food, glorious food. (or, that time we ate the whole summer.)

Hello, my dears. I'd apologize for my absence as per usual, but it really has been that quiet around here since June. But man, oh man, have I got some food talk for you! And a few other items that may or may not be of interest...but mainly, foooood. So here's all the news that's fit to print in my little Zürich-food scene-obsessed world.

Starting with (a mere two years after its opening) my discovery in March of an actual decent Mexican restaurant in this city! I present to you the takeout containers from my first order from La Taqueria, whose smiley faces and the food inside (legit street tacos! tasty black beans with no curry powder in sight! delicious guacamole! an actual spicy pepper-tomato soup!) made me very, very, very happy.

Hee. (Wait...it only now occurred to me that this might mean I can get decent guacamole year-round...!)

Next up came an excellent brunch with our friends Yannick and Nina (and a ginormous bottle of pink champagne for Yannick's birthday) at the Tastelab, a nifty pop-up on the terrace of ETH, which had a fantastic view...

...and pretty darn good food. (Smoked salmon! asparagus! poached eggs! cheeses, breads, yogurts, fruits, coffee, juices! and other things I forgot! Man, is brunch great.)

And speaking of pop-ups, in June, there appeared the artsy little Ristorante Zampano about a 5-minute walk from our apartment, in yet another building that was, I think, about to be razed and/or converted into something else. Whatever the case, the pop-up people had cut a massive arch in the wall between two glass-front garages and made a temporary, art-filled restaurant for our enjoyment. Of which there was a great deal, especially since we went with a group of eight dear friends. Food's so much better shared!

The menu: that amuse bouche turned out to be tiny, perfectly salt-baked new potatoes with bergamot-butter sauce, hemp seeds, and chives. Next came (all at once, and family-style) roasted cabbage wedges with walnut sauce and apples; cucumber ribbons with local lake fish and sorrel dressing; chicken hearts and livers in a spinach salad with grilled onions, elder flowers, and savory (as in, the herb) dressing. The between-course was a risotto made of sunflower seeds (yummo!) with mountain cheese and larch (very piney); and then came thinly-sliced seared beef with cauliflower, basil, and parsnips (...I think...); and finally, pistachio mousse with frozen crumbled strawberries and these little salty cookie bits. Followed by a plate of tiny salted chocolate cookies and excellent espresso. Yum, yum, yum, and yum.

And then, my friends, it was July. I'm sure I've said this before, but it bears repeating that I love summer in this city. Everything and everyone moves outdoors, and every third year comes the mother of all parties: Züri Fäscht. It's three days long, and the entire city center is closed to traffic and filled with food, drink, music, and all manner of performances and games and festivities. (Air shows! A midway! Two giant ferris wheels! Aquatic cars! High diving! Slack-lining over the river! Dragon boat races and races for boats made of plastic bottles! Bands! Dances and dancers! A surfing contest and demonstration, I kid you not! And jillions of other things that I can't remember.) But most importantly, perhaps, if you can find it--this year, it was on the Lindenhof, which was a muddy swamp, but WORTH IT--there's some good eatin' to be had.

OH YEAH...and this year, there was a Swiss rap group up there, too. (I don't know why, but it's so hard for me to take this seriously.)

We could see most of the air shows--at least three per day--from our rooftop.

Helicopters in formation: not nearly as fast and flashy as the planes, but have you ever seen that before? I hadn't.

Fish 'n chips, starring Nemo. Hah!*

Spotted on the Cornish pasty wagon: "New, and here only! Tattoo enlargement via good eating." Heh. (We did eat here, though; shared a spicy beef-and-veg one. These people do good work.)

Excellent African curry with lamb, eggplant, peppers, onions, and coconut rice.

Sadly, we'd begun eating this plate of Ethiopian awesomeness before it occurred to me to photograph its glory. (Various curry-like items with cabbage, spinach, lentils, pumpkin, and some super savory beef, atop injera bread. Sooooooooo good!)**

Random glowy bar along the river.

Massive midway at Bellevueplatz.

This year, they had three different fireworks displays, the last of which was at 1:30 in the morning. (The noise! The horror! So very un-Swiss.) Each display was set to music, so there was one with movie tunes, one with pop songs, and that last one was the "rock" show. Which was hilarious, since they had to turn off half the speakers due to the lateness of the hour. So it wasn't terribly rockin' at all. They were, however, three excellent displays, and we all know how I love me some fireworks. (Sigh. Until 2019, Züri Fäscht!)

Very shortly thereafter (as in, two days...!) came our next pop-up with the glorious Wood Food people, who do all of their cooking with wood and fire and smoke, and/or include elements of trees and wood made edible. I know it sounds a little weird, but their food is astoundingly good, and the venues always fantastic.

This one was in the rather artistically-graffitied LangstrassenKultur building, which I kinda loved.

Look at the inside!

