The Best Deal in Town

Ciao ragazzi, and Happy New Year to those who are celebrating!

Things continue to go well in Bologna, though I must confess that I think going out every night has finally caught up with me. For the first time since I arrived, last night I stayed in, and was in bed by 11:30. This weekend was a big one, and two nights in a row past 4:00 ended up taking its toll.

Other than checking out a pretty cool disco called Casa Matta, I did end up going with Alessandro to buy a shirt, hand made in Milan. In the U.S., I would be eating cheese and crackers for a week to offset the cost of the shirt, but, fortunately in Bologna, there is thin crust pizza made to order for only three euros!

What else can I tell you?

I am still going to class every day, (hopefully) making some good progress. I have class for the rest of this week, then the following week, after which my parents, brother and Robina come out for a visit. Following that, my plans are a bit up in the air, but I think I want to travel a bit...the top two places on my list are Switzerland and Croatia, so I will have to do a bit of research on where to visit and how best to arrive.

Other than that, I just discovered that I have been washing my clothes for the past three weeks with fabric softener....so I have been wearing dirty clothes, but they are really soft! I made a visit to the dry cleaners, and the first place wanted 5 euros per shirt, which is almost five times what I pay at Greenwich Clean Time. I found another place close by that was only 2.90 euros, so, definitely a bit more reasonable.

The weather is getting a bit colder here, especially in the morning when riding my bike to class. That being said, it is a great way to commute and there is something really nice about the small town feel of Bologna. Everything is within ten or fifteen minutes by bike, or twenty to thirty minutes walking, and the cobblestone streets remind me of those in Toledo or Sevilla. I will try to take some more pics of the city so you can get a better idea of what's around (in addition to the great food).

Okay, that's all for now, enjoy your week e ci vidiamo presto! Ciao.

A post without photos....

.....is like a day without sunshine, I know...but alas, better than no post at all?

Well, it is around 11:15 AM and I am waiting to meet up with Alessandro, a Sicilian friend of mine who works here as a banker at Soc Gen and always has the best duds. He has invited me to buy some shirts, but for me, it will probably be a single "camicia" rather than multiple "camiche," since I am told that the starting price is 100 euro. We will have to see....

Other than that, last night was a lot of fun, as we gave Osteria della Orsa another try, and was much better the second time. Without my camera in tote, I can only do my best to describe our meal, which was more casual than elegant, more every day than special occasion, but a good meal and good time nonetheless.

We started with some "affiti," or appetizers of prosciutto, mortadella, salame, chorizo (?), which we ate with the crescentine and scquaquerone (for further detail, refer to Dinner in the Mountains post). For 6 euro, I had one of the plates of the day, penne alla arrabiata, which, was really just a basic penne with tomato sauce, not spicy at all, but fine for me. A few others and I shared a liter or three of the house red, which, in contrast to lower quality sake which is often served hot, was quite freddo, but light and refreshing. I also sampled a locally produced beer called Dolomiti, which evidently is made from natural spring water and local ingredients....a double malt, which was probably around 7.5% alchohol, and one of the more flavorful beers I have sampled here.....most others (e.g., Peroni) are quite leggero (light).

After dinner, we headed to the local watering hole, Bounty for an amaro (remember??), this time senza ghiaccio (no ice), followed by shots on the house (whiskey for me, rum for the others)....

Boy, reading this post, you might think that I am drinking quite a bit, but somehow it doesn't seem that way....I don't know, perhaps something different in the air, because I never feel "drunk" and never (okay, maybe once) wake up dehydrated. Is it me, or is SF really dry? To the contrary, they say it is quite humid here....I mean, not Miami humid, but just a tad.

In any case, we only made it to one other bar last night, because I guess people were tired since after a round of mojitos (yeah, really popular out here...but don't ask for a vodka soda, because you will likely end up with a vodka and fanta lemon), we called it a night at 3:45 AM. I'm like, come on guys, I thought we were just getting started.

I may be in for trouble tonight though, as the Sicilian crew is talking up a big night of dancing, which last week resulted in two slices of cold pizza at 6:00 AM in the only place open after five hours of untz untz at Cassero.

