albiston

I do more or less the same thing Kevin does, plus olives and capers, and cook them with tomatoes. That way I have the toamto sauce to use with linguine and the calamari, with a nice fresh salad, as main. If you want to have a look at the recipe you can find it here.

Great story Monica. Definitely makes me feel like visiting India even more: I have a collegue who's an India fan and she's been fascinating me with her description of the places, people and food too. Just a question, since I understand from your post that you have a son: is it doable to travel through India (or let's say, a particular region) with a young kid? Or am I being a wimpy European just because I'm even asking ?

Plus, by forcing consumers to buy more containers, and therefore more packaging, you're making them to produce more waste. Just wondering, do people in the US have to pay for the amount of waste they produce or is there a fixed tax on waste disposal? If the former is true, like it is in many European countries, than that extra packaging has a cost for the consumer, and not only an ecological one.

I love cotechino, the silky, juicy and fatty stuffing, the aromatic yet meaty aroma. The perfect dish to warm you up on a cold winter evening. Aren't pigs delicious? With so many people looking for cotechino I started wondering: how did you cook yours? Any special side dishes to go with it? For the cotechino-virgins out there I thought it would be nice to give some basic information on this delicious sausage. Cotechino is a traditional sausage of Emilia Romagna; depending on who you listen to you might hear it comes from the provinces of Parma or more probably Modena, where it acquires the certified IGP origin denomination. It probably originates in the Middle ages (though some sources trace the origins to the early XVI century) as a peasant's sausage, being made with the rests from the newly butchered pig, mainly form the head. From the XIX century onwards cotechino, and its more porky relative zampone (similar stuffing encased in the trotter's skin), started gaining popularity, counting gourmet and composer Rossini among its fans. It did not win everybody's approval though: Pellegrino Artusi, author of Italy's first popular cooking book in 1891, describes it as "not being a refined dish" fit to be served only to very good friends or family who'd not mind a rustic dish as this one. What marked cotechino's rise into the table of the higher classes was, among others, a change in its recipe. With the introduction of Large White pigs in Italy a new ingredient was added to the sausage mixture, the pig's skin: the light skin of these pigs was definitely more apt to be used in cooking than the dark bristly one of the mediterranean pigs. The finely chopped skin, slowly releasing gelatin during the cooking process, gives cotechino its incredible silky texture. Today most of the cotechino sold and eaten in Italy is produced by big food industries as precooked, vacuum packed product, which only needs to be warmed up. The industrial product is not bad, but it simply pales next to artisan cotechino. The difference is both in the quality of the meats and, even more noticeably, in the spices picked by the master salumi makers. Each one has his own special mix and cotechini from different artisans have marked aroma differences. Cooking cotechino from scratch requires some patience. It has to be first soaked in cold water for at least four hours, better overnight. This step is necessary to remove some of the salt added to the stuffing to prevent the sausage from spoiling. Once the cotechino is nicely soaked its skin has to be punctured all over, using a fork or toothpick . This prevents the skin from bursting during cooking and also has the function of allowing excess fat to flow out. Following this step the cotechino is either wrapped in cheesecloth and tied firm with some string or enclosed in a special elastic net available nowadays, to keep its shape during cooking. As soon as the cotechino is safely tied up like a . . . sausage, it goes into a big enough pot submerged in cold water and is ready to be cooked at a slow boil for the next three hours. Once cooked the cotechino is left in its warm poaching liquid till serving time taking care to keep it warm til serving time. Freed from strings and net, sliced into one cm slices, the cotechino is ready to be served ASAP or can be used for other recipes, for example encased in bread crust. If the cotechino is to be cooked/backed some more it is best to reduce the poaching time to two or two and a half hours. Cotechino (and Zampone) are today often served as the main course of the New Year's eve dinner throughout Italy, almost inevitably with mashed potatoes and/or lentils. Lentils are traditionally seen as a symbol for coins and therefore money; eating these pulses during New Year's Eve is supposed to be auspicious for an economically successful year. I hope so, I've eaten my fair share this time .

