Stranger in a Strange Land

[Bryan]

6 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

For Erica in Rome:

 

https://edostrange.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=APq4FmBCyAjhyeaERWoKCkhvcu7aKxjl7D1yH9h16QqMhbAglfH5jf1hqEWbB-Zbu_ncyenHEWd4GKPasfQ7lN_iolARkbxiLG0dEk_-3wt-Zml4NFVFNObK0-HpSI87xg0_N3MH1t0l&postId=3117064371696284336&type=POST

 

Oh oh, there's something wrong here. Blogspot has "improved" their interface. Another tech problem I want no part of. Before today, I was able to post the finished blog. Now I only have the preview. Why and what that means, I have no idea.

 

 

Enjoyed the story Ed thanks.

 

Our son lived for a while a block from Prospect Park and I spent quite a bit of time wandering around there. Plenty of cyclists and joggers, people making huge soap bubbles, walking dogs,  others having a BBQ and some strange sportive activity (not cricket) but, from memory, completely horseless.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Bryan

[NYCat]

So that is what a kid does on a horse in Brooklyn. I grew up in San Diego when it was more rural and "western" than it is now. A big old slow horse would be brought out and the kid stuck up on it bareback with instructions to hold on to the mane. Then someone would walk the horse slowly around and it was THRILLING. We were also taught to drive as soon as we could see over the steering wheel. Have you ever learned to drive, Edo?

 

Paulette

[Ed Rooney]

I was 30 when I learned to drive, Paulette. I owned a car in Texas and one in Oxfordshire. In NYC, back in the day, I would rent a car sometimes to get out of the city. 

[geogphotos]

26 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

I was 30 when I learned to drive, Paulette. I owned a car in Texas and one in Oxfordshire. In NYC, back in the day, I would rent a car sometimes to get out of the city. 

 

 

I couldn't drive when I went to Papua New Guinea in 1985 but I had a British Provisional driving licence. They converted that to a PNG full licence which I eventually used to get an International Drivinal Licence, which allowed me to drive in UK, then just took the test and passed. 

 

Mind you taking cars for test drives in Papua New Guinea when I couldn't actually drive was an experience - especially for the owner who having handed over the keys stood watching me leapfrog across the road in a mad series of starts and stalls.

 

Have never sat on a horse, only seaside donkeys, and much later on in life on camels during desert trips in Morocco. 

[NYCat]

Oh yes, I forgot you lived in Texas. Definitely need a car there. (And maybe even a horse... Though just a stetson might do.)

 

Paulette

32 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

I was 30 when I learned to drive, Paulette. I owned a car in Texas and one in Oxfordshire. In NYC, back in the day, I would rent a car sometimes to get out of the city. 

 

[Thyrsis]

8 hours ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

Have never sat on a horse, only seaside donkeys, and much later on in life on camels during desert trips in Morocco. 

Some years ago we took an overnight camel  trip into the desert in Morocco. No-one warned Ian to sit side saddle so he spent a few days afterwards walking like John Wayne!!

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Thyrsis

[John Mitchell]

I enjoyed your equestrian post, Edo. It reminded me of my teaching days when I took a group of shy Japanese ESL students on a horse-riding outing. Most of them had never seen a horse in the flesh and were completely terrified of them. Nevertheless, in true stoic Japanese fashion they sat still as meditating Buddhas on the passive nags as they wound their way slowly along a well-trodden trail through the woods. At one point, one of the horses' saddles somehow came loose, and the poor girl riding it ended up at a ninety degree angle to the horse's back. She  barely said a word. Two of the horses eventually got impatient and decided to take a shortcut back to the barn. They went galloping off down another trail with their startled riders holding on for dear life.

 

Now I spend my time trying to do stock photography... 😲

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by John Mitchell

[Betty LaRue]

I feel cheated. I can’t read your blog, Ed. I just get “invalid token, yada yada.”

About horses. 
When I was 5 or 6, a cousin got a pony. He was a selfish little s**t and refused to let anyone else ride it, although he quickly lost interest in it. I used to hang by the fence with the greatest longing filling my chest staring at that pony.

Fast forward...divorce and eventually my mother remarried. We moved to a farm with chickens, hogs and a few milk cows. I followed my taciturn stepfather around while he did chores. I was 8. He ignored my chatter...I was not there in his eyes.

I still wanted a horse, but lacking that, I would beg Merle to let me ride a cow. I was totally ignored each time I asked. Betty, the ghost child.  One day when he was herding them into the barn to milk, I asked again.

Merle whirled around, grabbed me under my arms and plunked me on the very bony back of a cow. Let me tell you, God didn’t make cow backs to be ridden. Or being hard-plunked on.  Merle didn’t let go of me, and when the cow bucked, he swung me off and plunked me down again...on solid ground. I never asked again.

I ended up astride an empty fuel barrel, pretending it was a horse, lost in my imagination and in the Black Beauty books I read.

 

I finally got my horse, a 4 year-old blood sorrel that showed colors like an oil slick on water when the sun hit her. I got her after I was grown, married, and a mother.  She was unbroken, and that was an interesting experience full of fear and heart palpitations until she became a great riding horse. We had a special bond.