Well, with all of this eating and drinking, think I better head to the palestra today for a bit of exercise. It is pretty nice out, so I think I will also do a bit of walking around....am a bit dismayed since I found a really cool wool cap at Pull and Bear (of the Zara group), only to learn that they no longer had my size when I went to buy it. It was really cool and very Euro, but I guess I will have to wait until I find something else that suits me....

Okay ragazzi, wishing you all a wonderful and relaxing weekend.....and hopefully two thousand words made up for the lack of photos in this post. Ciao, ciao.

TGIV....!

Ciao ragazzi!

What can I report? It is Friday here in Bologna, which means that it is also Friday in the United States.......good news for both of us.

The past few days, I have been...well, I guess I have been eating and drinking as ususal. Check out the photo of "Swinebar," a rather posh wine bar not far from my house...think the porcine reference is intentional?

The other night, I believe I mentioned that we were going to have a dinner party at Alessandro's house, which ended up being a lot of fun.

As it turns out, Franceco is an excellent chef, and, to start, prepared some gamberetti (shrimp) with zucchine which we ate with some rustic style bruschetta, as well as a sort of gamberetti ceviche, Italian style with lemon juice and olive oil. To follow, we had squid stuffed with mozzarella, which was tender and really tasty!

For me, the piece de resistance was the strazopetti with pesce di spada (swordfish). I'm not sure if I am getting the name of this pasta totally right, but it is kind of like a cross between a fusili and penne, and was cooked just perfectly (much more al dente than we are accustomed to in the States), and to tell you the truth, I am not even sure what was in the sauce, but it was definitely good enough for two large platefuls! We washed this all down with several bottles of white wine, among the eight or nine of us, and, to finish things off in the eating department, we had some gamberoni (prawns).

After a healthy shot of grappa di moscato, I was ready for beddy, to the chagrin of more than half of our group, who were off to a disco until the wee hours of the a.m.

For me, finishing dinner at 2:30 AM was a novelty and accomplishment in and of itself, considering I am often in bed by 11:00 PM in the States.

As for Tonight, I will probably head out with some of the Siciliani as well as Mario, a Colombian with whom I am studying. Oh yeah, almost forgot, a pic of the current students at Modern English (our scuola).....

A continuare......

Anywho....last night, I went with i miei amici siciliani to the theatre to see Cristina perform an hour long monologue in Sicilian dialect (of which I understood very little).

The pic below is about 45 minutes through the performance.

The plan was to go home early, but, as it turns out, it was 2:1 beer night at Maloney's....er, I mean...actually I'm not sure what the name of the bar is (sorry, UCLA joke ;)

In any case, I was home by 2:00, so not too bad for a Tuesday.

Tonight, in a little while I am headed to Alessandro's house to have dinner with the Siciliani. Nicola's family is in the seafood business, so we are going to have fish, and evidently pasta with bottarga (tuna roe...but I think "bottarga" sounds better).

That's about all I have to report for now ragazzi! Hope your week is going well and ciao for now.

Superbad....anche in Italia?

Had to post these pics to let you know that the barista in the caffe I go each morning is the spitting image of Seth Rogen....what say you on this matter? He was probably wondering why I was snapping photos all up in his griglia, so I explained (in my best possible Italian) that he looked just like this actor in the States....hope he wasn't expecting Brad Pitt.

I promised to print a pic for him....now that I have uploaded the photos, I really think the resemblance is striking....almost uncanny. Maybe we all have alter egos living in other countries....kind of like that bizarro Jerry episode....

On Monday, I was in the mood for some carne, since I do not really eat a ton of it over here (prosciutto doesn't really count as meat....), so I went with a friend to get some steak at a place recommended by Stefano. To accompany the steak, we shared some gnocchi al pomodoro e basilico, funghi and zucchine along with a nice bottle of Montepulciano.

This was the second time I tried a filetto with aceto balsamico, though I think the first time was pork (so that didn't count). The vinegar lends a nice flavor and the meat was extremely tender. Did you know that the word for soft/tender to describe meat in Italian is "morbido"?

I am going to have to cut this post off early, and start another without any pics since this computer has crashed five times in a row....still need to figure out a way to condense these photos...

Btw, the pic below is of an unexpected guest whom I encountered lying comfortably on my bed when I arrived home late last night....