And ohhhh, that menu. The "Picknick" was grilled bread with Douglas fir butter, schmalz with spruce, pickled veggies, sausage with Swiss pine, and beef stomach with wood vinegar (that last kinda like a terrine, and way tastier than it sounds!), followed by the "fresh-from-the-region" grilled salad with smoked fish from Lake Zürich. The family-style tavolata included wild purslane salad with buffalo yogurt; tomatoes with peach, goat cheese, and pickled elderflowers; fermented potatoes; broad beans with herbs and kombu; flank steak with "forest salsa;" and wee little mushrooms with berries. For dessert (here, "barefoot in the forest," awww) there was fir ice cream with forest berry soup and quark (essentially, unsalted ricotta). I'll admit that bits and pieces of these menus always sound a little bizarre, but EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS SOOOOO GOOD. (Kinda wish they'd have another of these dinners, like, NOW.)

To top things off, we were seated next to a very sweet Swiss couple who were celebrating their anniversary, and invited us to drinks at a bar around the corner afterwards. The evening was gorgeous, the drinks tasty, and the company superb. (They didn't know us from random strangers on the street, but spent their anniversary evening with us of their own accord. So lovely.) 

Next up (again, two-ish days later!) was our annual BBQ for the rugby team, for which Mike always cooks insane amounts of meat. This year it was 4 kilos of pulled pork in the sous vide, 5 kilos of smoked chicken, and 7 kilos of smoked brisket. 

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmeat... (Sadly, the pulled pork didn't photograph quite so tastily.)

And food-extravaganza July certainly was not finished with us yet. In other food-related miscellanea, I discovered that the American Food Avenue--previously an online-only store--had opened an actual brick-and-mortar storefront right down the street from my dentist. Oh, sure, there were plenty of amazing goodies like Reese's peanut butter chips and butterscotch chips for baking, and Frank's Hot Sauce, and Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix...

...BUT WOULD YOU TAKE A LOOK AT THAT WALL OF CHIPS?? So very, very many Cheetos, heretofore unavailable to us in Switzerland. God bless American Food Avenue.***

July also brought with it three weeks of Street Food Festival, each week of which had a different lineup of vendors. So, naturally, we went once each week. I mean really, what else should one be expected to do in that situation?

Our friend Jasmin tried out her French-Indian fusion booth for the first time, and fed us a killer veggie wrap, some delicious fried aubergine and potatoes, and our first-ever pani puri. Yummmmm.

Making a second appearance, MORE ETHIOPIAN FOOD. Yellow and green lentils, spicy red lentils, green chicken curry, SPICY beef curry, pickled veggie salad, and a legitimately spicy red sauce to top it all off. Can't get enough of this stuff.

A happy man with his bread-cone full of sausage, bacon, sauerkraut, and curry sauce. (Not pictured: the beef and pork street tacos and Japanese fried chicken we also shared that day.)

Not kidding about going back every week. This time, we met up with our friends Pascal and Sonia and got to share even more. The list: ceviche (gahhhhhhhh, so good!!); beef dumplings in both Afghan (with yogurt and lentils in tomato sauce) and Shanghai (dim sum) styles; an Argentinian ham and cheese empanada...

...Honolulu sweet/spicy hot dog with sriracha, mango sauce, shredded cabbage, and cashews...

...fresh-fried potato chips; Tibetan momos (more dumplings...); a steamed beef bun (fluffy, bread-like wrap-thing); a Salvadoran pupusa filled with beef, beans, and cheese; a sabich (at long last! I have slavered over these since the first time I read about them! it's fried flatbread filled with fried eggplant, boiled egg slices, hummus, and some variety of crunchy salad, and I even had them throw a little fresh cheese in there); and last, but not least, a vegetarian corn/zucchini taco and a chorizo taco on homemade blue-n-white tortillas. A grand, grand feast, my friends.

On week 3, we met up with Nanda and René for our final round. We tried out the lamb kottu rotti...

...dinner and a show! these guys are all choppy and clangy while they cook the kottu rotti, a Sri Lanka street food chopped meat-veggie-egg-combo that they serve with various sauces and bread...

...a delicious meatball-and-mashed potatoes thing, wrapped in a steamed cabbage leaf; a tequila beef taco with cucumbers; a Korean hot dog on a black bun, topped with kimchi, minced beef, crispy onions, and chopped peppers; a Honduran baleada (flat bread topped with guacamole, beans, corn, peppers salsa and cheese, kinda like a quesadilla but waaaay better); an Iranian wrap with eggplant/tomato puree, garlic/yogurt/parsley sauce and salad...

...another steamed bun, this time with pork...

...and finally, a wee bowl of Brazil's national dish, fejoada, with which I am totally obsessed. (Black beans, beef and pork, various veggies, served with rice, salad, and this one had these crunchy breadcrumb things for topping. UGH, SO GOOD!)

