favorite movie #60 - halloween edition: castle of blood (danza macabra/danse macabre/castle of terror)

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #60 - Castle of Blood (Danza Macabra) (1964) - I grew up on horror films, mainly watching them with my dad (who must have loved them too, and always turned them on) and family on television on Creature Feature or Thriller Theater. One of my earliest memories of having the bejeesus scared out of me is this Italian dubbed masterpiece from 1964, Castle of Blood. For years I thought its title was Nightmare Castle, another Italian gothic horror film starring the wonderful Barbara Steele. It was also pretty sexy for its time. I recently tracked it down — it's available to view on YouTube (in English, French or Italian). The plot is both simple and fantastic.  In a pub, a journalist (Georges Rivière) accepts a bet from Lord Blackwood (Umberto Raho) and Edgar Allan Poe (!) (Silvano Tranquilli) that he can spend the night in a haunted castle on All Hallow's Eve. All during the night various ghosts re-enact their gruesome deaths, and he falls in love with the beautiful, ghostly Elisabeth (Steele) who tries to help him escape ...

related:
halloween memories — barbara steele
a life-long love of scary movies

donna detective: ci vediamo

Donna Detective is one of the latest offerings from MHz Networks, which releases international television shows on DVD. ...

Although some of situations in Donna Detective are far from fresh - the new boss who must prove herself, perceptions of women in the work force, how hard it is to juggle career and family - it is still fascinating and most importantly, entertaining, to watch Lisa (Lucrezia Lante Della Rovere) face each obstacle at home and at work. Maybe because the show originated in Italy, there is also a soap opera aspect to some of the "crimes of passion" that Lisa and her squad are up against, but the episodes are far from boring. As the series progresses, each crime that Lisa and her team investigate also sheds light on their characters and what is happening in their lives. There is also an ongoing series story arc involving Lisa's husband Michele, who has been accused of murdering a female colleague, which has a major impact on their marriage, and could even threaten Lisa's career, as she tries to clear her husband. ...

Lisa (Lucrezia Lante Della Rovere) and Nanni (Flavio Montrucchio) on a case

It may seem impossible to American viewers to take Lisa seriously when when watching her switch gears so quickly, to whipping up a frittata for her hungry family when she returns home from a long day of busting perps, but that is exactly the charm at the center of Donna Detective. It is refreshing to watch a cop show that is as interested in its characters and their motivations - as well as what they want to eat and drink - as it is in solving the crime of the week. The great soundtrack by Savio Riccardi and the backdrop of the eternal city of Rome just add to the experience. Donna Detective is good-looking, too, with cinematography a step above typical crime dramas. ...

Read my complete review on Cinema Sentries ...

salvia fritta

from hynesghpstudio on flickr

Yesterday we had a great family visit, and one of the topics (of course, we're Italian) was reminiscing over fabulous food eaten on Italian journeys, specifically Piedmontese cuisine. I'll tell a truffle story later, but today I want to re-savor one of the most delicious appetizers I have ever had, salvia fritta, fried sage leaves.

Cruising the internets I have found several recipes. They seem so incredibly easy to prepare I wonder why it never occurred to me to try before. I guess that the occasion where I had them was a special one, in a very beautiful restaurant in Torino, and they marked the beginning of a series of wonderful courses, so I had always associated them with this sort of eating, which is far from my daily eating experience.

But there is truly no reason not to make any meal special, so if I can fit them somehow onto the menu in future I most certainly will.

Salvia Fritta

Wash several large sage leaves in cold water, drain, blot on paper towels.

Beat one or two large eggs with a pinch of salt.

Mix dried bread crumbs in a large dish for the coating (some recipes I found use flour and water rather than eggs and bread crumbs, some no batter at all)

Heat some olive oil in a pan.

Dip each leaf, first in the egg, then in the breadcrumbs, coating both sides. Place in hot oil and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towel.

Serve and enjoy!

white rabbits x3

Did you say "white rabbits, whites rabbits, white rabbits" first thing today for luck? Or "rabbit rabbit" or any of the very many variations? I remembered to. It's a superstition that is believed to have originated in England, although no one agrees to how far back it goes.

