The Roman Broccoli, and happiness
We all agree on the fact that something that comes from Roma can only be delicious :)
In writing the title, I do not know why, I thought about my relationship with the idea of happiness. I think the connection is in the word Roma, that immediately triggers memories of childhood, affection, feelings, and how things have changed since I moved out of my parent's place. And here it comes the word happiness.
I am very scared by the word happiness, or better, I am scared of saying it out loud. I have in mind this stupid compensatory idea that if I state that I am happy, then the universe will know and send me a dose of unhappiness to compensate. Stupid, I know, but I can't avoid it.
But I am happy. In a pessimistic all-this-will-end-at-some-point kind of way, but I am happy. I said it for the first time some time ago while visiting my friend A in London, and from her reaction I understood how powerful it is saying it out loud, in an era in which we are constantly bombarded by the unhappiness of people through their Facebook posts and 24/7 news about everything that does not work in the world.
Specifically, I am happy because I have built a life full of things that I like, and I enjoy most of my days. It could be better of course, but in general, I think my main personal achievement was to give the right value to things, and decide priorities accordingly. It was not easy and of course I am still working on it, but for example, when I was younger I thought that the unit of measure of success in life was the success at work. Work as realisation of the inspirations and talents that each one has. Which is still true, in a way, but not if this absorbs everything else. The world is full of people that are completely dedicated to work, so that there is no space in their life to do anything else. And it looks to me that most of them are also complaining all the time, which means that this is not giving them back a sufficient amount of gratification to somehow compensate their full dedication.
It is so refreshing for me to allocate space in my day for swimming, painting, cooking. Or also, in a less romantic way, scratching my arse in the sofa binge-watching some TV serie (more Master of None, please!). Sometimes I think I could invest this time to increase my productivity, especially since my work is very competitive... but then I say loudly to myself WTF. I am not even sure my productivity will increase, as I would be less happy and creative. So thanks, but no thanks.
PASTA WITH BROCCOLO ROMANO
Rigatoni
1 Roman Broccolo
Crushed chilli
5 anchovies
2 garlic cloves
Boil the broccolo cut in florets until tender; use the same water to cook the rigatoni al dente. In a pan, fry the anchovies, the garlic cloves and the chilli until golden, add the pasta when ready and keep cooking for some minutes adding some of the water. Enjoy!
