Lagottini coming soon

Freya (top) and Marcello - romance is in the air

Hot news in truffle dog circles - New Zealand's first lagotti are getting it on. Puppies will be on the way at the end of the year, if all goes well. Marcello was NZ's first lagotto, brought over from Australia in December 2005 by Robert and Cheryl Rangi, and Australian Ch Greydove Bella Mia Freya was shipped in at the end of last year by Sue Milner of Northland. Can I resist ordering one? Can I be "disloyal to beagles", as Camille puts it?

Meanwhile, the wonders of the interweb tubes brought me an email from the new president of the new Lagotto Club of America, Judith Martin, of LagottoAZ. She's training her dogs with truffles from the estimable Jim Wells of Oregon. Now, Jim and a lagotto? Good combination...

Thursday, May 31, 2007 5:03 pm (permalink)

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The Truffle Book

Winner of the Special Jury Award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. "Absolutely rivetting" - a well-known prince. Available as softback, limited edition hardback, and PDF. Free sample PDF.

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current reading

It's taking me far too long to read this. I have been a fan of Pynchon since reading Gravity's Rainbow as a student. Against The Day strikes me as one of his most approachable novels, full of fantastic characters and wild invention, but I've been busy doing word things, and sometimes the last thing I want to do is read. But this is like fine wine, keeps tempting me to another glass. At 1085 pages, I'll be squiffy before I'm finished.

just read

I've read two books called Heat in the last month. One was damn scary, and one was by George Monbiot, about global warming (which has a fantastic cover). Some would say I've been and gone and had my mid-life crisis, but it didn't involve doing an apprenticeship at the altar of real Italian cuisine and a tyrannical chef. Bill Buford is not me, and for that I'm grateful. I suspect he may be too. I enjoyed it - the kitchen stuff was pretty compelling (as was the Italian butcher I may just have to visit next time I'm on Italian truffle time), but somehow the whole thing didn't hang together. I know where Bill's coming from - and I can sort of sense where he went - but his own motivation (and his family's reaction) remain mysterious.