Happy Thanksgiving!

A couple of (stolen from friends) photos that basically sum up Thanksgiving in Kabul. 17 people, two tables (thank you, GSO, for loaning us a table and chairs), two turkeys, and too much food to fit on the tables!

If you were wondering, the label on our (tiny) turkeys say "slaughtered by sharp knife in accordance with Islamic ritual". Awesome.


The photo that's missing right now is one of all the empty bottles of wine and countertops of dirty dishes.

Day 22: Baby Shower in Milan

Not very "Italian" but so freaking cute! I attended a friend's baby shower last month and one of the guests used her gifts as decorations. What a clever idea!

Baby Girl is due on Monday, my birthday! Let's see if she makes it...

Athens, Greece

Ah, Greece. Athens is just about the only place in Europe with an older and richer (still-existing) history than Rome. In both cities, the word "archeologist" is practically a dirty word since you can't stick a shovel in the ground without hitting an ancient cup, or arrowhead, or something. We arrived on a Thursday and spent that evening, along with Friday, touring the city with our friend from Dublin. We were set out straight by our Athens-living friends who mapped out our route and briefed us on the history. Thanks to them, we also had some amazing meals (who would've thought a beet and spinach salad would be so delicious) and learned a lot (one friend has his Master's in Greek history).


Thursday evening, after a visit to the Benaki Museum and a general overview of Greek history, we spent some time walking around town. We saw the presidential palace, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the guards (aka Evzoni) who protect them. The ceremonial unit has quite...um, interestingly...dressed. Thick tights, pom-pommed shoes, and a tasseled cap were the highlights. When they did their ceremonial marching, they made their pom-poms touch in the air.


After a late dinner near our friend's home (well, late only by American standards. Our 9:00 reservation was early by Greek standards and the earliest we'd eat all trip), we walked around a bit more and visited the Hellenic Parliament and original Olympic stadium. Ok, "original" isn't quite the right word considering that the Greek Olympics have been around for thousands of years. However, the Panathinaiko stadium was used in the 1896 Olympics and then again in the 2004 games (as host to the archery competition and finishing grounds for the Marathon).


The next day, we began our trek to the Acropolis by a visit to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Construction on this site took over 650 years, beginning in the 6th century BC and finishing during the reign of Roman Emperor Hadrian. Years of pillage and neglect took their toll, now there are only 15 of the original 104 columns still standing (one lays on the ground).


The "must-see" of Athens remains the Acropolis. While 'Acropolis' means 'highest city', in my mind, it's basically synonymous with the temples and buildings here in Athens. There's only one way up the 500 foot rock and that's on foot. It looked crazy high before we started but as we hiked, the views provided an excellent distraction. We kept looking forward, behind, and side to side to check out the city and sights. Everything was spectacular, including the warm February weather, and we quickly peeled off our sweaters and jackets. When we made it to the tip-top, we peered down on the Theatre of Dionysus and the expansive city of Athens. Gorgeous. After climbing down, we spent some time at the new Acropolis museum before our hunger finally took over.


We metroed to the Plakas neighborhood from the museum for some Greek souvlaki. It was warm enough to eat outside and our restaurant owner seemed to have a crush on our friend. We walked around the neighborhood and did a bit of shopping. I picked up a pendant of the famous phaistos disc and a silver bracelet of Greek coins. We called it an early birthday/anniversary present! After meeting up with our working friends for a happy hour, we eventually made it to our 10pm reservation for taverna-style music, dinner, and dancing. I was practically sitting on stage but it made for a great view of our friends doing a traditional Greek dance in the middle of the room! Despite not making it home until past 2am, we somehow managed to rise the next day in time for breakfast and the beginnings of our little road-trip...

Edinburgh and Festivals

On Saturday morning in Edinburgh, we woke to another brilliant blue sky. To improve further on the day, our friends from London met us in the breakfast room so that we could all start the day together!

When we booked our tickets for Edinburgh, the only thing we'd planned on was attending the Military Tattoo. We soon found out that August was basically the season of festivals in the Scottish city. Everywhere we walked, we ran into another event - festivals for books, politics, foods, the arts....even a festival for stone-carving (ok, that was just an exhibit at the arts college).

