What Fills My Plate

 I belong to a cooking forum on the internet.  The majority of people who write or make comments live in the USA.  I have lived in Italy for 14 years and over this time I have realised the huge differences between the majority of Italians and many Americans.  I won't estimate the latter but I think, maybe a lot of them.   Cooking and devouring what is set before us has become more important than in the past.  Cooking channels, Cooking contests, Youtube recipes, info on where to eat where to go, and even eating challenges like Man Versus Food are popular. Let's start with the Italians.  If you sit in a restaurant here you will see their plates with a small serving of one item.  The menu offers  3 courses, but I usually see Italians ordering only 2 of the offerings.  Their main course will not feature many items on the one dish and also items not touching.  You will never see a plate of pasta, with some cooked vegetable next to it, nor will you see meat, potatoes, and vegetables

Buon Giorno Tutti!  This past weekend we drove south of Venezia to the area where the Po River empties into the Adriatic Sea.  This area attracts us for many reasons, the calm feeling, the old structures, the bird watching areas, and the food offered, mainly fish items and fresh off the boat.  You see above an old brick factory, now abandoned.  There are many of these scattered around as bricks were the main item used to build homes and farms many years ago.  Tower Building surrounded  by pay to fish pond In order to get to an area I wished to paint we had to cross a bridge held up by large metal boats.  In the middle of the bridge a man collects a small fee,  Our car bobbed up and down and a bit side to side when we stopped to pay.  I bet the man who collects goes home feeling the movement long after leaving. Ibis When you drive through the country side you have a chance to see many birds because there are canals and ponds by the sea.  We saw flocks of flamingos, many other types of b