The View Overtop Como...

We'll just call this the "prequel" or maybe "part one of two".  As the title suggests, our day in Brunate should have given us spectacular views of downtown Como since it virtually sits atop the city on a mountain.  But since the fog wasn't cooperating and decided to stick around - we didn't get to see or photograph some of the most amazing views our lake town has to offer.  So, perhaps a better title might have been…

"Brunate - we'll focus on the town this time and show you the views next time… the Prequel".

Welcome to Brunate

Brunate is a small town of about 1,700 residents in the provence of Como and sits [based on my speculation, vertigo and body tempeture] at the highest altitude in the immediate area.  It is for this reason that you get the most speculator views as well as an intimate and charming old-world feel.

There are three ways to get to Brunate.  First (and my personal favorite) is by helicopter.  This is reserved exclusively for George Clooney (a "local") and the Italian Prime Minister.  I'm hoping to get on this short list. Incidentally, there is no helicopter pad in Brunate - I just imagine if they wanted to travel to this way… they could.  

Town of Brunate from the road half-way up

For the tourists, The Funicolare takes you in a small train car directly up the mountain.  This is a wonderful, albeit nerve-racking way to travel to the top of the mountain.  Think ski-mountain gondola in the fashion of an old train car, although it is attached to the ground as opposed to being suspended in the air.  It has been operating since 1894 - and it looks as though it still has the original… everything!  Jen and I have not taken the funicolare in all the time we've been coming here, so we're hoping to have some willing victims…errr, guests to do it with while we're living here.

The Funicolare drops off in the middle of town

The final option - although perhaps even more harrowing - is by car.  This is a dangerous proposition for everyone except the most experienced locals (who whizz up and down the mountain at breakneck speeds).  Even though we are far from experienced locals, we opted for this route.  Of course, we had more than our fare-share of close calls and angry tailgaters as I slowly wound my way up and back down the hill.  

Two-lane road with one of many hairpin turns

Here is a video as we reached the town and the terror of driving shifted from falling off the mountain to adding new racing stripes painted with 500 year old bricks down each side of my father-in law's car.  

When we finally got to the top and confirmed that we couldn't see too much - we spent some time walking around and stopped to get a coffee.  We learned that parking is also very difficult in this small town, so we didn't want to stay double-parked too long.  

Jen - the white behind her is the fog hiding the view

Street view and a charming restaurant

Sant'Andrea  - the church in the center of town

Snow-kissed streets

This guy was at the coffee shop - fun guy - loved Americans

This video doesn't quite have the production value of the first one - no high-priced soundtrack and million-dollar effects… but it's actually even better at showing the winding road going up and down the mountain.  I apologize in advance for the narration!

Look at for Part II in this saga - where we don't rush it and I get you some better pictures, particularly of the view.  Coming sometime this spring...

Italians are HIPPIES?! Who knew?

OK… not quite your Grateful Dead listening, moccasin wearing, pot smoking, "make love-not war" type of hippies.  More of the modern-day "green" kind.  Which is a good thing.  But let me tell you something…

IT SURE IS INCONVENIENT!

When we first moved here and were getting our run-down of the new rules of life, one of the first things we discovered was that everything gets recycled.  You're likely saying, "what's the big deal?  I recycle!"  Sure, we did too.  I was quite proud to carry my bottles, plastic and paper to the big blue bin next to the trash chute.  Our building actually changed from having to separate paper from plastic into one big bin to make it more convenient.  Now that's the type of recycling I was used to.

But this… this is next-level recycling.  Thinking about throwing that banana peel away?  You'd better stop in your tracks!  Planning on throwing away that package your kids toy came in?  Stop right there!  You were planning on seperating the paper label from the plastic cover and removing it from the cardboard backing, right?!

You see, everything needs to be separated.  EVERYTHING.  And there is no such thing as "Tuesday trash night" to put your refuse on the street.  There is "glass night".  And "paper night".  And "compost night", etc.  So, you'd better budget some time to take a trip to the curb nearly every night and nearly every morning.

Think you'll circumvent the system by going to the dump?  Think again!  We only have to separate into five piles at home - at the dump, it's over double that figure.

Being OCD by nature, I went and got fresh new trash bins to color-cordinate my refuse.  Little problem - the garbage men don't like some of the bins I've selected and have twice taken my neighbors garbage while leaving mine.  I'll be sure to get it right soon enough!

Bins shown below (from left to right) concime (compost), rifiuti solidi (garbage), plastica (plastic), carta (paper) and bottiglie (bottles).

My clean new bins

Oh yeah, you'll notice different color bags.  Each type of trash also requires it's own special bag.  Below is what happens when you make a mistake on bag or type of bin - they leave your trash curbside and you take your trash back upstairs to wait until the next time it goes out.

