so long, southern Italy.

The next day, seeing as we had a little time to kill before the wedding (and were well-located in Fasano, at most a 20-minute drive from most of these places, thanks to yours truly, whose research actually got the location right, for once!) we struck out for the seaside town of Monopoli, where we found the hottest, stillest weather yet. (Some of the other towns were hot, but offered both occasional shade and breezes; Monopoli, not so much. Sooooooooo sweaty.) But hey, fortress! And, of course, it's ridiculously pretty.

A little Liberty.

Heading into Monopoli's historic center.

Sooooo many taralli in a bakery whose oven-room door was flung wide open, the better to distribute the overwhelmingly delicious scent of baked goodies with. (Actually, I'm sure it was to get a cross-breeze in there, but still. Very effective sales technique.)

All these towns got a clock tower. Monopoli's is from the 16th century.

Frescoed, 11th-century crypt in the little church of Santa Maria degli Amalfitani.

The nave and aisles in the church above are from the 12th century (sheesh).

Some slightly more subtle lights on some very nifty between-building buttresses.

The castle of Carlo V, completed by the Spanish in 1552 (and incorporating a previous Roman wall, a medieval convent, and a Norman/Swabian castle partially destroyed in 1414, of course).

I don't know if that's a shop or a house or whatever, but I want to steal it and live in it and tend its ridiculously healthy balcony petunias for ever and ever. (Also, you could probably be friends with the people next door and use their awesome bourgeoisie balcony for cocktail hour..is what I'd do.)*

Wooooo, more buttresses! I guess I'm just fascinated by these things 'cause in no way are there buildings in the US that are old enough (or close enough together) to have them. They're neat.

I can assure you that I'd never, ever be brave enough to try to drive a car down the streets of Monopoli--most of which I'd assumed were for people only--but these brave souls were plunging ahead in their Smartcar. Even in such a tiny vehicle, they still had to make it a 3-point turn to get around the corner and into this street.

Next, it was over to Polignano a Mare, which turned out to be the beach destination in the area. (Good Lord. So many people, everywhere.) 

Polignano is also home to a portion of the Trajan Way, a Roman road from the third century BC.

Interesting fact: on the cliff edge in the distance, there's a platform for a Red Bull diving competition, and it can only be accessed through a private residence. (Unless you paid me absolutely obscene amounts of money, I would not have sandy/drippy divers, along with whatever production flunkies might accompany such a competition, tromping through my house.)

This used to be the town hall. I think it's now a restaurant and some sort of lodging, but the neat part is that that 19th-century clock is still wound by ropes.

Surprise! Polignano is full of winding, whitewashed alleyways. Uniquely, however, this small corner of town had been generously decorated by a local poet/artist.

Obnoxiously full of beach-goers, to be sure, but daaaaaang, if it ain't super pretty.

And with that, we headed back to Fasano to prepare for the wedding. 

Which was held here, next to this lighthouse. (Neat.) It was beautiful and elegant and sweet, but as it wasn't my wedding, I won't post photos of the bride and groom, both of whom looked absolutely fantastic (and very happy).

And the reception...oh, my. It was held at this gorgeous old farm, in the middle of this field of absolutely ancient olive trees, which was probably a center for olive-oil production at some point in time. It was beautiful and charming and magical, and, on this night, was set up for eating. There were little booths all around three sides of this massive, white stone patio--kinda like a street food festival, but classy--and they were full of food and drink.

There were not one, but two salumi booths: this one with various sliced prosciuttos (and some hard cheeses, of course)...

...and this one, with multiple types of salami (and more cheese--at least 5 different kinds!).

There was the marinata booth, with all manner of delicious seafoods...

...which was between this, the raw seafood booth...

...and this, the yakitori (most popular) booth. In that cabinet, in case you're wondering, is a couple of kinds of sausages; some pork belly; and several types of seafood, all for grilling.

There were also a few beverage stands--one for craft beers (and cheese) and two for water, wine, and bubbly--but obviously, this was the most fantastic booth of all: THE CHEESE PEOPLE. Not only were there plates of smoked mozzarella, and mozzarella with tomatoes, and all manner of other forms of mozzarella in front of them, but she was handing out the freshest ricotta...

...and THIS MAN WAS MAKING FRESH MOZZARELLA. RIGHT THERE. I'm not going to lie to you, I stood here, mouth agape, for probably 5 minutes, watching this guy. I was not subtle, but that may have been the most glorious thing I've ever seen in my life. Because cheeeeeeeeeeeeese.

And there were people circulating through the crowd with plates of various fried things (chicken, fish, veg)...and those were the starters, people. After some speeches and a little dancing, we all sat down and had a three-course meal of fregola pasta with veggies and seafood; some insanely good ravioli filled with eggplant, stracciatella, and almonds, in tomato-arugula sauce; and zucchini-wrapped fish fillets with prawns and veggies. 

