Heavenly Hotties

On this Pancake Tuesday we opted for traditional with breakfast sausages, Maple syrup, fruit compote and more. The growler from the Kettlehouse (the Dobblebock, I think) was very popular!

We had two kinds of cakes.  One was a holiday gift gingerbread mix

Betsy generously shared with us that was so nicely spiced that they stood on their own beautifully without any toppings.  Hey Bets, do you remember the brand on those if we wanted to get some more?

  

The other recipe '1987: Heavenly Hots' we read this month in The New York Times.  "As sturdy as wet tissue paper", Amanda Hesser is right!  Even as you make small ones as the recipe directs, they are super delicate to maneuver but so worth it.  Ahh. Creamy delicioso. Check out the recipe and pay attention to their flipping tips.  You'll need them.

Luckily Emily took lots of pictures and mixed up clever topping blends. Bruce, once again, performed magnificently as The Hotcakes Wrangler.

Stinky Free

 "This town smells like B.O. and marijuana." Nicholas A. ca. 1998 age 12, which is somewhere between these two photos of him.

 

My nephew, Nick, is studying to be a designer in Indianapolis. We were discussing the city of Missoula's identity for a design project that he is doing. I'm not sure what the perimeters are for the project yet but I started making lists  and collecting photos to help him. Since it basically launches a Missoula Break Down, I am posting it here, too.

It's not my inclination to take pretty pictures plus my view can be downright grim this time of year, so if you seek pretty pictures of wildlife, landscapes, architecture, and/or people, investigate the Rocky Mountain School of Photography website (RMSP).  This town is crawling with very capable photographers and RMSP is a good place to start finding them.  And if you follow links to some of the websites I've incorporated here, no doubt you'll find promotional images for everything.

Nick said he remembers the town of Missoula as outdoorsy, chain-free - boasting lots of independent restaurants - and artsy.  He hasn't been back for a few years but his memory still holds somewhat true.  We do have a part of town that developed after his time here that I refer to as The Hell Hole where lots of big box stores and chain restaurants appear to thrive.  (North Reserve Street.)  I'll ignore most of that here today.  I'll never forget when Nick piped up about the smells he so astutely observed, either.  Since nearly everyone (except me, of course) is so aggressively athletic, you'll easily find yourself sitting alongside someone who just came off the ski hill or their bike to grab a beer, cup of coffee, lunch, or whatever.  Sometimes you smell them before you see them.  As to the marijuana part, I will leave it somewhat how I left it with Nick when he was a pre-teen. "Is that what pot smells like?"

This is not my thorough and final word by any means on this town but it is a start.

Intellectual Diversity.
When I first moved to Missoula in 1996 (ah hell, don't do the math) one of my clearest observations of the Missoula valley is that no matter how liberal or conservative you believe that you are, you can always find someone whose beliefs are more conservative or more progressive than your own.  And you can often find common ground with any of them.  Never underestimate either side of any line because people are well informed and independent thinking here.  In my encounters,  people push past towing the party line on either side. Their positions zig-zag rhetoric and often for entirely different reasons than one party advocates.  More than just politically active in an old-boy-school way, people here take social activism seriously and with a passion.  That said, Missoula is very left leaning.  There are literally hundreds of non-profit organizations based here.  Most are socially conscious. To find out what current lecture, fund-raiser, event or activity is happening here with calendars and such, I recommend news sources like New West, The Missoula Independent, The Missoulian, college radio and Montana Public Radio.  Don't forget that this is also a University town that offers rotating student and faculty populations, plenty of research, presentations and activity all on its own.  And even though I don't fully understand it, I'll share a tip to cover my bases. "Go Griz!"  A handy standby phrase if some morning you walk past a bar filled with drunk people clad in burgundy sweatshirts. Probably a game day.

