PIEDMONT: MUGS AND … BICERIN

PIEDMONT: MUGS AND … BICERIN

I am delighted to receive this photo for the categhory journey from mug to mug

I sincerely thank Valeria: her cute mug comes from Piedmont.

I can do it, and I will, but after the coffee.

Basically a mantra printed on the mug.
Encouragement with every sip.
What to say? Perfect!

In Piedmont there is a place of the heart for me: Novara, a city that holds important moments of my life.

But Valeria sparked my interest in another place in particular.

A place where a very special drink is served in glasses without handles… bicerin, in fact.

I’m talking about the legendary Caffè al Bicerin since 1973 in Turin. 

Here is Valeria’s Bicerin!

I don’t know about you but I feel a sudden desire to taste it 🙂

Valeria told me that it should be drunk as it is served: that is, without mixing it.

The Bicerin is in fact composed of three basic ingredients: coffee, cream and chocolate … good company no doubt about it 🙂

Obviously, however, Bicerin is much more than that, and it is above all history.

The story of an eighteenth-century drink made up of three different separate glasses, almost as if for a sort of ritual, which over time has evolved into the current version that brings together n poc ‘d tut.

Story also told in the Virtual Museum of Turin. 

History of a drink that boasts illustrious admirers.

Umberto Eco tells it in The Prague Cemetery:
… I had gone as far as one of the legendary places of Turin at the time. Dressed as a Jesuit, and enjoying the amazement I aroused with malice, I went to Caffè Al Bicerin, near the Consolata, to take that glass, which smelled of milk, cocoa, coffee and other aromas. I still didn’t know that even Alexandre Dumas, one of my heroes, would have written about the bicerin a few years later, but in the course of two or three raids in that magical place I had learned all about that nectar …

Nectar gives a pretty good idea, don’t you think?

FOUR THIRDS PI R3

FOUR THIRDS PI R3

I infinitely thank Lucia Amendola Ranesi, together with Mari’s Manual, for the opportunity to discover the book Quattro Terzi Pi Greco Erre Tre which I loved very much.

What is the volume of the sphere? Four Thirds Pi r3.

It is not the first time that I have told my interest in books on mathematics, but in this case I was immediately struck by the affinity of thought.

Starting with a formula to tell a story

Or starting from a story to tell a formula.

Actually both.

The “formula” to which one arrives, however, is not a calculation, but a journey that leads, or rather: brings back, to the origin.

I don’t like to reveal too much, because I would like you to try the same engaging reading experience that I had, and I would like you too to come to the “full circle” with all the load of emotions that accompanied me.

I considered Quattro Terzi Pi Greco Erre Tre as the equation of a world in which to enter through a wonderful exchange of letters, precisely those handwritten letters, the letters  so dear to me.

A family sphere, but also a historical sphere.

And through the life of the characters I first understood the vocation: the passion for studying and teaching, together, as in a real union that lasts for a lifetime.

But the book also teaches that fate is not always behind the things that scare us the most.

And it shows how pure and true love cannot in any way be dirtied.

I will certainly not forget a special Grandmother, whom I wish I could hug as she repeats that all soldiers are sons.

And a special woman: Maria Moreno, who I hope will be remembered for her ability to combine literary and scientific studies, delicacy and strength of mind, poetry and everyday life.

Obviously I tend to focus more on the female characters, but undoubtedly Rodolfo too, as well as two important figures who have left a mark on our history, offer very interesting reflections.

What if I told you Renato Caccioppoli? What if I told you Ettore Majorana?

In a book so close to my heart, could coffee be missing?!

Obviously not! In fact, here it is:

BAGS: UNLIKELY CONTENTS

BAGS: UNLIKELY CONTENTS

Bags: unlikely contents. I’ve already joked about it  because you really can’t imagine what could come out of my bags.

But this time I found someone who beats me.

After ArtyCapucines, after the Bouncing bags and the bags of I sew so I don’t kill, about which I have already told you, after upcycling with Wicker bags, I point out the Snowman carrier!

And in particular Matsuzawa Yuko is the artisan who for Tsuchiya Kaban conceived and created the snowman bag!

The concept of 土屋 鞄 製造 所 【TSUCHIYA KABAN: In the mind of every conscientious leather bag craftsman is an imaginary drawer full of imaginative bag ideas that can be used to carry different things. By honing their skills and drawing on the knowledge they learn day by day, our artisans can bring design ideas into their minds.

It must be said that they managed to make it happen in an excellent way!

