Welcome to Torino, Davenports!

Syd's sister, Christine, and her family visited us for Thanksgiving. We were very happy to see them since we don't get to spend time with them except during the holidays. This was a great opportunity for us to catch up and perhaps, understand a little more what do girls (Morgan is 13 years old while Sydney is 11) like these days.

No time to lose! We started off with Torino 2-day pass the next day after their arrival. We went to Palazzo Reale, Palazzo Madama, Mole Cinema Museum (Morgan & Sydney's favorite), Egyptian Museum, and Superga (church and royal tomb).

Photo on Left: Mole at Night!

Chris, Morgan, Sydney, and Syd on top of the Mole. It was a beautiful and clear day that you can see the entire city of Torino.
















I was relieved that they were somewhat prepared for the cold weather. My mother would *hate* it. :p We were actually blessed with sunny clear sky... only 1 day of snow. We took advantage of the good weather and visited towns outside Torino: saw a parade in Sant'Ambrogio, explored narrow streets in Genova (also ate best focaccia and pesto), hiked in Bardonecchia, and of course, went wine tasting and had one of the best Italian cuisines (with incredibly reasonable pricing) in La Morra.

But the best of all was the soccer game (Torino Toro vs. AC Milan) with our Italian friends, Filippo and Alberto. What could be more fun than watching a soccer game with Italian soccer fans? We had apertivo at a sports bar first and then took a bus to the Olympic Stadium (where the 2006 Winter Olympic opening/ closing ceremonies were hosted). Boy, was it freezing (I couldn't feel my tush)! But what fun (not cuz I couldn't feel my tush) !















Well, time flies fast... When I first met Morgan and Sydney, they were 6 and 4 respectively. Look how much they've grown. It was cool listening and talking to them to know them better... I don't know if they liked the trip but at least they'd remember cute waiters at the pizzeria. :p

Group picture at Morgan's favorite pizzeria...


PS. Oh, and the girls want to eat Chinese food the first thing they return home. Alright, we have something in common here! :)

Dear Mama

My mother stayed with us for a month in Torino last month. Now you have to know something about her... she's not a traveler. She has only traveled in 3 countries before coming to Torino: Taiwan, US, and China. So it was her first trip to Italy, to the entire Europe! Not only that, she came here alone, by herself. Yes, she was worried about locating the connecting flight and then finding us. But she did it (thanks to Antonia's help)! We were smiling at her when she came out from the Arrival Gate in Milan airport.

My mother's idea of 'having fun' in Torino is eating (she loves pizza and cheese), walking around the city, shopping (both in purchasing fresh food and clothes), and cooking. She loves Porta Palazzo, the biggest farmers' market in Europe. We went there at least twice a week and bought fresh produce, meats, and fresh & clean tripe/ intestine/ liver. For those of you don't eat the latter, just know that it is very difficult to CLEAN them! Anyways, my mother said that she hasn't had such good dishes for a very long time. As for walking, man, we practically walked all over Torino. Our daily exercising time is about 3 - 4 hours. I don't think I walked that much for the 6 months I've lived in Torino.

We also went to quite a few little towns around Torino (within 2 hours of train ride). I will just post some photos instead of writing a super-long blog entry. So my mom's favorites? Of course pizza and cheese! :) Her least favorite? Well, too many smokers on the streets. :(

Photo on Left: Santuario d'Oropa with Simone. Simone drove us from Biella to this sanctuary and later to his home town nearby for a festival. My mom was excited to talk to Simone in Mandarin.

Photo on Right: Simone's parents and Filippo's parents. Simone's parents were so kind to invite us to dinner in their house in Ubertino. My mom said this was the best experience she had traveling.

Grazie mille, la famiglia di Ubertino Rosso!














Photo on Left: Alba Truffle Festival! But I heard that with the bad economy this year, the price of the truffle has dropped 80%. Look how proudly the dog did on the sofa, haha, j/k.

