I THOUGHT the world was getting smaller...

Yesterday, on Lisa's and my excursion to Beverly Hills and then Studio City - for business, I promise...she enlightened me about the new, reworked "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland.

Apparently many or most of the world dolls have been taken out, and Disney characters have been made their replacements. I am still having a really hard time getting my arms around this one. (We have a soft spot for "Dolls" - we sisters are The Dolls in our family.)

I sat with it for a few, and when Lisa said they've put in Lilo and Stitch, Aladdin, etc., I thought, oh, OK, well, maybe that's the way diversity is being infused now...maybe? Maybe they've included Pocahontas, Mulan... Um, OK. I think.

It's possible, but the widespread criticism seems to be that Disney wants another venue to "product place" their own products - again - which are, with all due respect...not so diverse. Under the auspice of Walt Disney having said, "Disneyland will never be complete as long as there is imagination left in the world", the Disney spokespeople have spoken. This philosophy is said to be their inspiration for inserting Ariel, Nemo, and Toy Story characters into the ride that once sailed the seven seas of world color and culture.

I had to ask, do they still play the song? What does a small world have to do with Buzz Lightyear's signature "To infinity and beyond"?

Forgive me if I'm missing something here!

The ride was originally at the 1964 World's Fair as a benefit to the United Nations' Children's Fund, and came to Disneyland 2 years later. I remember it well. We rode it 3 times with our mom, and our dad and brothers opted out of all three opportunities if I remember correctly.

They say they don't want anything at Disneyland to become a 'museum' - hence the justification of the new Pirates ride. (I think the movie really does make the ride make more sense, but that's another topic.) Fine.

I wonder if now Small World is like a mish-mesh of, I'm not sure what. I really can't picture it - will we like it? Granted, that song did bend last nerves (especially at the end of a 12+hour day at the Magic Kingdom maybe) but, it did remind of the possibility of a peaceful planet. Am I the only one that thinks that's kind of timely right now? I loved that it celebrated world peoples, especially children, which is what I will miss the most.

And, you have to wonder what they did with all those dolls, right? Lisa and I always wanted to own one of those dolls. Our parents went to Disneyland years ago (without us, not sure how that happened) to buy Lisa a little doll from Italy, and one from Holland for me. They were from Santa, and the top items on our lists. I can still picture them, and I'm sure our mom still has them somewhere. Lisa and I also discussed how an item like that would never be found for purchase at Disneyland now. Sad.

I did try to console us by telling her that when they closed the America Sings attraction back when, it was only a matter of time before they recycled those singing hens and chickens and eagles and foxes and they all showed up in the Splash Mountain ride.

I am sure there is enough imagination left in the world for Disney imagineers to stick the has-been Small World dolls in a future attraction. Hmmm. Can't wait to see that.

Sorry for the mild sourness here, everyone. Please, please, write if you've been on the ride, and/or your comments about this.

I am waiting to hear from you!

Your tour maestra and small world doll,
Diane Scalia

Valentines Day and Texas Tea Cakes

Just a few notes on what's happened since Multi-Cultural Day, and a recipe that I forgot to include last time!

This last Saturday in LA was a sunny, bright, cold day sandwiched between a stormy Friday the 13th and a dreary Sunday. To celebrate love - and the fair weather - LA's Farmers Market and West 3rd Street appeared to be the places to be. Lots of happy couples, lots of families, and lots of friends were out to play and have fun on Valentines Day.

Each year for at least the past 4 years, I have passed out kiddie valentines on the day, to complete strangers, with true desire of offering more love to the world. I have found this to be the most perfect and surefire way to make people happy, smile, and even laugh.

Late Friday night I stuck tiny heart stickers on my Ratatouille kiddie valentines - about 70 total - and early Saturday morning set out to distribute them. Having plenty of everyone - of all ages - to give them out to at the Farmers Market before our tour started, all 70 were mostly gone in less than an hour. Way too much fun! I highly recommend trying this. It takes a little courage but the rewards are wonderful (and, shhh, 99-cent and dollar stores have a great selection of valentines if you buy them early enough)!