The snowman holder was born with this thought: Warmed by the steam rising from a bowl of hot soup on a cold morning, a quick glance out the window catches a drifting snowflake, white as cotton, the welcoming sight of the first snow is always a pleasant surprise. If only I could share with someone dear, the moment the first snow falls in the air …

And you, what would you like to keep in a bag?

KEEP CALM AND … ROLLER SKATING!

KEEP CALM AND … ROLLER SKATING!

Keep calm and… roller skating!
Yes: this time the keep calm is on wheels!

And it’s not the rusty ones I’m missing, luckily for you.

But not even the wheels of the experiments that Eleonora and I recently, by a curious coincidence, we told each other in these comments

Keep Calm wheels are spectacular and belong to the Victoria Alba Asd skating quartet.

Victoria Alba is an association of about 100 members, ranging from 5-year-olds to adults who are passionate about skating. They train in Alba in the province of Cuneo and participate in events and competitions at the provincial, regional and national level.

I got to know Victoria Alba after participating in the Fisr regional championship in Novara where the Keep Calm girls got fifth place in the National Division Quartets category with an exhibition inspired by the film “The greatest showman” … just to stay on the musical theme. 

Their names are Benedetta, Michela, Sara and Sophie and they are between 14 and 16 years old.

Obviously I could not contact them to ask how the choice of the name Keep Calm was born.

Here is their answer:
The choice of this name did not happen by chance, on the contrary, as we know the translation of this short construct is “stay calm.” We as a team have decided to make it personal, reminding us that we have all the skills to face our seasonal competitions head-on, without being overwhelmed by uncertainty or inner turmoil. Because after all we ourselves have decided to undertake this path which in a certain sense has helped us to mature and grow as people who are in control of themselves.

I would say that they have very clear ideas and that they deserve my sincere applause.

Come on girls! My cheering is all for you!

In case you want to follow the Keep Calm quartet, as well as the other athletes, you can find them both on the Facebook page and on the Instagram profile

Have you ever tried to skate?

I am sure you will tell me fantastic performances.

The roller skates with which I completely “grated” my forearm in second grade were more or less like the ones in this photo.

Don’t laugh too much though!

WEST SIDE STORY

WEST SIDE STORY

West Side Story is history, let me play on words.

History of cinema even for those who are not fond of musicals.

Do you like musicals?

They are perhaps the most controversial kind of movies: either you hate it, or you love it.

I love it.

In case you have any doubts, I suggest you to read this post on the blog Come cerchi sull’acqua

West Side Story was born as a play on Broadway and Jack Gottlieb tells us how it was conceived by drawing inspiration from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and how Jerome Robbins had initially imagined Juliet as a Jewish girl and Romeo as an Italian Catholic. The action, set during the Easter / Passover season, was supposed to take place on the Lower East Side of New York City. So the title could have been EAST Side Story or Gangway.

I find it totally understandable that Steven Spielberg said it was the toughest film of his career. 

I started looking at it together with all the positive assumptions, and with all the curiosity to find out how the arduous challenge had been solved.

The beginning shows the imminent demolition of the neighborhood and, personally, I interpreted it as the metaphor of a breaking wrecking ball but not about the past.

Time is to be demolished.

Because despite all the years that have passed, studded with dramatic events, it is as if history had been written today.

And Rita Moreno becomes like a fulcrum of human suffering, around which the repeated cyclically recurring pain manifests itself despite the passage of time.

In this video she receives the Oscar for the interpretation of the character of Anita in 1962

 

And following is the post with which she congratulates Ariana DeBose for the recent victory for having played the role of Anita, differently and yet with equal effectiveness.

For Rita Moreno in Spielberg’s film the role of Valentina was created: Doc’s widow, who helps and supports Tony after his misadventures with justice, but in various interviews she has been defined as the “mother” of West Side Story for how she advised, assisted, supervised tirelessly.

And obviously all of this entered my heart.

Not to mention her iconic joke for me: Tony asks her to translate “forever” because she wants to declare herself to Maria in Spanish and she, frightened by that tragically unreal idea of absolute, replies something like “why don’t I just say I’d like to have a coffee with you?”

Eh!

Undoubtedly, it is still an important statement, right!?

And while drinking your coffee, I once again recommend you the detailed and professional analysis of Matavitatau

Is there a particular song you prefer from the West Side Story soundtrack?

They are all songs destined to stay in your mind once you listen to them, but, just to name three sensationally super famous, are you more for Tonight, Maria, or America?

Pin It on Pinterest