Tag Archives: Blogging

Bloghiversario & Book Review

25 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Blogging, Inspiration, Libri

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Caspita, il tempo vola! Non ci credo che oggi è bloghiversario numero 4 per Un po’ di pepe!  How time flies. I can’t believe it is already 4 years since publishing my first post on Un po’ di pepe.

This was another exciting blogging year.  I wish I could post more often, but until I can manage to get 27 hours out of a day, twice a month will continue to be the average. Here are some highlights of the year…

  • Blog love!  In June I met photographer Flynn at my mercato bancarella. He bought a tiny print and wrote a very nice and well-timed post on his blog about inspiration and art.
  • I was interviewed by Silvia for her blog in October.  It was amazing that someone actually wanted to interview me.  Now I actually have the ability to quote myself-as I did in my last post, and will continue to do so as often as I can! Just because I can.  Link to the bilingual post here.
  • In February, honorary Calabrese Karen of the blog and book Calabria: The Other Italy nominated me for the Unique Blogger Award.  This is a pay-it-forward, share-the-love blog vehicle.  Nominees answer a set of questions, then nominate others. I have not found the time to respond yet, but Karen did say there was no pressure, no time limit.
  • To celebrate follower#250, Mlle Cher was sent one of my ‘Espresso per Uno’ linocut prints!  Hopefully it arrived before she left NY for Pietrasanta.
  • I managed to squeeze in a spontaneous ‘extra’ trip to Italia in November to attend an art retreat and Fucacoste e Cocce Priatorje!
  • Many of you enjoyed my attempt at contemporary art criticism in La Grande Cacata.  The title says it all!
  • I joined the #DolceVitaBloggers linkup for my last post.  The group posts on a selected topic from the 7th to the 14th of every month.  I hope to participate again!
  • You may have noticed those pesky ads for things like toenail fungus removal have disappeared from the bottom of the posts!  Yipee!  I upgraded my wordpress plan.  Now I can use videos, once I learn how to load them.
  • My pronunciation guide Italiano per Ristoranti continues to be the most viewed post.  I am still planning to turn the downloadable PDF into an e-book once I figure out how to do that. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

    Bruschetta (broo.SKET.tah)

Today is also La Festa della Liberazione d’Italia, the anniversary of the liberation of Italia from Fascist occupation in 1945.  Viva la libertà!  Last year, I said I was going to write about Le Donne Partigiane-women who were partisans in the Italian Resistance. Well… that post is not written yet, so instead, I will include a book review of a book with una donna partigiana as the main character.

Bridge of Sighs and Dreams is written by fellow blogger Pamela Allegretto.  I loved it and here is my Goodreads/Amazon 5/5 star review:

 

Grazie to all of you for taking the time to read, comment, send messages and especially for giving me an excuse to research and write about things that interest me!  If you have any suggestions for posts or just want to say ‘ciao‘, leave me a comment.

Grazie a tutti per leggere e darmi una scusa per scrivere di cose che mi piacciono.  Lasciami un messaggio se hai un idee per un post o se vuoi dice ‘ciao’.  Un abbraccio, Cristina

Buon Anno 2018

01 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by in Blogging, Inspiration

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Buon Anno a tutti i lettori di ‘Un po’ di pepe’, vicini e lontani!  Spero che 2018 porta buona salute e gioia a voi e ai vostri cari. Happy New Year readers of ‘Un po’ di pepe’ near and far.  I hope 2018 brings you and your loved ones good health and joy!

WordPress sent me some stats which i find so interesting I need to share them. In 2017, Un po’ di pepe had almost 7,700 views from 101 different countries!  I wish I could visit even a few of them!  This post is also a milestone, as it is post number 100!  Last month I also reached 250 followers.  Number 250 is the lovely Cher who I met at my exhibit in Pietrasanta, Lucca. Cher, if you are reading this, I will be sending you a ‘prize’ soon!  Based on the number of views, the most posts of 2017 were:

#9 A post full of sundrenched photos from my daytrip to Trani this summer#8 At first, it seemed like this post didn’t get as much love as I thought it deserved, so I was felicissima that Hairstyling in Ancient Roma made the list! I am an archeology nerd, and obviously some of you are too!

#7 Torta Caprese all’Arancia the delicious flourless chocolate cake recipe I posted to celebrate receiving a Cannolo Award makes the list again this year

#6 My grand amico Peppe Zullo Il Cuoco Contadino will be thrilled that the post about him and his Azienda Agricola made the list!

Peppe Zullo nel vigneto. Photo Nicola Tramonte

#5 Pomodoro Day is a new post with links to 2 previous posts about the history of  pomodori and my family’s annual passata di pomodoro canning.  There are a lot of photos and they are very red!

#4 An introduction to my paese Benvenuti ad Orsara di Puglia made the list again this year.  Viva Orsara! I need to publish a photo essay of black and white photos taken this year.

#3 I am so happy to see Mercato Inspiration in the top 3! This post is a link to a photography blog post written by someone who purchased a small print from me. He writes about how meeting me and talking about art inspired him.  Molto cool!