Tolerance With Limits.
Coffee houses are always buzzing.  Pun intended.  We have many places to get a cup of coffee downtown Missoula.  Break Espresso. Catalyst. Le Petit Outre. Liquid Planet. The Butterfly.  Bernice's. Many are also bakeries. And there is significant loitering in all of them.  Students meet to discuss group projects, freelancers check their email, writers check their spelling, and so on, every day and all day.  Maybe we are the Parisians of Montana, I don't know, but it's definitely a past time.

It's mean, I know, but I'm proud that Missoula killed a Starbucks.  Here's the building downtown where it WAS.  The franchise supposedly had its own problems that helped its demise here, but it also didn't belong here. When it opened people here drew lines in the sand.  I understand the argument for consistency.  You are traveling, want a cup of coffee and see a known quantity such as Starbuck's and know the difference between grande and latte and so on.  And I hear there are other reasons why Starbuck's aren't all bad as far as big corporations go.  Whatever. (Insert my own personal soap box here.) My point is that Missoula has independent coffee shops a plenty that offer varied qualities to meet different tastes and a corporate owned cookie cutter cafe right downtown was way out of place.  Hence the bumper stickers that read "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Starbucks."

Moral pressure is strong here.  That said, it's also respectable to buck the moral trend in this town.  Someone will definitely argue their belief to you, but I've always felt others respect your decisions and opinions especially if its informed.  Independent thinking is equally respected.  Now consensus on how to take action is another matter.  And another post another day. (BTW, You can still visit a Starbuck's at the Barnes and Nobles out at The Hell Hole.)

Myths Still Alive

Yes, like Norman Maclean's book (and Redford's movie) says A River Runs Through It.  The Clark-Fork River cuts through Missoula.  In the summers there are events along the river in Caras Park. Like Out-to-Lunch every Wednesday with food venders and live music. Nicknamed the Garden City, the Missoula valley has a decent growing season and a lot of locally grown food sold in groceries and the Farmer's Markets.  (A second Farmer's Market called the Clark Fork River Market opened along the river a few summers ago.)  A nice bike trail winds along here with points past the University and out past the mall across town.

Bar Stool Rodeo

I think the bars are another place besides the rodeo and the landscape where the Wild West mythology still hangs on a bit.  Luckily there are no gunslingers.  But there are a lot of bars for a town this size compared to Midwestern states where I was raised. Gambling is legal in this state so there are lots of gambling machines and 'casinos'.  A few bars still have poker tables, but this is not the Vegas type setting at all.

It is hard to explain but western bars are unique.  The Oxford, called The Ox, pictured above, is on the main drag, Higgins Avenue, and  is one of the oldest in town. They have an active poker table in their front window.  The bar has a rough rep and is open 24 hours a day. You see its patrons lingering outside regularly.  This is also where college rowdies might end a night of bar-hopping to get a burger or whatever before stumbling home.  For a good greasy spoon type burger, I recommend them. They are large patties on a basic white bun and come with standard lettuce, pickles and onions.

The bar scene ranges. Some bars are more modern and hip with fancier food like The Redbird Wine Bar and The James Bar and others are for playing pool, dancing or your basic bar stool warming. Just to name a few from a very long list: Charlie B's, The Union Club, Al's & Vic's, The Silver Dollar, The Rhino, The Badlander. Live music is common at many of them. Oh and don't forget about breweries. Kettle House. Bayern. Big Sky. I'm not a huge beer drinker but I do like to hang out with friends at breweries. And hey, talk about stinky! At least there you can blame it on the brew, eh?

Beautifully Fit

In seeming contrast to the bar scene, there is a serious fitness culture as I cannot repeat enough. It takes little effort to reach the outdoors to enjoy it.  And people do. (Even me.)

You can hike a trail to the "M" on Mount Sentinel.  I took this photo from the bridge in the middle of downtown.  (I thought about cropping out the lines from the power station but that is also one of the charms of Missoula - I'm not sure if it comes from not trying to hide everything or limited vision in planning but there it is.)

