Wine Review: Barbera del Monferrato

OK, a quick break from vacation photos for some wine I drank last night! I am trying to remember where I bought this wine. I think I paid more than two Euros for it... It's an interesting wine, and this variety of Barbera is meant to be drunk young. The first things you notice about it are that it's lightly sparkling, and that the color is powerfully bloody ruby red. The flavor is pretty strong, but not rough. A little fruit, definite acid and bitterness. I would actually buy it again, but it's not a wine I could drink all the time... too bold for that!



Second, unrelated taste test: Chocorooms! Vio impulse-bought these at the airport on her way to Italy. Based strictly on the packaging I think...



They taste just like you would expect from the package. Plain, but not too soft or milky, chocolate, crispy slightly sweet cracker. They are cute and hilarious, and actually taste pretty good. Thanks, sister!

Rain Rain Go Away

It's been really rainy and grey around here... I don't have too many exciting photos from the last few days because of this! I've been spending a lot of time at ITIA lately, so here's a snapshot of the cafeteria...



The food there is dirt cheap. (My risotto and slice of fruit tart totalled to 1.80 Euros!) It's a little hit or miss. The squash risotto was one of the best things I've had there.

Hopefully I will have something more exciting for you in the next few days. I've been crazy busy at work getting the lab together, and in a few days, my sister arrives for vacation! Yay! OK, I will definitely have photos to share then.

Dracula

Been having a good, busy weekend. My friend Stan was here for just one night, in the middle of a trip. (He's already in Provence at this point!) We had a quick visit yesterday and today. Stan's been here in Milan a lot before, he actually lived here a few years as a kid and has come back for visits every few years, so we didn't have to do the "typical" sights. After having lunch in Brera, we headed over to the Triennale. The latest special exhibit is on Dracula. It's a bit of an odd exhibit, not completely dedicated to one aspect of Dracula, but not quite a themed art show.

The first section was about the history and myth of Dracula and vampires, building up to how Bram Stoker broke through by connecting Vlad the Impaler to vampirism. This part had lots of informative text, and historic artifacts including old books on Vlad, on vampires, vampire charms, and Ottoman arms and armor. It talked about Stoker's research, portrayals of vampires in his day, and ended with the first edition copy he gifted to his mom. So that was a very factual (in the sense it explained where the fiction came from) part.

Next, some mixed media video installations. A "peephole" vampires' kiss montage, a vampire home with descriptive video, and a large multi-screen installation with a history of vampire movies.

Then, an exhibit on vampire costumes. This had an original Francis Ford Coppola Dracula armor set, and a pretty good video on the costume design of the movie with a lot of direct commentary from the designer herself, Eiko Ishioka.



This was followed by costumes for female "vamps" from theater, opera, and screen. There was also an odd exhibit of comic panels by a famous Italian comic artist that he had done for his own private collection of one of his famous heroines meeting Dracula.

I liked the exhibit overall, but I had expected more of a straight contemporary art show... After we walked around the castle.



We headed in toward the Duomo, and had a little shopping and light dinner at La Rinascente. Cioccolati Italiani for dessert!

Food Round-Up

I've been so busy that I haven't had the chance to post my usual boring food pictures! Even with all the excitement of late, I still have to buy food. And now there's additional excitement at the grocery store since the holiday food is starting appear! In the middle of that pile of groceries is a box of gingerbread cookies!



I am not sure how late in the year the farmers' street market will keep going, so until it closes for the winter, I'll keep using it to supplement my Penny purchases. The artichokes are out in force, and the green fractal cauliflowers are back as a regular thing in the stalls. Clementines are becoming a favorite for me.



I should not have bought that caramel corn, it was too good.



Oh, and I decided to give those pomegranates I picked in the courtyard a shot. The little one was a bit spoiled, so I tossed it, but the larger one was pretty good. A little tart. I plucked out the arils, and used them in a salad.



I think there might be a few more of those on the pomegranate trees in the courtyard, but most of them have already split and are too far up out of my reach, anyway. Gotta investigate...