Some of the trash came back upstairs with me

This is what happens after a snowstorm and no garbage is picked up

So, I don't mean to "one-up you" here - but if you think you're doing your part for Mother Nature, think again!  We're going GREEN over here in Italy.  Of course, I imagine that we're giving it all back and more touring around in that big diesel SUV I'm borrowing from my in-laws!

A Healthy and Hearty Soup Recipe

I (Jen) can safely say minestrone soup will be a new staple in our home.  I love it for many reasons.  First, it's something that I was eating as a baby when my Mom and Nonna (Grandma) would prepare it for me before I even had teeth.  For that reason it's a soup that not only warms the belly, but also warms my heart. 

Julia enjoying some vegetables - pre-soup

I also love that it's a hard dish to mess up.  You can throw in whatever you have in your pantry and fridge and even though it may not taste exactly the same as the last time; it will always be good.  I also love that I feel good about serving it to my family.  It's a healthy, complete, meatless dish that tastes good and leaves everyone feeling satisfied.   I love that it works for all ages.  As I mentioned I ate this as a child.  This is a perfect dish to blend up for your baby once they start eating real food.  And I love that now my daughter asks for this soup by name, nearly every day "mom-mom… ZUP!"

So here are very simple instructions for how to make this soup.  Keep in mind I have made this a dozen times since and it's always different.  I will try to include ways I have switched it up.

Ingredients

-1/4 of extra virgin olive oil, plus more garnish

-3 carrots

-2 celery

-1 small onion

-1/2 vegetable bouillon cube, maybe 1 depending on taste

-4 potatoes

-1 tomato or 4 small cherry tomatoes

-a green vegetable, on this evening I used an Italian vegetable that I don't even know the name of.  You can instead use a cup of peas or 1 zucchini 

-Farro (a grain similar to barley, I think you can get this at Wholefoods)

-green lentils

-orzo (this is a pasta shaped like rice)

-2 cans of beans, you can use the ones you like the best.  I think it tastes the best when you use fresh beans though

Fresh vegetables

Your grains

Your beans

Directions

My "cookbook" - pictures from Claudia making the soup earlier

In a bowl set aside faro, orzo and lentils and let them soak.  

While they soak clean vegetables and chop into bite sized pieces.  I chop the onion and celery into smaller pieces. 

Washing...

Peeling...

Chopping...

In a large pot cover the bottom of the pan with olive oil.  Add all the vegetables*, drained and cleaned beans and the rinsed farro, orzo and lentils.  Cover the ingredients with water.  

Place all the washed, peeled and chopped vegetables in a pot

Bring the pot to a boil and add the bouillon cube along with about a teaspoon of salt.  Once it is boiling turn the heat down.  Cover the pot and let simmer for about an hour.  Stir often and be careful not to let the soup burn on the bottom of the pot. 

Dadi (bouillon cubes)

Pot simmers with the lid closed

When you serve, drizzle with high-quality olive oil and cover with grated parmigiano cheese.  

The finished product!

ENJOY!  I would love to hear how your soup turns out.  

*another method is to add the finely chopped onions, celery and a single carrot (leaving the others carrots cubed) to the olive oil and cook until tender and fragrant (approximately 4 minutes).  Then add all the remaining ingredients and proceed as outlined above.

A Romantic Valentine's Lunch… On a FARM?!

I just tell you - I am quite the romantic!  I mean, so much so that I didn't have a card, a plan or a clue this past Valentine's day.  But I just knew something would work out!

"Sure hope Daddy has something special planned for us"

I figured, what better way to start a romantic Valentine's day than finalizing one of our last major tasks - car shopping.  Thanks to my new best friend - the internet - we found a car in a town about 40 minutes away.  So we piled in and headed over.  After some intense negotiating (and let me tell you - your author was winning like Tyson versus Spinks) we built up an appetite.  We asked the salesperson for directions to a local pizzeria (having not eaten delicious Italian-style pizza for a full week).  He asked if we wanted pizza, or we wanted to eat like a local.  That was a no-brainer and we answered at the same time in Italian (my accent, perfect - Jen's not so much) that we wanted to eat like the locals.  He gave us directions and we set our coordinates to GO.

La Pioppa

"Welcome to La Pioppa"

Within about 10 minutes, we pulled up to an Agriturismo called La Pioppa (La Pioppa's Website).  A couple years ago, we learned that an Agriturismo is essentially a cottage, ranch, farm or farmhouse that has working agricultural operations combined with tourism in order to provide a charming and authentic setting for it's guests.  We have great family friends that run a beautiful Agriturismo called, Il Ghiaccio (Il Ghiacco's Wesbite).  We spent a wonderful week in Tuscano (Tuscany) at Il Ghiaccio a couple years ago.

Fireworks overtop Il Ghiacco in 2010

I was a bit naive to think that Agristurismo's only existed in Tuscano and have since learned they are not only all over Italy - but actually all over Europe.  As we learned more recently, some Agriturismo's focus on the agricultural, others the lodging (hosting private guest kitchens), others dining and others still a combination of the three.