For sake of time (and Nick is on a deadline) I'm jumping to a list for some more points.

Creativity.

Yes, there is definitely an art scene.  Oodles and oodles of writers live here.  The Missoula Art Museum  (in a clever building that is half historic Carnegie library and half modern architectural edition) is the downtown hub for much of it.  There is an active theater scene with local playwrite's producing here (as well as traveling, too).  Plus a symphony, opera and big concert tours like the Rolling Stones that make this one of their stops.

The Red X's.  This is a public art sculpture (BLUSH, I'll need to look up the artist's name later) in front of the old railroad depot.  This is at the end of Higgins Avenue where the road stops (the railroad is on the other side of here obviously).  To the right of this photo is where the original Farmer's Market is in the summer and bikes are piled up all over around here.

An extension of the creativity here are the boutiques.  There are lots of fun little independent shops in town.  I picked Tsunami for a photo because I want to take Nick there.  Sadly, Macy's department store is closing downtown.  A few other places that I like are Betty's Divine, Noteworthy, Shakespeare and Co., Red Rooster and House.

Architecture.

I am sure that neither one of these skyscrapers were here when you were here last, Nick.  It seems strange to even put the word skyscraper in the context of Missoula but there were already a few from way back.

The Wilma.
Which houses The Wilma Theater. (Look at their website for some good photos.)  And hosts the annual Nutcracker and several Film Festivals including the one closest to my heart, The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival coming up this February.  Plus there is the Florence Building, below.

Now for my disclaimer:

I dropped a huge pile of generalizations here. They are as reliable as far as generalizations go.  There are a ton more places, people and things to feature about this town.  Some things I cover on other posts in this blog, others I will eventually point out.  And I riddled this post with as many links as came to mind while I madly typed this up.

Lost or Found

Maclay Flat is a popular walking spot by Blue Mountain. It's quieter this time of year with only a few runners and dog walkers. The trails wind through wetland bird habitat around to the edge of the Bitterroot river.

Mornings have been foggy lately, especially near the river.  People put found gloves at trailheads in case their owner returns.  Late winter and early spring unearths even more.  I have a fifteen year old collection of lost gloves found mostly in streets from all over the US and one from Rome.  I mostly collect the ones that are flattened, tattered and their function is forever irretrievable.  I did relief prints with them for awhile and started an installation with them that was never fully realized.  Now they are all waving from a closed box in my basement. I'm not sure that's a better place then where I found them.

Dig the Jib

Shoot for Six Minute Style © Toni Matlock

Like patting your head and rubbing your belly. That's the challenge of operating a jib.  The ability to make delicate adjustments to the angle and level while incorporating even a small amount of motion into a shot is worth it.

Our jib is simple and not very fancy; built with gym weights and parts from camera supply and hardware stores. You operate it from the weighted end and watch through a monitor what is happening with the camera perched out on the far end of the jib.  So the action of your movie is fifteen feet or so away and you are looking down only a few feet in front of you. You lift the weight with one hand and crank a lever to tilt and turn the camera with your other.  The challenge of the eye-hand coordination is addictive and counter-intuitive as if you are performing a trick.  It reminds me of those funhouse machines with the claw grabber in a tank of stuffed animals.  The stakes are higher with a jib since it's our work but it's not rigged against me like an arcade game.

The muscles in my hand were sore for days after this shoot from the constant pressure of the weight.  It's in the realm of the paper cut. I'm happy to complain about it. It had been a while since I had used the crazy thing and it gives me a bit of a high.

True That

Maybe I've been watching too many old episodes of The Wire, but I keep thinking "loyalty means something".  Apparently I have been carried away by Baltimore street philosophy. My credit card company sent me a notice that they were raising my interest rates considerably (to nearly 30%.)  Whoa Nelly!  So with great credit standing and having used their card for years, this was their idea of good customer relations?  Oh hell, no.  They must have wanted to get rid of customers like me is all that I can figure.  Why I would expect more of the greedy bastards is silly, I guess, but I do.  Rather than complain to grease the wheels, I promptly changed credit card companies.  It is as close to being Omar as I can get, I guess.

