As a young kid, I used to marvel at how sophisticated our Genoa-born neighbor Amelia used to appear as she sipped her pre-dinner drink on the back porch.  Amelia would often put together a bitter aperitif (usually red vermouth and Campari), along with a few toasted pieces of bread and Italian cheese, and sit elegantly waiting for her pasta water […]

Given the recent news coverage surrounding the swine flu outbreak I thought a tasty pork recipe would be in order!  Now don’t get me wrong any flu that gets the World Health Organization’s level 4 pandemic alert should be taken seriously (wash your hands and run away from folks who cough incessantly), but I’m hoping folks do not stay away […]

Apparently the Spring season has decided to bypass the East coast this year as the temperature today is expected to reach a record high of 90 degrees!  I broke a sweat just climbing our stairs this morning; ok, I was doing some early morning work but it’s not fun to sweat especially if you have Mediterranean blood in you! Sweating […]

(The following is a guest post from Gradspot.com – a resource for soon-to-be and recent grads making the transition from college to the real world.) (photo via wwworks) With commencement season around the corner, seniors are starting to look at potential post-college cities like they once looked at schools. Where is the best party scene? The best food? The greatest opportunities […]

A recent article in Wired Magazine by Jonah Lehrer entitled, “The Brain, Revealed” points out the massive research project underway to map the entire human brain.  The project is funded by one of the founders of Microsoft, Paul Allen.  And with any large contribution to a particular scientific endeavor one usually gets a research building named after them, so the […]

David Brooks has a thought provoking ed-op in the NY Times today called, The End of Philosophy.   Brooks argues that moral judgments are intuitive and not really informed by reason and rationality (as the Western tradition has taught us).  Brooks points to modern research in cognitive science and psychology to argue that, “Moral judgments are…rapid intuitive decisions and involve […]