Word: pasta
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Surrounded by Italian news hens in Rome last week, Pat Nixon almost got her pasta caught in some really hot water. Italian food was her favorite, she said, and she made good spaghetti. "How long do you cook it?" asked a reporter. "A long time," said the First Lady. Noting the black looks at the thought of a White House full of pasty pasta, Pat made a remarkable recovery. "I cook my meat sauce a long time-I simmer it," she explained. "But the spaghetti: eight minutes." Smiles. Al dente...
Powerful Monarch. Lunch, even on papal vacation, is devoted to business. While light courses of pasta, meat or fish, salad and fruit are served, Paul keeps up a lively chatter with his table companions, often including Papal Secretary of State Jean Cardinal Villot, who has a permanent apartment at the summer villa. After a 1½-hour siesta, there is more work: reading (and often writing marginalia in) the Vatican daily, L'Osservatore Romano, and planning or writing important documents. Like his predecessors, Paul works long hours. An hour or so for prayer in the evening, some minutes...
...essence of bel canto is making the vocally difficult sound delectable. Long, lung-stretching phrases, rococo trills, breathtaking leaps of voice slide into the air and ear with soft, summery ease and grace. The quintessential bel canto role is Norma, the most taxing female part in all opera. Giuditta Pasta, the first singer to try the part after Bellini created it in 1831, found it so difficult that the violins had to play out of tune deliberately to disguise her failures...