Like a Pancake

For Pancake Tuesday one week we made Ethiopian dishes to go with Injera which we all agreed is like a spongy pancake and therefore still in our party theme.  We had so much fun, I spaced taking any photos!

The first time we made Injera was for a festive Ethiopian dinner to help friends celebrate and share the anticipation of their adoption of a little boy from Ethiopia.  Already fans of the cuisine, we discovered that cooking our own was fun, not as hard as we imagined, and worth any extra effort.  And the little boy, a barrel of fun, has been worth all the hoopla, and then some.

My friend Tyler gave me the photocopy of this recipe he got from a friend now living in Amsterdam. So I'm not sure how many degrees of separation it travels from the motherland, but it's better than any of the others any of us have tried and I haven't seen one quite like it online yet.  I'm typing it out here, exactly as it is on the photocopy sheet.  My only adjustments are formatting with bullets to make it easier to read.  Read it all before you start making it, these bad boys take three days to get ready.

P.S. Hopefully the others will share posts of their chutney and lentil recipes here as well!

Injera                                                                        

In a large bowl, mix:                                                    

• 
  
  
  

  Let set in a large bowl covered, an hour or longer, until batter rises and becomes stretchy.  It can sit as long as 3-6 hours.  When ready stir batter if liquid is settled on bottom.  Whip in blender, 2 cups of batter at a time, thinning it with 1/2 - 2/3 C water.  Batter will be quite thin.                                                                       

• 
  
  
  

  Cook in a non-stick frypan WITHOUT OIL over medium or medium-high heat.  Use 1/2 C batter per Injera for a 12-inch pan or 1/3 C batter for a 10-inch pan.  Pour batter in heated pan and quickly swirl pan to spread batter as thin as possible.

• 
  
  
  

  Batter should be no thincker than 1/8 inch.  Do not turn over.  Injera does not easil stick or burn.  It is cooked through when bubbles apear all over the top.

-------

1 3/4 C Flour

1/2 C Self-rising flour

1/4 C Whole Wheat Flour

1 Pkt Dry Yeast

2 1/2 C Water, Warm

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

• 
  
  
  

  Combine the flours and yeast in a ceramic or glass bowl.  Add the warm water and mix into a fairly thin, smooth batter.  Let the mixture sit for three full days at room temperature.  Stir the mixture once a day.  It will bubble and rise.

• 
  
  
  

  When you are ready to make the Injera, add the baking soda and salt and let the bater sit for 10-15 minutes.  Heat a small, non-stick 9-inch skillet.  When a drop of water bounces on the pan's surface, take about 1/3 C of the batter and pour it in the skillet quickly, all at once.  Swirl the pan so that the entire bottom is coated, then return to heat.  The injera is cooked only on one side and the bottom should not brown.

• 
  
  
  

  When the moisture has evaporated and lots of "eyes" appear on the surface, remove the Injera.  Let each Injera cool and then stack them as you go along.  If the first Injera is undercooked, try using less of the mixture, perhaps 1/4 Cup, and maybe cook it a bit longer.  Be sure not to overcook it.  Injera should be soft and pliable so that it can be rolled or folded like a crepe.

One Sweet Cracker

My friend Linda introduced me to Ines Rosales Sweet Olive Oil Tortas (tortas de Aceite) from Spain. She is an amazing cook and a naughty friend for continuously sharing the richest of foodie finds.  I hope she never stops!

These handmade tortas are not cookies or bread like you might first guess. These thin slightly oversized cracker sweeties are difficult to describe.  They are not super sweet, just lightly sprinkled with sugar so they sparkle as you lift them to your mouth plus they are herbed with fennel that crisply offsets the sweet.  A distinct flavor combination results, simple as it is.  As far as crackers go, these are flakier like pastry dough and nothing like your average saltine.  Let these modest surprises accompany sweet and savory meals and snacks.  I like them with fruit and yogurt, light soups (try with celery or carrot) and with afternoon tea.  They also hold up well with smooth creamy cheeses.  (The egg is just for scale.)