Absolutely agree. Fresh pasta, and egg pasta dough, can be frozen without any problem. When I was still in Italy me and my relatives would make hundreds of ravioli and anolini (small tortellini from Mantua) and lots of fresh tagliatelle for Christmas. Usually there were always quite a few more than actually needed. They were frozen and saved for later. The last ones often became our Easter pasta course. Still pretty tasty after a few month's time. Tagliatelle and similar non-stuffed pasta can be dried easily but if you plan to do this in large scale you might want to build yourself a drying frame: simply a rectangular wodden frame holding a sheet of plastic fine mesh netting (like mosquito netting for example). That way the pasta will dry from above and below, removing the need to turn the pasta around from time to time.

Patrick, I was actually hoping you'd prove the experts wrong and become my hero . With the little experience I have, my impression is that home made panettone never has the same texture as industrial or artisanal one, but it can taste very close to the original. And that's not too badd, is it?

I usually prefer to keep my salumi on their own and pair them with different breads. For example Prosciutto di Parma with hand-made grissini, Sudtyroler Speck with buttered kummel flavoured rye and Mortadella di Bologna with michette rolls, piled up high. The right bread is the simplest and best match if you want to highlight the flavour of great salumi. That said, I have to admit I'm a bit rigid when it comes to salumi and cheese. SO here's a few matches that work fine: -prosciutto with fresh, mild chesses like mozzarella, fresh robiola, squacquerone, good ewe milk ricotta. A salad made with prosciutto, mozzarella chuncks, rucola and a few walnuts or hazelnuts tossed in is a simpe and delicious classic. Parmesan is also a classic match, maybe with a few drops of real balsamico. I find it too powerfull for prosciutto, but better try it out to know if it rocks your boat. -speck can take stronger flavoured chesses like Bergkaese, Gruyere, Taleggio. -mortadella is IMO really hard to match with cheese beacause of it's (delicious) fattiness. I never tried to pair it with any cheese. I never had any left in my fridge long enough to try either .

For what it's worth, I've followed a discussion about panettone on a good Italian baking forum and the opinion of the pros was simply: "Panettone at home? Forget it". I know, it does not sound very encouraguing. According to their explanation panettone making really needs special kneading machines and techniques not available to the home baker. It is always possible that the experts were just trying to stop people from making delicious panettone at home, you never know . Having tried a few recipes at home in the past and never coming close to anything that resambles the airy buttery dough real panettone should have, I'm prone to believe them. I would be more than happy to be proved wrong, though.

It seems that the new Italian anti-smoking law is not going down as easily as most thought. Today La Repubblica has an online article reporting the strong opposition of the restaurant owners belonging to the Fipe-confcommercio association, proposing a boycott. As Deirdre mentioned above, the law expects restaurant owners to inform police or carbinieri about possible infractions: the police would than have to carry out the smoking ban. If the restaurant owner fails to inform the police he can be fined for a sum between € 200 and 2200. What the restaurant owners oppose to is their having to take up the role of, in their words, "smoke sherrifs". In Italy only pubblic officials can force the law and therefore restaurant owners would find themselves in the position of braking the law to respect it. The Fipe boycott will however touch only the police notification obligation. The part of the law regarding no smoking signs and special smokers rooms, with air filters and such, will be respected.

Hard to pick, mushrooms are just so delicious. In no particular order here are my favourites: - Boletus aureus, i.e. Porcino Nero: think of an even more aromatic version of the normal Porcino (boletus edulis). The whole cap, grilled. -Parasol mushrooms, pan fried in butter -Amanita cesarea (English?), thin raw slices in a salad with parmesan flakes. -immature puffballs, as the parasol. Never tried on pizza, but next time I find some I'll definitely try that out (thanks nr706 for the tip) -shaggy mane, Coprinus comatus, cooked before it starts to go black. -chanterelles, especially the brown capped ones.

lemoncurd and Kevin, I just logged on to quickly check my forum and have a look at this thread and I was just flabbergasted by your cakes! Great work! ...and Kevin, maybe I'l curse you for this one day , but I have just decided I have to get the pro book !!

About flower petals?? You should have him moved to Naples .

I've been reading about this in Italian papers and Italian food forums quite often in the past weeks. As often the case with Italian laws , I've not been able to understand how this should really work, who would be eventually fined in case of infractions and if the establishment owner/manager or the police should take care the law is respected. What seems rather sure is that smoking will be allowed in special separate areas. The accent is on separate; as long as non smokers are not getting to breathe the smoke, it should be OK. Accidentaly quite a few top-end restaurants have been setting up separate smoking rooms, starting a few years ago, as a mean to avoid disturbing non-smoking customers.