We bought 10 acres with a barn and ended up with 7 horses (2 foals that we got from breeding our mares) for the whole family to ride. Those years were some of the happiest years of my life.

I would love to read that blog, Edo.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Betty LaRue

[NYCat]

Try this, Betty... https://edostrange.blogspot.com/2020/05/equestrians.html

 

Paulette

[Betty LaRue]

4 hours ago, NYCat said:

Try this, Betty... https://edostrange.blogspot.com/2020/05/equestrians.html

 

Paulette

Thank you, Paulette!
Edo, brilliant story. We had a roller, too, her name was Dolly. She was a Welsh pinto pony we got for our youngest daughter.

She was docile. In our 10 acre pasture, we had a rivulet or very small shallow stream that drained into our pond. It was only a couple or 3 feet across, but every time Kim tried to ride her across, Dolly would roll in the water and Kim would have to jump clear. It scared her to death.

An old cowhand mentor told my husband how to cure the pony of that.

So hubby got on the pony and rode her to the water. Dolly promptly rolled. Bob stepped off, sat on her head and held her head under for a few seconds while pouring water in her ear.  She never rolled again.

Betty

[Allan Bell]

13 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I was 8. He ignored my chatter...I was not there in his eyes.

 

Betty I am sorry that you did not have a very nice stepfather.

 

I must have been very lucky in that I had a very good stepfather. He treated me just the same as his own children when we were growing up together.

 

Allan

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by Allan Bell

[geogphotos]

On 10/05/2020 at 20:05, Thyrsis said:

Some years ago we took an overnight camel  trip into the desert in Morocco. No-one warned Ian to sit side saddle so he spent a few days afterwards walking like John Wayne!!

 

 

 

Same experience here though even worse because I was on the one with all the baggage so had to spread even wider. A cause of great hilarity with teenage children jostling to photograph my ...er.... split nether regions. 

 

It looks like it could be the same place we went - Zagora. We also went on one at Erg Chebbi though due to a big dust storm could not sleep out in the desert on that one. They seem keen to get us to but those blue headscarves so I get my money's worth by continuing to use the photo of me wearing it!

Edited May 12, 2020 by geogphotos

[Betty LaRue]

8 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Betty I am sorry that you did not have a very nice stepfather.

 

I must have been very lucky in that I had a very good stepfather. He treated me just the same as his own children when we were growing up together.

 

Allan

 

Well, Allan, he could have plopped me on the cow and let go! But then he’d have had to answer to my mother, and at barely over 5 feet, she could be formidable when it came to her children. Once we girls were married and out of the house, he was nice to us. Actually more than nice, he couldn’t do enough for us. But childhood was rough. He didn’t have a clue how to relate to children.

[Thyrsis]

16 hours ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

Same experience here though even worse because I was on the one with all the baggage so had to spread even wider. A cause of great hilarity with teenage children jostling to photograph my ...er.... split nether regions. 

 

It looks like it could be the same place we went - Zagora. We also went on one at Erg Chebbi though due to a big dust storm could not sleep out in the desert on that one. They seem keen to get us to but those blue headscarves so I get my money's worth by continuing to use the photo of me wearing it!

 

Yes, we went out from Zagora! We had timed our trip to coincide with the Leonid meteor showers in November. Watching them in the pitch black sky was incredible. I still have our Tuareg turbans (tagelmust) somewhere. 

Edit: That was 1999, pre digital. We came back with rolls and rolls of film! 

Edited May 13, 2020 by Thyrsis

[geogphotos]

6 hours ago, Thyrsis said:

 

Yes, we went out from Zagora! We had timed our trip to coincide with the Leonid meteor showers in November. Watching them in the pitch black sky was incredible. I still have our Tuareg turbans (tagelmust) somewhere. 

Edit: That was 1999, pre digital. We came back with rolls and rolls of film! 

 

You can see the b**ger that I was given. No wonder I was split asunder down under.

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by geogphotos

[Allan Bell]

16 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Well, Allan, he could have plopped me on the cow and let go! But then he’d have had to answer to my mother, and at barely over 5 feet, she could be formidable when it came to her children. Once we girls were married and out of the house, he was nice to us. Actually more than nice, he couldn’t do enough for us. But childhood was rough. He didn’t have a clue how to relate to children.

 

My mum was 5 feet 4 inches and slight in her prime and when I was only 6 years old I remember we were in Woolworths and a big man probably 6 feet 4 inches built like an ox knocked me over. Mum really laced into him verbally as he backed away down the aisle with mum following him.

 

Allan

 

[Ed Rooney]

Eat up even if you have to ride a camel to do so!

 

https://edostrange.blogspot.com/2020/05/eating-like-italian.html

[spacecadet]

1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said:

Eat up even if you have to ride a camel to do so!

 

https://edostrange.blogspot.com/2020/05/eating-like-italian.html

Great Ed. We had the real thing in Bologna last year. Only a few hours then on to Ravenna. Then Venice.

My caption in full:

(as you say) Tagliatelle al ragù, pasta with meat sauce, erroneously called spaghetti bolognese, La Sberla bistrot, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

"Pizza spread like a doughy fungus............." Chortle.

