Once upon a time in Texas, there was a girl with an appetite and a dream...
"Is someone wearing perfume?"
posted by Tracie P. at 11/10/2006 08:34:00 AM
Does leaving your former life to live in paradise really need much explanation? I had a dream to live in Italy. After four years of teaching and almost as many summers traveling, I knew that something had to be done. I needed to cook every day with that fresh, locally-grown produce. I needed to connect with people who made their own wine and bought their whole chickens with the feet still on. I wanted to live in a culture whose inherent passion for gastronomy was not born of pretense, but of the knowledge that what is so fundamental to life should also be ENJOYED. This, for me, is the definition of "la dolce vita Italiana." While it may not always be sweet, it is always Italian.
15 Comments:
Maybe she's just so used to smoking that it doesnt even register. I feel like with the pollution in Milan, people don't even need to bother buying cigarettes, they can just take a deep breath and inhale the fumes. BTW, thanks so much for the pasta alla zucca recipe you put on my blog!!
11/10/2006 3:53 PM
yea girls, it seems not to be an issue at all. i've seen people with asthmatic children regularly smoke around them. parents with baby's in their arms waft around in a cloud of smoke. i once saw a couple with a one-year-old in a stroller. they were seated directly in front of him on a bench and both smoking, and subsequently exhaling right in his face. he sneezed at least 4 times in a row. what would you have done? maybe GO AWAY from the child to smoke? poor thing. it didn't even register with those two. i don't have a problem with adults smoking, but when kids are foced to LIVE IN IT, it's sad.
it's the same way with seat belts, car seats (i RARELY see little ones in car seats!), there's a general ignorance here that we had as well...in the early eighties. things have changed and with awareness campaigns in the states, we've managed to improve. i guess you can't blame people for what they don't know, but is it really ignorance, or just the same old southern rebelliousness?
i'm speaking from my experience in naples, maybe the north is different.
that was a little off topic...sorry.
susan--no problem, let me know if you make it!
11/11/2006 2:48 AM
Aaah, how sad is it that Switzerland is even smokier than Italy? Especially now that it's too cold to sit outside at cafes and restaurants... I miss living in Milan where at least you can go out for a meal without inhaling a pack's worth of second-hand smoke. (On the other hand, I definitely don't miss the pollution.)
11/11/2006 7:05 AM
AMEN SISTER! You know how I feel about that topic :)
11/11/2006 9:31 AM
When I was visiting Northern Italy it was much different. Seat belts everywhere and fewer smokers it seemed.
However, I did not escape and returned to Canada with bronchitis.
Oh well, it was worth it ;-)
11/11/2006 3:21 PM
we're coming to Italy in 2 weeks- perhaps I should leave my perfume behind and start smoking??
11/12/2006 8:29 AM
LMAO...now let's see how good of a study you are :)
But really...sometimes you really have to wonder about folks!
11/12/2006 8:40 AM
OH! i just figured out what LMAO means...eventually i come around.
11/12/2006 8:56 AM
Tracie. . we were exactly where they are in Italy as far as seat belts and smoking 35 years ago. . . they just haven't caught on yet. . . give them a few years . . . they will be worse than we are here with all the anti-smoking laws.
Ciao
11/12/2006 3:17 PM
lol
I think you are just trying to distract everyone from the fact that you were wearing too much perfume.
11/13/2006 3:55 AM
hey ed, no one was wearing perfume. if someone were, you wouldn't smelled it if they had bathed in it :)
11/13/2006 5:53 AM
I'll never forget when I met this American ex-pat who told me the story of his Italian wife's doctor's advice when she got pregnant: she could no longer eat prosciutto crudo or other raw meats, but she could limit herself to just a couple cigarettes a day and a few glasses of wine a week. What?! I doubt all Italian docs think like this, but I remember it really struck me.
11/13/2006 6:30 AM
I love Italy.
11/13/2006 7:36 AM
Naah... naah... It was the paint on the walls.
11/13/2006 5:44 PM
Are you saying that you've never heard about the dangers of second-hand scent?
11/18/2006 10:55 AM
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