Exactly. Wish I had your ability in keeping things short .

Must be a common kid trait. I was like that and my two year old son does exactly the same. At times we have to hide lemons . We're at least partially responsible for this, having tried to stimulate his food curiosity since he was a few months old. He'll taste almost anything once and mostly eat what we eat. Mussels, shrimps, olives, pickles, any sort of mushroom he can lay his hand on (even truffles), expensive Spanish dry-cured ham are all favourites of his. Having to choose between a sweet and butter and sage gnocchi, he'll always pick the latter. We're quite proud.

Inquiring minds want to know! What might move Mario down toward authenticity -- and who's standing there with arms crossed, proud in the knowledge that she or is is, truly, utterly authentic? ← As I said, that is my view with my set of values, i.e. those of an Italian slightly obsessed by his own cuisine . With that I do not mean to criticize either Lidia Bastianich or Mario Batali, both are great pros and do a great job in promoting Italian food abroad. The problem I have with Lidia Bastianich's work is based on little things, details maybe. I've seen a few of her TV episodes on PBS and have one of her books; I must admit I found myself shaking my head from time to time. For example: her take on southern Italian recipes is often missing the idea of cooking we southerners have. It's a minor thing maybe, but something important if you're one of the leading Italian food personalities. Mario is different. He is the chef who divulges some of the most authentic recipes abroad, even if he does not see himself as a "missionary" of Italian cooking, in his words. I have a really high opinion of his work and, should I ever be in NYC again, the first thing I'd do is book a table at Babbo. I'm seriously intrigued by his menu. The only two reasons why Mario is not 100% authentic Italian are somewhat hard to set in stone. Last week I was reading through his replies to his old Q&A here on eGullet and I couldn't help thinking that an Italian chef would have given different answers. Which is not a bad thing, I like Mario being Mario, just not authentic Italian to me. Also, when I look at the somewhat more creative items on his menu, it's pretty clear to me he is influenced by American eating trends. As to who's truly utterly authentic, if that even exists, most cooks in Italy fit the bill, but I guess that's not the answer you were looking for . I'd pick Claudio Locatelli as the most authentic, both for his recipes and his cooking "philosophy".

Dorie, thanks for taking the time to answer our questions and clear our doubts. Your and Pierre's book has become one of my favorite, since I've started trying out the recipes. Now I always ask myself why other dessert books lack the thorough care you put in those recipes and explanations . lemon curd: Black forest cake sounds great, though I probably won't be making it before New Year's Eve. I've had to take a pause following a few complains from my wife on the constant presence of chocolate desserts at home and what it is doing to her waistline .

Shalmanese, Very well put thoughts, I agree with almost all you say. There's only one aspect of your reasoning that misses, in my opinion, one important point. It's not only a question of taste, at least not always. Adaption is often (if not always) needed when you move a recipe from one place to the other for the simple reason that the supply of ingredients is different, or the same ingredients, grown on different soil just taste different - Genovese basil for pesto is a perfect example. Even a few hundred kilometers can make a big difference. Moving to different continents makes the whole thing more dramatic. And that's a further reason why authenticity for authenticity's sake can be flawed, though always better than gross butchering of recipes of another culture. Just to be a boring stickler: dried pasta came to Italy through the Arabs in Sicily and fresh pasta was there since Roman times. Forget the Marco Polo story.

Sea fennel is a rather common plant on Mediterranean sandy beaches; it is called, I believe, samphire in English. I've always seen it around but never thought it would be edible. My comment on tourism being not fully developed has more to do with the degree of organization and promotion coming from the institutions than on infrastructure. While some administrations in Italy are consciously starting to pick out high quality producers, restaurants, hotels that deserve to be known and promoting them, in Salento I saw nothing like this. You get more the feeling that everyone gets the same amount of promotion to avoid anyone being unhappy. Getting back to your question, I'm no expert on the state of tourism in Puglia and Salento, but I can try to put my thoughts and feelings together. I would imagine tat least part of the situation has more to do with the difficulty of reaching this part of Puglia from the rest of Italy and therefore its relative lack of appeal than with conscious choices. The railway connections are slow, there's no major airport in the vicinity (Brindisi is there, but it is a small airport). Compare it to the Amalfi coast: next to Naples, easily reached from Rome. It's not too hard to see why tourist flows have only marginally touched Salento. From what I'v e been told in the last 30 years, with better motorways and therefore quicker connections, there has been a constant increase of visitors, also due to the relative convenience of the local seaside resorts in comparison to other, more famous, destinations. It's not always been like this: Santa Maria di Leuca, Santa Cesarea Terme and Santa Maria al Bagno were very exclusive locations during the early XX century. The astonishing array of Moorish and oriental style villas in Santa Maria di Leuca are a standing testimony of those times. If I correctly remember what I read before visiting, the situation dramatically worsened after WWII. Many locals had to emigrate to find work and there was a strong decrease in both population and tourism. The situation started improving only in the late 70s. hmm.. rather cahotic I fear, but I hope you can see the sense in my answer

