Nick's blog
Italy
October 18, 2010
Pasta alla vodka (for 4 persons)
1/2 kg. of short pasta (I'd recommend "penne")
250 gr. of fresh cream (the one you would use for sweets)
100 gr. of diced speck or bacon
1 liqueur glass of vodka
parmisan
olive oil
Brown the diced bacon (or speck) in the oil. When it's brown, add vodka and set it on fire. When the flame is out, add cream and let it boil for 1 minute.
Cook pasta and sauté it in a frying pan with the sauce or in the same pan containing the vodka sauce. Serve with separate grated parmisan.
In the fine Italo-Russian tradition...
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08:05 AM Oct 20 2010 |
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nick224
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12:57 PM Oct 18 2010 |
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kobiet.ka
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12:10 PM Oct 18 2010 |
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Ulya aga
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October 14, 2010
THE EU : WHAT IT IS, HOW IT WORKS
I think everybody in Europe (and not only) should know what the EU is and how it works. At the last elections for the European parliament many Italian people didn't vote. Italy's smartest politician complained "The EU isn't studied in school, and there isn't much information about it". So I think it's time to lift the veil and say something about it.
Everything started in 1951, when the European steel and coal community institutive treaty (CECA in italian) was signed (now not valid anymore, because it had to expire after 50 years, as specified in art.97 of the treaty itself) then, in 1957 the two treaties of Rome were signed : Institituve treaty of the European Economic Community (named European Community - EC since 1993) and the treaty for the institution of the European Community for Atomic Energy (Euratom). With these treaties a cooperation started between six countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands) which were followed, with other treaties by Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom in 1973, Greece in 1981, Portugal and Spain in 1986, Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995. Important changes to the institutive treaties came with the years. The most important of them all is the European Union Treaty, signed in Maastricht on february 7, 1992 (valid since november 1, 1993) with wich the EU was officially born.
THE EU'S MOST IMPORTANT INSTITUTIONS
The European Council : formed by presidents and/or prime ministers of member states, representing their own country committing it to fulfill the European Commission's decisions.
The European Commission (in Brussels, Belgium) : the EU's actual "government". The European commission proposes European "directives" which have to be approved by the European Parliament. Directives give member states governments indications about laws they should make. For instance, if the EU wants all the member states to have a law about privacy. The European commission will come up with a directive about that, then the governments of member states will all make their own law.
The European Parliament (in Strasbourg, France) : initially it was meant only to be consulted by the European commission. Now every directive of the European commission has to be approved by the European Parliament. EU states citizens vote for the European Parliament (not for the commission !!) with the European elections.
The European Court Of Justice . it has the task of supervising that EU directives are fulfilled and control that member states governments don't violate EU principles
The European Central Bank (ECB, in Frankfurt, Germany) : it has control on monetary politics within the EU. Euro banknotes and coins are issued by member states national mints on behalf of the European Central Bank.
THE ENTRANCE OF STATES IN THE SHENGEN AREA
The states which originally signed the two acts (1985 agreement and 1990 convention) were later on followed by Spain, Portugal, Greece and Austria.
Italy became a part of the Shengen area in 1997. Finland and Sweden got in the union* in 1995 but their entrance in the Shengen area was peculiar.
Finland and Sweden were already part of the "Northern Union" (as a space of free circulation between territories of those countries) with Denmark, Norway and Iceland. But Norway and Iceland weren't (and aren't) members of the union. And states which weren't members of the union couldn't join the Shengen convention.
The entrance of Finland, Sweden and Denmark would have led to bring back controls at the frontiers of Norway and Iceland. To avoid that, when Finland, Sweden and Denmark
got into the Shengen convention in 1996, a special agreement was made with Norway and Iceland, extending the Shengen area to two countries which weren't members of the union.
Now the Shengen area includes all the national territories of countries applying the 1990 convention, whether they're member states of the union or other states.
Therefore the Shengen area doesn't exactly match with the territory of the European Union. Not all the territories of the states which are members of the European Union are also part of the Shengen area. Because they don't accept to totally abolish frontier controls or because they don't satisfy the parameters for application of Shengen agreements.
Not all the states outside the European Union are out of the Shengen area : on the contrary they're part of it because of agreements made expressly for them : Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
Denmark can choose, within the EU, to apply or not any new measure based on title IV of the EC* treaty, although that measure would be an improvement of Shengen right.
Denmark is yet bound to certain measures in matter of common politics on visas. Ireland and United Kingdom can make us, entirely or partially, of Shengen right's measures.
* European Community
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08:46 AM Oct 18 2010 |
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Zambuka
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01:52 AM Oct 18 2010 |
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Zambuka
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01:39 AM Oct 18 2010 |
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Zambuka
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01:39 AM Oct 18 2010 |
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Zambuka
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12:56 AM Oct 18 2010 |
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nick224
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12:56 PM Oct 17 2010 |
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Zambuka
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08:49 AM Oct 17 2010 |
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nick224
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01:54 PM Oct 15 2010 |
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Zambuka
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