Bringing well-deserved attention back to Multi-Cultural Day at Open Charter School last week, I happily brought home a little program piece that contains a recipe for Texas Tea Cakes...so worth sharing, as is the quote on the front of the little folded program:

"Much of what we know about each other's culture is learned through the sharing of food."

Young Drew Alexander Aldridge happily offers this multi-generational recipe for her family's famous cookies. Handed down now to Drew, the fifth generation to enjoy them, they were baked 2 and 3 generations ago, for families of 10 children each. Her great-grandmother Elizabeth baked them in a pot-bellied stove for her brood!

Drew recommends savoring them with ice cold milk or a cup of hot chocolate. It is with great joy that I share her recipe with you!

Texas Tea Cakes

1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
4 cups flour

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine shortening and sugar, stir and mix in the eggs and buttermilk. Add the salt, vanilla, nutmeg, and baking soda. Add in flour one cup at a time. Stir and mix until you have firm dough. Roll out and use a cookie cutter or glass to make circles. Bake until golden brown (I'm guessing about 8-10 minutes; Drew doesn't say!)

Yields about 4 dozen.

Bon appetit and enjoy!

Til next time, I remain your Tour Maestra,
Diane Scalia

Our Surprise: Multi-Cultural Day

Surely you've had one of those days.

You look forward to something, you're on your way out feeling good about what you think you're expecting to happen. Then that 'something' unfolds so much more amazingly, and in more magical ways, than you never saw coming.

Lisa and I were on our way to meet with Entrepreneur-extraordinaire Curt Ewald. We thought the meeting was going to be about our working with his new destination management concept, and it was. We thought he'd have some good stuff to offer and he did, only great stuff to offer would be more appropriate and, a gross understatement at best. I thought I would also speak with him about other part-time tour-leader opportunities, and I did. Fabulous opportunities.

To get to the meeting in the first place, we thought we knew where we were going and then we thought we needed to backtrack to find our way. As we went to turn around, there in front of us was the address we were looking for. All 5 minutes before we were supposed to be there.

We thought our time together with Curt would last only until 11:30 when he had another appointment. We thought we'd need to book a whole second appointment to meet his wife Debra, whom we'll also be working with. We thought we would all head back to our respective corners, and right away begin on our next steps.

Not so fast. None of the above actually happened as we thought it would.

"What school do your children go to?" Lisa asked Curt as we prepared to leave. We had just learned they were elementary school-age.

"Open Charter," he said.

"That's where our other sister teaches!" She exclaimed in awe. "I bet -"

And before she finished that thought, Curt 'recognized' the family resemblance, since our sister is his son's teacher. So, we accompanied him to his son's, and our sister's school, to join their Multi-Cultural Day celebration. Their unbelievably fabulous Multi-Cultural Day celebration.

Curt's wife Debra was teaching a Chinese New Year unit in our sister Suz's classroom. Curt had had to leave our appointment when he did, so that he could deliver - on time - his wife's brilliant Chinese Fried Rice to the massive, bountiful buffet in honor of Multi-Cultural Day.

Backing up a moment, I had passed an Indian restaurant on my way to Lisa's that morning. An Indian buffet lunch sounds really good, I thought, hoping I could talk Lisa into it later. I had ethnic food on the brain ever since.

I love the expression 'be careful what you wish for'. We barged in on Suz in her classroom, cleared up all the confusion about how we got there, and met some of her beautiful little students. Curt was in and out of tow, carrying this beautiful bowl of fried rice which I was really wanting to taste, so very much...and here comes the rest of the story.

"Would you like a plate?" We were so kindly asked, at the beginning of the 100+, maybe 1000+ dish buffet. This was set up so bountifully and beautifully, for the dining pleasure of the little students, their families who came, the teachers and staff and, party crashers.