I do not think that meaning of "authentic" is what changes, I'm quite certain the abstract concept is not dramatically different in most people's definitions. What can be extremely different is the set of value that defines that meaning. To make a simple example, when Melissa writes the following, I do not agree: For my set of "values" Mario and Lidia are much closer to authentic Italian cuisine than chef Boyardee, but they're not authentic. Almost there, but not quite, for a series of reason which would be too long and off topic to describe here. And yet I perfectly understand why Melissa made the example, although I might not have made it myself, and I find it appropriate.

Marc, the Salice Salentino would certainly warm you even more! Which Salice Salentino were you thinking about? Your comment made me notice I completely forgot to mention anything about the wine makers I visited. Although my stay overlapped the busy vintage stage all the producers I contacted were incredibly friendly and dedicated some time to show me their cellars and production facilities and to talk about their wines. I'm extremely thankful to the people at Taurino, Leone de Castris, Rosa del Golfo and Conti Zecca for their friendly reception. I'd suggest a visit to Leone de Castris to anyone interested in wine and traveling to Salento for the first time: they have the best facilities for visitors, just remember to call ahead. Kevin, I don't know if my post is a sign but I hope you'll manage to find an occasion to visit Puglia sometime, if not now, then in the future. It's a region full of surprises. And when you do, please do not feel intimidated by writing about it, we'd love to read your experiences. Ore: Oasis is definitely one of the places I MUST visit (together with La Locanda di Bu' and a few others) next time I'm in Campania child-free; last time it was just not possible. Our two-year-old son is good behaved, but simply not enough yet for such a restaurant. Maybe in a few years time; meanwhile he really enjoys eating out I really enjoyed them knowing the secret Michelin man was there .

Ore, I've just seen your enquiry now. I have little idea if the bottle is rare or if it has a particular value, in a collectors view. It is made by the Avellino Wine School (Salerno is where the production licence was approved) and probably produced in very small amounts. I'm not familiar with this brandy, but if it is of the same quality of the school's wines . . . let's just say I would not open it if you wanted to positively impress a brandy aficionado.

The temperature is not that different here in Germany (23F this morning). Remembering those warm late September days helps me fight the cold . . . or maybe I'm just a masochist .