The Fringe Festival was the most obvious and popular of them all. Created in 1947 when eight theater groups showed up uninvited to the arts festival and took to performing in the streets, today's Fringe is organized enough to close down part of the Royal Mile and play host to hundreds of groups from all over the world. Nearly 250 Edinburgh venues play host to 2000 theater and musical performances. Performers spend their days in the streets of the Royal Mile, handing out advertisements for their show and re-enacting scenes in the street.

Also along the Royal Mile (and beyond) were scores of shops, selling Scottish cashmere, kilts, shortbread...just about anything you can think of - including tartan formal ware!

We were able to attend the Foodies at the Festival event twice during our trip - the first time on Friday when we popped in, soaking wet, for a chef's demonstration and some hot soup. On Saturday, we sampled Scottish whisky and cheeses while one of our friends hunted down local oysters.

Popping into the Parliament building (with its contemporary architecture, pictured above), we viewed the media photography exhibit while the Politics Festival went on. It wasn't all festivals and food though. We went into Holyrood Palace (photo at top), the Queen's Gallery and the Camera Obscura museum and enjoyed not only the illusions inside but the amazing views of Edinburgh from the roof.

Home, Sweet Paris (Part 1)

When a close friend from my Paris au pair days wrote a couple months ago to let me know she'd be on my side of the Atlantic, I jumped at the opportunity to grab a cheap flight and meet her in Paris for the weekend. Though my single days are over, this girl's weekend (yes, another one in the same city - don't I have the best husband ever?) was an opportunity to revisit our old haunts.


Amazingly, I left without seeing the Eiffel Tower even once. A crime, I know. I realized on Sunday that despite spending two days strolling along the Seine with my friend, we'd kept our backs to the famous landmark accidentally the whole time. A shame since it must've looked fabulous in the gorgeous blue sky days. We spent Friday mainly in the 5th and 6th arrondissements, wandering through the open shops and dark alleys, admiring (some) of the artistic French graffiti.


Paris was hot but it was no canicule of 2003 (the famous heatwave that killed hundreds and left me sleeping on office couches for nearly two weeks). We had breeze and the shade of french cafes.

For dinner, we headed to the Relais de l'Entrecote for a delicious dinner of steak et frites. This restaurant is such a favorite, I go nearly every time I'm in Paris to get some of the mouth-watering green mystery sauce.


And bien sur, our Friday night ended and weekend began at the Moose. When I took my friends there last January, I didn't know a soul in the bar but was happily surprised to see old friends on either side of the bar this weekend - one of them a bartender I've now official known for six years! Wow! Luckily, the perks of knowing a bartender were still in full effect and it felt just like old times as my friend and I chatted in our old hang-out.


Le Relais de l'Entrecote: 20, rue Saint-Benoit (6eme arrondissement)

4th of July!

Flying solo this July 4th, I attended the J4Milano fete at the Triennale museum near the Parco Sempione. Hosted by the expat newsletter group EasyMilano, it was a pretty good overseas approximation of the US holiday.

La Triennale di Milano is the modern design museum. In the back, they have a big sculpture garden. When we walked into the back, the grass was set with red, white, and blue blankets. Big tents hosted food and beverages while a big Dixieland band played in the background. A representative from the US Consulate read President Obama's 4th of July address and the expat community mixed and mingled.


This was a big family event but I spent the time with colleagues, friends, and their families. The kids mugged for the camera in-between their facepainting sessions and magic shows.

Towards the end of the afternoon, the wind picked up pretty significantly and caused the party to break up more quickly. We've been having some rough weather in Milan lately with lots of torrential downpours coming up quickly, accompanied by lots of thunder and lightening. If you don't believe me, you can come over to see the stack of pots in pans I had to set out near my kitchen wall to catch the gigantic leak that was created by yesterday's 530am storm.


Before leaving, I took a bit of time to check out some of the sculptures and decor that was available for viewing. The Triennale really pulled out all the stops, managing to come up with modern furniture that had an American spin. Definitely worth another visit.

