Eating and Hiking in Alps

Dawn, my college friend and our first visitor, arrived Torino on July 10th. The first meal she tried was our typical lunch and she loved bufala (buffalo) mozzerella cheese and sashimi-like salami. Before we explore other cities together, Syd took us to a small town (Bardonecchia) in the Alps for some hiking and eating! In case you haven't heard it before, Torino area is known for 'Slow-Food Movement'. Obviously it is to fight against Fast-Foods (Sayonara, McDonald's!), however, more importantly, it aims to preserve the cultural cuisine and the associated food plants and seeds, domestic animals, and farming within the local region (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Food). In other words, the movement promotes preparing cuisines using local and quality ingredients to appreciate their taste and nurition.

The slow-food event consisted 6 courses: Antipasti, Primi, Secondi, Formaggi, Dolci, and Forte Bramafam. The hungry hikers hike 10 -15 minutes to each course to taste a dish accompanied by a choice of 6 - 8 different wines. The best part is that you can go back for seconds! :) Since Dawn doesn't drink wine, we forced her to get a glass at every course anyways... well, you know where the wine went. :p At the end of the hike/ lunch, Syd have tasted 15 wines and 2 liquors!

Picture on left: Entree - cosciotto di maialino cotto nel fieno maggengo con polenta concia (tender pork cooked in hay with polenta)
Picture on right: Formaggi - plates of cheese!













Picture on left: molti molti vini
Picture on right: the result of too much food and wine













Syd is a mountain guy so he really likes Bardonecchia. Well, can't complain much since the weather was cool and the scenery was beautiful. The town apparently hosted events for Winter Olympics 2006. It also looked like a good place for skiing (so you know where we'll go in the winter). But before winter comes, we already plan to revisit in August when Torino heat is supposed to be unbearable (well, I hope it's not as devilish as Taiwan's summer).

Adjusting and Slowing Down

Hi friends and family, yes, I have been back in Torino since last week. But I was so tired from traveling and the heat (don't travel in Italy in July and August if you can avoid it) that I needed to rest. I'm starting to feel back to normal so I'll try to post highlights of the northern Italy trip sometime this week. :)

I have also been a bit homesick for the past couple weeks. I miss my mom, you guys, Asian food (Vietnamese spring rolls and vermicelli, Chinese noodle soups, Thai pineapple fried rice, Japanese sashimi, etc.), and the familiarity and comfort of our home in Milpitas. I experience this backdraw whenever I travel outside of US for more than 2 weeks, so actually I'm doing quite well. The way to deal with it for me is to mix up the daily routine. So today I made an effort to go out having lunch, shopping, and exploring (I have been reading, internet surfing, and sleeping for the past week). It must have worked somewhat since now I'm updating the blog. I haven't feel like writing it since I returned to Torino.

Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well. I'm looking forward to friends and my mom visiting in September and October. In the mean time, I can't wait for the Olympics!!! Go Beijing! Talk to you guys later.

AIDA in Verona

It's odd that after Italian class ended, I have less time to myself. I have been trying to read "Under the Tuscan Sun" for the past month but I just have neither the time nor the mood. On the weekends I'm busy cooking. With fresh ingredients from Porta Palazzo, I want to prepare and taste the fresh vegetables and fruits right away. Last Saturday I made my very first cold tomato soup! Yummy and refreshing for the hot day. Beth gave us a chart that lists seasonal fruits in Torino, and of course summer produces the most fruits. This month Syd and I have to stuff ourselves with apricots, blueberries, peaches, cherries, raspberries, and strawberries! And on weekdays, while Syd's working, I'm either surfing on internet, creating blog entries, typing up Chinese writings, doing house chores, or taking a nap. So one way or the other, I'm just not reading (which is one of my favorite hobbies).

