Want a break from chopping celery, pickles and boiled eggs for your mayonnaise-drenched potato salad? Take a moment to enjoy the observations of O'Doul the Collie. The weather prognosticator/labor spokesdog asks you to take a moment to ponder the whippoorwill of freedom both here and abroad.
According to his publicist, Mount Baker resident Tony, O'Doul "wants everybody to remember that July 4 is the birthday of Garibaldi."
Garibaldi, the ignorant amongst us might ask, who dat? The composer who wrote "The Four Seasons"? A San Francisco-based chocolate manufacturer? The manager of the New York Yankees?
O'Doul would express dismay and disgust with such ignorance. Is this the outcome of the public education system?
Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), the "hero of two worlds" was born July 4, 1807 in Nice -- an area that ping-ponged in jurisdictional rule between the kingdom of Sardenia and France. A twentysomething Garibaldi joined a revolutionary organization that pledged Italian independence and unification. In 1834, Garibaldi was on the losing side of a failed insurrection. Garibaldi fled before a Genoese court sentenced him in absentia to death.
A sail-maker by trade, Garibaldi and his wife fled to South America where he adopted the look of the native gauchos: red shirt, poncho and sombrero. Garibaldi aligned himself with liberal coalition that successfully fought for Uruguayan independence from Argentinian and Brazilian imperialists. Garibaldi returned to Italy in 1849 and employed the guerrilla warfare tactics he learned in South America against French and Austrian aggressors. Italians credit Garibaldi for uniting their country.
One more point regarding "the hero of two worlds" that would warm the hearts of animal lovers. After defeating the Neapolitan Army and wresting control of Southern Italy from the Austrians, Garibaldi traveled alone in the countryside. He came across a man beating a donkey. An outraged Garibaldi criminalized animal abuse.
So how does a Rainier Valley collie commemorate Garibaldi's birthday? Tony reports that O'Doul celebrates July 4 with bocce ball, which "he enjoys as a spectator sport." In honor of Garibaldi, O'Doul may consume raw (uncooked) spaghetti noodles, which Tony said the collie favors. When asked why O'Doul favors raw spaghetti over, say, fusilli with spinach and Asiago cheese, Tony loses his patience. "This whole cooking show and book mania is making me sick," he groused.
Toast O'Doul, Tony and Giuseppe Garibaldi with a Negroni, an Italian-themed cocktail.
Negroni
1 oz. gin
1 oz. vermouth
1 oz. Campari bitters
Pour gin, vermouth and Campari into an old-fashioned glass filled three-fourths of the way with ice cubes. Garnish with orange wedge.
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