Only in Italy

At this weekend's Italian-American baby shower, there was spiked punch, key lime cheesecake, cute games, and an advice session from those who have children and, well, those who were children. Like most showers, the presents were the serious point. In Italy, however, showers (either bridal or baby) are simply not a tradition. As a consequence, registries aren't really a 'thing' over here. The mother-to-be had registered at the European store Prenatal but I was one of the few people to actually purchase off the registry. Let me tell you why.

After work on Friday, I went to the Prenatal location nearest to my home. An employee asked for the family's name and, when I replied, shuffled through a pile of emails about two inches thick to find the message with this family's info. What kind of info? It was the name of the store they'd registered at. Because they registered at a different location of the same store, I had to call the other store to find out what was still available on the registry. I narrowed down the price point but, as you can imagine, it took awhile to go through all the items and match them up with the flimsy catalog at the desk.

After choosing some tub accessories (I like to pick the functional, boring stuff), I was disappointed to find out from the clerk at my store that the store doesn't even have half the items in stock. Back to the drawing board.... I finally settled on a giostrina mobile, a musical mobile of fuzzy (so soft!) monkeys since bedsheets were my only other option (I like boring but have the draw the line somewhere). So then, once the clerk at my store got the mobile, we had to call back the other store to give them the item number so they could cross it off the registry. I'd show you a picture but, naturally, the store does not have online shopping or internet catalog.

I'm hoping that my next baby shower will be for an American (online shopping and registries!) as I have now discovered why Italians tend to ignore the whole concept of a registry.

Aperitivo

A little Milanese tradition that we've been enjoying in the past few months is aperitivo. Aperitivo is the Italian version of happy hour except for the fact that there are (usually) no discounts on the drinks. Instead, in typical Italian fashion, there's a free buffet.

In Italy, and really just in Northern Italy, aperitivo occurs on all nights of the week in bars, restaurants, and cafes. I pass several on my way home from work and I've even popped into my morning coffee place much later in the day to see their spread start to appear. Some are small - bread, meats, cheeses, olives. Some are much larger with quite a bit more variety, including pastas and seafood.


In the Brera district, students come out early to pay for a couple full price drinks but get dinner for free. The unwritten rule of aperitivo is that one drink = one pass through the buffet. Despite the small plates, most people seem to be able to fill up on one trip and just get the second drink for fun.


Our favorite aperitivo is at a bar/restaurant near the Arco di Pace in the Parco Sempione. They have a huge outdoor patio with heat lamps in the winter and umbrellas in the summer but we usually sit inside. When we go with some friends here, the treatment is even more impeccable than usual thanks to the table service we receive. We're at the mercy of the kitchen but we've feasted on oysters, smoked salmon crostinis, tender salami, fried olives (see above), and miniature pizzas. They come in waves and don't end until the table is begging for mercy (or the check). Drinks aren't cheap but they bring my prosecco with a strawberry so I stay happy.

Foodies in Paris-dise

Our itinerary in Paris was a little like this: walk food walk walk wine shop walk walk pretty church walk food chocolate nap walk. Get it?

Nearly all of our sight-seeing was done en route to one restaurant or cafe and most of our reservations were made with careful advance planning. Friday night, we were fortunate enough to get a table at Les Racines, a hot wine bar in the Passage des Panoramas. Chef and owner Pierre Jancou sources his meat from star Parisian butcher Hugo Desnoyers and vegetables from chef Alain Passard's farm. The menu is limited - serving only classic French fare with the freshest ingredients. There is no wine list at the bar a vins, instead, the waiter decided for us based on our tastes and the food we ordered. With dinner, we drank a delicious Medoc, an organic wine (look out for the sediment) that paired perfectly with my lamb and my dinner guest's chicken.


Walking around town, we stumbled into a chocolate shop with all kinds of treats. Instead of chocolate covered pears, I treated myself to chocolate covered orange peel. Yum. Lunch on Saturday was at an old favorite, Chez Papa. This local chain specializes in Southwestern french fare, duck confit and cassoulet are popular dishes but my personal favorite is the salade Boyarde. Made with fried potatoes, Cantal and Bleu de Brebis cheeses, ham, and lettuce (or two fried eggs, if you'd like) this salad was a popular item, ordered and enjoyed by our entire group!

