American soldiers killed Italian secret service agent Nicola Calipari. That much is fact. While transporting released Italian hostage, Giuliana Sgrena, to the airport outside Baghdad, the car in which he was travelling came under US fire. He died from a single gunshot wound to the head. According to American Military officials, the car was travelling […]
Emmanuel Todd’s After the Empire, which was a bestseller in France, is a somewhat worrying tract. Not that its message that the United States faces an inevitable decline, dragged down by economic profligacy and imperial overstretch, is particularly new or shocking. No, what is disturbing about this book is less its chronicling of American dysfunction […]
The San Remo Festival is hard to explain. To suggest that it’s Italy’s answer to the Eurovision Song Contest doesn’t quite capture it. It is tacky, certainly, and devoid of any musical merit whatsoever, so in that much it bears a resemblance. It is, however, one of the jewels in national broadcaster RAI’s calendar, bringing […]
An easy and healthy option for a flavoursome vegetarian dish. What you need (for 2 persons): 250 gr. ravioli a pot of white yoghurt ½ a teaspoon of turmeric 20 gr. butter ½ teaspoon ground black peppera bunch of rocket parmesan cheese How you do it: Stir the turmeric in the yoghurt to obtain a […]
Easy and tasty, perhaps not so healthy as the vegetarian version with rocket and yoghurt, but – hey – you can't always get everything! What you need (for 2 persons): 250 gr. ravioli 80 gr. smoked bacon 20 gr. cured hog jowl 6-7 sun dried tomatoes ¼ cipolla extra-virgin olive oil ½ teaspoon ground black […]
A dish scented with spices and sweetened by the coconut milk. It's delicious accompanied by boiled basmati rice and sweet'n'sour baby onions. I prepared it for an Indian friend last week, and he said it reminded him of the dishes you can eat in the south of the Country…. What you need (for 4 persons): […]
We received the recipe below from one of our readers, Jane Cranthorne, who tells us that she has always made empanada “as a pie – I can’t remember where I got the recipe but I’ve been cooking it for 20 years or more”. Serves 6. What you need (for the dough): 200g bread flour50g butter1 […]
The travelling carnival that is the Formula One Grand Prix season has kicked off in Melbourne. There have been a number of rule changes, and also some significant alterations in personnel, since last year. The podium has also had a somewhat strange look about it – you might say it was lacking a certain Teutonic […]
I had been hearing the same advice for several weeks while backpacking in India. “If you haven't been on a camel safari, then you haven't done Rajasthan”. Despite my hatred for this type of backpacker snobbery, my mindset had already been formed by the movie Lawrence of Arabia. I always loved the image of Peter […]