Where in the world is Jonathan Wakuda Fischer?

Cinquecento

(Uno) 1. Tomorrow is the strike talk day! Oh my goodness, I have completely forgotten the huge inconveniences of the gas shortages already. I have no trepidations about the negotiations – mostly because we’ll just deal with whatever situation arises with the resources we have available. Attitude!

(Due) 2. Cime rapa. (say it “chee-may rah-pah”). We bought these hearty greens tonight at the grocery store. The look of the greens and the “rapa” in the name had me thinking of “rapini.” Rapini is an Italian broccoli that has much smaller florettes and leafier stems than “American” broccoli (and I think I said that a million and one times while I worked at Lombardino’s). We sauteed the “cime rapa” with onion, garlic, and mushrooms and then tossed it with fresh pasta (purchased). Yummmmmmmm-my!

(Tre) 3. A bag stuffed full of groceries for only 14.39 Euro! We got a loaf of bread, four sandwich rolls, the cime rapa, four late-season tomatoes (green tomatoes), a huge head of frisee, three mushrooms, six small apples, nearly a pound of fresh pasta, a jar of pickled eggplant, and 100g each of orzo (teeny tiny pasta) and borlotti (beans). All that good stuff for about $20 USD.

(Quattro) 4. Getting back to my work-out. Do you ever have a really great weekend where you completely relaxed, had plenty of wine and conversation and ate more meat than you usually do in a fortnight? I had one of those weekends this past weekend and while it felt great to get my body moving again, it was…a little tough.

(Cinque) 5. Jonathan Wakuda Fischer. He is a Seattle-based artist doing really amazing work. Check out one of his latest works at this link.

Cento

Barcelona!!! I absolutely LOVE this city. My first experience with it was in 2007 and I recently returned for a refresher. My heart is going pitter-patter just writing these lines. Watch the blog for an in-depth post about my trip by this weekend. Despite being located in Spain, Barcelona is also the de facto capital of Catalunya (English spelling: Catalonia). As such, Catalan and Spanish are mixed together in a fascinating mezcla (“mix”). By popular demand, I will be including a sample itinerary for a weekend trip to Barcelona from Catania/Sigonella. You can use it no matter where you begin your adventure begins or ends!