Month: December 2012

Herbed Poultry Dressing

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’ve been trying to get standard Thanksgiving dressing (or stuffing, if it’s in the bird) right for a long time. Unfortunately, it’s sort of a hard thing to test out in a two-person household. We had friends visiting a few weeks ago and did a fake Thanksgiving with them. Continue reading Herbed Poultry Dressing

Offline Google Maps: what to do when downloading hangs

This was my first work phone (nominally also a smart phone, but practically -- not very usable as such). That is not my hand. I got the image from here.
The Nokia E50 from 2006: nominally also a smart phone, but practically — not very usable as such. That is not my hand. I got the image from here.
I finally got a new phone for the first time since 2006 this month. It’s my first smart phone for work (I’ve used other portable devices — iPod touch, Nokia E61i, Palm Treo, Handspring Visor + Visorphone) on my own dime, and my first foray into the Android operating system. It’s got two SIM card slots, which makes it particularly convenient for both work and personal use. With that in mind, I was pleased when I read about Google Maps for Android becoming available offline — so you can see your position on map tiles downloaded in advance without using a roaming data connection, which is very expensive. Continue reading Offline Google Maps: what to do when downloading hangs

Gran Turismo del Veneto

Well, truthfully, it was a relatively short road trip in a rented Ford Focus. But I’m working on my Italian. With just two days of lead time (I found out my work schedule would permit it, after all), Sarah rented us a car and a place to sleep at Ca’ de Memi in mid-December in the Veneto, and we were off. Continue reading Gran Turismo del Veneto

My favorite cheapo web host probably just got cheaper!

I just saw this blog post from NearlyFreeSpeech.NET. NearlyFreeSpeech.NETI love being a customer of this company — they are happy to host smaller sites and are constantly working to bill only for services actually used. This blog post addresses a bunch of feature requests from their customers that have been open for years and some other potentially advantageous changes. Continue reading My favorite cheapo web host probably just got cheaper!

Ca’ de Memi

The Joint


Agriturismo Ca’ de Memi de Scquizzato Ottorino
via Roma 4/B
35017 Piombino Dese PD

Tel.: +39 049 93 66 516
Mobile: +39 349 69 87 953
Email: info@cadememi.it
Web: http://www.cadememi.it

For our last minute trip to the Veneto, we stayed at Ca’ de Memi, which I found in a rather roundabout way. I knew we wanted to stay near Roncade in order to pick up wine from Castello di Roncade. But I didn’t want to stay there; we stayed there last time and, while we enjoyed it, I wanted to sample some other offerings of the region. Continue reading Ca’ de Memi

Krakow

Thanksgiving weekend November 2012 we did a four day visit to Poland’s former capital. This was our first time visiting Poland overnight (Sarah once took a day trip to Bolesławiec for some regional pottery and came back with these). We met up there with an old friend who flew in from Moscow and had a wonderful time getting to know the city. Continue reading Krakow

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is pumpkin pie. Moving to Germany and having to make the puree ourselves (really, it’s not that hard) has raised my appreciation for that pie. It’s strongly connected with the season…but wouldn’t it be nice to have a slice in July? Continue reading Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

Quick jaunt down to Italy

I got a chance at a couple days off, allowing me to use up all my vacation days for 2012 (not as easy it sounds!), so we jumped on it, intending to import our favorite groceries:

Sarah reserved us a car and place to sleep at an agriturismo bed-and-breakfast in Veneto and we drove through breathtaking combinations of sky, snow, and scenery in Austria. When we crossed the border into Italy, everything turned gray and slushy. We trudged on through slippery, rainy valleys until we arrived in Piomobino Dese.

Continue reading Quick jaunt down to Italy