Sight-seeing and walking throughout the Left Bank, our band of foodies finally came across Le Bon Marche, the Parisian food hall where we could stock up on goodies for home. Their French section was, bien sur, plentiful but the international section was well-stocked and allowed me to pick up German rosti, Indian spices, and even some American chili powder. After our extended happy hour at a nearby cafe, we didn't have to go far to reach our dinner destination - Le Bamboche.


At dinner, our group split three different appetizers. Chaud-froid of foie gras on a bed of gingerbread and truffle was fois gras prepared two ways: the traditional way on gingerbread but also as an ice cream, with truffle on the side. The millefeuille layering of crab, courgette tagliatelle, tiny artichokes, mango vanilla-flavoured sauce seasoned with vinegar was also delicious and topped with a lattice work of beet. My personal favorite was the pan-sautéed Dublin Bay prawns with hibiscus, Jerusalem artichoke terrine, chervil, thin slices of kernel of scallops with avocado oil and ocean pearls (pictured above). The terrine was topped with a slice of truffle and the prawns were cooked to perfection.


For the main course, I chose the multi-coloured kernel of scallops, shredded chicory, watercress cream sauce, white and purple carrots hydromel. While it was delicious, I had to google later to find out exactly what hydromel was. Apparently, it's a honey and water based mixture that was used to caramelize the carrots. A light dusting of fleur de sel set off the natural flavors of the scallops and made it a thoroughly enjoyable meal.

And, of course, no trip to Paris is complete without a sweet. In France, you can pick your poison and while some of my friends were clamouring for crepes, I kept my eyes out for the prettiest macaroons in Paris. While a trip to the famous bakery and tearoom, Laduree, would usually scratch that itch, we were disappointed to be greeted by a long line both there and at Angelina's. Undaunted, we were lucky to stumble across a patisserie in the Marais where these brightly colored macaroons beckoned from the window. My favorite was the chocolate and caramel, filled with a lightly salted and incredibly smooth caramel inside. And yes, the other girls got their crepes - complete with some American cartoon references by an underemployed French philosopher - a fitting end to a bon weekend.

Paris, the City of Lights

Last Friday, I took off a day of work and boarded a plane to Paris. I usually spend flights tightly gripping my husband's hand (I'm a nervous flier) but this time I was in it alone. However, when I landed I was lucky enough to be greeted by blue skies and a couple of friends. Leaving husbands, boyfriends, and children behind, my four friends and I all elected to spend a girl's weekend walking, talking, and eating our way through the City of Lights.

I'll blog separately about our amazing eating and shopping experience and just focus right now on everything else we did. After checking in to our hotel near the Luxembourg Gardens, I headed down to the fountain at Saint Michel to meet two of my friends who'd arrived earlier from Dublin and Zimbabwe. On the way, I was complimented on my shoes by a Frenchman but was even more flattered when he expressed surprise that I wasn't French! Too bad that never happened when I was living in Paris and using my French on a daily basis - clearly the Italian skills have paid off in "faking it". Stopping by Starbucks for a mocha, I blessed the French for their acceptance of the chain and the ability to get carry-out coffee.


When we met us, we grabbed wine and tartines to relax and enjoy the view of the Seine and Notre Dame. We then strolled past the cathedral and over to the Right Bank, letting ourselves get lost in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th arrondissements. We popped in chocolate stores to look for a particular list created by a pregnant friend but eventually made it to Racines, a wine bar/restaurant where we had reservations that night and were joined by an old friend of mine from college (more on that dinner later).

The next day, we were joined by friends coming from Bucharest and Greece and all elected to sleep in a bit after a late night out (at the Moose!) earlier. Walking down to the river, all of us book nerds stopped by famous Anglophone bookstore Shakespeare and Company to browse their selection of thousands.