Kluk shizer!

Okay, ragazzi! Let's look at some pictures, shall we? Though I have to say, these photos are taking forever and .5 to upload....I have a query into Google (i.e., Erica), but would also appreciate some advice from other technically savvy readers (i.e., Jed) on how to best upload....grazie in advance.

Since I am studying Italian every day (during the week), I thought you might like to see a photo of a few of my classmates. Until last week, my class (there are actually four or five classes in the entire school) consisted only of me and Katrina, the German girl with the orange glasses and green sweater. We get along well, for the most part, though she enjoys calling me a "kluk shizer," which translates to something like sh-t disturber........just doing my best to maintain favorable relations with our European allies ;) The others in the picture include Yuya, the Japanese guy looking like a deer in the headlights, Mario, the Colombiano with the baseball cap and two other Germans (I think), neither of whose name I recall....

Starting today, another girl entered our class, Valerie, from Belgium, and though I do not have a photo of her yet, I know that if I posted one, Eric (Alex as well?) would be on the first flight over from CA....will do my best for a few snapshots....purely on an informative basis for the purposes of the blog.

Let's see...what else, guess it has been a little while since my last post....

When we last spoke, I was about to head out to Stefano's party for the opening of his new business center. You can see him in the photo below, pouring some champagne for his guests. It was a bit of a swanky affair, though the appetizers weren't great.

After the party, Stefano and I went to check out the electronic music festival being hosted by his cousin, Francesco, however, they had completely sold out of tickets, and we were both a bit tired.

Since I had not really eaten much at the party, I went to Osteria della Orsa, a small restaurant near my house, frequented by college students. I had a piadina complicada, which was neither complicated, nor one of the better meals I have had in Bologna, but I thought you might like to see a pic nonetheless (inside of the "tortilla," there was prosciutto, rucola and squacquerone, a funny sounding liquified cheese).

The following day (Friday), I went with Michela and her friend Lucca to pick up Michela's car, somewhere in the mountains, 80 km or so away. On the way, we stopped at a "retreat" to drop off some propaganda for a rally that was being held. Below are photos of the retreat....not a bad place to talk politics.

After that, we went to dinner at a small place, kind of like a ski lodge, called Tibidi. The menu, was not however tbd, as Lucca had pretty much decided everything for the table...(hey, I thought that was my job ;)

The pic below is something that some of you may recognize, if you are Mario Batali fans, or if you just enjoy "chewing the fat," because, miei amici, what you are looking at is just that.....lardello...pure fat in all of its gelatinous glory, accompanied by some tartuffi neri...black truffles.

For me, the tartuffi neri were the culinary highlight of the evening, and they appeared in several dishes, including the caprese shown below. The deep, rich and smokey flavor of these gems encompasses one's entire mouth while eating, and really capture the essence of what is "umami." Nothing like a little food porn on a Monday morning, huh?

The photo below is of our amicable waitress, who served us each (of three or four) pasta dishes straight from the pan.

Finally, in this last photo, before driving home, we capped off the evening with a selection of about ten different types of grappa, each with its own flavor (black pepper, strawberry, ginger, rose petals, etc.) and its own purported healing remedy. For me, la grappa non me piace .....but it was worth trying nonetheless. Michela and Lucca pictured below.

Well, I must have been pretty beat from the week, because I ended up sleeping until 2:00 in the afternoon on Saturday.....which was a good thing, because Saturday night ended up being a late one!

I headed out with Francesco, Alessandro and Niccola (the Siciliani) to a bar near my house, then on to Cassero, a disco where the untz untz lasted until 6:00 AM....or that was when we left....guess it was still going. A few slices of cold pizza in a bakery that was just opening in the morning, then, appropriately Sunday was a day of rest, that consisted of recovery for a 31 year old partying like a 21 year old. After taking in half of a match of calcio between Milan and a team from Rome, I was in bed by 10:00 PM, and was fresh and ready to start the week this morning!

Wishing you all an excellent week from Emilia Romagna, I say ciao for now!

La festa di laurea

I think I am getting used to the schedule here and am realizing that a little nap or "pisolino" in the afternoon is pretty much mandatory if I am going to go out until late and get up at eight.