Saturday with Heather and Konrad

Heather and Konrad came to visit me from Firenze last weekend. They took the train up Saturday morning. After dropping off their bags at my place, we headed to the center. First we headed to get snacks, passing through the Galleria on the way. Heather spun for luck!



There are new displays at the Louis Vuitton store!



We were on our way to Luini's and Cioccolati Italiani to grab quick and delicious snacks before heading into the Duomo. (I tried a new flavor of panzerotto, with onions, olives, and tomatoes, yum!)



After the Duomo, we headed to La Rinascente to shop and dine. We spent a long time in the basement Design Super Market.



Konrad let Heather and I shop our hearts out. We had dinner up at Obika, the mozzarella bar on the 7th floor. We split a really good apple and fig salad and the mozzarella sampler for two. Yum!



We headed back to my house a little early, since the rain was still falling and trying to melt us!

Last Weekend was a Doozie

I had a good but crazy weekend last weekend. Friday was a long work day! Marcello and I visited Ecomondo, the 16th International Trade Fair of Material & Energy Recovery and Sustainable Development. Marcello went for two days, but I caught the early train Friday morning. After sitting in on the session on Rare Earths recycling and recovery, I had a short time to see the trade show floor, which included lots of large pieces of equipment!



After snacks and the quick spin on the floor, we headed out to visit a local recycler. I don't want to give anything away, but it was a cool visit.



Getting home took quite a while, I wasn't back at my place until after 10pm. I was exhausted!

Oh, and this week, I finally grabbed some pomegranates off the trees in my courtyard. These ones are runty, the larger ones split a lot earlier. I wasn't sure when I was supposed to pick them, and I think I may have missed out on the window. But they never turned that red...



Ah well, at least I got my fill of pomegranate juice in Turkey.

Friday in Istanbul

Friday the conference had a day at Tubitak, one of the government research labs of Turkey. The institute is on the Asian side, and the grounds overlook the Marmara Sea.



Unfortunately, it took almost two hours to get there by bus, and well over that to get back to the hotel in the evening. One lady even missed her flight because we got back so late. I don't think it was the best idea to have a whole day event someplace so far away for a three day conference. I would prefer more paper session time for the conference instead. Or perhaps a visit to one of the universities in the city? Something easier to visit. It's just too binary a proposition for a conference that's so short. I was exhausted when we got back to the hotel. I ran into some of the German crowd, they were heading out for dinner at 8pm. I decided I really needed a rest instead, so I headed out for an early dinner on my own. (I made it back to the hotel by 9pm!) One of my high school friends, Rachel, suggested this place, Hamdi, and she was totally right on!



I loved the food I had there. I stuffed myself. Lentil soup to start, cold eggplant salad, thick yogurt with garlic and herbs, and cılı ezme, a chili-walnut paste, all with bread. Pomegranate juice. And Hamdi's baklava. I did a pretty good job on all that!



I am happy I made it to Hamdi. It's a pretty famous place, and everyone I mentioned it to has said "great but expensive". I have to say the food was great, but really, the price wasn't high compared to eating out in Milan. It was definitely the best meal I had in Istanbul!

Wednesday in Istanbul

Wednesday was my first full day in Istanbul, thus the first morning I got to have delicious hotel breakfast. The conference was at the Legacy Ottoman Hotel, and like I said, it's in a great location. It also has an excellent breakfast buffet, with all kinds of fruit, cheeses, pastries, hot food, sweets, drinks, on and on. It was just a huge buffet. I stuffed myself. And then I headed down for the conference opening and keynotes.



I attended the whole day of talks and such. They served us lunch at the hotel, which was pretty decent. The day ended with a cocktail reception at Marmara University, near the Blue Mosque. This is the scene from right outside.



Since they weren't doing dinner for us that night, I left with a bunch of the young German contingent, to join for dinner in the new district, in the Galata area. The street decorations and busy shopping atmosphere reminded me of London and Verona. A very European feel.