Instead of walking past and admiring Notre Dame, our group decided to go and explore on Saturday morning. Mass began while we were inside so we tried to remain quiet and respectful while admiring the stained glass Rose Window and various intricate paintings. The vaulted ceilings were more magnificent that I remembered and I embraced the feeling of peace that came over even while amidst the hoards of tourists crowded the cathedral. While the Duomo is a spectacular feat of architecture and construction, the French Gothic style of Notre Dame impresses me with its flying buttresses and sometimes lifelike gargoyles. "Point Zero" of Paris is located directly outside of the cathedral. This point is the unofficial center of Paris and the point from which all highway distances are calculated from.


We were disappointed when the weather seemed to turn and become grey. Luckily, we were spared rain and able to continue on our way. After lunch at Chez Papa (again, more next time), we strolled to the Eiffel Tower to watch the tourists and inadvertently disrupt a game of petanque being played by elderly Frenchmen.


Sunday morning, we got an early start and headed for the Louvre. La Joconde, or the Mona Lisa, was our first order of business (two of my friends have never been to Paris). Despite our early start, many of her fans were already there, exclaiming over the surprisingly small size of her painting but taking tons of photos nonetheless. Poor Mona, you can barely see her over the crowds holding their cameras in the air.


While we'd wanted to grab lunch in the Marais, our appetites couldn't wait and we stopped at a cafe on the Rue Rivoli. Heading into the Marais afterwards, I was astounded by the crowds that seemed much larger than I'd remembered. The smells were even more delicious then my memory recalled and I found myself pausing at all the Jewish bakeries and falafal stands. Our picture-perfect weekend had to come to an end. My flight from Charles de Gaulle whisked me back to Milano on Sunday evening - forcing me to promise myself a visit longer than three days next time.

Pairing Wine and Chocolate

A confession: I like wine but seem to be somewhat learning disabled on the subject. I've attended several wine-tastings since I've been here in Italy and can recognize "legs" and sometimes remember what the bubbles in a prosecco mean but I have to just murmur when somebody starts talking about "oakiness" and "tannins". After dozens of efforts, I still have no idea what I'm supposed to be tasting so I just pretend to agree and move on.

This past Friday, we attended a wine tasting event in honor of Valentine's Day that was right up my alley - a wine and chocolate pairing. While they might seem like natural partners due to their high scores of "awesome" on the taste buds, we were disappointed to learn that this wasn't always true.

Our sommeliers, Rachel and Mario, were challenged to come up with good pairing for our group. We sat down to place mats with seven different types of chocolate laid across them: Papua, Madagascar, Amazonas, Ecuador, Ghana, Arriba Superior, and white chocolate. With each of the six wines, we were asked to taste 1-2 different types of chocolate (suggested by Rachel) to note the difference in complementary flavors. Most of the wines were dessert wines (one was a grappa) but the differences were extraordinary. A fortified wine like the Recioto della Vapolicella has an alcohol content of 19% and paired well with darker, stronger chocolates that could hold their own, like the Ecuadorean and Ghanaian versions, and compliment it with a bit of spiciness. Pairing this wine with a milkier chocolate resulted in a bitter aftertaste that ruined both the wine and the chocolate.

I ended up have two favorite wines for the night. The Brachetto d'Acqui Passito is a sweet dessert wine that smelled of elderflower, rose, and dried cherries so distinctly that even my untrained nose could take notice. While this wine typically pairs with green cheese like Gorgonzola and Roquefort, we tried it with white chocolate and Papua milk chocolate. To note the full taste, we learned that you should let the chocolate melt in your mouth a little bit and roll it all over your tongue and roof of your mouth, sipping the wine when it's nearly completely melted. Personally, I thought the white chocolate made the pairing overwhelmingly sweet while the Papua blended perfectly.

My second favorite was "L'Eremita" Recioto della Valpolicella, another dessert wine to pair with green and blue cheeses. Again, a deep garnet color that smelled very sweetly of dried cherries, raisins, and vanilla. In my notes, I wrote "good tannins" so you can take somebody else's word for that. It was paired with the Amazonas and Madagascar chocolates which have the respective cacao/sugar proportions of 60% and 46% (that means Amazonas is the darker chocolate). While the group's assessment was split, I was on the half that preferred the pairing with the darker Amazonas. I thought that the Madagascar chocolate resulted in a bitter taste to this otherwise sweet wine.

