Mr. and Mrs Ampolo have been teaching a writing workshop at a public library. Our mantra is simple: “Write every day!”

At our workshops, we give participants writing exercises.  Today’s exercise went over very well.  If you’re an aspiring writer, you might want to try it.  

1. Take a few minutes and write down ten objects that are important/meaningful to you. (Objects, not people or ideas.)

2. Cross out five.

3. Cross out two more.

4. Select one of the three remaining objects and for the next 15 minutes write about it (or be inspired by it to write about something). 

Among the objects that our participants wrote about:  purse, coffee pot, tree, nylon bag, crossword puzzle, mother’s ring, Scrabble tiles, Mayan ruins, and son’s bicycle.

Share with us the object you select and, if you wish, the story behind it.

It’s Mrs. Ampolo writing to you, once again, from her summer kitchen.  I’ve managed to get you through a summer breakfast with a cool way to eat oatmeal and through cocktail hour with a beautiful and delicious pink drink—and some might say I’ve done my duty since we can all agree that breakfast and cocktails are the two essential meals of summer.

 I think, though, we better find one more way to use your freezer rather than your oven in summer food preparation. 

 Here’s Summer Supper—vegetarian friendly

 Can you boil a pot of water?  Boil one.  Cook any kind of pasta you have on hand…from whole wheat spaghetti to spinach rotini.  While it’s cooking for its 8 to 10 minutes, take out all your bags of frozen vegetables and make a mix—broccoli and cauliflower are especially nice.  This is a dish to keep you cool—so even if you have fresh produce, save that for another meal.  Frozen veggies are essential to the process here.  You can slice up any scallions you might have and add some minced garlic for the “fresh” ingredients..  Drain the pasta into a large bowl and throw in the frozen veggies, scallion, garlic—and any other easily wiltable produce like spinach or arugula. 

 Toss until the pasta cools and the veggies cook.

 Dress the mess o’ pasta with a combo of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a good soy sauce.  If you store your nuts in the freezer (and you should—they go rancid fast, especially in the summer), you can pull those guys out too and throw a few handfuls into your toaster oven—briefly—they can burn fast.  Toss them on top and this pasta salad is fit for company.  And you’ve barely raised a finger or the temperature even one degree in your kitchen. And if you’re unfriendly to vegetarians, add some leftover chicken or something.  Improvise.

 Remember, if you can’t stand the heat…get the heck out of your kitchen and come to mine.

By the way, due to a bad winter in Europe, it may be difficult to find just the right pasta.  Oh for the good old days as recalled in this vintage video.

       Our thanks to our friend Sue for these pictures of her

housemates in Honduras.

It’s Friday. It’s hot and humid. And Mr. and Mrs. Ampolo are staring at deadlines imposed by their paying assignments. It’s hard to multi-task and write for Ampolo today. Still, we’ll soldier on.

Our home offices are separated by one room. We are, oh, 25 or 30 feet apart from each other, but windows that have been strategically placed in our walls allow for easy communication. For better or worse we can hear each other typing away, cursing, humming songs by The Turtles.

After reading a New York Times article about a Buddhist man and women who never leave each other’s side, we were reminded of how close we are to each other for much of the day. But even tho’ we run an idea factory here, it never occurred to us to do what Slate’s deputy editor David Plotz and his wife, Hanna Rosin. an Atlantic Monthly contributing writer, did.

Take a gander at their clever, revealing gambit. Wish we’d thought of it.

Today, we offer an idea that is guaranteed to cut down on the amount of email you receive. How can we be so certain? Because, as of today we will no longer be sending out weekly Ampolo reminders–not even one each Monday, much less half a dozen.

We do this not because Ampolo is going the way of the incandescent light bulb. Nope, we will still be offering new entries on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (including periodic videos featuring our host Nora). But we realize it’s time to let go. By now you know how and where to find us. So bookmark us, put us on your “favorite places” list, please, and visit when you choose. Also, feel free today or any other day to send us your thoughts about Ampolo: the concept, approach, what you like and don’t like.

We remain committed to serving up a main course of ideas with a side of entertainment. Most of our posts will focus on ways to make the world better…but not all. We would really like to create a community here. Please consider sending us your ideas. If you look below at last Friday’s entry, for example, you’ll see just such an offering from our friend Jim Garner. Also, last Wednesday’s recipe idea featured Mr. Ampolo caught on tape.

Speaking of improving everyone’s lives, we leave you today with the following 30 second video which makes, shall we say, an interesting case for having good insurance.