I feel like I should take the briefest of moments here, to mention the venue of this particular Street Food festival. It was basically a big dirt lot in a sorta-industrial part of town, on the site of a former train station. With all of the lights and colors and signage here, though, someone did a great job of making this particular big dirt lot feel very festive and welcoming.

And speaking of welcoming, next on the list was a Cuban pop-up called "Casa Havana." Holy crap, what a location--right on Weinplatz, overlooking Hotel Storchen and the river and the square! 

The inside was terribly adorable.

And while the menu wasn't anything too spectacular, it was solidly good. (And the mojitos, great.) At the bar they were serving these chicken skewers and homemade plantain chips with garlic, and then we moved to our tables. We started with ceviche and chips with salsa, and fill-your-own tacos with beef, excellent guacamole, and roasted peppers; then came the roasted beef with saffron veggie rice, aioli, and salsa; and then flan with fruit and wee little chocolates. (We opted to have our dessert sitting in a windowsill in the bar, since the indoor cigar-smoking had begun. Turned out to be an excellent choice, as we not only got the evening breeze, but chatted with the friendly bar staff as well.)

And finally, to close out our fantastically foodie month (and get in some more fireworks, because FIREWORKS!!!), we headed to Schaffhausen to catch their August 1 fireworks (but, you know, on July 31...) over Europe's largest waterfall. 

We'd heard that Schaffhausen is quite lovely. And now we know: it definitely is.

It's got a bunch of these ridiculously-fancily-painted-and-plastered buildings from the 16th and 17th centuries...

...thusly...

...and is rightly famed for its gorgeous oriels--those little bay-window-like boxes that stick out from the buildings. There are 171 of them in the city, which is astounding, considering that we walked around the entire old town of Schaffhausen in about 15 minutes.

There's also a hill in the middle of the city topped with the Munot, a 16th-century circular fortress. Its name probably derives from the German words for "no need," as the city was only besieged once, in 1799, and the fortress fell into ruin afterwards. Interestingly, it was saved by the efforts and private funding of one man, who also paid for its restoration in the 19th century.

The grounds around the fortress are lined with vineyards...

...and in its moat area, there's a herd of these little spotted deer. They were all napping when we got there.

Inside the base of the fortress are these amazing casemates.

And then you climb this nifty spiral staircase to get to the top...

...from which the view is not terrible. (Schaffhausen: really, really pretty.)

After a bit more exploration of that amazing little old town, we headed into Neuhausen am Rhein to find some dinner at the little festival there and to scope out the setting for the fireworks. We noshed on some Thai noodles with veggies, shrimp, and bamboo shoots, then tried out the extraordinarily fresh fried fish from the local fisheries collective. (Mmmmmm!) While we were eating, we stumbled across this magnificent cover band playing what sounded eerily like the playlist from a night at Karaoke from Hell. It was crazy-nostalgic, but also genuinely impressive: you've gotta have some guts, and no shortage of talent, to cover AC/DC (we heard 'TNT' and 'Highway to Hell'), White Snake, Black Sabbath ('Crazy Train'!), Brian Adams ('Summer of '69'), Bon Jovi ('Runaway'), and even Die Toten Hosen ('Hier Kommt Alex'). Uncannily like KFH. (Unfortunately, the video I took of 'TNT' was contaminated by a rather enthusiastic couple making out in the corner. Ew. No need to share that with the rest of you.)

And then we braved the already-massed crowds (a good 2 hours before the show began!) to find a spot with a decent view. Which we definitely had, although we had to stake our claim pretty fiercely. Ah well, at least the falls were huge and impressive, and the post-downpour sky was cooperating to give us a little pre-show of its own.

There were also these crazy people slack-lining over the falls! (There's one in a green shirt right in the middle, and the bright orange speck to the left on the island had just finished going across and back.)

Once it got fully dark, the show began, and holy wow, what a show. The fireworks themselves were great, and combined with the roaring of the falls, it was quite something. (They even shot off all the larger fountains from the island itself!) The only problem was the smoke...

...which got so thick that they actually paused the show for several minutes to let it dissipate. (It was at this point in time that we were hugely grateful we'd opted to stand on the flat ground in front of the falls. The poor suckers who stood on the path leading down from the town were directly in the trajectory of the smoke, which was not going anywhere quickly.)

You can hear Mike commenting on that at the beginning of this video. But mainly, LOOK HOW BIG THOSE FIREWORKS ARE. And also, MASSIVE WATERFALL. Yesssssssss.

At the end, they turned on all of the normal nighttime lights around the falls, but lit up one side with a bunch of red flares, and projected the Swiss flag onto the castle-like building on the other. Very dramatic.