So, last night I went to the graduation party I had metnioned, which was a lot of fun. We started at a place called Caffe Cocoa, and had several bottles of white wine among the group, though not a ton of food (just a few appetizers of the prosciutto, mortadella variety). Below, in the group photo, you will find Francesco, Niccola, Alessandro, Andrea, Angela and more guy whose name I forget (let's call him Lewie). In the other photo, Francesco, looking....stunned. He was one of the first guys I met, studies engineering here in Bologna, and speaks Italian, English and Spanish fluently.


After Cocoa, we went to a bar near my house called Bounty, which is where I met this group the other week. Next to Bounty is a crepe/piadina place. I was all set to get a piadina, kind of like a flour tortilla filled with items of your choosing, but was advised that the crepes at this place were really good. And so, as can be seen below, I ordered a crepe with prosciutto crudo, mozzarella, oregano and olive oil. It was so good, I ended up having a second crepe with prosciutto cotto (cooked as opposed to cured) and mozzarella. This was at 12:30 AM or so, mind you. By 1:30 , I called it a night, but these youngsters were still going strong, and said that we should meet up tomorrow (i.e., today) at a new disco that is opening. They are going to be there starting from 1:00 AM, so I'm not sure if I will make it.....
Below is a photo of the first meal I have "cooked" in Bologna, in quotations, because all I did was boil some water for the tortellini, use a jar (gasp!) of tomato sauce and cut up some tomatoes with zucchini, mozzarella, etc. I do have to say that the ingredients, as you can imagine, make a huge difference in the taste of the food, and you do not have to be an expert chef by an stretch of the imagination to make things taste good. In fact, a lot of the art itself is in the simplicity of many of the dishes I have tried.

Now, I am on my way out to the grand opening party for Stefano's business center, and am running a bit late, so I must say arrivederci amici....ciao!

Mosquito Coast

Well, from the looks of the pics I have been posting, you are probably thinking all I do here is eat. And while that's not far from the truth, I am doing other things as well. Like right now, I am getting ravaged my a mosquito....(make that WAS, just smashed him/her)...in an internet cafe a few paces from my house. When I say internet cafe, I mean a very basic room with linoleum floors, four computers and four phone stalls.

I have seen a handful of foreigners come here to make long distance calls, though no westerners. I don't have a firm grasp on the situation yet, but it seems that there are a lot of people who come here from South Asia to work, and presumably send money back to their countries....met a guy selling roses from Bangladesh who mentioned that he had a political science degree in his country....('nother mosquito...really could use some 100% Deet right about now...)...in any case, where was I? Rambling.......

Just so you don't worry that I am not eating any veggies, below are a few pics on today's pranzo (lunch)....pheasant cacciatore accompanied by rice, haricot verts, zucchini with olive oil and spinach. Lotsa greens!

Tonight, I am going to a cafe/bar for a graduation party of some Sicilians I met here last week...they have been really nice and several of them speak Italian and English...in addition to Spanish and Portuguese. It really is amazing how many languages a lot of the people over here can speak.

Other than going to class in the morning, today I went to the mechanic to fix my bike seat, and did some shopping for the house...found a really cool place to buy fresh made pasta and purchased some tortelloni (i.e., big tortellini) and garganelli (like penne, but with more texture). I also bought a three euro bottle of Barbera, which I am anxious to try and will keep you posted.

Okay, for the last photo, can you look at this doorpost and find which one of these residents no longer lives here? I'll give you a hint, her last name (now) rhymes with Schmiegelman.

Okay....a few pics to spice things up!

Totally off the record, but I think prosciutto is a good post-workout snack, high in protein, plus the salt your body needs to retain water. Try it some time...also with scamorza (smoked mozzarrella) to complete the traif duo.

In any case, I've been catching a lot of flack about the lack of pics, so....without further ado, here we go...the picture above is from the balcony of Stefano's apartment. He has a great view of the city, and, next to his apartment, operates a business center where people can come use computers and the internet instead of paying for an office. The grand opening of his business is this Thursday and I think that there is going to be a party at his place to kick things off.

The following pic is from lunch today....Stefano and Paolo...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...(notice the hands in motion...a very important part of stating one's case).

