Lake Garda

This past weekend we went to visit our long-time friends, Marco, Barbara and their 11 year-old daughter Giulia. They owned an Italian restaurant in Times Square for 12 years but returned to Italy the year after I moved here (2004). They have a restaurant at Lake Garda now, but spent the day with us to show some of the local sights, and it was nice to chat with friends who miss NY as much as I do. Ray got his first taste of a real Ducati -now all his model ones just won't do.

I knew him when...

he was just a "little cousin" I used to swing around by his arm and leg. Maybe he will use some of his grub to come do a foodcrawl around Bologna.

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2010/04/fake_shack_creator_kenji_alt_s.html

‘Fake Shack’ Creator Kenji Alt Scores Six-Figure Book Deal
4/14/10 at 2:02 PM

James Kenji Lopez-Alt, the MIT grad who is better known as Kenji Alt to readers of Serious Eats, Goodeater, and Cook’s Illustrated (Grub Street readers will recall him reverse engineering the Spotted Pig’s deviled eggs) has sold a book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, to W.W. Norton (curiously, his editor is Maria Guarnaschelli, mother of Butter chef Alex, and his agent is Vicky Bijur, wife of Serious Eats honcho Ed Levine). Kenji confirms that twelve publishers bid on the book, and he ended up selling it for six figures. So what got the publishing world so stirred up earlier this week?

Alt tells us a little about his plan for the 300-page, ten-chapter tome, which will consist of all-new material: “What I’m doing is taking classic, American foods like fried chicken, roast beef, mashed potatoes, barbecue, hamburgers, and fries and using them as a jumping-off point to explain various principles of food science.” There will, of course, be “hacks” along the lines of his method of cooking brick-oven-style pizza, but don’t expect re-creations of restaurant dishes à la Fake Shack — “it’s more ‘the ultimate hamburger’ or ‘ultimate fried chicken.’” The Food Lab will hit bookshelves in the fall of next year.

Aprile/April/Spring/Primavera!

It's been a beautiful spring so far. We went to visit Lake Como in the days following Easter, and I spent the rest of the week off just hanging out in the beautiful weather. Here are some photos to show you what we have been up to - my only regret was not making it to Venice for an afternoon (as Ray is wanting to see more boats) but we can do that in the coming weeks. Oh, and another food article (and again, you can get a similar experience at the Ricci house later this year): http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/travel/11Frugal.html

Here, we had lunch at a local osteria in the Bologna hills where they serve various meats with crescentine (fried dough) - that is the entire menu. Oh, and pickled mushrooms, olives, artichokes and peppers. It is lovely to sit outside of this farmhouse while Ray zips around the tables on his scooter.

Lake Como is beautiful - and one has to take a ferry ride to really appreciate the landscapes that surround it. With Andrea's love of WWII history, we had to visit the place where Mussolini's body was recovered and a couple other related sites. Andrea also loves talking to old locals - here in front of the hotel we stayed at. It was great not to have huge crowds of tourists, though I wonder how these little towns survive the crush in the summer. We had the entire patio to ourselves for a leisurely lunch - that will not be possible from even a month from now!

Hand Gestures

As some of you know, we have been working on getting together some tapes for an American home show. On some of the videos, I realized how much I use hand gestures and I always notice when my British colleagues at work use classic Italian gestures to help express feelings. I have some favorites - they are like words in no other language that perfectly express what I am trying, unsuccessfully, to say. Here are some things to show what I mean (I always use the "what are you talking about gesture"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0n4Vw6twKo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdn6TSc9T2A

Almablu

Ray is so happy to have a new pet. Almablu is incredibly sweet and so cute. Ray is very serious in his responsibility with him, and he stopped talking about an imaginary baby brother so I feel like we definitely got a two-fer.

Spring All Around

Well, I heard all about how spring has arrived in the northeast corridor of the US, and indeed she found her way to Bologna as well. It is to hit the high 60s this week and it is hard to believe we had a snowstorm two weeks ago. Finally Ray can spend some time playing outside after school, though daylight savings time won't arrive here until this weekend. (Here he is on the balloon slide at Giardini Margherita, in the white socks.)

Andrea left yesterday for his long stint in the US. He is in Philadelphia today, then to North Carolina tonight and then off to Indiana for the weekend. He has to come back to Charlotte to go back through Frankfurt to then return to Bologna next week. Agh. These trips are becoming more torturous, and he was pulled aside by customs in Philly to be questioned about applying for a green card in 2005 (hum, we just had a baby in Bologna so highly unlikely. And his name here is as common as John Smith in the US.).

