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.