Today's specials: Rice-paddy art and Italian moonshine

I'm working on an aggregation project that's inadvertently leading me to all manner of foodie goodness. So I thought I'd bring some of it here.

Rice paddy butterfly created by using different rice varieties in Nishio, central Japan. Rice paddy art can take on many forms; Pink Tentacle has a post about rice paddies in northern Japan that evoke woodblock prints of Mount Fuji as well as the Mona Lisa. (Photo: AP Photo/Kyodo News). 

Italian senators plea for legal homemade grappa
Der Spiegel

Many Italians illegally distill grappa at home, but Senators Enrico Montani and Sergio Divina presented a bill Tuesday that would permit up to 30 liters of homebrewed grappa for personal use. Made using the grape skins, pits and stalks that the juice leaves behind, grappa is generally 50-80 proof and, according to postwar Italian writer Italo Calvino, is "suitable only for defrocked priests, unemployed bookkeepers and husbands who have been cuckolded."

Paso Robles says new logo will help bring in tourists
Business Wire

It's a lot to put on the shoulders of a little logo: Among the elements the city expect this signage to create are a sense of place; unity and community pride; rural tradition; and a cosmopolitan feel. "Earth tone colors and design of the logo evoke a sense of place, unity, rural tradition, and cosmopolitan feel unique to Paso Robles... This is the first time the city has had one  overarching, unified brand to represent all tourism-related efforts."

Hilary Swank gets "French Women Don't Get Fat"
Variety

Oscar-winner Hilary Swank has bought the rights to bestselling diet book "French Women Don’t Get Fat" to produce as a romantic comedy "about the manager of a champagne company who learns some tough life lessons." The book's author is former Champagne Veuve Clicquot exec Mireille Guiliano.

Comments

[Big Bomb]

Paso Robles does not need to be "branded." More blah-blah speak from marketing robots. Paso Robles is a great area to visit for a MULTITUDE of reasons, but some retardo slogan hatched in a hip conference room is not what it needs. Virgina is for Lovers tells us about as much as West Virgina is for Cousin Lovers. Before there were brands -- there was merit. Something was good, so you bought it. It wasn't stuck in the narrow confines of some magic elixir brand bullsh*t. People who overuse the "B" word and its principles should be truly sizzle-branded and herded into the town square of Paso Robles for mocking ...