After the show, we headed back into Neuhausen to find a few more snacks, which turned out to be arancini (fried, filled rice balls from Sicily) with beef Bolognese and pea filling; a helping of tomato risotto with truffle, roasted seeds, paprika, and dried chives; and popcorn from MY NEW FAVORITE THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD:

Popppy, the popcorn machine. Once you select salty or sweet, this thing not only pops your popcorn fresh and on-demand, but dispenses to you, in a flattened state, the little cardboard box into which said popcorn falls. You have about 10 seconds to open out the box and put it back into the machine before your popcorn starts coming out, and it's tremendously exciting and makes pretty good popcorn. (If you could just buy one of these things outright, I ALREADY WOULD HAVE. But it's all done through STUPID LICENSING. Boooooo.)

Well. Although I do have a lot more to write about--considering how whiny I've been this year about not traveling, that comes as a bit of a surprise to me--I'll wind this up here with a little What We're Watching/Reading/Eating, since that stuff has all fallen WAY away...

What We're Watching: um, pretty much anything that's not too crappy. 'Shameless' (the one with William H. Macy, on Showtime) is about a large, dysfunctional, but scrappy family with an absolutely worthless, but mostly entertaining, alcoholic father. It's hilarious and sad and heart-warming and infuriating and brilliant, but definitely not one for the kids. (not. at. all.) 'Brooklyn 99,' because Andy Samberg + Andre Braugher = most hilarious comedy duo ever. This show is always funny. And speaking of which, 'Modern Family' has yet to have a slow season. Also always hilarious. 'The Blacklist' has been around for a while, but we're just now catching on. If you like action/mystery/suspense, this one's pretty decent, and the smug/remorseless/wildly entertaining James Spader is great here. Awww, and one show that we've just now found, but which has--astoundingly! heartbreakingly!--only one season is 'The Grinder,' about a TV lawyer whose show has ended, and so he crashes in on his actual-lawyer-brother's life in order to transition to law in real life. Because, you know, he already has so much experience. (Seriously, this show is amazing and clever and hysterically funny. I cannot believe it didn't get picked back up!) And, of course, 'Stranger Things,' because everyone's seen it now. Totally creepy, of course, but those kids are some pretty good actors. (I even liked Winona in this.)

What I'm Reading: not going to kid you, I dabbled for a bit in fiction, and blazed through all the Sookie Stackhouse books in about a month. Somewhat silly, certainly violent, and not a little trashy, I actually adored those books. And was genuinely sad when I finished the series off. Before that, I, as usual, had both feet planted firmly in the realm of nonfiction, and somehow got into reading books about diving, a thing I'll never, ever do, seeing as how THE OCEAN IS FULL OF THINGS THAT ARE GOING TO TRY TO EAT YOU. (That's an obvious fact, people.) However. Reading about reefs and sharks and shipwrecks is pretty darn fascinating, so I read 'Lost Wife, Saw Barracuda,' and 'Sharks, Fights, and Motorbikes,' both by John Kean, and both about diving (and living) in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. Entertaining stories, to be sure, but I'm not actually that second book was edited in any way. (Which seems to be a growing trend in e-books these days. Not a fan.)**** Preceding those were 'Shadow Divers,' by Robert Kurson, about a team of deep-wreck divers trying to identify a newly-discovered shipwreck, and 'Setting the Hook: A Diver's Return to Andrea Doria,' by Peter M. Hunt, about a diver revisiting a famous (and dangerous) deep shipwrecks twenty years after his first dive there. The book first I can recommend, the second not as much...but what's funny here is that I read these books in succession without realizing that the second was written by a rival of the author of the first. (As in, you get opposing viewpoints on a few of the same people and events in each book, and it's rather entertaining.) I also read 'Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship,' also by Kurson, about a team of divers searching for a real pirate ship that went down off the coast of the Dominican Republic in the 17th century. (And you know that kind of story is in my wheelhouse!) Can recommend that one as well.

What We're Eating: lots of veggies, people, since kale and pumpkin and squash and Brussels sprouts are now in season! Wooo! (My poor husband, 'cause I can't stop cooking with all of this stuff. I'm kinda addicted to kale, and even more so when it's partnered with tomato sauce and white beans and basil.) And since I managed to get my hands on some fresh poblanos this year I've made these awesome stuffed peppers twice (although sans beer, 'cause I very much don't like it, unless it's in a beef stew). I even accidentally cooked a vegan meal the other night, but it was ok, because Mike survived it by being in Sicily and eating fresh seafood instead. (Actually, I thought it was delicious, and I've been able to use the leftover tahini sauce in hummus twice now...but word to the wise, whole-roasted eggplant is not good leftovers. Definitely, definitely make baba ganoush instead.) On the flip side of all those veggies, though, is the restaurant we've discovered near Limmatplatz: 4 Leoni, which is, against all odds, an actual branch of one of our favorite restaurants in Florence itself. It is staffed by lovely Italian people, who very kindly let us practice our terrible Italian with them, and the food is out. of. this. world. But mainly, Mike now knows where to go to get a reasonably-sized steak.