I finally find the time to put my notes together and post about the two weeks spent in Salento, or actually southern Salento. (Sorry for the delay Kevin ) To start, let me thank everyone who helped plan this trip with their tips. They were a great addition to the various guides and co. we used during our travels. I had been to Lecce a couple of times before, using it as a base for a quick visits to Salento, so this was the chance to finally have a look around with some calm. My experiences in the local cuisine had been limited to a few local traditions, caffé in ghiaccio (iced espresso), rustici Leccesi (puff pastry stuffed with Béchamel sauce and a little tomato, a delicious calorie bomb) and a few horsemeat and horse offal dishes. I was looking forward to improve my knowledge of both the local food and attractions. Being based near Santa Maria di Leuca, a rather fashionable resort in the early years of the past century, on the southernmost tip of Puglia, and traveling with a pair of two year olds, we limited our sightseeing to the Lecce province. This part of Italy seems to be undergoing a transformation tourism-wise. While tourism is clearly an important part of the local economy, it still seems to be rather low-key both as organization and offering, albeit growing, and mainly concentrated around the coastal resorts. A pity since some nice sights, besides the highlights of Lecce and Otranto, can be found inland and are often ignore, for example the charming historical city centers of Specchia and Maglie. The countryside also turned out to be the best place for the fantastic local produce and olive oil. September was still a great time to catch the last gifts of summer, like perfect sun ripe tomatoes sold at a mere one euro a kilo or less, something I’d only dream of in Germany, while enjoying the first early autumn produce. It also seemed to be high snail season, since almost every greengrocer had a basket full of lumache con la panna, which Franci talked about before, on offer. Those above were on sale from a tiny greengrocer in the charming little town of Specchia. The lady in the shop was incredibly friendly, giving me not one but two recipes for the snails, plus suggesting a few possible way to prepare the vegetables we bought from her. Almost every shopkeeper we met was eager to help with recipe tips and suggestions, something I always enjoy and appreciate as a sign of pride in one’s wares. In general the tiny village shops catering mainly to the locals were the best ones, much better than more tourist-oriented “gourmet shops”: lower prices and equally good if not better quality. Almost every bigeer town had one or more fresh pasta shops, sellind delicious hand made orecchiette like those below, cheese makers and real butchers, opposed to the pre-packaged/pre-cut ones that seem to be way to common around where I live. Some shops were a true revelation. I was particularly impressed by a small wood burning oven bakery in Patu’ (just about 10 km north from Santa Maria di Leuca) selling a delicious semolina sourdough bread, which could proudly stand side by side with the best artisan breads. In Patu’ we also found the very nice A Rua de lu Travaj, a cozy little trattoria famous for its antipasti, offered in such a variety and quantity they could have made for a meal in their own right. Following the best local tradition, vegetables are grilled, fried, marinated in vinegar, cooked as frittata and you name it, creating an array of little, almost tapas style, dishes that could convince even the most hardcore carnivore to give up meat, at least for the evening. The fried green peppers, vegetable pizze (stuffedavory pies) and the eggplant parmigiana had our table fighting for the last bites. We could have stopped here and gone home happy. Instead, following our research-conscious approach to eating , we decided to have at least a taste of the soups: ciceri e tria, chickpea soup with home made pasta, boiled and fried (below), probably one of the oldest pasta dishes eaten in Italy; fave e cicorie, a classic throughout Puglia, boiled slightly bitter baby chicory plants to dip into a sweet fava bean puree’, a fabulous dish worthy of modern creative cuisine; and cecamariti, (husband blinder) made with cime di rapa and fried bread, named after the supposed power of putting husbands to bed giving their wives free room to meet their lovers . The menu carried a small selection of Primi and Meats, but after the antipasti orgy we simply no place left for any more food. Our great eating-out plans at the start of the trip soon had to come to terms with our traveling around with a two year old and our babysitting arrangements not working as expected. Although we had to give the more fancy places we would have liked to try a miss - Poeta contadino, Picton, Fornello da Ricci, Già sotto L’Arco and a few others-, we had plenty of great traditional fare in the local trattorie and a number of opportunities to cook with the local seasonal ingredients. Throughout Salento we did not manage to have a single bad meal as much as we tried. On the two occasions when we had to pick the only gloomy looking trattoria in the little village we landed in, more or less lost and with a hungry kid in tow, the meals turned up fine and even managed to reserve a little culinary surprise. Braised sea fennel was a pleasant discovery. Prices are another positive aspect of eating in trattorie in this part of Puglia, making this one of the few regions in Italy where anyone can still afford a meal prepared with the best local ingredients. With the exception of fish restaurants, which are generally more expensive, we never paid more than €25 for a three course meal, excluding wine. A general criticism one could make is that the dishes served are pretty much the same everywhere; a typical menu would have plenty of vegetable Antipasti, at times more than one could imagine, a few Primi, mainly soups based on pulses or a few pasta dishes, and a small choice of Secondi, mostly limited to simple grilled meats, horse being quite