Well, I have started my language classes, at a school called Modern English (originally, just an English school). In my class, there are only three people...including the teacher! Basically, just me and a tedesca (German girl) who also speaks Spanish, but not much Italian, so our level is the same and we get a lot of practice.....from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Yesterday and today, I went to class, had lunch, took a nap and went to the gym. Not a bad routine, and the nap has been necessary as I have been going out most (and by most, I mean every) night with Stefano, Michela, as well as some other Italian and European friends I have met here.

I found a pretty good restaurant called Rosso Pomodoro (Red Tomato), which, although at first glance may somewhat resemble the interior of Pasta Pomodoro, takes the cake in the food department hands down.

Two nights ago, I went there and had a pasta o' scialatiello (sure I am spelling that wrong), which was homemade pasta with zucchini, eggplant, salted cheese and tomato sauce, with a glass of Barbera (my favorite wine thus far!). Last night, again at Rosso Pomodoro, a friend and I split a pizza with mozzarella and a few other types of cheese, fresh basil as well as a salad of bresaola (kind of like prosciutto, but a bit drier and darker) with rucola, carrots and drizzled with an orange olive oil, which was really interesting given the carrots and the orange flavor combination (interesting in a good way though), of course accompanied by a few glasses of Barbera.

Yeah, guess I had better be going to the gym, eating like that...btw, here are a few pics of today's lunch, in casa con la familia Salizzoni.....actually the first dish we ate was on the right, homemade pasta ai funghi porcini....and can you guess what is on the left....? It's oven roasted tomatoes, potatoes, a bit of greens and........yep, it's rabbit...realy quite good, lean flavorful but not gamey...a bit like chicken, but maybe more hennish?

Well, I had better get going pretty soon...it's 8:30 PM and I still need to eat dinner, then will meet Michela and a few of her friends for a drink. Ciao ragazzi!

Niente

It's only 1:30 PM and I'm already due espressi deep....somebody stop me!! Yep, back on the juice. I was off it for about a day, but, after one night of no sleep, two nights out past 4:00 AM, when I went to bed at 10:00 PM last night, my body was like wha.......? and of course I woke up at 3:00 AM, only to fall asleep again at 5:30 AM before finally waking up at 8:00 AM for my first day of school....yes, back to school again, I can't seem to stay away from it....but this time, it's four hours a day dedicated solely to learning Italian. Today was fantastic, and I plan to write more, take some pics and do another post....depending on how ambitious (and awake) I am this afternoon. I very much realize that my readership may continue to go down without photos, so come hell or high water, I must find some photoworthy subjects, albeit (albethey?) mere cracks on the wall, at least they will be historic ones at that...yes, this coffee really has me wired...but I promise, no more today....okay, maybe a decaffeinado after lunch (had one yesterday, really pretty good!)....ciao ciao.

Dinner in the Mountains

Wow, another post without any photos....this is really getting dry. Will try to spice things up with some good pics next time.

Last night, Friday, I went to an incredible dinner in the mountains of Bologna with Stefano, Micaela and 35 of their closest friends. We went to celebrate the birthdays of three or four of the people in our group. As it turned out, there was another table of 35 right next to us celebrating a birthday as well. Since Bologna is a relatively small town, pretty much everybody knew each other.

Although people complained that the "banquet" style food was not great, I have definitely had much worse.

We were served appetizers of prosciutto, mortadella, and crescentine (I believe is the name), which are kind of like fried dry ravioli, which you use to spread a bit of ricotta-like cheese (though it wasn't ricotta), then add the meat. Oh, I forgot, this appetizer was preceded by an array of crostini including bruschetta, liver, cheese and some others. Next we were served two types of pasta - spinach tagliatelle a la bolognese and tortelloni a burrosalvia (sage and butter).

After this, came a mixed grill that included ribs, sausages, pancetta and three or four other types of meat. For dessert, there was an incredibly delicious tart with custard and fruit and a birthday cake. The meal included as much wine as you wanted, plus an open bar for the remainder of the evening. Not to mention the spumante served with the birthday cake and espresso (I opted out). For 35 euro, I would definitely say I got my money's worth....really a great dinner and fun experience. Eating outdoors in good weather is always a treat, and the people were also quite friendly.

