Italian lettuce

Every time I go to Italy I am amazed at the lettuces - anyone have seeds from Italy?

Portland, do you know this company?

http://www.seedsofitaly.com/

They will probably have what you are looking for

Laurie1 - Thank you so much! I am ordering seeds from this company today. I appreciate your help.

Just so you know, Portland, those same "Seeds of Italy" are sold in Seattle's Pike Place Market for about 2/3ds of what they want to charge an individual buyer. I'd see what you want and then check out the local "neo-urban-garden" shops in Portland before buying direct.

Thanks for the tip - I'm going to Seattle in a few weeks so I may get some if I can't find them here in Portland.
The elephant party is in full swing tonight....
Are you in France for work, or fun, and for a long time? I thought about living in Italy for a while but now my parents are in their 90s and I don't want to be quite that far away. It's always something!

Elephant party? Thunderstorm? I hope so - it would be a wonderful way to describe it!!

Been living all over the world for the last 25 years, Portland. My wife works for UNHCR.
Big celebration here in Geneva for the Donkey Party last night! Geo Clooney at US$ 10,000 per plate. Wanta bet whether or not they finished with Nespresso?

Ohhhhhhh, elephant party, donkey party - political conventions!! I get it.

No, no, no, Laurie!!!! We DO NOT discuss politics in these forums!
:)-

Of course no politics - only parties. I cannot fathom the vice guest of honor at the elephant soiree.
Interesting you should mention UNHCR. One of my sons recently returned returned from 5 months of teaching in Tanzania and is interested in UNHCR.
Meanwhile....my tomatoes are ripening and we should have warm weather here for the next week so I am excited about that! The lettuce is growing new leaves and the cucumbers are beginning to look like cucumbers. However, the pickling cucumbers have very few fruit and I am not going to pickle just 4 cucumbers! Anyone know what else to do with the little pickling variety? can they be eaten like the others?

Pretend you're Groucho Marx and just chew those babies. Only about 3/4s of the cukes and 80% of the tomatoes ever make it into the house around here. I figure: I grow them; I can eat them in the yard.

What exactly is your son's interest in UNHCR? His credentials?

So I can eat the mini cukes? I can't resist munching on the cherry tomatoes - they never make it into the kitchen!
My son is 26, graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in social science, and worked in the television industry as a producer. He worked for Asylum Entertainment, on documentary type projects. He decided pretty quickly that he did not want to pursue a career in that field - not his thing. I was married to an Italian American physician for 28 years and we spent a lot of time in Italy and traveling. I am an architect with a specialty in hospitals and have worked abroad, and went on a medical mission in Guyana. Our kids seem to have a sensibility of the world as community instead of being ethnocentric and I am proud of that. Last January he went to Arusha, Tanzania to teach and was there for about 6 months. It was a life changing experience for him and for a few weeks when he returned he was in culture shock. He is so interested in doing work that benefits those who are most in need and his life will never be the same, and he knows he will not spend his life behind a desk and working for money alone. He has an amazing way with people and connects so well. And he is funny!
So what else do you grow in your garden there? I need ideas for fall vegetables.

Portland: Very tough to get a job with UNHCR without advanced degrees, lots of experience, or the backing of a US Congressperson. Your son can check the UNHCR current vacancies advertised externally at : http://www.unhcr.org/admin/3ba1d4794.html Nothing appropriate there now. UNDP may be another option orm even better, USAID Finally, I think his interest would be better suited to working with an NGO.

I have a new group of zucchini plants that will start to produce next the end of this month and last until frost. This is greens season for me: everything from chard and Perpetual Beet to Tatsoi, Mizuna, Bok Choy, etc. Some of these will even overwinter if we get snow. And, of course, lettuces! The romaines and icebergs love the cooling temps, and Rougette de Montpelier, a lovely red & green butterhead, not only grows late into the season, the grocery store will try to charge me Euros 2.50 to 3.00 *about US$ 4-5.00 a head for it!

I think he was interested in the junior program with UNHCR. I will tell him about UNDP, USAID and NGO. Just not the CIA.
Next year I do plant to plant zucchini. When do you have to put bok choy and chard in the ground. Is it too late this year? You must be a good cook.

No, not too late at all. In fact, in Portland, you may be able to grow bok choy, chard and other greens year round! Lucky you! I could live on greens!
Ms Marta is not a happy cook, but does not really mind doing dishes (or putting them in the dishwasher), so it works out just fine. To be fair, she doesn't really have time to cook, either. Her mother taught me to make noodles, and I have learned dishes from cooks in China, Thailand, Tajikistan and Macedonia, among others. I love to read cookbooks and cooking magazines and really like to cook. In fact, we rarely eat out, except as a break for us both, because I cook better than most of the restaurants! (He said so humbly.)

Oh, and don't forget to put your garlic and scallions in next month!

So you are a good cook. I also rarely eat out as I cannot eat gluten and it is in so many foods. I love to cook so it is not a problem for me.

Some of the tomatoes in my garden have gotten so heavy that they broke the stems of the plants so I had to cut off a few while they are still green. If I leave them sitting in the sun will they ripen? I am going to look for bok-choy and chard seeds tomorrow. My lettuce just keeps giving and giving.

Ms Marta's job sounds interesting. It must take you all over the world.

If they have started to ripen, they should continue to do so in the house. If you want to speed it up, put them in a paper bag with an apple. Apples give off some gas that facilitates ripening of other fruits.

We've lived all over and have spent short times in several other countries. I'm glad to be semi-permanently ensconced here in France (just across the border from Geneva), maybe until retirement.

Didn't realize that you could speed up ripening tomatoes with tomatoes, Resin! Thanks for that.