Leaving Condove

Sad to say, but the movers arrived this morning and started to box everything up.  By Wednesday we turn in the key to the house and depart for the last time as residents.  It is a wonderful little town.  Everyone has been so welcoming and helpful.  We are very disappointed to leave.

Below you'll see a selection of photo's that highlight the town and its many events.  A few memories to capture the fives years we have lived here.  We will certainly return for frequent visits.  Our new place is only a few mile up the road.  But it still is sad to leave.

EICMA 2011 - aka Milano Motorcycle Show

November 12 I went the the motorcycle show in Milan.  It is a fun event to see whats new and take some photo's of cool stuff.

I went there a couple years ago and had a good time.  It is amazingly large and is really more that a consumer product event.  About half the event is component suppliers promoting their businesses to the industry and a lot of emerging market manufactures looking for a way to enter the mainstream first world markets.  You see a lot of knockoffs of 1970's Honda small displacement products.  Considering the stuff Honda made back then was pretty good, its probably a good approach for a new company.  (I saw some nice examples of Honda CT70 Minitrails which would still be fun to have!)

The are a lot of accessories and clothing on display as well.  I saw some pretty cool helmets including a nice one from Bell.  (but with the colors inverted...  black with a white stripe) I am a little temped but it is a little too expensive.

And of course the is the usual festival food when its time for a break.  A Bratwurst with kraut and a beer in my case.  Perhaps not as Italian as some other option but it was good!

Along with the normal range of new 2012 motorcycle products there was a nice selection of scooters, custom bikes, race bikes, and vintage motorcycles.

Thanksgiving in Italy... with some invention.

We actually missed Thanksgiving day because it is a normal work day  here.  So we shifted our celebration to the following Saturday.  The second adaptation is the main course.  Whole turkey see hard to get here.  One year we bought a selection of turkey pieces (a leg, a breast, a wing, and some turkey livers) and "assembled" a half of turkey.  It worked pretty well considering it is just Queen Bee and I.

This year we went with a large chicken, 7 pound capon, which isn't really much smaller then the turkey we would normally get for the family (usually around 11 pounds)

So along with the chicken we had the normal sides...  peas, stuffing, mashed potatoes.

The trick part was the cranberry sauce.  Cranberry sauce does not exist here and it is pretty fundamental for Thanksgiving.   We had not thought ahead to bring some over last time we were in the US.  But I had brought some dried cranberries that Queen Bee used to use in her normal lunch salad.  F=Somewhere along the way these dropped off her menu so we still had a couple bags of them.

She check the web to see if there any recipes for sauce or some suitable side dish using dried cranberries.  But no luck.  She did not that allspice seemed to be a common ingredient for some cranberry dishes.  So we decided to wing it and create some thing.  My guess for something that might approach the correct texture and taste good was...

- One bag dried cranberries
- Port (which we happened to have sitting around)
- Brown sugar
- Allspice

...  Perfect!  It was probably the best cranberry sauce we ever had.  It will now become our holiday standard for the future.  Live and learn as they say.

So so managed to have a very successful day with lots of good food (by the way, the capon was really good as well).

Sorry, no photo's.

November 2011

November has started badly for western Italy the weekend after the Nov 1 holiday we were hit with a series of heavy rains that tramitized much of the area.  Severe flooding along the coast did extensive damage, with streets turning into raging rivers and major mud slides in the hills along the sea.  Numerous fatalities as well.  There we many dramatic photos and films of people being swept along by the currents running through the city streets.  Very scary

For the area around Torino, the result was not so bad.  Rivers became swollen and there were several car accidents but we didn't get the flooding that was experienced elsewhere.

This morning things are much better.  The sky is absolutely clear.  The rain, turning to snow in the mountains, has left the initial blank of white at the higher altitudes that make this area so picturesque this time of year.

We have an appointment with the moving company this morning.  Time to work through the logistics of our impending move.  Not looking forward to it for a lot of reasons.

Saturday July 30: A hike and a lunch...

Last Saturday we did our lunch/hike at Lago Moncenisio.

