An Extra Special Birthday

This year is the first year in my entire life that I celebrated my birthday in Italy. For some reason or other, I have always been outside of Italy for my birthday. So this year, I had high expectations of how to pass my special day. I had considered many options, many places, but in the end I decided that what I wanted most was to spend a lovely day in the Cinque Terre, visiting friends and enjoying the views.

It started with a morning train ride to Manarola to have breakfast at my new favorite place, the Bar dell'Amore. Our friends recently took over this jewel of place located right on the path called Via dell'Amore, or Walkway of Love, between Manarola and Riomaggiore. Make sure to read all about this great new bar here.

Clear Skies A-Head

  

Today I needed to clear my head and get a little fresh air. So off I went, into the hills surrounding the city. I headed down the busy road, past buses and trucks, until slowly, bit by bit, the traffic lessened and the incline increased. Within no time, I was peering over the rooftops, onto the Gulfo dei Poeti, or Golf of Poets.

Ah, I was already thinking more clearly...
But still not satisfied, I continued up and around the winding mountain road, each step leaving my worries further behind until all that was left was my curiosity to see what I would discover.

Grapefruit and Fennel Salad

The weather has finally turned warm again and taking advantage of the sunny day and the flat of fennel bulbs in the pantry, I decided to make a lovely and refreshing salad: Grapefruit and fennel, topped with crispy, crunchy prosciutto crisps. Now, this is just as delicious (but not as salty) without the prosciutto, so to make it vegetarian/vegan, just omit it.

By broiling thin slices of prosciutto crudo for about ten minutes, they become like salty, savoury crisps that you can eat as is, or break up into pieces. It’s sooooo good! Plus, a salad based on fennel needs something nice and salty, so it is a great combination.

Crunchy Grapefruit & Fennel Salad: 

A Skeptic's Rebuttal

Just a few short months ago, I wrote about the uprising in Sicily that was not getting any news coverage--internationally or even here in Italy. And once again, real current events were left to us bloggers to spread the word. In the buzz that spread across the web, my humble little post, A Sicilian Revolt, was linked to by Joanne Nova, who wrote an excellent piece on the revolt and the current state of Italian journalism and media coverage (I highly recommend reading it). I was very flattered to be linked to by such a well known and popular person with a website of well over 200,000 viewers.
  

Of course, I researched a bit about this scientist/journalist/author/public speaker that linked to my little post in her in article. I discovered that Joanne Nova is the author "The Skeptic's Handbook" (you can download it from her website), which denounces the theory of global warming being caused by CO2 emissions and 'greenhouse gases'. Her firm stance on global warming has made her widely famous and certainly a favorite among American conservatives in their constant battle against environmental protection laws. With this discovery, however, I feel compelled to speak my mind on this subject, lest anyone assumes that my admiration of her afore mentioned article signifies my complete agreement of her environmental stance. I still admire Ms. Nova because I am a big supporter of intelligent discourse (something I feel this world lacks more and more each day) and I am in no position to argue over scientific findings. However, I disagree with the overall argument which, on a surface level, raises doubt about man's damaging effects on the environment and fuels the fire between environmental protection and corporate placation to "big oil" and power companies.