Finally, I know I said it is just a cracker but they make a glowing presentation alongside other textures of breads and crackers.  You can't say enough about nice packaging either.  Each cracker is smartly wrapped in a slightly waxy paper and tidily stacked in a thin plastic box liner then wrapped in cellophane. Alongside all of the bulky vacuum packed bags and cardboard boxes, one wonders how these handsome little tastes made it here at all.

                           

Linda bought them somewhere out of town, but I have since found them at the Good Food Store in Missoula.  Look in the boxed cookie section almost at the very end of the aisle close to the dairy side of the store.  See in the photo above (taken with my iPhone), they are on the middle shelf with humble blue and white packaging.  

When Ines started making these in Sevilla in 1910, and apparently employed many women of her village to help keep up with the demand for them, do you think she ever imagined they would make it to Montana?

New Mandolin

A new restaurant opened in an old spot. The Mandolin is in the back of the Union Club's bar.

The location earned a reputation for fine dining just slightly separate from a lively bar under the helm of Marianne Forest and was called the Hob Nob.  The Hob Nob moved across the bridge to the Hip Strip about a decade ago under new ownership and has been successful there. Even so, the Old Hob Nob still haunts the Union Club.  It's been hard for a restaurant to stick there since. One of the biggest challenges I can imagine is maintaining a presence in the back of a very active bar popular for live music and swing dancing.  Plus, the bar and restaurant servers are divided so if you want wine or a refreshing V&T with your dinner, you need to get up and go to the bar.  Not a huge thing but an odd thing that most people don't expect.

We ate at The Mandolin for the first time last week. On Tuesdays, they have live mandolin jam sessions in the front corner of the restaurant, but they also had live jamming the night we were there (Friday was it?) as well, so expect music.  We enjoyed our burgers (as you can see) plus they also serve pasta and other fare.  The multiple slices of citrus in the water was a small but nice colorful touch.  The staff all seemed to be on their toes and it was a busy night.  Perhaps they've conquered the space's ghosts or at least are on their way.  I'll be going back to lend a hand making way for the new and now.

Check out their website which indicates the restaurant is a hub for all things mandolin instrument related, with classifieds and notes from history.  Did you know Steve Earle just had a birthday on January 17th?


*******************
Update on May 13, 2011: This restaurant has closed!

Take It Easy Freezy

© Toni Matlock

I feel like every winter I barely survive.  My life is easy. I have every convenience other lucky white girls in a first world country have available.  Even so, each winter I withdraw more than other seasons. I slow down like water turning into a cube. When I do leave the house, I am hyper aware of every sound, light or motion. The Rocky Mountain West is an outdoor fitness hub and I am an alien slug in a community of ski monsters.  A short journey across the Clark-Fork River to the river trail qualifies as excitement in my world.

Icy Clark Fork River © Toni Matlock

Shopping Cart in the River © Toni Matlock

Even though I live super close to national forests and parks, I like walking around town.  This stretch with graffiti and garbage feels more urban than others but it's one of my favorites.  I know it's nothing like Chicago.  Those winters I don't miss, by the way.  I wouldn't trade a Montana winter for a Chicago one.  Or an Indiana one for that matter. Anyway, I wonder who the punks were that dumped the cart under the bridge.  I thought about trying to remove it myself but I'm a coward to venture out on frozen ice puddles let alone a river. I've watched kids jump off the bridge in summers here so I know it is pretty deep.  I realize that I'm not qualified.  It looks like it would be easy, though, doesn't it?  Like you could just walk out there with no problem.  Imagine the strength of water rushing like a glove around your foot when the ice first breaks and the river pull you in.  Will someone pull it out before spring?

