I am about to take a trip to Italy, and will tell you more next week. Right now I want to name the disgust, fear and sadness felt by so many.

I went to a peaceful protest yesterday, where we stood with our signs on the corners of a busy intersection (if you don’t feel there’s anything to protest, help yourself to the recipe below).

We netted lots of supportive horns, a few middle fingers, and one woman driver who, while stopped at the light, mimed shooting at us with both hands.

About 100 people turned out in a suburb of more than 200,000. Maybe some went downtown. One person on our corner spent far more time filming us, slowly, than holding her tiny sign out for drivers. By the time I noticed it was too late to do anything about it, and even assuming ill intent, which is not a given, she also had her rights.

That’s the problem with our side, of course. We follow the rules. I had considered masking, but that’s what the other side does. What could possibly be wrong, in a country where freedom was always job one, with exercising our rights under the very first amendment? (Anti-naivete caveat: that was irony, in case you missed it.)

It’s not too soon to learn what people in less privileged countries, and less privileged people in this country, figured out long ago. They can silence, maim, and kill us, but as long as we breathe, they can’t take the joy out of life. Only we can.

All to say that when I write you, a light touch does not preclude a heavy heart.

Expansionist and authoritarian regimes don't do joy. It’s taxing work, oppressing the free world. At most it’s cause for occasional cackling.

The rest of us are not selfish to accept happiness in unhappy times. It reminds us of what’s beautiful and human.

So, expect a few happy mishaps and malaprops from my travels. Expect views through the lens of sustainable living (ignoring eye roll), because our little daily decisions and biases make us who we are or prevent us from who we can be.

And expect what I promised in my first issue: a look at our country with the benefit of perspective.

I spent the weekend in Vancouver, where I grew up after we left Italy.

Anecdotally — and this is not a statistician’s newsletter — Canadians are not just avoiding American goods, but divesting from our real estate and equities. The socialized health care system that Americans love to hate is finding it easier, not harder, to hire Americans — this despite the weak loonie and the fear of economic warfare.

Monday morning, on the bus that would take me to the subway and from there to the airport, I passed a gaggle of pro-Canada protesters at the on-ramp to the Lions Gate bridge, Vancouver’s version of the Golden Gate.

Canadians have always been a little resentful of their neighbor. After moving south, I found their critiques of America to be cartoonish and judgmental. I enjoyed pointing out the double standards and little hypocrisies.

Now, I don’t know what to say. We are the resentful, moody ones. The protesters at the bridge looked happy. There were maybe a couple dozen, stabbing the air jauntily with their signs: “Canada leads,” and “Honk for Canada,” and, most tellingly, “Middle powers unite!” Standing at the north end of the bridge, they had their backs to the border.

To paraphrase one of our defining films: No country is a failure that has friends.

Bright winter soup

It’s flu, cold, and comfort food season. You want something brothy and filling, and this recipe delivers without the heaviness of so many other soups. Drizzle with freshly squeezed lemon and a good extra virgin olive oil for extra fragrance.

In Italy this is called pasta e ceci, and it comes in countless variations. It’s easy and quick to make. The chick peas are meatier than beans and hold up better in the broth.

Most of the ingredients are cheap. The expensive ones matter, but you will use them in small quantities:

• Get decent cubed pancetta, not bacon: you only need two ounces.
• For this soup and so many other dishes, invest in a finishing oil with low acidity and a harvest date within the past year. It’s only for drizzling, not cooking, for which you can use a lower grade of oil. The better extra virgin olive oils have all the information on the label.
• Don’t buy domestic parmesan. Just don’t. Get Parmigiano Reggiano or Padano, and grate judiciously.

And remember, if you live somewhere sunny and warm, you can always save by foraging for the rosemary and lemon. They taste better when they’re fresh, and free.