Edited May 17, 2020 by spacecadet

[Ed Rooney]

Oh! That looks tasty, Mark. I had a close friend in Tuscany—another foodie—read this. She tells me that Italian cuisine traditions are holding strong. She caught a misspelling, which I've corrected.

 

 

[Michael Ventura]

I can really relate to this blog Edo!  My father was an Italian American by way of Egypt.  He had Italian parents in Cairo and so he had plenty of pasta growing up, as well as Middle Eastern food.  So when he came to America to go to college, he married my American mom and kicked her out of the kitchen as soon as he saw the food she was going to make.  So we grew up on Italian and Middle Eastern dishes.  No complaints here!  But when my Italian relatives come to visit and I let them have their way in my kitchen, the dishes are a bit different.  They tend to keep things and ingredients very simple.  We tend to want to throw as much as we can into dish.  My cousins are horrified by what we toss on a pizza.  Once while visiting family in Puglia, Italy, we were out at a pizzeria and my kids were young and they wanted to put some Parmesan cheese on their pizza.  So I asked for some and my cousin jumped up from the table to apologize to the shop owner and explained that these people were American! The woman laughed, shrugged her shoulders and handed me a small bowl of grated cheese.  

 

One evening, a thought came to me, thinking about all the wacky things we add to traditional dishes.  I said to my cousin that maybe one reason that many innovations come out of America is that we are made up of so many cultures and backgrounds that everything becomes a fusion of styles and tastes.  We are not afraid to break from tradition.  So as much as I love the classic dishes of Italy, I also love trying new things. Buon appetito

[spacecadet]

25 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Oh! That looks tasty, Mark. I had a close friend in Tuscany—another foodie—read this. She tells me that Italian cuisine traditions are holding strong. She caught a misspelling, which I've corrected.

 

 

Muchly. We only had a few hours before our train so having our priorities right we got a taxi straight to the restaurant (although it un-Italianly calls itself a bistro!) I suspected afterwards that it wasn't beef- there was a hint of pork about it. But I couldn't confirm it later and my taste memory isn't that good, except for wine. Perhaps it was just the richness of the stock, and beef that tastes like beef is supposed to.

Anyway, we've gone straight to our primo without an aperitivo. Here are a couple in Venice, at Florian's.

We never have space for a secondo as well.

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by spacecadet

[Ed Rooney]

Mark, In Bologna, the classic ragù is a mix of beef and pork. Also in Bologna, they are fond of horse meat. I had a horse meat butcher on my street in Trastevere. 

 

Michael, Italian and Middle Eastern—what more do you need? (A little Mexican, maybe.) Personally, I like the classic, simple Pizza Margarita. Each extra that's added to that makes it worse. 

[spacecadet]

49 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Mark, In Bologna, the classic ragù is a mix of beef and pork. Also in Bologna, they are fond of horse meat. I had a horse meat butcher on my street in Trastevere. 

 

Michael, Italian and Middle Eastern—what more do you need? (A little Mexican, maybe.) Personally, I like the classic, simple Pizza Margarita. Each extra that's added to that makes it worse. 

Ah there we are then. Thanks, Ed.

I remember seeing the "carne cavallo" stall in Padua ten years ago but it was closed. A friend had a few grated strands as garnish on a meat dish in Treviso, which is, by the way, a great place to get stranded for a night by snow and ice.

I've been making pizzas from scratch every Friday but I do throw on the kitchen sink. Olives and chorizo. And sweet peppers this week. I might persuade you with the olives- great black pungent ones, the size of pigeon's eggs, a gift from the grower in Thessaly. Claire went to a christening and he said he'd send a few via his usual London market. He sent 15kg.

Edited May 17, 2020 by spacecadet

[Michael Ventura]

36 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Mark, In Bologna, the classic ragù is a mix of beef and pork. Also in Bologna, they are fond of horse meat. I had a horse meat butcher on my street in Trastevere. 

 

Michael, Italian and Middle Eastern—what more do you need? (A little Mexican, maybe.) Personally, I like the classic, simple Pizza Margarita. Each extra that's added to that makes it worse. 

Agreed, the Margherita is pizza at its best...my go to at any Neapolitan style pizzeria. Or when it Italy!

Edited May 17, 2020 by Michael Ventura

[Ed Rooney]

As I said, Margherita is the one I order most, my favourite. But (and there's always a 'but' or two) sometimes I ask for cooked ham or mushrooms. And if I ever get back to Rome, to Trastevere, or better yet in Naples, I will have myself a capricciosa. 

 

https://uncutrecipes.com/EN-Recipes-Italian/Pizza-Capricciosa.html

 

There is a pretty good pizzeria just a few blocks from me here in Liverpool. Rudy's. Most of the staff are Italians and some are from Naples. I gave them the Naples test by dropping the word "keste" into a chat. That's Neapolitan slang and means "this is it!" Like everywhere else, Rudy's is closed now, of course. I bet Paulette knows the pizzeria in Greenwich Village called Keste.  

 

Edo

 

It's cheering me up talking about food! 😃