Sets

© Toni Matlock

This is the 'set' for some interviews that we did in our living room.  Making videos obviously means a lot of set up and take down of sets.  When the lights are burning and the camera is rolling a set becomes a sparkling macro-world. Then it's gone.  A place never looks or feels the same after you've been shooting there.  The space and objects are invested with the energy of your work and ideas like you've pissed on it.  Even when, like here, the shoot is in your own house, it's changed forever.

Directions

(photo © Toni Matlock)

Designing instructions for an iPhone app is challenging. The trick is to find the right place/s for the instructions, keep them super brief to fit the medium (small frame plus an expectation for immediate gratification) and still be clear enough to get the points across.  I'm still wrestling with how to do this well for the apps we are building.  Today I am refining the directions above and working on others for apps soon to release.

Didn't know I needed it

It is the wicked beauty of iPhone Apps.  My best example of this is Koi Pond. It's my favorite app to show off for the iPhone because the 'function' is simple yet it's visually compelling.  Among so many apps - including the popular ones - that are awkward or simply ugly aesthetically, Koi Pond stands out. A great feature for traveling, you can set a timer on this and have a white noise effect of the pond sounds (which you can adjust) to help relaxing, napping or sleeping (up to 12 hours).  So far this is one of the most thoughtfully and elegantly designed apps that I have seen and used.

Watch the demo by the designer to see some of what I mean.

Have a Pancake Tuesday

(photos © Toni Matlock)

Simply pancakes for dinner.  Sometimes crepes or ethiopian injera or other pancake-like goodness.  Add sweet and savory toppings and we have got a party!
                                                   

Butter To Love

                                              (photo © Toni Matlock)

I just wanted to give a shout out for peanut butter.  Working at home, I can prepare healthy economical snacks and lunches for myself.  Working a lot means some days I don't get up from the computer enough to eat well.  I think peanut butter saves me by striking the perfect balance.  Here is a regular snack for me: apple wedges, celery sticks, cheese and peanut butter.  Not many things are the same balance of quick prep and good for me.  Plus I never grow tired of it.  Even my mother grew tired of making PB&Js for me when I was a kid and pushed alternatives but I stuck with it.  (Pun intended.)

Switching Sounds

I grew tired of juggling with CDs almost as soon as I gave up on cassette tapes.

                                       (The new speaker setup is tidier)


It's important to me to have music in my environment.  I'm not obsessed with reciting lyrics or 'name that band' games.  Sure I listen to the words, but I engage music somatically rather than intellectually.  The rhythm helps me maintain a confident mood and I feel like I get more done. I enjoy music of nearly all styles and constantly mix genres. The sequence and transitions between songs is as interesting to me as the individual songs.  I stream college radio stations to see what the kids are digging at the moment then I pick it up at a local music store, usually Rockin' Rudy's.  More often than I care to admit, I get impatient and download the music online. Like many people, I want good music for the ever-changing moment, but storing or fiddling with piles of compact discs and their cases when I am cooking or in the midst of entertaining during a dinner party drives me a bit crazy.

I almost completely abandoned the CD player ages ago.  I think everyone is going this direction by now. I committed to the transfer process and everything gets downloaded to my Mac. The discs are stored in the basement or resold to used cd shops (I'd rather have the cash than dust a pile of plastic) and I back up my music library to a hard drive once in awhile.  The system seems to work fine so far.

I often find tracks through web music outlets, either free or through membership, and download directly.  I like the option of selecting an artist's song and perhaps not having the entire album (er, ahem, CD) if I don't want it. Furthermore, it's my nature to pick the more obscure selections from an album rather than the most popular,  so my collection is varied but less and less cluttered the more that I pick and choose.

By now I have accumulated a substantial collection of songs in iTunes, either from CDs or downloads. When planning for a party, which I like to have often, it was almost silly to select song lists and burn CDs or playlists for an iPod to then be carried to yet another player twenty steps away from my office.  Probably it's lazy or dumb, but it just wouldn't happen.