The restaurant we went to for dinner had four stories of dining area, with tourists and locals mixed in. We made it all the way up to the top story terrace, where it was a little chilly but gave a good view of the street. Most of us started with lentil soup, it's really the thing in Istanbul. I finally got to have ayran, a yogurt drink, much like a salty lassi.



We ate all kinds of mezze (starters). I didn't have it in me to have coffee so late at night, but Kai did and Rene told his fortune from the grounds!



One of the professor, Matthias, was kind enough to get dinner for all nine of us. It was a good meal with good company and atmosphere!

Istanbul!

Istanbul! From the airplane, it's a huge city. I got different answers from different people for the number of inhabitants of the city, from 12 to 20 million. You can see waves of expansion in the developments of apartment complexes that stretch out from the city's historic core. I got to experience that on the ground, too. I took the Metro and Tram from Ataturk airport to my hotel, between Sirkeci and the Spice Bazaar, in the thick of the old district. On getting to the hotel, I was lucky enough to be greeted by the conference chair, Dr. Seliger, who introduced me to a bunch of the Berlin contingent. I joined them for dinner in the Sultanahmet neighborhood. We ended up at a sort of touristy restaurant, but it still had good food. I split all this stuff with Markus, another vegetarian. Mushroom casserole, cheese-stuffed bread, hummus, and stuffed eggplants. Yum.



After dinner we stopped by a bakery and had our first taste of real Turkish Delight.



We walked back past the hotel to the Galata Bridge. Instead of heading up and over, we stayed on the lower level to find a place to enjoy views and beers.



It was a slow night, so we were able to sit right on the water. This picture isn't great, but you can see the lines of the fisherman that cast from the upper level of the bridge. The bright streak up the middle of the photo is a line being hauled in, with a small catch. The fishermen swing their lines under the bridge when they cast them, over the heads of the restaurant patrons. It adds a level of excitement to your evening!



We drank Efes, a Turkish pilsner, which I enjoyed. It was a good start to the conference, and I spent more time out on the town with these folks over the course of the trip.

Did you have a good Halloween?

I'm actually in Istanbul right now... for a conference. Halloween is beginning to be a thing in Italy, but isn't really a thing in Turkey, as far as I can tell. Mary brought me a bunch of Halloween candy, which I have been sharing with my office-mates. However, I kept these Munson's candy corn for myself!



I hope I'll have the chance to share some Istanbul photos with you soon, but you might have to settle for Italy pictures until I get back and can upload more easily!

Murano

No trip to Venice would be complete without a trip to Murano. Unless you're a guy. I kid! Really, the main reason to go there is to do the glass shopping. But it has its charms beyond that. The ferry ride over is not too long, and you get to get out of the canals and into the more open water of the bay. The island itself is pretty and has more of a wharf feel than Venice.

That said, we mostly shopped!



The island also has some impressive glass sculptures. I think some of them are new since I was last there, like this one of the sea birds.



On the way back to the main part of Venice, we we lucky enough to get outside seats on the 1 back to our hotel.



We made it to Acqua Pazza for dinner, it was as delicious as last time, though it was cold enough we decided to sit inside!



Artichoke pasta for me, lemony risotto for Mary. Both yummy!

Fresh Foods

I bought all this fresh food in anticipation of Ross's arrival for his vacation.



Mozzarella di Buffala, artichokes, chestnuts, fractal cauliflower, zucca squash, and a bag of minestrone fixings. All of this turned out to be delicious. For a lot of these veggies, the season is just beginning, so they were pricey! But I wanted Ross to get the good stuff...

The minestrone fixings were fascinating. The bag has chopped parsley and kale and other greens, bits of zucchini, asparagus, squash, carrots, and whole cherry tomatoes and fava beans. I cooked it up with a little broth, and then stuck in some couscous. So yummy...

Another Installment of New Foods

Another batch of new-to-me foods from Penny.



I finally upgraded to the large size of olive oil, a liter and a half. I go through that stuff like crazy. The almond biscotti are delicious, definitely in the buy again category. The pineapple juice is good. I bought it for the vitamin C, and while it's tasty and 100% juice, I probably shouldn't buy it again since it's a lot of sugar. The corn snacks were tasty. I actually used them as crackers with a little cheese. They are a little expensive for small packages, though...