Photo on Right: Yummy spaghetti with truffle (it tasted salty and light).














Photo on Left: Piazza San Carlo at night

Photo on Right: City Hall Market














Photo on Left: A friendly signora kitting with her doggie. She kept telling her dog to look at the camera.

Photo on Right: The only Roman gate left in Torino














Photo on Left: Hiking in Bardonecchia with beautiful autumn leaves

Photo on Right: The famous Duomo in Milan

Ciao, Amici di San Francisco!

September was the month for San Franciscans to visit Torino... well, at least 4 of them were here! :) Our friends took their time showing up (of course)... first Antonia and Toby on 9/19, then Doug flew in from Spain a day later, and finally Jen came on 9/25!

First things first, let's drink in our favorite wine bar! (For those of you with an excellent memory, I fell in love with a white... wine here, Moscato di Asti). But besides drinking, this family-run place also prepares delicious local dishes such as Acciughe in Verde (Anchovies in Green Sauce), various local cheeses/ salami, etc.

While we were waiting for Jen to join us, we visited famous sites in Torino: La Mole (Symbol of Torino - Cinema Museum), Superga, Egyptian Museum (way too cool), hiked to a ruined abbey in freezing cold (I was smart soaking in bathtub at home), Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace), Venaria Reale, tons of awesome Italian dishes, chocolates (with ChocoPass), and gelatos. Toby even had 2 gelatos in a day!

But the best of all in my opinion is the drive to Langhe's wine region. All 8 of us in 2 cars searching for the great wine. We stopped at Bra (a small town where slow food got started) for a bellissimo lunch (tasty local raw sausages but I loved my goose with white beans more). Then we followed the directions from the wonderful wine bar owner and found THE wine producer: Beni di Batasiolo in la Morra. We didn't make an appointment beforehand so Syd just rang the bell. The gatekeeper asked quite a few questions but it turned out that Syd only needed to say the magical 2 words: Siamo Americani (We're Americans). Voila, the gate opened! :)

Photo on Right: Happy happy Lily!

Photo Below: Happy Antonia with all her wine glasses!














Photo on Left: Happy customers with the knowledgeable and friendly wine educator. We purchased total 3 cases (6 bottles/ case) of different wines.

Photo on Right: Happy ladies!















And of course the birthday party... we had 3 birthday people (1 Virgo and 2 sexy Libras) in the house: Toby, Doug, and me! Syd and I invited all of our friends in Torino to join us for a relaxing and entertaining night. Singing happy birthday in 3 different languages (Italian, English, and Mandarin) was a blast but I think Filippo had the most fun playing with Jen's new digital camera. It takes pictures when the target person smiles! Wow! Afterwards, we all went back to our apartment nearby to watch Doug and Jen's Ironman video and continue chatting. What a great night! Thanks, everyone! :)

Photo on Left: Toby, Antonia, Syd, Filippo, Roberta, Trevor, Beth, Jen, Doug, Lily, Giorgia, and Simone.

Photo on Right: Birthday people - Doug, Lily, and Toby. We all turned 25 this year! :p *Grazie per i fiori, Giorgia e Simone! Grazie per la carta, Beth!*

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.

St. Giovanni a Torino - Part II

We woke up the next day to a festive mood of Torino. Many farmer's and antique markets were showing their best products in piazzas all around the city. I think Trevor bought all the mazzarella cheese that was available in the City Hall Market because we couldn't find any when we went there. Nevertheless, we purchased 3 different flavors of sausages (wild boar, truffle, and Barolo wine) which will become our lunch next week. Syd and I took a nap to be prepared for the big party at night.