Stefano helping Mike select his bistecca Fiorentina. The excitement was palpable.

And I'm not even to August yet, folks. 

Next up: a quick trip to London (woooooo!); a quick trip to the US; and--surprise!--more food adventures.

*"And for an extra CHF 10, we'll throw in some deep-fried Sebastian crabs and a little Flounder!"...is the logical next step here.

**Not pictured in this list: the fantastic mojitos with which we closed out the night, hand-made by Mike's rugby teammate Pat. That's talent, right there.

***Just so you understand my excitement here: Cheetos may be my favorite edible item on this earth. Which makes them very, very dangerous for me: if I open a normal-sized bag by myself, I lose whole chunks of time to what I call the "Cheetos trance." Once that bag is open, a half-hour is suddenly gone, as is most of my bag of Cheetos, and I have zero recollection of the passing of either. My parents understand both my abiding love for this snack food, as well as my issue with it, and gave me a case of miniature bags for Christmas, thus providing me with my own culinary crack cocaine while saving me from it. It is no exaggeration when I say that it was probably the best. present. EVER. (Ooooh, and also, this last time we were in the US, we discovered jalapeno Cheetos. Dangerously delicious. Even Mike agrees on this one. Which probably means they'll be discontinued [thusly] when we go back at Christmas. That's how this stuff always goes.)^✤

But I digress: NOW WE HAVE CHEETOS HERE. It's a big day for me.

Ok, so, I may have a bit of a jalapeno-flavored-snacks hang-up, as well.

****Although lack of editing did lead to my discovery of this sentence in the current book I'm reading: "General Pershing feared that the Japanese would replay the wonton sacking of Shanghai and Nanking in Singapore..." Terrible editing, or hilarious pun intentionally left intact by an editor with a positively genius sense of humor? I choose to believe the latter, thank you very much.

^✤Like that one time waaaaaaay back in Pennsylvania, when Mike and I found this bag of seemingly-normal Cheetos puffs that claimed to turn your mouth Shrek green when you ate them (a promo for one of the movies, natürlich), and while they were their normal shade of atomic orange coming out of the bag, when you chewed them, they did as promised. THEY TURNED SHREK GREEN INSIDE YOUR MOUTH. It was terrifying and awesome all at the same time (chemically--how did they do that? will we get rare cancers later in life? could this have been some sort of dual hallucination induced by our pizza-heavy lifestyle? but more importantly, HOW DID THEY DO THAT??) and I desperately wanted some more after they were gone...but we only ever saw that one bag. Why, universe, why??

truffles and tombs and terrific Torino.

Hello again, and welcome to another edition of "Italian Travels with Ma and Pa." This time, we were headed for Torino, officially, although we surprised my parents with a quick night in the Piedmont. (Which, of course, became their favorite part of the trip, and so I, naturally, feel terribly guilty for not making it longer. I AM A TERRIBLE DAUGHTER. Ugh.)

First stop: lovely little Alba, which was gearing up for the annual truffle festival. (Thankfully, we missed the insane crowds by two days, and so had the streets--and the truffle viewing--to ourselves.)  It's been a wet year here in central Europe, which I think means that they actually had a good harvest this year. Good for them: I know last year wasn't so truffle-friendly.

Would you like the white? (Always under glass, of course. I have no idea what's up with the little dog and the feather, but I remember seeing it before. Indubitably it's some sort of talisman for the seller.) These things can run up to 4000 Euros per kilo, or about $2470 per pound. (Yeah. it's insane.)

Or perhaps some of the black? (Which, apparently, they're not as concerned about you stealing. Probably because black are waaaaaaaaay cheaper, but that works out nicely for me, 'cause I think black truffles are tastier. Not that I search any of them out, though. Overrated.)*

Lovely little Alba. Here, their main square, from in front of the cathedral.

Which looks like this. I stole this photo from the September trip, as I neglected to take a photo of it this time around.

I actually got to go in this time, for the first time ever. It's quite pretty inside, with this neat carved-stone altar...

...which is in front of a 16th-century wooden choir.

It also has this lovely blue vaulting, the likes of which I've never seen anywhere else.

But the neatest thing about the cathedral is all of its exposed archaeology! They've got grates in the floor over some very interesting things, like this 6th-century baptistery. (They also have pieces of the 15th-16th-century interior columns revealed, as well as steps leading to the ancient church on the site and some marked graves. It's totally unique, in my experience, and really cool.)

Next, Mike had lined up a tasting for us at Paolo Manzone, which I think is my new favorite Piemonte winery. They have some really nice wines, and the people there are just fantastic. (Don't worry, though, Elio Altare: you're at the top of the list, too.)

This being early October, it was harvest season, so Signore Manzone himself was running around like a crazy person, but that meant that we got to watch the grape selection process in action. Neat.

Mmmmm, wine grapes...

The man in action. He was trimming off the undesirable grapes at an incredible rate of speed as everything zoomed past on this conveyor belt.

