Since I last updated you I have been very busy. I finished a self portrait rock star wanna be painting Again I posted this on facebook if you want to see it. I have started a new painting. This time it is from Edgar Degas. It is my interpretation of his Dancers Blue from a series that he created in his impressionistic style later in his career. It is more difficult for me because at this point his eyesight was beginning to fail, so he didn’t paint with much detail. I try and put more detail into the blurred masses to make it my own. I have more painting that I have to finish for my curriculum this week. My instructor chooses a neoclassical from the french artist Jean Auguste Dominque Ingres. This is going to be a more difficult one for me, as it is a male nude. Also it will be using a very limited pallete of about 4 colors which was customary during this era of painting. Artists didn’t have the variety of colors we have today. Aren’t we so lucky.
I attended a cultural seminar on Tuesday. It was all about Italian cuisine. I found it very informative and I thought would share with you what I learned.
According to our lecturer, each region in Italy has its own cuisine. For example, Mozzarella comes from Naples, as does pizza and pasta. Tortellini comes from Bologna. Pesto from Genoa.
Pecorino is the name given to all Italian cheeses made from sheep’s milk. It covers a wide variety of cheeses produced around the country, but specifically it refers to four main varieties of Pecorino. Of these four, Pecorino Romano from Sardinia is the most widely known outside of Italy. The remaining three are Pecorino Sardo, also from Sardinia, Pecorino Siciliano from Sicily and Pecorino Toscano from Tuscany. Because I am in Florence, the most popular is the Pecorino Toscano variety. I bought some on a visit many years ago when I visited Florence and I can vouch that is is a very flavorful cheese.
Parmigiano-Reggiano contains only milk produced in a certain part of Italy, using a time-intensive and exact method. In the US, however, generic Parmesan cheeses are made with different types of milk and different ingredients. This is fake Parmesan cheese not real Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Pizza is served whole in Italy and is intended to be eaten with a knife and fork. Who knew. Pasta is not part of the traditional Tuscan cuisine. Tuscan cuisine is mostly of the peasant variety. …beans and grains. Tuscany is an agricultural area where beans, grains and olive oil are produced and are a staple of the local diet. Dining in Italy is similar to other parts of the Mediterranean. Breakfast is usually between 7 and 9 and consists traditionally of biscotti, melba toast and other bread with jam. Lunch is from 1-3 and most people go home for lunch and relax. Lunch is typically the largest meal of the day. Although the lunch tradition is changing as more and more women are having careers outside the home. Dinner is from 7:30 to 10. Wine or an aperitif is usually consumed before dinner. It is said that it prepares the stomach for digestion. The lecture was over 2 hours long. Obviously I haven’t shared everything with you…just the factoids I found interesting.
As a disclaimer, this is what I learned from my seminar and it may or may not be accurate. So my apologies in advance if it isn’t.
Cindy Mochel Livermore 