Our least favorite? We both HATED the Barolo Chinato a DOCG from Piedmont. Fortified with distilled alcohol left from wine and a mixture of 20 herbs, the "secret" ingredient of quinine pretty much ruined it for us. Quinine is a tree bark that is used as a malarial prophylaxis. My notes say "smells like mosquito spray but tastes like cinnamon and basil". This is not a good thing. The taste mildly improved when paired with the Madagascar and Ecuadorian chocolates but nothing fixed the smell of DEET.

I was also not a fan of the Grappa Vendemmia Tardina, a very strong "wine" made out of the pits, skins, and stems of grapes used for other wines - the "hot dog of Italy" as one of my colleagues noted. You can compare this to Greek Ouzo, French Pastis, or Sambuca as an aperitif. My notes were punctuated by a frowny face.

While not all the wines were winners, we certainly enjoyed the presentations and hosting by our sommeliers Mario and Rachel. While Mario is an English-speaking Italian, Rachel is an American married to him and certified by the same sommelier organization. They run a company called Italia by Design and organize food and wine tastings for tourists throughout Italy. We have an eye on their prosecco tour for our second wedding anniversary!

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

On MLK Jr weekend last year, we spent the long weekend in Las Vegas. We saw some shows, hiked through the Red Rocks, and drove out to the Hoover Dam. It was warm and sunny, beautiful weather. While this holiday's weather was pretty much the opposite of "warm and sunny", we were lucky to have a wonderful weekend spent with good friends in Brussels.

On our first full day in Brussels, we hopped on a train to get out of the city. The Duchy of Luxembourg is located about 3 hours from Brussels and is probably the only European country that nobody (aside from our host who lives in Brussels) in our group had ever traveled to. Well, maybe none of us have been to Andorra but really, who has?

Less than 1000 square miles large, Luxembourg is the 175th (out of 231) smallest country in the world. It used to be double this size though, until the late 1800s when half of the original territory was turned over to the Belgians. I've been to both of the smallest countries in the world (Monaco and Vatican City) and I have to say, this one didn't feel all that bigger!

When we arrived in Luxembourg City, the sky was grey and drizzly. Crossing the Petrusse River on the Viaduc bridge, we soon came across the Monument to National Unity. During WWII, Luxembourg was the only country to stage a strike against their Nazi occupiers. This monument commemorates the patriotism of those who fought with an Eternal Flame.


Moving forward, we eventually hit the Cathedral of Notre Dame (pictured along the top and below). The work on this Roman Catholic church originally began in 1613. While the bulk of the structure is heavy on the late Gothic architectural influences of the time, many of the smaller detail added later contain elements of the Renaissance movement. For a long time, this church was simply a church. However, Pope Pius IX elevated it to a cathedral in 1870. The stained glass windows inside were beautiful even in our rainy weather - I wish I'd had a chance to see them with light shining through.

By the time we hit the town square, we were ready for lunch. Though we'd purposely travelled on a Saturday to have a wide choice of shops and restaurants, we were dismayed to see that quite a bit of the city was closed. But you can always count on the American chains to be open!

While we didn't actually end up at Chi-Chi's, I think we got roped into something worse. Our lunch restaurants served burgers called '"THE" Whazzzuuuppp' and in their 'classique brassiere', they had a 'Filet Barak O.' My 'Whazzzuuuppp' chicken sandwich was ok.


After lunch, we stopped by the Luxembourg Museum of History and Art and waited out some of the rain. We headed back outdoors to the Duke's palace.


Guarded by a Luxembourgian soldier, the Ducal Palace is still the official residence of the Duke though it's also served as the Department of Forests and the Luxembourg Town Hall. During the Nazi occupation, a significant amount of damage was done to the interior but, unfortunately, nobody invited us in to see.


With a two and three-quarter hours ride back (we caught a tail wind), we soon had to return to the train station.