Dear Readers:
January jottings with an Italian connection: The Antiques I love best are old friends. Automobileenthusiasts, as well as their non-aficionado consorts will find plenty to like at the Imperial PlaceAuto Collection in Las Vegas, Nevada, located on the 5th floor of the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino’s parking facility.
Over 200 autos are on display daily from 10am to 6pm and the Duesenberg Room houses the world’s largest col- lection of Model J Duesenbergs in the world. The beautifully crafted autos inspired the 1930’s phrase “It’s a Duesy!” Senior admission is $15.00 and you can call 702- 731-3311 for more information.
Open seven days a week the Auto Collection also features a unique gift shop with a wide selection of automotive memorabilia and books. Among the many Italian connected automobiles on display is the 1939 Alfa Romeo, that was given by Benito “The Italian Connection” byMaria Gloria Mussolini, the dictator of Italy, to his mistress Claretta Petacci.
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Art, valued at more than $150 million, and recently seized by the Italian tax police, included works by Van Gogh, Picasso, and Cezanne. The 19 masterpieces, stashed away in attics and basements were hidden by Calisto Tanzi, disgraced founder of the collapsed dairy company Parmalat.
The tax police had learned that negotiations were underway to sell one of the Picasso paint- ings before they raided three apartments in the area of Parma, Italy near Parmalat’s headquarters. Investigators believe the entire batch of paintings, watercolors and drawings were up to be sold and that the prospective buyers were wealthy Russians living in Italy. Parma’s tax police probing into this seized stash of super brush art alleged that Calisto was concealing assets in Parmalat’s bankruptcy case.
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Beer, not associated world- wide with Italy as much as wine, is slowly starting to catch up, thanks to the marketing efforts of Birra Peroni and of course the fine quality of its brew. It all started in 1846in the small Northern Italian town of Vigevano, where a company called Birra Peroni was found- ed by Francesco Peroni.
At the time, brewing industry in Italy was little more than half a cen- tury old. In the next century and a half, Birra Peroni would come to dominate that indus- try. Some 20 years after the founding of the company, Francesco Peroni moved his operations to Rome, where it emerged over the decades as Italy No. 1 beer. Today, Birra Peroni Industriale S.P.A. commands more than 34 percent of Italy’s beer market and is still owned and operated by the Peroni family, which is dedicated to maintaining the high standards of excellence that have made it No. 1.
The group - whose main products are Birra Peroni Normale and Nastro Azzurro Birra Premium – operates through five breweries located in Rome, Naples, Bari, Padova and Udine and employs approximately 1,600 workers. Peroni breweries produce 5.8 million barrels of beer a year. Peroni Beer is brewed with the finest barley malt, hops, yeast and pure water from underground springs.
It is a full-bodied golden lager with a smooth, well-balanced hop taste that is complemented by a slight hop aroma. Its crisp yet distinctive flavor makes it the perfect accomplishment to all types of Italian food. Birra Peroni was introduced into the United States in 1988 and has since become one of the leading Italian imported beers in the nation.
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Bacon to Biofuel is a San Francisco (PUC) Public Utilities Commission demonstration project headed by two UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni, John Loiacono (a friend of my “marito”, also a C.E. alumni) and Domenec Jolis. The two engineers are driving San Francisco’s Brown grease project to recycle cooking grease.
Brown grease is a nasty mélange of leftover animal fat, pan scrapings and other gunk that is a sewer pipe’s worst enemy. In San Francisco, the demonstration project is exploring for the first time how the state’s wastewater treatment plants might turn the unappealing stuff into biodiesel fuel. Installation of the test facility is now under way at the city’s Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant near the San Francisco Zoo.
Built on skids for easy transport, each day it will churn out 300 gallons of biodiesel, converted from brown grease that typically winds up in restaurants grease traps or causes trouble when improperly flushed down the drain. The $4 million project is supported by the California Energy Commission and the City of San Francisco as well as federal sources. The effort could prevent messy and costly sewer backups and generate fuel for city vehicles and equipment as well as energy to run the sewage plant itself.
Jolis and Loiacono hope to be up and running in January 2010 and will operate for one year, with a primary goal of providing the model for public agencies statewide to set up similar programs. SFPUC will contract with outside vendors to provide and process the gunk, which must be screened several times to remove solid material: bones, forks, napkins, etc. and heated so it won’t congeal.
Then it undergoes trans- esterification, a chemical process that involves adding methanol and a catalyst, usual- ly an acid. The resulting products are glycerin, which is removed, and methyl ester, or biodiesel. Brown grease recovery differs from the process for converting used cooking oil, “yellow grease,” into biodiesel. The SF Greasecycle program is already turning 20,000 gallons of yellow grease each month into biodiesel for city vehicles. Brown grease is more complicated and particularly troublesome when untreated, the engineers say.
An SFPUC report estimates that nearly 70 million gallons of brown or trap grease are generated annually in California, and San Francisco alone spends an estimated $3.5 million clearing the sewer backups that result.
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Biscotti con Pepe(Pepper Biscuits) These were a big favorite with the old timers, especially the men folks: 4 cups flour 1 pkg. yeas 1 tbls black pepper 1 tbls. salt 1 cup of vegetable oil 1 cup warm water 1 tbls. fennel seeds 1 egg (beaten) Mix flour, salt, pepper, fennel seeds together in a large bowl. Make a well in center of flour mixture. In a small bowl combine warm water and yeast and flour mixture together.
Knead dough and set aside until dough has doubled in size (about 1 ½ hours). Knead dough and set aside once again until dough has doubled in size. Pinch off abut one tablespoon and roll out to four inches in length and about ¼ inch thick. Take rolled dough and twist once and wrap to form a pretzel like shape. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Yields 5 dozens.
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ChesterfieldCigarettes in the early 1950’s, sponsored the 15 minute “The Perry Como Show” which was the most popular quarter hour T.V. show in the country. Perry topped this with his 1955 “Perry Como Show” Saturday nights, which became one of TV’s most watched hour-long variety shows. In 1959, Perry signed with Kraft Foods.
The hour-long “Perry Como Kraft Music Hall” color- cast was beamed around the world to record numbers of viewers. His Gold Record hits included “Because of You,” “Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes,” “Temptation,” “Prisoner of Love,” “Wanted,” “Papa Loves Mambo,” “Catch a Falling Star,” “It’s Impossible,” and “I Love You So.” Also Gold were Perry’s Christmas albums, “Seasons Greetings from Perry Como,” “Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music.”
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Carmen Consoli, one of Italy’s top female singer-song- writers will kickoff 2010 with a special treat for her young North American fans; a live performance in Boston, Massachusetts. While I don’t expect that many of you will be flying in to see her perform, I mention her name so that when the “gioventú” in your lives do, you dear Readers, will at least be able to join in the conversational game.
The Sicilian singer-songwriter will preview songs from her brand new album “Elettra” (Electra) a full month prior to the Italian tour launch at Rome’s Auditorium Parco della Musica. “Elettra,” the singer- songwriter’s seventh studio set, debuted at number two on Italy’s national charts this month (right behind Michael Jackson’s posthumous album release).
Written and recorded in Sicily during the summer of 2009 following the tragic death of her father, “Elettra” is the most personal collection of songs in Carmen’s career employing Italian, Sicilian, Arabic and French languages.
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