I got a chance to practice Italian, as one of the guys sitting next to me, Vittorio, didn't speak a lick of English, though he could recite all of the lines from Natural Born Killers, his favorite, a movie which he has seen more than 50 times (and counting).

I had thought about bringing my camera last night, but didn't want to be the "American tourist." Turns out it would have been just fine though, as more than a few of the Italians were snapping away on their digitals for their Facebook pages....man I wish I had thought of that business.....

Today turned out to be a day dedicated to sleeping, which was probably good, since I needed the rest after several consecutive nights of going out. Tonight's dinner of pizza with verdure was not the best I have had here, but maybe my standards are just getting higher....

In any case, it's around 10:15, so, still a bit early to be going out...think we (Stefano and I) will probably leave in another 30 minutes or so....not sure of the destination, but will be sure to fill you in!

Ciao for now!

Ho sonno....(I'm sleepy)

Yeah, definitely need to chill on those espressos.....and by chill I don't mean freddo.

I had some indication that it might be a rough night sleeping when I got home at 2:00 AM and was not the least bit tired, but did not fully realize how powerful the doppio machhiato in the am and espresso in the pm combination was until around 5:00 AM, when it still would have taken a horse tranquilizer to knock me out.

Unfortunately I did not have any handy, and, after counting various flocks of sheep, listening to four iPod mixes, doing 20 pushups, unjai breathing (it's a yoga thing...I think) and a full book of intermediate-level sudoku, I gave up. By that time, it was already 9:00 AM. At least I didn't have to go to work though....;)

Right now, I am waiting for Michela to have lunch. She just arrived last night from Brussels. I will do my best for some good photos, though it is a bit overcast today (still quite muggy though).

Hey, did you know that the word for him in Italian is lui? I was just thinking that they could have a pretty funny "Who's on First?" routine.....

Hey Stefano, who's on first?
Lui.
Lewie who?

Uh, that's kind of where it ends...for now.

Okay, I am off to lunch. Ciao ragazzi!

Altro giorno in Bologna

It's around 6:30 PM, and I am happy to announce that I have found the apostrophe. I think I'm really getting the hang of things over here.

I am also happy to say that I have succesfully gotten a mobile phone, which was no small task, because evidently in order to do so, I needed a "codice fiscale," some kind of identification card.

After taking the bus outside of the city, going to la agenzia delle entrate (government office), and waiting, only to be told I could not get a codice fiscale without a visa, I found that they were able to make me one in two minutes at the Vodafone shop. So now I'm official.

I know, exciting. Also, the pic above is of a statue in front of the Piazza dell'otto d'agosto....8th of August Plaza.

Speaking of dates, today is September 11th, and I would like to take a moment to remember what happened in our country seven years ago this day. I am sure that the mood is somber as many people in the United States reflect on 9/11. I have not spoken with any Italians regarding this topic, but can say that I am proud to be an American and have the freedom to travel anywhere, do anything and make what I want of my life.

A continuare....

What else? I learned that jogging on the streets here is a lot like jogging in Madrid or Tokyo....it's something you just don't do.

So, I went to a park and ran what seemed to be an eighth of a mile loop about 50 times.

Today I joined a gym, which seemed great, and was even able to negotiate without much effort. They must have seen me coming, because pretty much off the bat, they offered me a 50% discount. But it was all very hush hush, under the table, so please keep it on the dl.

Food, you want to know? Okay, fine, but fewer pics this time, sorry :( Last night, I went to a wine bar near my house and had a glass of Cabernet (Italian) for 8 euros, which is not cheap....but, it came with free appetizers, all you can eat. I think they do that a lot here.....mini sandwiches with cured meats, goat cheese and sundried tomatoes (Italian??), crostini with ham mousse (yeah, didn't try that one), rosemary breadsticks, black and green olives, etc. You get the picture. I probably didn't even need dinner after that, but just in case, went to a local place to get some penne all'arrabiata, which was very good.

On my way home, I stopped at a bar near my house, which was filled with university students, and ended up making friends with some siciliani, who were celebrating a 26th birthday. It was a great chance to practice Italian and get to know some of the people. At about 1:30 AM, they were headed off to a disco, but I decided to call it a night....figured there would be plenty of others to go and experience that.

