Grazie Mille, la Famiglia di Tempia-Bonda!

Last Sunday Filippo and Alberto invited us to their 'hometown' for BBQ. The town's name, 'Bonda', is a part of their family name. The family crest is also painted on the external wall of their home. The town is cute and unique like no other in Italy because it is decorated with many different forms of art (sculpture with metal/ stone/ ceramic materials, painting, etc.). I agree with Filippo that many Americans would be interested to stay in Bonda (ex. B&B) for some R&R, hiking, art, and local cuisine. However, one must have a car to get through the narrow roads from the closest train station to the town. On the other hand, I'm not sure if Bonda would be the same lovely town after visiting of too many tourists. Having the right balance is always difficult.

Photo on Left: Filippo shows us his 'hometown' on map. He's the one who brought all of us (including our friends and family) to Torino. The city should give him an award for 'Best Promotion of Torino to Smart and Sexy Foreigners'. :p

Photo on Right: Group picture in the main piazza - Filippo, Trevor, Beth, 'naked body art', Alberto, Lily, Syd, and Simone.














Mmmmm, the Tempia-Bonda brothers both have the hots for American cities.

Photo on Left: Filippo and Alberto's wonderful parents. They are so generous and friendly preparing all the food and making us feel like at home.

Photo on Right: The Greatest BBQ Grill! No American BBQ can beat it!























We started off with cheese, bread, and fried zucchini flowers with apertivo wine. Then grilled skewers (see photo above), pork chops, and sausages were served with house-made red wine. Those yummy yummy home-made chocolate cake with fresh cream then appeared on our plates. Of course, to properly wrap up Italian cuisine, one must have digestivo drinks. Filippo's dad makes his own wine and alcohol... Trevor asked him for the recipe and the most important element is that the alcohol must be 90% proof! One can imagine how full and sleepy we were after such a delicious feast.

Photo on Left: Our lunch table on a scenic balcony on top of a hill. It's also under beautiful grapevines.

Photo on Right: See so many grapes on top of Syd's head! These grapes turn into wine later in the year in Filippo's dad's hands.
























Photo on Left: Socializing during apertivo time! See the balcony behind Alberto and Syd? That's where we had lunch.

Photo on Right: Group Photo - Simone, Filippo, Alberto, Simone's mom, Filippo & Alberto's parents, Trevor, Beth, and Syd.














Filippo's dad kept calling on me during lunch because I was so quiet. Well, I was busy eating! Man, I gotta get my share before it was grabbed by all these boys! :p Oh yes, the lunch was truly international since we communicated in Italian, English, and Mandarin (Simone and me). I enjoyed and actually understood the 15-minute conversation of solo-Italiano! It must have been the wine.

Bon Soir, Paris!

Yes, food... what should we eat in Paris? This may surprise you guys but it makes perfect sense for Syd and I (bay area residents who are spoiled with various Asian cuisine) to go to Chinatown for the BEST Vietnamese Pho and fried egg rolls. Yes, yes, certainly we had to have our favorite French food as well, so the French bakery a block away served our breakfast every morning. Anyways, I confess that the next day before we took the train back to Torino, we couldn't help it but eat at a Chinese fast-food restaurant. It really wasn't our fault as it was located 2 stores from the hotel which we had to pass by every time to take the metro. Although the Chinese food was tasty, it wasn't cheap as each dish was priced by weight. Oh, well, at least we had spicy shrimps and curry chicken with fried rice.



Ok, that's enough about food in Paris, sooooooo what should we see in Paris? I think that's a rather stupid question to ask. So I'll just post a few photos instead.

Bonjour, Toulouse!

How can it be? Toulouse is competing with Bordeaux to be selected as 'the city of culture' in 2013? I wasn't impressed by Toulouse since it was dirtier than Bordeaux: more trash and doggie poop on the streets. The most interesting element of the city was transportation convenience: plenty of bikes for residents and tourists at all major sites with the purchase of a city card. For me, Bordeaux not only has the history and architecture, its local government also has been doing a good job by keeping it clean and installing new trams, shops, and restaurants. Of course, the city government of Bordeaux is most likely richer (ex. wine) than Toulouse.

Woh, where did that tank come from? As a matter of fact, we saw quite a few military soldiers carrying semi-auto machine guns patrolling in train stations and major touristy sites in France. But a tank on a street was just too bizarre... later on the tank turned out to be on the way to the city plaza for a movie set.














We had good food in Toulouse. Syd finally got his crepe (with mushroom and cheese) while I had my long-awaited salad. We have been eating great French cuisine with Sera which consisted lots of meat, therefore a light dinner was most welcomed. My perfect salad had all my favorites: green pepper, onion, avocado (Syd hates them), and... are you ready for this... mustard sauce! How can I not love France?!

Merci Beaucoup, Sera!

We came back from our first 'Out of Italy' experience last week - we went to 3 cities in France: Bordeaux for friendship, wine, and food; Toulouse for exploration and food; and Paris for sightseeing and of course, food!

Sera was waiting for us at Bordeaux's train station. Bordeaux has been 'cleaned up' from the smoke of export ships (mostly British). The city still has some blackened buildings so we could see the BIG contrast before and after. The clean and antique look of the architecture is... modern yet historical at the same time. An unique style all by itself. You just have to see it yourself. :) Sera satisfied our hunger for French cuisine by taking us to yummy yum yum fresh oysters and excellent local wine (Chateau Greysac 1999). For main course, I ordered the special thinking it was veal with foie gras sauce. The meat was delicious yet with an interesting texture... Syd tasted it and said it should be liver. No problem, I like liver. But after Sera checked a dictionary when we returned to her apartment for the night, we found out what I have actually eaten was kidney!

I didn't realize that I missed mustard so much until I tasted it with roasted beef open-face sandwich the next day. I immediately decided that I must buy mustard and pickles in France. After lunch, we strolled along the river and found THE playground. Wow, so many people of all ages were there running, splashing, and playing with water. We even saw a naked girl rolling on the ground (calm down, guys, she's only 3 or 4 years old). It was hilarious. Of course, we are big kids so we join the fun as well.























We simply cannot miss wine-tasting in one of the best vineyards in the world! Sera booked an appointment at one of the most prestigious wine producer in Bordeaux - Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. The tour lasted 1.5 hours with detailed chateau history, walk-tour of the cellars, wine-making process, and my favorite, wine-tasting. I haven't tasted such wonderful young wine (bottled the same week) before, the flavor was so smooth and complex already. Each bottle needs to be in the cellar for at least 2 years before it appears in the market. It isn't cheap either - current cost is 300+ euros per bottle. Yes, it is the most expensive wine Syd and I have ever tasted.