#2 is my About me/Chi sono page but since it is not an actual post, the #2 spot goes to another old favourite.  Grano Arso is about a resurfaced gastronomic tradition in Puglia that honours the resilience of our contadini ancestors.  In September I read a piece about grano arso at the Association of Italian Canadian Writers Conference. It will be published in a special edition of the journal Italian Canadiana in 2018.

#1 by a long shot once again is Italiano per Ristoranti my handy Italian menu pronunciation guide.  This post is from 2014, and updated in 2016.  It is available from the post as a downloadable PDF.  I would like to expand on this post and make it into an ebook once I have time to figure out how to do that!

Bruschetta (broo.SKET.tah)

In October, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by fellow blogger Silvia Spatafora.  The link to her bilingual post is in L’Intervista con Silvia. Also molto cool!In 2017 I saw U2 perform live for the 7th time and I went to Italia twice!  If you read the posts In Partenza and Autunno in Italia, you know that the second time was not planned very far in advance.  Spontaneity is good!  I have several blog posts coming in 2018 related to the short trip! I also have a few book reviews to post.  My goals for 2018 are simple….less stress, more exercise, more art and writing!

I would love to hear which post was your favourite.  What would you like to read more of in Un po’ di pepe?  Looking forward to writing more cose interresanti /interesting stuff in 2018.

Vi auguro un 2018 piena di gioia e buona salute!  Ciao, Cristina

L’Intervista con Silvia

25 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by in Bilingual posts, Blogging, Inspiration, Italian language

≈ 17 Comments

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One of the greatest things about blogging is virtual ‘meeting’ and collaboration with other bloggers.  Recently, I received a very nice email from fellow blogger Silvia Spatafora, of Il Blog di Silvia Spatafora:

‘Trovo molto interessante la tua storia, il fatto che tu sia nata in Italia ma che ti sia trasferita da piccola in Canada e, soprattutto, la tua passione per l’Italia! Il tuo blog è davvero interessante. Adoro che scrivi un po’ in inglese e un po’ in italiano e sarei curiosa di scoprire di più su di te, il tuo blog e il modo in cui mantieni allenato il tuo italiano. Per questo avevo pensato che sarebbe carino farti un’intervista scritta da pubblicare sul mio blog.’

In inglese:  ‘I find your story very interesting; the fact that you were born in Italia but moved to Canada at a young age, and mostly your passion for Italia.  Your blog is really interesting.  I adore that you write a bit in English and a bit in Italian and I would be curious to discover more about you, your blog and the way you keep up your Italian.  For this reason, I thought it would be cute to do an written interview with you to publish on my blog.’

Silvia was born and went to university in Palermo, and has been living in Madrid since 2010.  Silvia is passionate about teaching Italian! She teaches Italiano per Stranieri/  Italian for Foreigners at several schools in Madrid, as well as privately and also does translation.   She published my intervista on her blog today in both Italiano and inglese.  Read it on Silvia’s blog here. 

Grazie Silvia!

 

Chiuso per Ferie

25 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by in Blogging, Italian life, Orsara di Puglia

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Chiuso per ferie = closed for holidays.  Chiuso per ferie signs can be seen posted all over Italia in summer, especially in the weeks before and after Ferragosto, the 15th of August. I was not organized to post-date anything and was hoping I could publish a few posts with only my iPad and wifi, but i give up. Un po’ di pepe is now chiuso per ferie until mid August!

I have a chiavetta internet, which until this year, I used at home with a small laptop.  I would load $ on it and use it for 1 month a year.  The technology is old and it was not a great connection anyways, making it more frustrating than useful.  I ended up wasting a lot of time, so this year, I decided to scrap it and just make do with wifi available at 3 bars in town.

Not so easy!  My wifi access usually consists of a few stolen minutes here and there. When I sit at the bar with my espressino, inevitably, someone sees me sitting there and comes over to chat, which is awesome, and much more sociable than staring at a screen by myself.  In the evening, I am usually at one of the bars, but with family or friends, so anything longer than a quick Instagram post is socially unacceptable.

One of the bars is at a crossroads, very close to my casa.  I have to walk past it to get to most of the places I need to go,  When I walk past, I walk really slowly and then I hear my pocket go ‘ding ding ding’ as all of my WhatsApp messages come in!  I read them later, and respond when in wifi again.  

I have been too busy socializing, taking photos and enjoying the fresh air in Orsara di Puglia to have time to keep up with reading blog posts, let alone deal with the technical issues of posting any.  I have been posting frequently to Instagram and a bit on Facebook.  If you want to see what I have been up to, check out my Instagram feed on the sidebar to the right.  For now, consider me chiuso per ferie! Ciao da Orsara, Cristina

Terzo Bloghiversario!

