Cappuccino Experience

Why not study …

… truffles!!

At the Centro Nazionale Studi Tartufo in Alba, Piedmont, you can learn all about this costly delicacy:

• what it is
• the various species available
• the difference between the white and black varieties
• stories and legends
• discover the technical terms using the glossary
• when to pick them
• download an information leaflet

Whilst enquiring about the centre I was taught how to distinguish (using the sense of smell) between a freshly picked (not ready), mature (perfect for eating) and old (rotten and past it!) truffle. Now I shouldn’t get ripped off when I go shopping for them!!

What do you think of truffles? Please let me know your experiences of them.

Take Control of the Metro

Want to drive a metro? Then visit the ATM M3 Simulator .

Spacebar starts the game. Use the mouse to change speed (up to accelerate, down to decelerate). Use the bars to the right to keep an eye on your passengers’ stress level and speed. At the bottom you can see the stations and your progress bar. Move between stations. Be careful to slow down in time so as to arrive within the platform limits. Press A to open the doors and let the passengers get on. Press S to sound the siren, informing the passengers you are ready to depart. Press A to close the doors. Then move off slowly.

Try not to go over speed limit of 70 km/hr. Beware. If passengers get too stressed the game finishes. Have fun

Word of the Week

I am taking a break from the Italian Commedia dell’Arte characters. I’ll pick them up again next week.

The word I discovered yesterday is…

bisbigliare

to whisper

Why this strange word? Well, here’s the story.

The bosses dog, Aston, was sleeping on the floor near my desk. I leaned towards him and whispered in a really low voice biscotto (biscuit). He jumped up like a flash of lightning and ran over to the box where his food is kept. He seems to have a good grasp of Italian and his hearing is second to none!

That’s him in the photo. A cool character, he’s well behaved too. Even has his own group on Facebook, Aston & Co. There are some nice photos of him there so go and have a look. As for his Italian I’ll have to test a few more words out on him in the future (and reward him with biscuits)!

Slurp Slurp

Twitter! Is it taking over the world? During the last couple of months I have heard so much about this simple communication tool. I thought it was about time to give it a try.

Now I know some of you use Twitter already, but for those of you who don’t or would like to find out more about it read The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter. It will give you a good explanation and is full of useful advice and links to help you get started.

What will I be tweeting (or as I am a cappuccino blog, slurping) about? Well I don’t know exactly. I am learning as I go along but I can use it to quickly and easily to share information about new posts (RSS does this quite well already though), interesting news and what’s worth seeing (cinema, theatre, festivals). I can answer questions (or try to anyway), collect opinions, share tips and tricks etc. People following me will all have a common interest, Italy, so hopefully a community will develop where ideas can be exchanged, opinions expressed etc.

I have also introduced a sidebar to show my latest slurps. You can follow me at mrcappuccino but you will first need to sign up for a twitter account.

Rome 320 AD

Have you ever wonder what it would be like to step back in time and visit ancient Rome? Well wonder no longer! Now, thanks to Google Earth it is possible to see what the city looked like on 1st April 320 AD, when the emperor Constantine ruled. Marvel at the 6,700 digitally reconstructed buildings and even look inside ten of them. This is Rome at the height of its architectural glory.

Continue reading …