Took a brief tour...they're very proud of their bottling and labeling machines, which aren't that common among the more under-the-radar wineries.

In the barrel room with our amazing guide, Elisa. (What a lovely, interesting, knowledgeable, and gracious person.)

Ahh, the tasting room. You might remember its environs from such posts as this one.

And this time, we got salami and TWO kinds of cheese with our tasting! Does life get any better?**

Mom and Dad, soaking up the atmosphere. (And by "atmosphere," I mean wine, cheese, salami, and Elisa's poetic descriptions of art and Piemonte culture.)***

We swung by a couple of castles and had coffee in the courtyard at Grinzane Cavour, as one does in the Piedmont, and then it was time for dinner. Which, naturally, was at Gemma's. I know for a fact that that's why Mike insisted we take my parents to the Piedmont, and since it's become sort of a place of pilgrimage for us, if we're in the vicinity, we go. And we overeat. Mike says that's his favorite restaurant in the world, and while I'm not quite sure I'm ready to commit to that level of enthusiasm (the world is a big place, people! with lots of great restaurants!), I will say that it is always a transcendent experience to be and to eat there. No matter how many times we've been, and no matter how many more times we'll go. (Hopefully plenty.) 

Plus, now I have actual photographic proof that my mother has tried raw beef of her own free will. No cajoling necessary! I'm so proud! (No one in this photo looks terribly happy about the beef, but I chalk that up to a poorly-timed photo. I think they actually liked the stuff. As for me, I ate probably a third of that plate.)

After breakfast at the lovely Corte di Langa, it was on to our beloved Torino. It's only when I bring people there that I realize how raggedy it can appear around the edges; there's graffiti and some trash and it's maybe not the cleanest, but the center is just so elegant and full of good food and neat little artisanal shops and markets and tons of history and culture and it's so, so comfortable for us. I think we both love going there.  

Plus, was fun to see a couple of Ferraris and an Aston Martin parked in Piazza San Carlo for no apparent reason. 

We talked my parents into going to the Egyptian museum, which I think is a remarkable collection. I read somewhere that it's the largest outside of Egypt, which is nice for Torino, but maybe not so nice for Egypt. At any rate, the museum came into being in 1824 when the French consul to Egypt--a Piemontese by the name of Bernardino Drovetti--brought home his artifact collection. Seventy years later, the museum's director, Ernesto Schiaparelli, went to Egypt to expand the collection, and conducted archaeological digs in most of the places you've heard of. He brought home vast numbers of artifacts, including mummies and some truly spectacular sarcophagi, and that's how Torino ended up with one of the world's premier Egyptian museums. Go figure.

The eyes painted on a sarcophagi were intended to help the deceased to see better all the things he/she had taken with him/her into the afterlife.

Piece of one of the many Books of the Dead at the museum. (It was the crocodiles that caught my attention here.) This one dates to around 330 BC.

Anubis! For whatever reason, his image is my favorite amongst the more common things you see in ancient Egyptian art, and so in this museum, I'm constantly on the lookout for that jackal-y shape. 

See? (On a box for ushabti, figurines representing the servants that would accompany the dead into the afterlife and attend him/her there.)

Yup. (Viscera box from 712-332 BC.)

This one's neat: he's an alabaster canopic jar from sometime between 1070 and 712 BC.

Ahem. Moving on. THIS was amazing. This is a fayum portrait, painted on a piece of wood that was laid over the face of the deceased in his coffin. Unlike the stylized masks you see on Pharaohs, for example, these were actually painted to look like the person who'd died. These came into popularity during Egypt's Roman period, sometime between 30 BC and 395 AD. What I find extraordinary is that this isn't someone famous, or painted by someone famous--it's just this man, whomever he was, staring back at us from 2000 years ago. Just incredible, and really moving, for me.

My first Egyptian mummy. Not technically on display, but in the conservation lab, lying on a table next to a woman in a labcoat who was making notes on the computer. Not exactly the most glorious ending, to be sure, and certainly not the one expected, but People From The Future come from far and wide to see you, whoever you are. That's gotta be at least a little satisfying.

Ok, just one more Anubis, and then I'll stop, I promise. This time he's on the lintel of a tomb's false door (2500-2300 BC). (I have so very many more Anubis photos. You don't even know.)****

One of Schiaparelli's greatest finds was the tomb of Merit and Kha, from the Middle Kingdom, between 1428 and 1351 BC. It was an entire ginormous tomb complex stuffed with furniture, food, various entertainments, clothing, makeup, pottery, jewelry, and heaps of other everyday things intended to be used by the dead in the afterlife...all of which is now in the museum. Above, the middle sarcophagus of Kha, an esteemed royal architect under at least four different pharaohs. 

