Italian Barber

For more shots Straight Out of the Camera:

Ribollita con Ceci

Ribollita with Chickpeas – variation on a Tuscan soup.

I made this soup from memory last night and will try to share it as well as I can. We ate it in Italy three weeks ago and the lady cook wrote out the recipe for me when I praised her about it. The only problem is that I could not find it in my handbag so I had to rely on my memory.

The recipe is for two big appetites if you serve this thick soup as a main course.

In a large pot, sauté a sweet (red) onion in olive oil and add two cloves of garlic. Add 2 cups of cooked canned chickpeas, cover with the same amount of water and simmer for at least ten minutes.

Remove half of the chickpeas and purée what is left in the pot. Once this is done, put back the chickpeas and add two cubed middle-sized tomatoes and two handfuls of frozen or fresh spinach, cover the pot and simmer until the tomatoes seem cooked. I’d say at least 15 to 20 minutes. Season to taste.

Add two cups of stale bread and simmer again until the bread has almost “melted” into the soup.

Add some oregano, red pepper flakes and drizzle with olive oil.

Italian Grocer

This photo was taken in Casole d’Elsa (Tuscany) a couple of weeks agO.

On Tuesdays, just post any photo you like (it must be one of your own) that contains the color RED and then link to this blog.

This lovely badge was created by Leora from Here in HP.

News and an Ethical Question

I have not totally disappeared from the blogosphere but being on vacation in a place where there is only one wifi spot inside the common room of the little restored village, I have not had the opportunity for much online presence. Besides I am also busy with visiting lots of fantastic places and enjoying the beauties of Italian nature and architecture.

This morning I finished The Sunday Philosophy Club by Aleaxander McCall Smith – the author of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series. It is a fine holiday read where the main character has a keen interest in ethics. Here is a passage which caught my attention. Two characters are discussing whether one of them should help and get involved after witnessing a crime and they get into a debate about involvement and moral duty in general.

“We can’t have moral obligations to every person in this world. We have a moral obligation to those we come up against, who enter our moral space, so to speak. That means neighbours, people we deal with, and so on.”

Do you agree?

Yom HaShoah 5770

Most European synagogues remember the members of their local or national communities who were killed during the Holocaust in one way or another.

To commemorate Yom HaShoah, I have chosen to feature the commemorative plaque on Verona’s synagogue.

Italian Windows

Window Views: window, and now doors, from all over the world can be found on Mary’s blog.

Favorite Window Views of 2009

Sweden: Island Window

Shul Window: Stockholm

Castelvecchio in Verona

French Window

Window Views: window, and now doors, from all over the world can be found on Mary’s blog.

Verona Synagogue

The latest edition of Jpix, hosted by Leora, is up. Make sure you check the beautiful photographs of the Fall Holidays Edition.

Frume Sarah is hosting this week’s Haveil Havalim – Welcome to Tevet.

This door, photographed last August, is the main entrance to Verona’s synagogue.

Window Views: window, and now doors, from all over the world can be found on Mary’s blog.

Juliet’s House

… and balcony, photographed in Verona last August.

Window Views: window, and now doors, from all over the world can be found on Mary’s blog.

Mantuan Windows

Window Views: window, and now doors, from all over the world can be found on Mary’s blog.