Starting with a wonderful (as always) lunch at the "Gite D'Etape Le Toet" which sits above the lake.   Cheese, Polenta and sausages in a light broth.  Actually I would like to know what is in the broth because it is very good poured on the polenta.  Seems to be a basic chicken or vegetable broth with onions, some herbs, and maybe, some saffron (I think this is what makes it unique).  In any case the combination is really good and we like it the best of the refugio style places we lunch at.  Besides the food, the view of the lake from the deck is very nice.  


Desert was great as well.  I had their oustanding varient on French toast (I really don't know how they get so much butter injected into these things!) and topped with home made blueberry preserves.  Queen Bee had a crepe.

Like a typical refugio, they offer sleeping quarters as well as food.  They have a web site at...  www.giteletoet.com

Lunch was followed by our traditional Saturday nap on the grass in a field above the lake.  A few pesky bugs kept it from being as restful as some time but we were able to relax reasonably well.

Eventually we got a little restless and decided to take a walk along one of the gravel roads above the lake.  The area is a mix of small working farms, hiking trails, a cluster of restaurants on one side of the lake, and some of the most awesome scenery you cane imagine.

A man and his young son were cutting hay while we walked the path.  It seems that it would be very isolated life.

Grassy rolling slops climbing up steep mountain faces.  Late in the day the setting sun highlighted the shadows and textures in a wonderful show of natural effects.  I am not really going to do justice to the scenes with words so I'll let the remaining photo's give you a glimps of this part of the world.

Saturday August 13: Lago Verdi and Lunch

Queen Bee and I went on a typical Saturday hike/lunch outing.  This time we tried a new destination recommended by a friend of Queen Bee's.  We visited Lago Verde in Valle Stretta just across the French boarder.  It is a little west of us.  After some confusion driving though Bardonecchia, we got to the parking area at about noon.  The sky was perfectly clear and the temperature was a little over 70F so it was perfect for an afternoon walk.

The hike to the lake was about 40 minutes and was generally up hill for the first 15 minutes or so, then became wide and easy.

After crossing a foot bridge over a stream with impressive cascades, the last 15 minutes was a little steep and tricky with some irregular footing over rocks but not really difficult.

There were quite a few people at the lake milling around and taking photos.  The lake has a very strange green hugh that makes it very unique.

We stayed for about 15 minutes to take some photo's .  The return was much quicker.  About 30 minutes as  it was down hill for a significant portion and we knew where we were going.  (no lost motion).

Lunch at the "3rd Alpini" refugio was great.  The normal variation on the refugio set menu...  misc appetizers (anchovies in pesto, fresh cheese with tuna sauce, bean salad, sliced cold meats) and a main course of polenta and sausages in sauce.  Desert or cooked cream (pannacotta ?) for me and a blueberry crisp for Queen Bee.

All followed by a brief nap on the grass before the drive home.  It's nice that we can visit such wonderful places within a 90 minute ride in car.  It is something we are going to miss when we no longer live in Val di Susa.

The views along the walk were wonderful.  Similar to the vistas we have seen in the Dolomites earlier this year.  We hope to visit this general area some more late in the year.  It should be wonderful for a day trip in the fall.  Some more pic's below...

2011 June - Langhe Trip - l'Antico Asilo

This might sound like a bit of an advertisement but we realy liked the B&B we stayed at in Serralunga d'Alba.  It is called l'Antico Asilo and it is located on the perimiter of the town.  The B&B is run by Elena, a young lady that lives near by.  The street is quiet and lined with trees and flowers.  The view just outside the B&B lookes over the Langhe hillside while the rooms look into a nice garden/courtyard.  The guest rooms are a nice size and have a sitting area in loft above that looks down into the room.  So it is much more spacious then most B&Bs.   The decorations in rooms are nicely done with matching bedding and chair covers.  The reception is large for a B&B and very ornate.  The the breakfast room is cozzy with has about four tables.  Breakfast includes fresh baked goods that Elena makes herself along with a great selection of local cheeses.  Of course there were the usual choices of cereal, breads, yogurt, etc...

It was a very nice place to base our short tour from.

There are a few restaurants within easy walking distance.  One,  Cascina Schiavenza, is very good and is associated with a very good winery.  It features traditional Piemontese dishes.  As is typical here, there is a menu of the day that provides a multi-course meal that includes a sampling of appetizers,  a pasta dish, a main course, and dessert for a fixed price.