Today, other than getting the codice fiscale, mobile phone and joining the gym, I ate...of course, and walked around the city a bit.

I learned that a doppio macchiato is just too much, a single will do, especially when you end up having a coffee two or three times in a day. I found it interesting that the Italians seem to almost "shoot" the espresso, as opposed to sip it like you see in the movies. They just go "bam" and are done....which, is why I ordered the doppio, but, again, a bit too much to handle. Here is a pic (note the cigarettes aren't mine....)

Sono arrivato......Mr. Roboto.

Sorry, could not resist the title, nor can I locate the apostrophe on this Italian keyboard, so this post (and possibly future posts) will have to do without conjunctions. Please forgive.

Well, as stated, I have arrived in Bologna, and after two days, can say that it is fantastic.

On Monday night, Stefano, the brother of the friend (Michela) of my sister in law (Robina) picked me up from the airport. By the time we arrived to my new abode (some pics below), it was near midnight, but my internal clock was so screwed up, I was not tired at all.

Stefano and I went for a few beers and a night tour of Bologna on his Vespa-ish moped. Yes, beers and mopeds can actually be a good combination (as long as you wear a helmet). As Stefano kindly pointed out in one of the bars, even the carabiniere like to have a few beers before speeding off to prevent crime.

One unexpected thing is that you cannot smoke in bars in Bologna (not sure about the rest of Italy). Being used to Spain where your eyes start hurting pretty quickly from the dense smoke, it was definitely a change to be in a bar in Europe with no smoke at all. Although I am not a smoker, it seemed like something was missing without people smoking in the bar. No smoking in a European bar seemed....well just not right. Like, those vices should go together, at least in Europe.

I digress. I can tell this is already getting long-winded, and I am just coming off a three course lunch of tagliatelle a la bolognese (pasta with bolognese meat sauce), verdure con olio d oliva (vegetables with olive oil) and carne con aceto balsamico (meat with balsamic vinegar), plus a glass of wine and the obligatory post-meal espresso.

I figured I would have a light lunch today, since yesterday, we dined at home on tortelloni, pollo al rosmarino, patate and a beer to wash it down (see pics below). While I would presumably gain weight gorging myself as such, strangely I do not feel full after these meals, nor did I feel stuffed after my pizza de quatro stagioni yesterday evening.

I discussed this phenomenon with Stefano last night over some Averna (a digestivo, kind of like Fernet), and he thought that the American weight problem was more due to the preservatives in our food.

For me, this issue remains open to debate, but I will continue to sample the gastronomical delights of this fine town, purely out of scientific curiosity, of course. Did I mention that the olive oil I had with my verdure this afternoon was some of the BEST I have ever tasted?

Unbelievalbe, really. I realize that this post has been 75% or greater regarding the food of Bologna, but that may be appropriate since it seems to be such a big part of life over here, and well, I guess a big part of my life as well!

As for other matters, I have been practicing Italian with my limited knowledge and am considering enrolling in a course. Michela will arrive tomorrow evening and Stefano and I will pick her up from the airport.

On Friday, I have been invited to dinner with Stefano and his friends at the restaurant of his friend (yeah, really could have used that apostrophe) in the mountains....it is a tough job, but thankfully I am here to help out. Until next time, ciao, arrivederci.

Take off!

A little more than two hours until take off. I am all packed (I think), but I am sure anything I have forgotten will be available in Italy. Do they have sushi in Bologna? I will soon find out. Until then.....ciao for now!

Goodbye to SF.....!

Well, it is time again for another adventure. Only two more days before I leave this fine city behind and head off to Italy for 2.5 months. On a day like today, when the sun is shining, the ocean and mountains are beautiful (oh yeah, and I am not stuck in an office), I think that there is no better place in the world to be....and I am probably right. But, I need to find out for sure, so I am headed to Bologna to live and absorb as much of the culture as I can until November 19th.

But not before saying goodbye to some good friends, who were kind enough to join me for a farewell dinner at Nopa. Who would have guessed that I would also run into Susan Fox, celebrating her birthday at the restaurant with Marilyn and a few friends. It was a fun night, but I am exhausted and need to get some sleep......because I still haven't packed and I have lots of errands to run tomorrow! So, for now, buona notte!