We met up with Trevor's gang (Trevor, his girlfriend, his sister, and his nephew) for dinner. We wanted to have apertivo (buy a drink and get to eat all-you-can-eat snack-size food) but couldn't find one that we liked on Via Po. Since we were close to Torino University, Trevor suggested we explore the restaurants with younger crowds. Sure, why not? We all can pass as in our mid 20s... well, except Aiden since he's only 5. We passed by a crowded restaurant called "Tre Da Tre" and according to our experience, a busy restaurant means yummy food, well, at least fresh food. While we were waiting for a table, we drank cold beer to refresh ourselves. I was very surprised that Beth and Trevor remembered our anniversary! They even had a card for us! How sweet! We celebrated the occasion with 2 bottles of wine with our pizzas, seafood pastas, and salads. We had to watch the time because the finale firework was scheduled to began at 10:30pm on River Po. Just as we were stepping out the restaurant, the firework started, so we all ran as fast as we could towards the river. The firework was fantastic! It was the best firework I've ever seen! San Francisco's NYE and Great America's July 4th firework cannot compete to Torino's St. Giovanni Day. The firework was more in quantity and bigger in sparks with different designs! Most importantly, they were insync with music (classical and modern). The final firework set ended with the popular "Volare, Oh Oh, Cantare, Oh Oh Oh Oh". Everyone was singing together! So cool! So many people showed up for the firework.




Afterwards, Trevor's gang needed to retire but the night was still young for Syd and I. We got together with Alberto and Paolo (Alberto's roommate) to drink some more at a bar (AlCool) near the river. I had a mojito to help me stay awake. :p Now if you have been tracking my alcohol intake, you'd notice that I've had a glass of beer, 1/2 bottle of wine, and a mixed drink. So yes, I was buzzed. Very. So was Syd. What an awesome feeling to celebrate with Torino on St. Giovanni's Day and also have the city celebrate with us on our anniversary. Che sera bellissima!

St. Giovanni a Torino - Part I

Happy Saint Giovanni's Day!

Every city in Italy has a patron saint who protects and defends its people. Italians worship and honor their city guardian on a daily basis, let alone on "his day". In Torino, that Saint is St. John the Baptist and Torinese celebrate his day on June 24th. This is one of the biggest holidays in Torino and so we get to party big. :)

The celebration began the day before with a parade of traditional costumes on Via Roma (the street with most expensive shopping stores) and continued on to the evening at Piazza Castello (come on, you should be familiar with this piazza already). We were lucky to see the parade up front and personal on Via Roma because we heard drums and trumpets from our apartment (only 1 block away). We ran down as quickly as we could with cameras in hand. Here are the results of our effort (please note that Torino's temperature has been 30C+ for the past week or so... yes, very very hot! :()


































Later in the evening (~ 9:30pm), we met up with our Mandarin-speaking Italian Friends, Simone and Giorgia, to go see the bonfire in Piazza Castello. The significance of the bonfire was to see which way the big torch falls. If it falls towards the palace, then it is good luck for the year. But if it falls the other way (towards the train station - Porta Nuova), then... well, you know. Can anyone guess which way the torch fell? The first person who emails me the correct answer will receive an autographed postcard from me and Syd. :p

After watching the bonfire, we went to Piazza Vittorio for the free pop concert. By the way, Syd and I both were speaking Italian with our friends (though I mixed a lot of English words in the conversation.) Many people were already at the piazza (11pm). We could only get to the right side of the stage but we were able to see the performers on a big TV screen. It was quite an experience to listen to different styles of Italian music. A female rock singer opened the concert with high energy. Though I couldn't understand the lyrics, I could feel her POWER! Then Mario Rozini (my favorite performer for the night), sang beautiful and romantic Jazz songs accompanied by his smooth piano playing. The Italian language is already musical... just imagine it with actual music. Jazzy music. I have to purchase Rozini's latest CD soon. Giorgia got very excited when the host announced an older gentleman (Giorgia: mi dispiace non recordo suo nome :(). His music style consists meaningful lyrics and folk-like melodies. I liked the meaning of one of the songs. It was about destiny... how a man was trying to run away from death on his horse yet still ended up meeting it in the next town.