common, or tomato based stews. Not much different than the situation Marc mentioned regarding Toscana some time ago; plenty of new dishes to try for the first week, slightly boring after the second. Yet, this is the sign of the attachment locals have to those traditions that are of so much fascination for the food savvy occasional visitor. Something I had been looking forward to, food-wise, was the rather famous fish market in Gallipoli -apart visiting the city itself, clearly-: it turned out to be somewhat smaller than I expected. What it lacked in size it made up in quality of the fish on sale. Gallipoli and its market became a constant stop whenever we traveled northwards, and we feasted on the market’s goods on a few occasions. Everything was so fresh that I couldn’t resist having a taste of those inviting fish and shellfish raw: slightly bitter silvery anchovies, the sweetest pink shrimps, which Gallipoli is famous for, and some tiny calamari, incredibly tender. My unadventurous travel companions refused to join me, no big sashimi fans there, so I ended up cooking most of our shopping as simply as I could, either grilled, or fried like the anchovies below, to keep the delicious freshness shining through. My only disappointment concerned sea urchins, and their delicious roe. Salento is one of the places in Italy to indulge in the pleasures of sea urchins, so I had been craving them before flying to Italy. Sadly the catch was incredibly scarce (bad weather condition was what I was told) and I only managed to have a small taste on one occasion in Gallipoli. I had little luck even in Porto Badisco, a small resort south of Otranto famous for its sea urchin stands. Although Salento is surrounded by sea, its cuisine gave me the strong impression of being more of a land than sea based one. I had collected many informed opinions on a number of the local fish restaurants, most rather unflattering. The only place constantly tipped as good seemed to be Le Puritate in Gallipoli, an advice I heartedly second. In this pleasant looking restaurant what comes on your table will largely depend on what the market has to offer. Part of the fame of this establishment lays in their fish antipasti, a colorful array of little bite-sized offerings, which, on the day of our visit included some surprisingly tender octopus “salame” and the aforementioned pink shrimps, barely sauted. Equally good were the pasta and fish dishes following, very simple, just highlighting the quality of the main ingredients. Anyone traveling to Puglia should visit Lecce. Its city center, full of shining examples of Barocco Leccese is one of the gems of southern Italy. Nothing could be nicer than sipping a caffè in ghiaccio in one of the city center’s bars while enjoying the atmosphere. It’s also a pleasant food destination. Having already decided, regrettably, to skip Picton, we were looking forward to dining in one of the highly regarded city trattorie. I had forgotten the golden rule of southern Italian dining: opening and closing time, as found in guides, are merely indicative. Always call in advance, even on mid-week days. Of our two favored destinations, Cucina Casareccia was closed for vacation and Alle due Corti had probably changed their weekly closing day. Yet the inexact closing information had its positive downside as we made our way back home stopping in Taviano. This rather unappealing town between Santa Maria di Leuca and Gallipoli is of little of interest to the tourist and could be skipped altogether was it not for A casa tu Martinu. Inside an XVIII century building you will find one of the best trattorie of the province, highly praised by the Slow Food Osterie Guide, which has awarded their “snail award”, a recognition of excellence, to this trattoria for several years in a row. According to the guide they should have been closed, which was luckily not the case. From the moment the welcome basket of pittule, to be dipped in the accompanying vino cotto, arrived on our table we felt at home. A team of young people runs the place in really friendly and hospitable way. The well-prepared dishes are either traditional or feature local ingredients with a slightly more modern twist, and change with the market offer. A typical menu might include minchiareddi d’orzo , homemade barley pasta, with ragù and ricotta forte; horse fettine, thin steaks; a large antipasti buffet to start and differently flavored pasticciotto tarts (custard filled tarts) as dessert. The wine selection earns a special mention, with the best regional products and many wines form Piemonte, Toscana and Veneto to choose from. ----------- Before I finish let me just add a tip for those who might be driving between Napoli and Puglia. A great spot for a pleasant lunch stop is the little town of Valleseccarda (motorway exit: Vallata). Less then 100 meters apart you’ll find the two most interesting restaurants of the area: the Michelin one starred Oasis, and the simpler and more traditional Minicuccio. Saving Oasis for amore relaxed occasion, we tried Minicuccio. The dishes are definitely traditional, with influences form Campania and Puglia and unique recipes from the valley where the village is located. There’s a menu to choose from, but we were rather strongly encouraged to have the taste of tradition menu, which changes every weekend: a marathon of two soups, two primi, three meat dishes and eventually a dessert. It seemed like a lot, but there was no problem in asking to skip a course, share a portion or stop when we were full. Among the simple dishes we tasted, a very nice zuppa di talli e patate (potato and zucchini leaves soup) and the signature dish calzuncieddri (in the picture below) an oversized raviolo, filled with a slightly sweet ricotta and served with a slightly hot tomato sauce filling, stood out.

Ore, thanks agan for your fantastic diary and best of luck with that secret 20% chance. I'm quite curious to know what it is . As we say in Italy, in bocca al lupo! (OK we say something else with wales too, but that's a bit vulgar )