I Love Firenze! (Florence)
Winter Goes Grudgingly
Winter has been long and gray and holding tight, unwilling to give way. But it's late March now, and winter goes grudgingly, allowing spring to tip toe in. It's rained much of this last week, and I...
How to Patch a Chuckhole
There's an ingenious citizen taking action along the frontage road that borders the canal and leads to the bike path. Why wait until the city gets around to patching chuckholes on this minor road?...
Fractal Fibonacci Romanesco*
They call it "Cavolfiore" or Cauliflower here, but Americans call it "Romanesco Broccoli". Either way, it tastes great, it's absolutely beautiful, and it's math on your plate. The Romanesco is a...
Eat, That You Will Feel Well
Would you let 30 random strangers eat off your plate? Would you, in turn, eat off the plates of those 30 strangers? The Uovo Performing Arts Festival included one "performance" yesterday of 30...
I Met Mary!
Last June, just a few days after I had arrived here in Milano, I went to the Cimitero Monumentale - the Monumental Cemetery - to look around. It is, indeed, "monumental" and every bit worth an...
Zucchi Collection
When here in Milano in the summer of 2008, I stumbled upon a Zucchi Store just a half block north of the Duomo. They sell lovely household linens (sheets and towels) and they had a curious display...
Prosciutto Soup
The other day I noticed the section in the meat department at the grocery store where they sell the "ends" of the prosciutto, mortadella, salami and other meats. I bought a prosciutto end for just a...
Inspire the Construction Workers
JUST as they were on a crane removing this billboard ad for high-fashion lingerie, I was walking by with my camera and had mere moments to shoot. What will they put up next to keep the construction...
Oranges for a Lifetime
Yesterday morning I went to the local Saturday market on a mission: gather as many different citrus tissue wrappers as I could find. From each stall that had some of the paper-wrapped fruit, I...
Pasta. We’re Not Talkin’ Noodles
Milano is a fabulous place to do a "design intensive" exploration, and I've stepped up my voracious visual consumption of the rich details around me. What a place to study typography, graphics,...
!@*#!! It’s Snowing!
It's March. It's 3:00 in the afternoon and it's snowing. Crap. I'm so ready for the Springtime that Seattle is having right now! Enough of this COLD! My Seattle neighbors called the other day to...