Innermost sarcophagus of Merit, Kha's wife. (I use the terms "middle" and "innermost" because these two particular nobles each had three concentric sarcophagi, with the outermost being a large wooden box, and with each inner one successively more elaborate than the last.)

Frankly, I found this tremendously creepy and a bit gross: Merit's wig, braided and crimped together out of human hair. Ick. (They have its storage box on display, as well.)

My favorite, and by far the most dramatic, part of the museum: the Statuary. Two rooms full of monumental granite and diorite statues of various gods and sphinxes and pharaohs, as well as a few granite sarcophagi and some papyrus columns. It is stunning and awesome and a great way to finish off a trip to that fantastic museum.

Post-museum, we had a nice dinner at La Badessa. Because I'm trying to be a bit less obsessive and weird about recording every morsel I eat while on travel, I can only tell you that I started with noodles in rabbit and lentil sauce, and then I think I had the cod and mashed potatoes. I know for certain, however, that my Mom had the gargantuan "peasant's" tasting menu (what! it's the food of the poor!), and that it was delicious and an amazing value for the money, really. (She had sausage-stuffed Savoy cabbage, the heartiest-ever legume and grain soup [super yum], a meat plate with some veggies on the side, and a ricotta pudding with grape sauce.) 

Day two: when in Torino, one must visit the Shroud, of course. You can't take photos in the little Shroud chapel itself (and you can't even see the real Shroud--it's hidden away in a big box), but you can inside the cathedral...and I managed to capture their mad organ player in action.

He wasn't really mad. He was just really small and really getting into it.

Next up, the royal palace, built in the early 17th century (with several ensuing renovations, of course). This place is insanely over-the-top and answers the question, "Can one have too much gilding in one's palace?" The answer is an unequivocal yes. Yes, one absolutely can.

Ceremonial entrance stairway. Good for a genuine "wow." Renovated in 1862 to celebrate the continuance of the Savoy dynasty with the ascension of Vittorio Emanuele II to the throne of the newly-unified country.

The staircase leads to the rather impressive and cavernous Hall of the Swiss Guards, the main reception room since the 17th century.

Carlo Alberto's throne room, 1831 to 1849, with its coffered ceiling from the 1660s.

In the fabulous armory, a Milanese helmet depicting the labors of Hercules, made around 1550 (!). 

A bejeweled Ottoman sword from the 16th or 17th century.

The Daniel Gallery, with ceiling frescoes from 1684.

My favorite room, most probably because it's the kind of place I'd host fabulous costume balls, were I a princess in a fairy tale. Or 19th-century Italian royalty. It's so sparkly and pretty. Its current appearance dates to 1835.

Back out on the streets, we snuck in a quick lunch: Mom and Mike opted for pizza, whereas Dad and I had waffle sandwiches (savory, of course) from the lovely little take-away Gofreria Piemonteisa. It wasn't until our bellies were full, however, that we made this discovery just down the street:

KONOPIZZA! Yes, friends, that is pizza in a cone. I'm sure it's terrible, but it's the kind of weird junk food that's right up my alley. Why, oh why, can I not have unlimited stomach space? Must. Eat. This. Someday.

In the afternoon, we headed to the Torino Archaeological Museum, which is conveniently included in the price of admission to the palace. (Well done, Torino. Very well done.) Here, part of the Roman amphitheater that's under the palace itself.

The archaeological museum is another stellar one; the history of Torino is long and interesting, and they've got the artifacts to prove it. This is a 7th-century tombstone with no fewer than three separate inscriptions on it.

Bronze statue head (the rest is lost) from 25 BC-35 AD.

Ninth-century marble pulpit fragment. So beautiful.

Gold jewelry from a 2nd-century Lombard woman's grave.

First- through third-century glassware. Obviously, those wee labels came a bit later. (How does this stuff survive?? That's what gets me. It's glass, for crying out loud! I break sturdier stuff than this in my own kitchen all the time!)

Giant silver decorative furniture band from the 2nd- or 3rd-century treasure of Marengo.

After the museum, it was actually sunny, and so we decided to try our luck with going up the elevator to the top of the Mole Antonelliana, but the line was ridiculous and there's no way we would have gotten up there before sunset. Sadly. At least we tried, I suppose, but it was still pretty disappointing. (When, in Torino, has there ever been a line to anything? Never, in my experience. So sad.)

Instead, then, we walked down to the river and saw some pretty views.

We also saw four interesting little birdies, three of which are in the photo above. (The fourth, a cormorant, was further away and was not terribly cooperative with my birdie photo shoot.)

Then, we rode one of Torino's antique streetcars back to our hotel, whence we headed out to dinner at con Calma, as we do when we're in the neighborhood. One thing I love about that place: it's seasonal, so the menu's always changing: One thing I don't like about that place: it's seasonal, so when the menu changes, you don't get to have whatever awesome thing it was that you had the last time you were there. (Bah, humbug.) I somehow ordered two dishes featuring pumpkin--one of grilled onions stuffed with pumpkin and amaretti, and then a risotto of pumpkin and castelmagno cheese (yaaaaaaay, fall! I heart you, pumpkin!). The real star of the show, however, was Dad's fritto misto--which is a common menu item all over Italy, and just means "mixed fried stuff." Dad took a liking to the concept, because it's different everywhere you go, and the one at con Calma was really an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach. 

