The Rain in Spain
Falls Mainly on the Plain....
...BUT...
Does it Snow in Rome?
February 10, 2010 and 101 more days!...so, what are you doing today? Chances are, you're snowed in with close to a foot or more of snow (if you're in the Delaware Valley region of southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey)...so what better way to spend a few minutes of the day than reading the Operation: Poisson Rouge blog and watching the drifts grow by the hour. Get yourself a cup 'o something hot, sit back and read on...we have some interesting info to cover today....
So, does it snow in Rome?
It is very rare, but from time to time, about every 10 years, it snows in Rome. Generally this happens in the outskirts where the altitude is a bit higher. Even at higher altitudes however, it almost never accumulates...
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Rope Weather Forecast
Dry Rope: Sunny
Wet Rope: Rainy
Hard Rope: Cold
Invisible Rope: Fog
Moving Rope: Wind
Missing Rope: Stolen
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McDonald's Launches the McItaly Burger!
(Nana will be VERY Happy!)
McItaly Burger Stirs Up Controversy
McDonald's have unveiled their new "McItaly" burger, emphasizing it will "promote the taste of Italy".
The burger is made from ingredients produced in Italy, and has been launched under the slogan, "McDonald's speaks Italian."
This humble burger (described as "square, with artichoke sauce and Asiago cheese--or olive oil and pancetta") has stirred up foodies around the world.
In a newspaper article reprinted on the Slow Food site, Carlo Petrini, president of Slow Food, wrote about his fears for Italian farming and his doubts that this burger would improve life for either consumers or producers, challenging McDonald's to be transparent about the quality of ingredients, and about the wages paid to farmers:
If the McItaly is just a new way to exploit farmers, paying them poorly, imposing further production standardizations which can only impoverish people, flavor and tradition, then this whole thing is quite a farce.
With the burger launch supported by the Italian government, Berlusconi and Luca Zaia (Minister of Agriculture) have come in for criticism, particularly from the left-wing press.
Supporters believe that the new burger will help Italian farmers, since it's produced wholly from ingredients grown in Italy. Nay-sayers fear that this is just another example of McDonald's global expansion, exploiting rather than protecting local cuisine.
If sales within Italy reach a target of 3.5 million, the burger will be launched worldwide.
Would a McItaly burger entice you into McDonald's?
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NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Writer – Tue Feb 9, 9:29 am ET ROME – Italy's agriculture minister defended his sponsorship of McDonald's new all-Italian burger Monday amid criticism that he is selling out to a multinational corporation and sacrificing Italy's culinary reputation in the process.
Minister Luca Zaia has argued that McDonald's new McItaly burger — using all Italian beef, Asiago cheese and artichoke spread — will pump (EURO)3.5 million ($4.8 million) more a month into the pockets of Italian farmers grappling with tough economic times.
But for a country that gave birth to the Slow Food movement a quarter-century ago and prides itself on its varied, delicious and healthy cuisine, Zaia's enthusiastic support of McDonald's has been hard to swallow.
It didn't help that Zaia and McDonald's executives launched the new burger last month at McDonald's flagship restaurant in Rome's historic center near the Spanish Steps, the chain's first Italian outpost.
The opening of those Golden Arches in 1986 famously inspired a relatively unknown Turin foodie, Carlo Petrini, to launch what became Slow Food — the international movement that embraces local, organic food and home cooking over fast food and the industrialized food chain.
In a recent front-page opinion piece in La Repubblica newspaper, Petrini challenged Zaia and McDonald's to back up their claims of helping Italian farmers with a kilo-by-kilo accounting of how much farmers are actually getting paid out of the deal.
And he chafed at Zaia's suggestion that the all-Italian menu would "globalize the identity of Italian agriculture."
"Taste, like identity, has value only when there are differences," Petrini wrote.
The opposition Democratic Party has also slammed Zaia's use of an official government seal of approval for the new burger. On the McItaly's promotional material is a seal saying "Under the patronage of" the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry — a highly coveted government endorsement that is more often seen on museum exhibits and cultural initiatives than fast-food containers.
"I think it's legitimate to ask if Minister Zaia is working for Italy or McDonald's," Nicodemo Oliverio, the top Democratic Party lawmaker in the lower Chamber of Deputies' agriculture commission, quipped Monday.
He charged that giving McDonald's such a designation creates a disparity with Italian food companies that may require Italy's antitrust authority to intervene.
Zaia shot back saying the government had long been in partnership with McDonald's to promote other "Made in Italy" products such as parmesan cheese and smoked beef.
Zaia, who relentlessly courts publicity for Italy's agricultural products, has defended his partnership with McDonald's as an important new market for Italy's farmers and a way to reach young Italians who make up the bulk of McDonald's customers.
He said Monday the first week of sales — some 100,000 burgers — had exceeded expectations. In the coming weeks, a new burger featuring smoked bacon and grilled onions, as well as an all-Italian ingredient salad, will be rolled out in McDonald's 392 Italian restaurants.
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This wraps up today's blog entry. Stay warm and be safe...only 101 more days, and we will be IN the Mediterranean enjoying fine weather and cuisine...all this white stuff will be a melted memory...
Cruise along and enjoy...^_~
Karen