I am more excited than Ray that we got a hamster on Saturday. Almablu (Ray's insisted on this made up name) is very cute and I held him tonight for the first time. Trying to teach Ray patience and all that jazz, when I am the one waking at 4 to go take a peek at him on the wheel and insisting we wake him in the day to see if he is hungry. I will post a couple of photos tomorrow.

Here are some more landscape photos of Tuscany for Paula, since my last one set her imagination on fire. The church is in Assisi - of my favorite Saint Francis. And the "For Rent" sign above is for a place in that little town you liked.

Snow again

Mother Nature's (hopefully) last laugh came last week - the upsides are that the motorbikes were moved by the firemen, Ray was able to have his best friend over to play, and blood oranges are especially delicious these days and make the best juice.

Tuscan Winter

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/travel/07tuscany.html?em

If you go: contact Chris and she will pick you up at the Florence or Bologna airport.

We went through Tuscany at the end of 2009 and it was really lovely. I know I posted about the trip previously, but this made me want to reemphasize that visiting Italy in the winter definitely has its benefits. In Cortona, the ticket seller at the museum told us that in the summer he sells more than 2000 tickets a day and these days he sells maybe 40- the baths at the terme we visited for the day in December were pleasantly full - enough to pick up a conversation with a neighbor but also do some laps if you are so inclined (and even I was). It was lovely not to have to battle the crowds.

I also recall that visits to Florence in the summer were hell and I experienced claustraphobia for the first time. However, a visit there one week before Christmas got me striding through the ticket booth at the Uffizi museum solo, while in the summer there can be a thousand people waiting in line.

I feel as though I am trying to sell a visit to friends and family. I am just so happy that after July, I can be a true host.










(Actually, looking back, I see I never posted about the trip. The place we stayed at was beautiful and we look forward to a return visit. The New Year with friends in the Marche was really really nice, even though James sniffed the wine a little too intimately.)

Blessing

The devil sat on my shoulder tonight. The front doorbell rang and I sent Ray out to see who it was - our house is such that we have an independent entrance, but the gate on the street is shared by three residences (the people who live above us and those below) and Ray can stick his head out the door to see who is there at the street. He came in and said it wasn't Daddy, so I ran out wiping my hands as I was cooking at the stove. A man stood there at the gate and identified himself as Don Carlo so-and-so and I looked puzzled as he spoke as if I should know him. To make a long story short - he is the local priest and I remembered that we had gotten a notice that this week the homes were to be blessed for Easter. He realized I wasn't Italian and after some fumbling of words, I told him "io non capisco bene" (I don't understand very well (this tradition)) and he said "me too" and we shook hands for the second time and he said "God bless you". The weird thing was that I realized I was almost flirting with him as he was young, handsome and with a great smile. The minutes following, back at the stove, I found myself thinking maybe I need to start taking Ray to mass every Sunday...and of course there is confession....and, yes, all those volunteer opportunities....oh naughty, I think I am breaking a commandment.

Moving Residences

I was happy to read this article in today's NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/realestate/28cov.html?pagewanted=1&hpw

I often wondered why I enjoy moving homes when most people I know dread it. I know it stems from the early years of moving to and from Japan every three years, but having had seven addresses in the past eight years makes me think that it has to go deeper than that. Even though we are moving this July to our fourth residence in Bologna (in 6.5 years), I find I am still picking up real estate magazines and scouring what is on the market. I have no real desire to be in the business, though I do love tearing out ads and passing information to anyone I know looking for a new home.

I can just say that the thought of moving into a new area, neighborhood, country - whatever the case may be - I have a heightened sense of excitement, anticipation, self-reliance in finding that new market, restaurant, home goods shop, butcher, coffee shop. I feel like an explorer looking to set some new challenges. Unveiling the culture and interest in local architecture also makes me want to walk unknown streets and getting lost just makes me learn the way better. Oddly enough, I never think of moving in terms of loss or leaving something behind but only in terms of something to be gained.

Anyway, I am anticipating the time I will spend on the hiking trails on the mountain that run just off our new property, where I hope to find a local who can teach me how to hunt for truffles and gather walnuts from the craggy trees. Also, I heard the butcher in our new town is reknowned in the area, and the famous "bread trail" runs through the area - where the century old mills are valued and bread still made the old fashioned way. I can't wait to become a regular at the yet-to-be-discovered garden shop, as well as the local forno (bread shop). Also, to try our new local restaurant - just a mile from home - can't wait to walk the trail that takes us right to it! http://www.la-capannina.com/

(These photos are from a few of the places we lived here in Bologna, including a front door, religious celebrations viewed from two different residences, and unpacking two moves ago. Okay, I never lived in Venice.)