Ciao before I take a break

Ciao my blogland friends. This week flew by in a flash!

After my escape to blissdom for the Easter holiday, the religious rituals and the Pasquetta picnic, the return to Rome and its daily routine gave me a chance to evaluate and understand how terribly fond of (and addicted to) blogging I am.

Cooking is my passion. Now, through the multi-dimensional blog world, I'm able to share my recipes, my stories and my thoughts regarding these and more, freely and in an ever expanding, stimulating dialogue with my blog friends.

My day is regulated by the blogroll. My hours carefully budgeted to an international clock. The rhythm of posts and comments is dictated by hemispheres and time zones. These range from early ones in the day from Australia and Asia, followed by the Europeans, the ones hailing from the beloved African continent, the Americas and Canada, starting with the Eastern coast first, followed by the Midwest and finally closed with the West coast of California and Oregon. I will not specify names, because you know who you are. And since there are many of you, I didn't want to post a long list of links. I will eventually, because I love dishing in the kitchen, but also opening doors for new visitors to come in, get acquainted, sit and lend a hand in the chopping and stirring, and adding their opinion to the conversation. My list of regulars grows, this means the formula works.

°*°*°

Tomorrow I start a new job. I will be employed on a film for 8 weeks, shooting in the city, on a sound stage in Cinecittà, and on location around the Lazio region.

Needless to say - considering my working hours on set, plus travel to and from there - means I will blog much less. I will not have half the necessary amount of time for posting, blog-hopping and commenting. Since I have become somewhat of an addict, it will be like going to weblog rehab.

It'll take time. Effort. Commitment. Drugs even. But that's how it is. My day will most always start at 6am, driving in the dawn lights to the designated set location. Getting inevitably lost and cursing at my GPS navigator, and sadly arriving to a lukewarn plastic cup of bad espresso. I will work for 5 solid hours with no break before lunch. With no phone calls to my baby boy because we record live sound. No time to amble carelessly at the farmer's market. And no time to blog-surf.

Lunch break on an Italian film set is paradoxically an insult. We eat packed lunches from a catering cardboard box, containing stale Bel Paese (sad) cheese and leathery prosciutto (oxymoron), overcooked pasta and a dry chicken drumstick. I'm seriously thinking of starting a catering service for the Rome-based film industry. It would be a guaranteed hit.

One more shot of pod coffee and back to work we go for another 4/5 hours. I drive wide-eyed back home in the dark and cuddle a sleeping toddler when I get there. Before diving head-first in the down pillows of my bed, perhaps I will quietly run to my laptop for a quickie. Just a little minute in blog land, before I surrender to Morpheus' capacious embrace.

Proofreading back, it sounds like I work in the mines of pre-WWII Belgium, I don't actually. I work in a very relaxed, easy going environment; surrounded by friends and often attractive men. I carry out a stimulating chore and I'm professionally challenged and excited by what I do: something fun and different every day. If I'm lucky and the project it worth it, I remind myself that I'm contributing to making a piece of art. Plus I get to hang out with celebrities. And to some, that's really something. I've sort of become immune to them, I am no longer star-struck. I have worked with the great and the near-great. Each star or wannabe has left a mark, a wink and smile. My greatest heart palpitations occurred at the beginning, when I was graced with the laid-back company of people like Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson, Jessica Lange, Vittorio Gassmann, Daniel Day Lewis, Spike Lee, Stefania Sandrelli, Bob Hoskins, Giancarlo Giannini, Leonardo DiCaprio, Willem Dafoe, Cameron Diaz...

Nowadays, all I really long for is to spend time with my son, the true superstar VIP of my life. My greatest masterpiece. My blockbuster epic hero: little E.



We'll binge again soon, I promise. In the meantime, feel free to peruse my archives. There's some old recipes I posted in January and February worth making before all the winter season produce leaves the scene.

Ciao for now,

Lola