We didn't get home until after midnight and this has became a long blog. I'll have to tell you guys the celebration on the actual holiday in the next blog instead. Stay tuned for part II.

The First of Many Chin Chin

Trevor, Beth, Syd, and I experienced 'apertivo' with Alberto and Diego (our cute and single Italian friends)! Alberto and Diego showed us around the hip restaurants/ bars where things/ people were happening and we hung together until midnight on a week night! Syd had a small teeny tiny hang-over the next morning. :) Here is proof of how happy Beth and I were!!!


Beth and I have formed a tag team here in Torino. Since we both are bloggers and are exploring Torino (and other parts of Italia) together, we are going to try to complementary each other's blog entries. Beth has already updated all the juicy details of the wild night on her blog (there is a link on the right side of the web page) so you don't need to endure my poor writing this time. While Beth's camera may not be always charged ready, I may not always be sober enough to write anyways. Chin Chin (Cheers), miei amici!

First Home Made Dinner

Syd and I cooked together on Tuesday night for the first time in any foreign country! Of course, all the ingredients are... you guessed it - FRESH! Fresh tomatoes, fresh asparagus (I think it's currently in season), fresh garlic, fresh ravioli (with meat filling), and fresh pork sausage! We only needed to add salt and then wa-la, there was our yummy yummy dinner! Upon Donna's request :), this time we included a bottle of white wine to indulge our taste buds even more. Molto molto bene!

Ecco la foto di Signor Tutucci per ti! Our landlord who have treated us to caffè twice! 'Cafe San Tommaso 10' is one of the most popular and fantastic coffee shops in Torino. It's only one block from Beth and Trevor's place. Syd loves its hot chocolate while its 'Bicerin' (a Torino speciality coffee mixed with hot chocolate, milk, and whipped cream) speaks to me sweetly.

By the way, I put up a link to Beth's blog so if you are not tired of reading more about Torino or seeing more of our faces, feel free to click the link.

First Invitation

Man, it's such a warm yet exciting feeling to know people and they also know your name in a foreign city!

Syd and I had lunch at a little wine bar (La Botte Gaia) that our Italian Friend Filippo introduced us last November. This bar only has 3 little tables (2 ppl/ table) which are surrounded by 3 walls of wine bottles and a large window that you can see people busy walking by. I met my love, Muscat 2005, here last year. We are in heaven here with great wine at great price (many are less than 15 euros), wonderful home-cook food (ex. anchovies in green sauce), and not to mention the most friendly wine bar owners (not that I know any others). We walked in and timidly asked the lady owner, "Ci ricorda?" (Do you remember us?) She smiled and said, "Si!" We had their specials of the day, crepes with asparagus and risotto with saffron sauce. They were delicious! On our way out, the lady owner asked us how long we are staying in Torino this time. Syd answered, "Un anno.(One year.)" The lady looked confused and asked again, "Un giorno? (One day?)" Then we said again, "No, un anno!" She seemed surprised but then happily said, "A presto!" (See you soon!)

Our Italian friends, Simone and Giorgia, called in the afternoon inviting us to dinner at their apartment. Of course, there is no way we are refusing Italian hospitality! :) Simone and Giorgia both are graduate students majoring in Chinese/ Chinese literature at Torino University. Yes, Italians! In Torino!! Who speak fluent Mandarin!!! They prepared a Rome specialty cuisine, Carbonara (spaghetti with egg & cheese sauce). I had never had eggs with spaghetti before and it was yummy! We then had Speck (smoked ham) with Tomino cheese. The dish was a bit too rich (too much cheese) for me but Syd liked it. We also managed to get difficult topics out the way after dinner. We talked about politics (oops), war with Iraq (Italians call it 'George Bush's War', go figure), abortion, gays and lesbians' rights, and the recipe of Carbonara. Perhaps next time we can discuss the weather of Torino (It has been raining for the past 2 days).