"Oh, only if there's enough," I answered.

"Are you kidding," the kind woman laughed. "The kids are only going to eat the buttered spaghetti! There's plenty!"

Well then, in that case, I told her we'd be honored to stay. Because we were.

A mere fraction of what was there, included: THE BEST bbq'd chicken. Guatemalan soup (served by an Irishman!). Ethiopian specialties. Spaghetti with tomato sauce. Cornbread. Spanakopita. Baked beans and hotdogs. A million Japanese offerings. Korean foods. Festival bread. Rice from China, Cuba, Persia, Mexico, Japan. Mac n' cheese. Croissants. Sweet potato fries. Hummus and pita. Taquitos. Jambalaya. Then, desserts!

Chocolate mousse. Baklava. Apple strudel. Mushroom-shaped ginger cookies. Turkish delight. Korean cookies. Rice pudding. Brazilian pastries.

Do I need to eat again before December? I do not. (But, Lisa and I are dining out Japanese tatami-style tonight. Just bein' honest.)

We got more time with Curt. We got to personally meet the lovely Debbie and their beautiful little son.

I especially loved visiting with the multitude of students with roots from all over the globe, and their families. And I thought my day couldn't get better, until we tried to say goodbye and got this response.

"Don't go yet," two beautiful little girls pleaded to Lisa and I. "You just GOT here!

Please tell me you've had one or more of these kind of days.


Your full, and faithful Tour Maestra,
Diane Scalia

Finally, that BEST pasta recipe

Allora (Italian for "well,")...it will soon be Friday night and once I'm done playing on my (late-afternoon-when-I-can) guilty pleasure FaceBook, and more hours have gone by, and once again I did not practice yoga...I'll be hungry and inclined to raid my own refrigerator.

Now today in there I have some amazing applewood-smoked bacon and (roasted; leftover) hot Italian sausages, from those guys I love at Huntington Meats at the Farmers Market. And some more fresh broccoli from Farm Boy, plus a couple Roma tomatoes from Farm Fresh Produce (those last 2 produce stores at the market). All of these are stops of sorts on our tours.

Now, you add some chopped onion garlic, some white or even Marsala wine + a little lemon juice, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and black pepper and a bit of butter...have some pasta cooking (I loved spaghetti with this), and here is what you do:

Cook diced bacon or Italian sausage, with diced onion/minced garlic, in medium-large skillet until bacon is cooked or sausage is well heated through. (Add a little olive oil if pan is too dry.) Add some diced tomato and heat through for a couple minutes. Add some wine to pan, enough to make a light sauce now, splash in a little lemon juice, and simmer sauce while pasta finishes cooking. I also added some of the pasta water to the pan, to make more sauce, it's perfect for this!

Place your cut up broccoli in the bottom of colander. When pasta is cooked al dente, pour pasta from stockpot over broccoli to drain; this will cook the broccoli perfectly.

Add a swirl of butter to the sauce that is getting ready to 'receive' the pasta!

"Sauce" the pasta and broccoli in the pan, stirring gently until completely coated and heated through. Transfer to serving bowl(s) and sprinkle with grated Parmesan, season with freshly ground black pepper.

In true modo di Toscano (Tuscan fashion), you may wish to drizzle the pasta with a extra-virgin olive oil as a fine finish! When I took a cooking course in Tuscany, our lovely instructor Sandra constantly reminded of the "extra-virgin" and how necessary it is, to complete the prep of just about everything placed on the table.

Those of us who are extra-ambitious will add a salad to this on the side, and I strongly recommend some fresh bread of sorts too. What's left in the bowl or on the plate is sublime with a mop of bread, I promise!

Buon appetito!

And all the best from your faithful tour maestra,
Diane Scalia

PS- Next up: Lisa's and my "experience" in Westwood and Beverly Hills last night!