25 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by in Blogging

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Caspita! Il tempo vola. Non ci credo che oggi Un po’ di pepe fa 3 anni!  How time flies. I can’t believe it is already 3 years since publishing my first post on Un po’ di pepe, Perche Questo Blog?/Why Write a Blog? I do not know how I missed noticing this before, but today is also La Festa della Liberazione d’Italia, the anniversary of the liberation of Italia from Fascist occupation in 1945.  Viva la libertà!  Next year I will write a post about Le Donne Partigiane-women who were partisans in the Italian Resistance.

I planned to celebrate by having a contest or giving away a print for Un po’ di pepe’s 200th follower, but I missed that too!  Mannaggia! I will have to organize something for the 250th follower or the 100th post.  This one is #85, so I do not need to rush.

This was another exciting blogging year.  I wish I had time to post more often, but twice a month will continue to be the average.  This year Un po’ di pepe finally got a Facebook page-the link is in the sidebar. I still prefer Instagram!  My pronunciation guide Italiano per Ristoranti continues to be the most viewed post and a popular download.  I have been doing research on how to turn it into an e-book.

Bruschetta (broo.SKET.tah)

I was nominated for a Liebster Award by Malberock. I love their description of my blog: ‘l’identità italiana in Canada spiegata ai canadesi, ma anche a noi italiani’!  This could be my new tagline-grazie Malberock! The Liebster is a virtual award designed to increase the visibility of blogs that have less than 200 followers.  Now that I am up to 211, I no longer qualify!

I have more posts about interesting stuff planned for the coming year, including more parole piacevoli, my experiences with dialetti and making bread starter.  My next post will feature my amico, Peppe Zullo! While I am learning how to publish an e-book, I also plan to figure out how to post bits of my old home movies from our family trips to Italia.  In June and August I will have a bancarella at the Italian Market, selling cards, etchings and other things I like to make.  I also want to finally open an Etsy store, but I need to make inventory first.

Grazie to all of you for taking the time to read, comment, send messages and especially for giving me an excuse to research and write about things that interest me!  If you have any suggestions for posts or just want to say ‘ciao‘, leave me a comment.  I am going to sign off with a link to my second post, which needs some love-Il Gigante~Michelangelo’s David. Grazie a tutti per leggere e darmi una scusa per scrivere di cose che mi piacciono.  Lasciami un messaggio se hai un idee per un post o se vuoi dice ‘ciao’.  Un abbraccio, Cristina

Primo ‘Bloghiversario’

24 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by in Feste, Inspiration

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Bloghiversario3Ciao Amici!  Oggi facciamo ‘un po’ di festa’ perché è il primo ‘bloghiversario’ di Un po’ di pepe!  Today is a bit of a celebration as it’s Un po’ di pepe’s 1 year ‘bloghiversary’!  Exactly 1 year ago today I finally hit the blue ‘Publish’ button.   The year has gone by so fast.  It seems like just yesterday I was struggling to find a blog name that was available and also relevant and meaningful for me.  I couldn’t believe that ‘Ciao Cristina’ and everything else I could think of was taken. Mannaggia!  The frustration was worth it though, because ‘Un po’ di pepe’ is an awesome blog name.

What has this year been filled with?  27 blog posts, 94 subscribers, 2450 views, an average of 7 visitors per day, and lots and lots of ideas and inspiration.  One of my blogging highlights was when my cugino Biagio told me that he used my 2nd post ‘Il Gigante-Michelangelo’s David’ to teach his class on Renaissance history.  Isn’t that molto cool?

Thank you all so much for reading and for giving me an excuse to write about stuff I love and share my images.  You know….’Devo fare ricerca per il blog'(I need to do research for my blog) is my new reason to do all the things I want to do!  It has been a wonderful experience so far!  Please leave a comment if you have suggestions for posts, or you just want to say ‘ciao’.

Un abbraccio, Cristina

Bloghiversario4

Ciao Amici! Oggi facciamo un po’ di festa perché è il primo ‘bloghiversario’ di ‘Un po’ di pepe’! Non ci posso credere che sia passato già un anno da quando ho premuto ‘Publish’. Sembra solo ieri che mi preoccupavo di trovare un nome per il blog, perché ‘Ciao Cristina’ non era disponibile. Mannaggia! Trovare un nome alternativo è diventanto un vero grattacapo ma quella travagliata ricerca è valsa la pena perché, dopo tutto, trovo che ‘Un po’ di pepe’ sia un nome stupendo per il mio blog.

Di che cosa è stato fatto quest’anno? 27 post, 94 iscritti, 2450 viste, una media di 7 persone al giorno che guardano il blog, moltissime idee e tanta ispirazione. Uno dei momenti più esiliranti per me è stato quando mio cugino Biagio m’ha detto che aveva usato il mio primo post, ‘Il Gigante-Michelangelo’s David’, nell’insegnamento del suo corso di storia rinascimentale. Che figata!

Grazie a tutti per continuare a leggere e per avermi dato una scusa per usare le foto che ho scattato e per scrivere di cose che mi piacciono. Ormai posso usare la scusa ‘devo fare ricerca per il blog’ per tutto quello che voglio fare. Lasciatemi un messaggio se avete delle idee per un post o se volete semplicemente dire ‘ciao’.

Un abbraccio, Cristina