Warning! This post has nothing to do with the horrible sandwich meat.
Nutmeg LOVES the Italian language. After fighting rush-hour congestion, some GPS misinformation, tiny crowded streets and a retail strip thronged with groups strolling on a Saturday evening – There is something immediately soothing to hear “buonasera signora“!
Allora that is how the visit to Bologna began. Arrival on a Saturday, at the height of late-day shopping and the start of the “apero” (cocktail) time, was an adventure. However, once settled in the very centrally located Hotel Metropolitan, a city map in hand and some restaurants suggestions, Ginger and Nutmeg ventured out into the crowded streets. Bologna is located in Northern Italy, it is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region. Bologna was called Felsina in the time of the Etuscans and later renamed Bononia under the Romans. Bologna is home to the oldest university in the world, which dates back to the 1088. Today Bologna continues to have a strong student population. It is also known as a gastronomic capital in Italy.
Tags: Bologna, Road Trip Planner, Travel in Italy
Nutmeg has learned a few things about technology in the last couple months including:
Luckily, there are a few loyal readers including CardaMOM, who prints everything. Nutmeg has rebuilt the recipe database on this blog over the last few weeks, and she has been able to recover 99% of the recipes. The new format is much better for printing. Rather than make you search back through old posts for the French recipes, some of them are captured below (click the links) and enjoy!
Tags: Easy Beef Recipes, Easy healthy desserts, Easy sweet tart recipes, Food in France, French Food, French Recipes, Recipes with Pears, Stew Recipes, Tart Tatin
Ginger is a good sport and keen travel partner, he agreed to several days of sightseeing in the cities of Genoa, Bologna and Venice. He gamely played tourist; walked all day, took lots of pictures, visited old churches, and climbed up towers, but when given the choice of sleeping-in or visiting a market – he chose his pillow. Nutmeg was not deterred; she grabbed her camera, some money for a cappuccino and walked the short distance from the hotel to Bologna’s Mercato delle Erbe.
Bologna is well-known as a city with a strong culinary reputation. This is not light cuisine; there is a heavy focus on meat, cheese and pasta. There is a near addiction to cured pork meat; such as prosciutto, salami and mortadella. Pasta comes in every variety, with the ragù alla bolognese as the most famous. The local region is also well known for Parmesan cheese, Modena balsamic vinegar and of course some great wines.
Tags: Bologna, Italian Markets, Italy Travel, Markets in Europe, Mercato delle Erbe Bologna, Things to do in Bologna
Spring 2011 came early to the French mountain resorts, mostly due to a lack of snow during the ski season. Ginger and Nutmeg needed to change the tires on the car to the “summer wheels”, as we had been rolling along on dry roads for several months in the South. The “stars aligned” and Ginger found a few consecutive days with no commitments, a good weather forecast and a chance to visit Saffron and Truffle while they were on holidays in Chamonix. The three of us piled in the car with almost no luggage and headed NE. The drive was easy and Nutmeg’s only disappointment was that the walnut trees near Grenoble were not in bloom.
We arrived in Chamonix and I headed straight for the river, Ginger went directly to the car garage and Nutmeg settled in for a massage – anybody wondering who is the smartest in the crew? The next morning dawned and it promised to be a beautiful day. The team was headed to the golf course and I was destined for a very big nap, or so I thought, until Saffron said that she was sure I could join them on the 18-hole walk.
Tags: Chamonix, Golf in Chamonix, Travel in France, Travel Tips with Pets, Travel with Dogs