New Food

I adventured on my recent visit to Penny and got a lot of stuff I've never tried before. Some of it is predictable stuff. Like carrots, couscous, Merlot, and corn. Can I just say I have been upset by the lack of fresh corn here? You see the corn fields on the commuter rail, not more than a few miles outside of the city, but nary an ear at the farmers' market. What's the deal with that?



The other stuff was a little more unpredictable: some fresh spaghetti alla chitarra, new cheese, these Mulino Biano Flauti, and some more of the "Ciao" series of yogurt.



I tried the Ciao Grecia already. Honey and walnuts. Good, but perhaps a little sweeter than I would have liked (as with most of the yogurt here). The fresh spaghetti was delicious but pretty much standard pasta, so no complaints!

More Taste Tests

I am not sure what I think about Italian packaged pastries in general. The preservatives they use are always detectable in the flavor palette. These Flauti from Mulino Bianco are an OK idea otherwise. The cake is soft enough, and the filling is an alright plain cream. I am not wild about them, but it won't be awful to eat the rest of the box.



This cheese was pretty good! Camoscio d'Oro is sort of like a mild brie. I was eating it on hot rolls. I would definitely go for this again.



I should really have more cheese adventures. There are lots of exciting cheeses out there and they are pretty cheap in Italy, but... it's bad for me and I have no one to share the hunks of cheese with!

Weekend Drinks

When I got home on Saturday, the sunset was pretty great. I couldn't quite capture the redness of the sunset, but it was great.



On Sunday I lolled about the house a bit, but escaped in the afternoon for shopping with Ali Mo from down the street.



We ended up having aperitivo at Bhangrabar on Corso Sempione. I went for a coconut drink, and Ali went with one with cardamom liqueur. I do like the drinks there a lot, and the vegetarian selections at the aperitivo, while limited, are very good.

Hey Hey Hey, Aperitivo Every Day

On Thursday, Christoper stopped by my office for surprise aperitivo with him, Praskovia, Alessandro, and Elena. Supposedly it was to celebrate one of his labmate's thesis submission, but that guy didn't even come. As usual, I think it was just a standard Christopher excuse to go to aperitivo at Ciu's.



A good time as usual. I branched out and tried a new drink, the Papa Hemingway: ginger ale, golden rum, Angostura bitters, maybe something else? I will have to check next time I go. Served with pineapple. Very easy to drink, with some decent taste from the ginger ale and bitters.

Oh, and on Friday, I saw the Google street view bike cart! Sorry the picture's not great, it took me a second to notice it passing my building and realize what it was. It's a tricycle cart, technically. Besides the guy peddling, there was also a campus security guard walking along side. So not going very fast, really...

Gorgonzola

It's a place, not just a cheese. Actually, the cheese comes from that place. And that place is on the subway system of Milan! On Sunday, I went to Gorgonzola for the Sagra Nazionale del Gorgonzola. Essentially, the Gorgonzola cheese fest.



I joined up with Tommi, Ali, Linda, and Monica, and met their fun friends Gemma and Carlo. We all ate lots of great cheesy food! Here, we're eating gnocchi in gorgonzola cream with walnuts and grapes, and pizza gorgonzola!



We headed back to town after filling ourselves with cheese, and headed over to do some browsing at La Rinascente. Linda wanted to see these Marc Jacobs mouse shoes!



The Duomo was light up that evening, which I always like to see. They don't light up the stained glass every night, and I don't know the schedule, but I suspect that it's just on the weekends?



For dinner we went to L'Altra Taverna, a Neapolitan pizza restaurant. I figured it would be good since it was Tommi's choice. (I always trust Tommi's restaurant and wine picks, he's a pro after all.) But it was amazing! Tommi recommended the stuffed crust pizza. It looks small on my plate, right, but I could not finish it. It's like a pizza with a calzone crust. To stuff the crust, they use ricotta with porcini mushrooms blended in. It's so creamy and delicious, and so filling! I will definitely be going again...