As an alternative I kept a stack of discs handy to play in a small CD player in the kitchen which would quickly be exhausted or heaven forbid, a guest makes a request. Knowing that you have a varied selection just barely out of reach is a mini-drag, not a hostess failure exactly, but a niggling itch that persists until someone hopefully scratches it and gives you some relief.  In a pathetic attempt to have all the freedoms that my collection offers, I moved my JBL creature speakers to the edge of my desk, pointing them toward the kitchen to have ambient dinner party music.  Or just to have 'shuffling around the kitchen' music.  It's a small thing, I know, and mostly reveals how lazy I am but there it is.

                                                (Yep, it's just like a plug.)


Now, though, the glory of diverse, immediately gratifying song list switching is at the tip of my fingers for my every whim and mood.  And my guest's moods.  An AirPort Express came as an unexpected gift this winter.  I can share my playlist around the house by sticking this white box into any outlet around the house inside or out and putting a set of speakers with it. It all runs on the wireless. It is super tidy.  (It looks like a tall white plug. See above.) I can pop the speakers outside for backyard gatherings or to our front porch for summer outdoor cinema nights. And we can share each other's playlists from other laptops and desktops through the AirPort too.

Very cool.  I highly recommend it.

Mud Sling

(Detail of Rhythm © Toni Matlock)

Chicago Art Magazine posted an article on mud stenciling as an eco-activist-expression.  It's not a stretch from my own studio impulses and concerns using rust and plant materials of the late 90s.  Something about the articles images makes me miss Chicago, too.... Check it out.

Bitters Anytime

(photo of a vintage Campari and soda bottle from Wikimedia commons)

Campari is my favorite drink.  Originally introduced in the 1860s in Milan as a health tonic, the refreshing drink became popular as an apertivo, meant to accompany appetizers or small bites as a meal opening (called antipasto in Italian) like bread, cheese, sliced meats and vegetable spreads.  Technically, Campari is in the bitters family of alcohols because it's made by steeping herbs and orange peel in spirits.  (The full recipe is a secret, apparently.)  The host or hostess can also serve it to visually indicate when it is time to start eating. The gorgeous bold red color originally came from cochineal dye but the company switched to artificial color in 2006.  Because the drink works well with light fare, it is especially popular in the summer in Italy.

I enjoy it year round. And any time, especially after a late movie.  Soda is the most common mixer for Campari, sometimes with a twist of lime which is tasty and bonus - makes a dazzling color combo dangling at the end of your hand.  (What can I say? I love to accessorize!) I also like Campari straight up and on a few rocks but that is an acquired taste for most people.  For newcomers to this cocktail, I recommend squeezing some citrus and measuring heavy on the soda.  I introduced it to a friend recently who finally took a liking to it with fresh-squeezed juice of a small orange.  Once you've taken a liking to it, though, Campari is fantastic.  More bitter than other alcoholic beverages, it refreshes your palate and does not conflict when leaping between food flavors which makes life for a foodie like me, very easy.  And it's light with a kick.  It doesn't grow old or leave a lingering after taste.  I don't seem to ever over indulge or fill up on Campari, either.  (Well, okay, not as much.)  And finally, for me, Campari delivers style.  The bottle, it's label and the drinks mixed from it are handsome, unassuming and classic.  Especially if we are using our own soda-making bottle and the preparation come with Cary Grant elegance. The company has a long history of fantastic advert posters, too.  They have several posted on the copany's website (which is has a futuristic clever tone but can be troublesome to navigate).

According to the trusty guide Rick Steve, "Campari is best when accompanied by salty snacks..." which makes even more sense to me!

P.S. If you are interested in Italian culture and cuisine, I would recommend Ms. Adventures in Italy.  From what I have seen, her information is contemporary, accurate and has great photos.