement at the USDA. But Maria soon meets Prince Dino de Cessi at a party at her boss's home who invites her to fly to Venice in his private plane. Frances, who has been in Rome for 15 years as the secretary of a successful American writer who talks a lot like George Bernard Shaw and is just as elusive as Professor Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady," tells her at first to say "no" and then decides that together they can handle the man nicknamed the predatory prince. Coins tossed in the Trevi Fountain can indeed work magic.

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The Foundation of any Goulash

2 lb onions

1/2 cup oil or lard

red paprika powder (around 5 ounces)

2 qt. cold water

1 ts marjoram, 1 ts ground black pepper , 1 bud garlic finely chopped, 1 ts caraway seeds, grated rind of ½ lemon

For the beefy Goulash

2 lb stewing beef (best is the stringy meat from the muscular back part of the shank of the beef leg, or cut up a chuck roast.)

1 ts salt, and flour or cornstarch to thicken sauce

How to cook Goulash

1. The Foundation

Chop onions coarsely and sauté them on moderate heat for 20 minutes until they are a golden color.

Remove pan from heat and add the paprika. Do not fry the paprika; just mix it with the onions. Then add the water and bring to boil, adding the seasoning. Maintain a low boil for an hour, stirring from time to time. You have created a goulash foundation.

Anything you add now becomes a goulash - potato, chicken, beans, lobster (kidding), or as here beef Goulash. The major difference between them is the time you have to cook, for the beef takes much longer than green beans.

2. The meat

Now it is time to add the meat. Cut the meat into cubes, 1 1/2 inches square, and leave on any stringy, fatty parts because they add real flavor. Add the meat to the basic Gulyas and cook it at medium heat for as long as it takes to make the meat tender. You can do this stovetop or in a slow cooker on the high setting.

3. Adjust Seasoning

Sample a spoonful of the sauce. Do you like it? Then it’s fine. If you are not satisfied, add whichever seasoning you think it lacks

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About Goulash

A Goulash recipe always contains paprika. Goulash is very popular in several countries like Hungary and Austria, thus it is really advisable to use real HOT paprika.

A recipe for Goulash also varies from kitchen to kitchen. At the end it is the same, just a beef stew with paprika based sauce to which we add a bit of inspiration, perspiration and love for cooking.

GOULASH makes you want to eat more than you can. This Hungarian dish (spelled Gulyas in Hungarian) found its way into Austrian cookbooks during the time of the monarchy. It is a stew, best made with beef.

What makes the Goulash a Goulash is the red paprika sauce. The dish I will show you is the beefy Goulash.

Beef goulash, properly prepared and stored in the refrigerator, keeps well. The flavors blend with cold storage. It is a perfect recipe to cook for guests a day or two before you entertain. And it is also delicious the day you cook it.

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Have you ever tried to work in a factory line for 12 hours standing all the time and having 30 minutes break only if you are allowed. Today I experienced that at a smaller scale. I had the chance to feel the OOB (Out of Box) operator role for 3 hours in tha ADSL line (the product I am responsible for as a Program Manager) and now I know how hard it is. Now I know how it is to be an operator and now I probably understand more of what we actually do. Found out that I am the only one who did that, wished more followed my idea to see how things are actually getting build. I thank the lady who allowed me to help her. In the end she is as valuable as I am in the ADSL team. Thank you Claudia! (she has the same name as I do - isn't that something?)

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Just love it! 12 series and only the first five available on DVD. TOO BAD

A bow to the lady

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Jean Claude Carriere with "Details de ce monde" (Details of this world) was my guide through a sleepless night.

What does he write about? In the book above he is supposed to put down jokes, anecdotes, small funny dialogue, but in the end he turns to be so right and ironic you cannot imagine.

For example:

I avoid to look in the mirror, but the mirror insists.

Death can come at any point. We are supposed to think about this quite often. For example, when I start a new tooth paste tube I am wondering if I will be finishing it.

I'm your slave. You can make out of me everything I want.

This is my translation, from Romanian to English. I guess French is much better, maybe one day I will read the original.

All those memories that await ...

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What do the follwoing phrases tell you?

Scott Heyward, whose the son of a millionaire, is tired of woman fawning over him because of his wealth, meets Tom, who's on his way to his new job as a water skiing instructor at a hotel. They envy each other's life and decide to switch places. So Scott pretends to be Tom and Tom lives it up pretending to be Scott. Scott meets Dianne who is trying to land a rich guy and when playboy James Jamison catches her eye, she asks Scott to help her snag him. Scott agrees to but finds himself attracted to her. Scott also decides to build a boat for a speedboat race that's going to take place in the hotel but he's using a new experimental chemical which doesn't hold in water, which his father forbade him to use

It is a simple plot of an Elvis Presley movie, made in 1967 which turned to be the start of a beautiful sunny sunday in Timisoara.
It is such a beautiful day you can't imagine, wish you were here with me Peter to share it! Kiss Naila from me :)

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Spaghetti con Gamberetti e Rucola
Serves 4
Spaghetti with Shrimp and arugula

Adapted from Jamie’s Italy

This dish was on the menu in a little restaurant called La Gondola in one of the roughest parts of Palermo. I thought the combination of flavors was great, and very accessible to us back home in Britain. You can buy very high-quality frozen shrimp in supermarkets these days, so it’s a win-win situation, but if you can get hold of some super-fresh ones and peel them yourself, this can all of a sudden become very luxurious in flavor. A real crowd-pleaser. Finish off with good-quality olive oil and wild arugula full of flavor and you’ll be laughing. PS, if using frozen shrimp, make sure they’re thawed out.

1 lb. dried spaghetti
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1-2 dried red chilies, crumbled
1 lb. peeled raw large shrimp
1 small wineglass of white wine
2 heaping tablespoons sun-dried tomato purée, or 6 sun-dried tomatoes blitzed
in a blender
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 handfuls of arugula, roughly chopped

Cook your spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water according to the package instructions. Meanwhile, heat 3 good gulgs of extra virgin olive oil in a large frying pan and toss in the garlic and chili. As the garlic begins to color, add the shrimp and sauté them for a minute. Add the white wine and the tomato purée and simmer for a couple of minutes. When the pasta is ready, drain it in a colander, reserving a little of the cooking water. Toss the spaghetti with the sauce, squeeze in the lemon juice, and add half the chopped arugula, using a little of the reserved cooking water if you want to loosen the sauce a bit, and correct the seasoning. Divide between four plates and sprinkle with the grated lemon zest and the rest of the arugula leaves.

Do you like it? I DO!

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