My mom is British - she was born in Folkestone - but she doesn't remember the superstition. Her British father and her American mother lived most of their married life in Paris until my grandmother and my mother left Europe when my mother was the age of five. My grandmother was able to use the War as an excuse for them to move in with her family, although the real reason was that my grandmother was divorcing my grandfather. A big deal and quite difficult to be a single mom in the 1930s (not that it's a walk in the park, today, either). I have to hand it to my grandmother, who managed to raise my mom, work, and still maintain a positive outlook on life. She was never one to reveal her emotions in a big way, unlike the other, Italian/Sicilian members of my family, but she is definitely responsible for my work ethic and my iron-willed determination (that can sometimes be a little heavy on the iron, but, that's how it goes.)

White rabbits x3 may be British in origin, but I think my desire to incorporate it into my personal collection of superstitions probably does come from the Sicilian/Italian in me. Wives tales, folklore and superstitions seemed to part of the daily vocabulary of my father's family. Here are some of my favorites:

• Throw salt over your shoulder if you spill it
• Don't split a pole when walking with someone
• No hats on the bed!
• Knock on wood if you speak of something that might bring bad luck
• Finding a heads up penny bring good luck
• And of course...

ham loaf

The other day at lunch one of my co-workers casually remarked that she and a friend had bought 20 lbs of ham loaf to take back with them after the Christmas holidays. 20 lbs you might say? Forget that, what the heck is ham loaf?

Now before I get started, I must admit that although I was born in the U.S.A., my bringing up was more child-of-immigrant-family-comes-to-live-in-NYC (even though my dad was born in this country, sort of - da Bronx) than Middle America.

My family never made a green bean casserole, mac 'n' cheese, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, or any other traditional American comfort food. My mom admits that when she married my dad she didn't even really know how to boil water, so my Sicilian grandmother taught her how to cook. So the rare times we had anything "American" like meat loaf - you can be sure that it was served with spaghetti sauce! I'm not trying to be snobbish here at all. This was my experience. Like a lot of other aspects of my childhood, we marched to a different drummer than most of our friend's families, most obviously, culinarily.


So ham loaf wasn't anything on our horizon. I've never even had SPAM (although I adore the Python routine.) Dad was fond of ham steak, however, much to my brother's disgust. I tend to like salty stuff, so that didn't bother me, as it always could be accompanied by tons of applesauce. My maternal Grandmother loved ham salad, something I never had until I started visiting her in Florida at fourteen. I have to admit that sometimes I see it in the supermarket and have to get it, because it makes me think of her. I guess we are what we eat. Or we eat what we know. Or something like that.

sfincioni

I think Grandma would be proud that I am picking up her holiday tradition of making sfincioni. Last year I tried it with a phyllo dough. This year I did two versions - one with a french bread dough, one with a pizza dough. All attempts were quite tasty. I think she would say, "Delicious, dear, but it's not sfincioni..."

What is this elusive delicacy, you might ask? There are many versions, but basically it is a Sicilian cheese pie, served at Christmas. Some say it is the ancient precursor of pizza. It has been called pizza rustica. It can be on the sweet or savory side, depending on what fillings you choose. In Palermo, it is actually sold on the street, the square slices looking like what they call "Sicilian pizza" in the States. Some present it like a calzone. Not sfincioni!

In our family version, Grandma used mozzarella, provolone, and small bits of salami as the base for the filling. Sometimes she would add bits of prosciutto or tiny meatballs as a yummy surprise. We all argue about the dough. The consensus is a brioche-type dough, but so far no one has been able to approximate it exactly. She would make it in a cake pan, putting the filling inside and the dough cover on top, with an egg wash to give it a hard, shiny crust. A recipe for pizza rustica that I saved from the New York Times years ago, adds many eggs as the binder, so it can even be quiche-like (that recipe was an open pie, with a lattice crust - also delicious, but not sfincioni!)

The only other person in my family who could make this dish exactly like grandma was UJ (Uncle John.) Sadly, both UJ and Grandma have passed on, so all I can do is continue to try. But it's a tasty problem to solve.