Mozzafiato

I have been taken to task for the invention of the Italian word ‘mozzaficato’. It should, of course, be mozzafiato, which means stunning or breathtaking. It comes from ‘mozza’ ( verb mozzare meaning to cut or lop off) and fiato (breath). So a breath-lopping view. Incidentally, mozzarella means ‘little cut-offs’ as the rolled dumpling shape of an individual mozzarella is a piece of the larger kneaded cheese that is pulled out, cut off and rolled into shape.


Pictured here is a corner stone of our house that shows clearly the turbidity currents when the undersea sediments that formed it were being laid down. The crispness of the sediment and the little slide it made before settling down is remarkable.