Well, all that changed for the past 2 days. I finished the book on the way to and back from Verona. Apparently traveling provides the time and mood for me to read. Beth, Trevor, Syd, and I went to see the famous opera "AIDA" (Verdi's version, though I also saw Elton John's version and I loved it!) in the ancient and oh-the-most-beautiful Roman outdoor amphitheatre (built in 30AD, it's 2000 years old!). Now dig this: NO amplifiers were used yet the voice of each singer traveled all the way to the last row of the theatre (capacity of 30,000 ppl when full)! It was incredible! We were drowned under the stars with Verdi's music, Aida and Radames' love, and Barbera wine in this amazing Verona Arena. Though no elephants appeared in the opera, I felt equally satisfied with the outstanding costumes, dances, singing and horses! I'd highly recommend a nice soft cushion for your behind (you can rent it at the Arena) because my tush was screaming in pain after an hour of sitting on the hard concrete (cheapest ticket). Syd refused to use his body as my cushion. Bad hubby.
























We came back to Torino today while Beth and Trevor continued on to Germany. We will meet up in Venice and Cinque Terre with my college friend Dawn next week. I told Syd that it's good to come home. I miss our apartment in Torino which has my comfy bed, my laptop (yes, I'm addicted to it), the yummy yummy pasta salad I made on Sunday and buffalo mozzerella cheese. Before reaching home, we went for a delicious and refreshing gelato of uva fragola at Gatsby's. Yes, we are home.

Our New Looks

Our Italian beginner course ended last Friday so you might think that we would now party all night, sleep in every morning, and be lazy bums from this week on. Well, how can you think of us that way? We managed to get up everyday this week around 9am except yesterday (we got up at 5:30am instead to take a train to the beach!). We went running and played frisbee on Tuesday morning. We're trying to exercise at least twice a week to set up a healthy routine living in Torino so we don't return to California gaining 20 lbs. each (darn those yummy buttery gnocchis)!

Since the course is over, Syd and I finally have time to do other things besides studying Italian. For example, we can pay attention to our appearances. Syd now has a goatee (I like it!) and that's all the change he made. As for me, it is more complicated because of my gender. I need to shop (though I'd say I spend only half the time most women shop), compare, think, and then choose. I'm happy to introduce Beth, my shopping partner/ fashion consultant, who accompanied me to spend $ at a big Robe di Kappa (a Torino brand) outlet. We had to take a bus (20 min) and after getting off, we searched for the outlet for 30 minutes because its name is 'Spaccio' instead of 'Kappa'. No wonder we couldn't find it even though it's only 1 block away from the bus stop. Anyways, I love this brand because it has a lot of sporty and simple designs: the style fits my personality. So I contributed to Torino's economy that day. :) Well, what could I do? I have been eyeing that jacket since my first visit to the store in Piazza San Carlo but I couldn't find my size then. I was so happy to find it (only 1 left with my size!) at the outlet that my blood started to boil which blurred my vision so I could only see the jacket. Besides, Beth said I looked good in it. Hence, although it wasn't on sale, I still went for it. I'm not posting a photo of this jacket, you'll just have to wait for its premier in winter. :p I can tell you that it has awesome symbols: an Italian flag, a Torino bull, 2 Kappa marks (which is a man and a woman sitting back-to-back with each other), and the word "Torino" across the chest. Please sit still, my CAL friends, the color of this jacket is Maroon, not RED. :p

My next choice is to get a haircut. Yes, it's a big decision as it's not just a simple haircut... I decided to go for a short hairdo. The first problem we encountered was how to communicate the desired style with hairdressers in Italian. Beth came up with a great idea: find photos of the hairstyle that we like online then we will bringing in her laptop to show them to hairdressers. It worked perfectly since pictures speak a thousand times better than words (let alone our poor Italian words). The experience at the salon was rather relaxing. Hair washing alone was 15 minutes of gentle massaging, washing, and conditioning. My hairdresser was a young man (mid 20s) with blond spiky hair and wears hip pink glasses. He wasn't surprised of my request of a rather dramatic hair style. As a matter of fact, he was the first and only hairdresser who suggested to cut my hair even a little shorter. Well, non `cè problema, I have had the same hairdo for a few years and since I'm in Italy, I want to go for a new look. Now with new clothes and a stylish hair cut, I need to look for earrings and sandals. Gotta go shopping. Again. Now.