And then, after more toasts and dancing (the band--and especially the male lead singer--was good!), the desserts came out. All the booths from earlier were suddenly covered in a mind-boggling array of sweet things, including various cream-puff iterations; freshly-filled mini cannoli and lobster-tail pastries; tiny baba al rhum cakes (holy smokes, so much rum, though!); all manner of marzipan- and fondant-covered cakes; fresh fruit; the wedding cake itself, of course; and one entire table covered in massive jars of candied almonds. (In Apulia, they're called confetti, and there were at least 10 different kinds, my favorite being the amarena--sour cherry and chocolate. HOLY MOLY, I could have eaten kilos of those. In retrospect, we should have bought any and all that we could find on our explorations the next day.)

Massive olive tree by night.

As Mike and I are old, we called it a night before the cocktail party started up (1:30? 2:00-ish?), and so were in slightly better shape than the friends-from-Zürich with whom we met up with the next day to explore Cisternino--a town we'd seen referred to as a "gem" on innumerable tourist publications, and therefore had to see, in order to determine whether, in fact, it was--and Turi, the wee town to which we'd relocated for our final night in Apulia.

Cisternino: yet another place in southern Italy in which I'd like to have a holiday home. (Actually, I don't think we've yet encountered a city in Italy where I wouldn't want a holiday home...)

I love the rather haphazard stacking of things in these cities.

Quiet...

...and so pretty.

Back in Turi, where we had the most darling B&B (tremendously friendly owner! amazing AC! compact, but sleeps 5! 2 bathrooms! a balcony! plus a darling breakfast nook, and all in a gorgeous building with an arched stone roof!)...

...we also found the rather spectacularly large (at least, for such a small town) Palazzo Marchesale, the history of which dates to Norman times, but the current form of which comes from the 17th century. (The guy on the far left here was selling veggies out of his car trunk, and I think the rest of these gentlemen were just hanging out, giving each other a hard time.)

Some nice baroque details.

Inside the palace courtyard.

Another civic clock tower, this time in red. (And this time from 1892.)

Interesting coat-of-arms spotted on our wanderings.

Art Nouveau pile near our B&B, just begging for me to buy it and fix it up. (Actually, it wasn't for sale, but a girl can dream.)

On our last night in Apulia, we were fortunate enough to be invited to a party at the residence of the groom's grandfather for dinner. Among other things, dinner included fava puree; the best cooked broad beans I've ever had; sandwiches made of beef that had to have been stewed for at least a day (so...fantastic...); and sangria made with the local peaches. (All followed by trays of various ice creams that made me want to collect them all.)

I guess I forgot to mention that said party was in the courtyard of a 16th-century castle ruin, which, you know, just happened to be on the olive-oil- and fruit-tree-producing property that the groom's grandparents bought however many years ago. (Produce was the selling point, and the castle merely an afterthought.)**

The next morning, we bid a sad adieu to our B&B, then caught our flight from Bari to Milano, where we had enough time before our train home to fit in a meal (and some browsing) at Eataly. On our way back to the train station, we came across these fantastical apartments:

...which I'd actually read about a few years ago, but never realized they'd been completed. (Amazing. Want.)

One last treat at the train station:

Gahhhhhhhhh, my new favorite thing, especially in the summer heat: crema di caffe, or espressino freddo, which is espresso blended with cream and sugar and then frozen like an Icee. Man, oh man, is it heavenly, and I must have had at least 10 of these during this particular trip.

And with that, we headed back to Zürich, with plenty of olive oil and taralli in hand. Thank you, Apulia and Basilicata: you were marvelous.

What I'm reading: I know, I know, I've been hopelessly unhelpful in this category for a loooong time, but I feel like my current reads are worth mentioning. Those are, concurrently, The Road to Little Dribbling, by Bill Bryson, and I Hear the Sirens in the Street, by Adrian McKinty, the former of which periodically makes me cackle out loud (oh Bill Bryson, how I love--and 100% identify with--your curmudgeonly thoughts!), and the latter of which--based in Troubles-era Northern Ireland--is the latest in a long, long line of UK-based crime novels on which my friend Lindsey got me started. And then promptly addicted. (You may not believe this, but the best, by far, have been those written by Robert Galbraith...a.k.a. J.K. Rowling. It's insanely unfair how she can be so good in two such different genres! Supposedly she's working on another in that series, and I cannot wait for its arrival.)

Up next: yet more London and Barcelona. Maybe. I don't want you to get bored of those places, though--we certainly haven't!--so we'll see how I feel.

*Ok, no, not really, I don't want to live there. A), because the doors are way too small for my husband, and B) the heat is oppressive, even right there on the beachfront. Nope, nope, nope. But it is so, so pretty.

**Um...I guess this is just how one lives in the heel of Italy. Sign me up, please.

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??