Ducks freezing their butts on a pond

Lunch time for the horses too

This guy's got to wait his turn

"Sure hope I'm not on the menu today!"

La Pioppa seemed to have an emphasis on the farming and dining, with only a couple rooms above the restaurant.  But business must be booming because we noticed an entirely new building of rooms under construction.

After enjoying some time with the animals (Julia couldn't pick a favorite), we headed in for our meal.  A pre-fix menu for €11 gave us a prima (first), secondo (second), water, wine, coffee and a dessert.

Jen ordered the Ravioli con Carne al Sugo di Pomodoro (meat ravioli with a tomato sauce) and I got the Pasta alla Carbonara (a pasta based with eggs and parmigiano cheese).  Or maybe it was the other way around… either way, I ate the lion's share of both.

Paccheri Pasta alla Carbonara

Ravioli al Sugo

Next was a Bresaola (an air-dried, aged beef thinly sliced) along with Patate Fritte (french fries) fried in olive oil and Salsiccia e Fagioli (sausages and beans).

Bresaola

Patate Fritte

Salsiccia e Fagioli

For dessert, a Panna Cotta al Cioccolato (panna cotta with chocolate) and then… you guessed it, our coffee!

Panna Cotta

Beautiful water goblet

Some more time spent playing with the animals for Julia and then we were on our way.  This will be a must-return visit when the weather is warmer to really enjoy the outdoors.  I'd sure say that La Pioppa saved the day - the Valentine's Day, that is!  I even got credit for organizing a wonderful day!

"You did great, Dad!"

The Rodeo Drive of Switzerland

It still tickles me that when I wake up and ask Jen, "what do you want to do today" - the answer might be something like, "let's go to Switzerland".  What a great idea!

Our home in Lake Como, Italy is very near the Swiss-Italian border.  We have always been fond of a neighboring lake town, Lugano, Switzerland.  Since the trip is only about 30 minutes, the idea to hop over the border for lunch appealed to us quite a bit.  

Lugano, Switzerland

Switzerland is a beautiful country with some of the most breathtaking landscapes you'll see.  The most interesting thing [to us] about Switzerland is that it's a country that in many respects, assumes the identity of its neighboring countries.  It is a landlocked country bordered by Germany, France, Italy and Austria.  The Swiss do not have their own language; each Swiss "region" instead adopts the tongue of the closest neighboring country (either German, French or Italian).  Additionally, the food served in each region follows the same trend of marrying the food of it's neighbor-country.  However, we have found that the architecture seems to be uniquely Swiss throughout most of the country.  Despite not having a shared language or cuisine, the Swiss have found a strong sense of pride in their country and it's ideals.

Border crossing from Italy into Switzerland

The two economic epicenters of the country are Zurich and Geneva.  If you've ever see a gangster or action movie - you'll know that banking is a large industry, originally praised for it's client privacy, security and discretion.  If you're a legitimate business magnate or Vito Corleone, you most likely have a Swiss bank account.  Banking is just one of many reasons that Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

Homes atop a perfume shop

Switzerland also produces some of the worlds finest timepieces.  Some of the more infamous Swiss made timepieces include Audemars Piguet, Breitling, Cartier, Chopard, IWC, Patek Phillipe and of course, Rolex - to name a few.  Much to my disappointment - they are no cheaper if you buy them in Switzerland (in fact, quite a bit more thanks to a weak dollar).  An interest tidbit that I just learned… over half of the world's watches sold are made in Switzerland (in terms of value).  

A shop that sells wonderful panini, meats and cheeses

As we departed to cross the border, we researched a good place to eat and found, Grotto Mulino Pregassona.  It was a bit of a trek because the restaurant was a ways away from the center of the town. We put our faith in the reviews of others and were pleased with the results when we saw the charming restaurant as we pulled up.  

Grotto Mulino Pregassona

We eagerly exited the vehicle and sauntered up to the restaurant, expectations high.  Odd, the windows looked dark.  And door seemed to be tightly pulled shut.  Because it was closed - oh, that explains things.  Upon further inspection we discovered (thanks to a rough job translating) the restaurant was closed for the season and would re-open in April.  APRIL!  Oh yeah, I forgot - we're on the Italian side.  Should have read those reviews a bit closer.

We drove back into the main part of town, the Centro (Center) of town.  We walked around a bit and settled on a place to eat (it was OK, but not blog-worthy… sorry, no photos).  As we walked around we enjoyed the sites and sounds of the people, and loved taking in the beautiful shop displays.  There are custom pasticcerie (pastry shops) sandwiched between Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Armani and the countless Swiss watch shops (hence, our nickname of the Rodeo Drive of Switzerland).  

Jen and Julia window shopping

Time for a giggle

Looking at the ducks on the lake

Sometimes sightseeing is better to do alone

Jen and Julia on a pier

Time to stop for a drink

It was a short trip around the bend, but well worth it.  We can't wait to visit Switzerland again soon!