No, seriously. There were meats and sausages and vegetables and fruits and a couple of wedges of cornmeal puddings--both chocolate and vanilla--and all battered and fried.

Ahhh, Torino, you always treat us right. Our final day was spent driving northwards past no fewer than ten castles (I counted!), then through the thickest clouds and fog ever over San Bernardino pass, which was maybe one of the more stressful drives of my lifetime. Thankfully, Mike was driving, but I think it stresses me out even more to be a passenger, as everything's out of my control and I don't like it one bit. However, he did a fine, fine job; I didn't get carsick even once on all those twisty roads (shocking!!); and obviously, we all lived to tell the tale. When we got back to Zürich, my parents had a couple of days of R&R and laundry, and then said their goodbyes and headed back to the US.

But not, however, without first experiencing what I think is one of Zürich's finest annual events: Oktoberfest! I think it might be the happiest I've ever seen Swiss people, in their lederhosen and dirndls, wearing goofy hats and dancing on benches and singing along to a range of music from 1980s German pop hits to classic American rock. It is fantastic.

Dad thought so, too.

And with that, folks, we've come to the end of our epic Italian (and a teensy bit Swiss) adventure with Mom and Dad. We had a brilliant time, and we hope they did too.

What we're watching: oh my gosh, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. See it, people: it's hilarious. I heart Andy Samberg. Million Dollar Arm, which--I had no idea--was based on a true story. It's actually pretty sweet, although Don Draper is reprehensible through most of it. (And I've discovered that I really like Lake Bell. She seems like she'd be super cool to hang out with.) Speaking of Lake Bell: I can't remember whether I've mentioned it, but you should really watch the movie In a World. It's about the highly competitive world of (mostly fictitious) voiceover actors and it is hysterical and sweet and not for watching with the little ones. I think it's climbed into my Top Five. Captain America: Winter Soldier, which was super intense and better than I expected (although finding out who the Winter Soldier was = laaaaaaaame.) Hello, Ladies, the movie to finish off the single-season HBO show on which they absolutely and hugely dropped the ball. (Stephen Merchant: you are hilarious!!) It ended just as it should have, and was chock-full of the awkwardness we adore in that show. Modern Family, sincerely brilliant as always. Ty Burrell is a genius. New Girl, which continues to increase in its goofiness and ability to make me cackle. They have absolutely hit their comedic stride.

What I'm reading: Sleeps with Dogs, by my lovely friend Lindsey Grant! It's funny and sad and sweet and has a good ending, and also maybe confirms why I'd be unable to work with animals as a career, despite how much I love them. Honestly, I do not know how she physically dealt with some of the (sometimes quite literal!) crap that she did as a "pet nanny" in San Francisco. Read it and support my delightful friend...you won't regret it! Yes Please, the amazing autobiography-memoir-thing by Amy Poehler, one of the funniest women in history. I've been looking forward to this one for months, and it was well worth the wait. Citizens of London, by Lynne Olson, about the Americans influential in wartime Britain during WWII. It's a bit lengthy, and can get draggy in places, but for the most part, it's a really interesting read (and surprisingly informative--so much about FDR and Churchill I didn't know!) and quite a nice tribute to some unsung heroes. A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True, a fiction novel with double narratives set in WWII Poland and contemporary Krakow. So far, it is beautiful and compelling and sad and really, really good, despite my inability to understand all of the Polish words sprinkled here and there.

Heyo, but that was a long post! I gotta warn ya, though, friends, that the next series probably won't be much shorter, and here's why: it's going to be about my super-secret-surprise birthday trip last week to Egypt. Get ready.

*Ok, so this is going to sound pretentious, and probably is, but I will say: if you're into truffles, go for the real thing, or maybe truffle salt, but don't bother with the oil. Especially at restaurants, because usually it's just a chemical scent and flavor, and no actual truffles were involved in the making of it. I had some once and it was really not pleasant.

**I submit that it cannot.

***Speaking of art and Piemonte culture, those paintings behind them are done by local artists and have been used on the labels of their Luvi blend, which Paolo creates yearly according to the specific characteristics of the grapes from that particular harvest. In other words, no two years will taste the same, and it's entirely a matter of what Signore Manzone prefers that year. Neat. 

****I've learned lots lately about Egyptian tombs. According to ancient Egyptian mythology, after death, the soul of the deceased flew around like a lost bird, trying to find its person again. False doors were constructed to serve as the entrance to the tomb for that soul, for when it finally found and was able to return to the body for rebirth.