Fall Stroll in Torino Postscript...

Going to the park yesterday was a very good call!  The evening brought the Susa Valley winds that signal the change of seasons.  By the time we left the Croce Bianco after dinner, the rain was beginning to turn to sleet.  Cold rain and sleet greeted me on my walk to breakfast this morning as well.  Actually the weather is identical to that in the opening pages  of the detective book I started yesterday (The Laughing Policeman).  But that takes place in Stockholm in mid November.

So we have November 4 days early.  Sounds like stew tonight.

The mountain just north of us.  Snow covered by late afternoon!

Seoul, Korea

I returned from Korea on Friday.  It was a very brief business trip.  I wasn't really looking forward to it with everything we have going on now.  It seemed a little intense to think about beforehand, but it all went pretty well and was a nice adventure in the end.

Left Torino in the early afternoon on Monday and arrived in Seoul nearly the same time I had left Torino.  The flight from Frankfort was about 10 hours.  I was actually able to get about five hours sleep on the plane.  Unusual for me, but it helped the trip get a good start.  

There is a few ways to get from the airport to the hotel: taxi, hotel shuttle bus, or the train.  I went for the train because I thought it would get me in the real Korea sooner.  I.e. traveling with the local population rather than a bunch of foreigners.  It was a good choice.  Clean, efficient and economical (about five dollars for a one hour ride into the city).

Train station to the Hilton was a bit of a challenge.  I was told it was a ten minute walk, but no one had mentioned that the station was at the base of a hill and the hotel near the top.  It wouldn't have been too bad without the roller bag, but I did have a roller bag.  I made it to the lobby ok, even if I was a little ripe by the time I got there.  

My coworkers were arriving a little later, so I took the opportunity for a short walk to get familiar with the neighborhood and to take some photos.  Later, when the first person arrived, we grabbed a coffee at a Starbucks clone coffee shop.  Very nice actually and the coffee was better than Starbucks (not "burnt").  Seoul is full of American stile coffee shops.  Really surprising in that sense.  Lot of people walking around with big paper cups.  Definitely not Italy. (You never see anyone out walking with a coffee in hand in Italy!) 

Simple Japanese diner with the guys the first night.  The second night we were entertained to a grand Korean dinner by our hosts.  Really wonderful!

After the second day of business on Thursday my colleagues wanted western food so after an unsuccessful walk to look for something, we went back to the hotel and grabbed a taxi to a place the hotel had recommended.  Italian in this case.  It was fine even if a little pricey. 

During the walk we had found one really wonderful street with several blocks of very dense market stalls.   Food , clothing etc...  There was stall after stall selling fresh sea food to your order, prepared by smiling women on little cook stoves behind the display.  Each of the stalls had two or three small tables (think of our "Little Tykes" table and chair set)  The sea food on display looked very well organized and fresh.  Tempting to me but not to the others.  

So after dinner I went out for another walk to see if I could get a picture of the market scene and maybe a beer and a snack to make up for missing a local experience the last evening.  Unfortunately, the market was packed up by the time I got back to the correct street.  So I wandered around to take some photos of Seoul at night.  And get a beer and a snack! 

Namsan Mountain and Seoul Tower in the day.

The hotel lobby is both grand and stylish.

I liked the large format art in the lobby

Typical city street.

The old Seoul Station

Seoul Station and the point of my arrival

One of the many Christian churches in Seoul backed up by the Hilton up the hill

Namsan Mountain and the Seoul Tower at night

Evening street scene

Typical "carry out" with the display and serving area on the walkway, 

and a very small kitchen in a nook in the wall.

People out for the evening.  Not as crowded as I recall Yokohama 

but still a lot of people out and about quite late.

The diner for my last outing.  Beer was good and the fish dumpling 

soup was ok.  But the fried chicken looked wonderful.  

Next time!!

Fall Stroll in Torino

The weather surprised us today.  The prediction for the weekend as of Thursday (checking from Korea) looked pretty dreary.  But this morning seemed pretty good.  We had some errands to run that took us toward Torino, so we decided to leverage one of the few remaining fall afternoons to go to Parco Valentino along the river Po for a walk, lunch, and to take a few photos.

I got lucky that there were a lot of crews out rowing in the early afternoon and the place we picked for lunch had a perfect view of the activities on the river.  With the fall colors in the background, the setting was perfect.  Lunch was good as well with sliced beef (cooked with lemon juice as they say... aka raw), saffron  risotto, a glass of local wine each, and a nice macchiato to finish it all off.

After lunch we walked around the park and took some photos of the gardens and statues.

Winter will be here soon and with only a couple more months to spend in Italy, it was nice to get a chance at a good fall afternoon.  Very nice day!

Room with a view, this is the riverside terrace where we had lunch.

someone rowing solo.

A crew of women out for little work out.

 My portion of the "roast beef". (should have taken the photo before
splitting it with Queen Bee)

Crew of women in training.  

Capuchin monastery overlooking the Po.

Club in formation?

A glimpse of a portion of the park.

The fountain of the seasons with female statues representing 

each of the twelve months of the year.

One of the women of the seasons.  

Miss July in this case.

2012 Condove Cheese Festival

We spent yesterday morning preparing for the Condove Toma Cheese Festival.  The preparation consisted of making two pounds of ghocchi (mashed potatoes, flour, etc...) by hand, so we could have a proper gnocchi and toma cheese dinner in the evening.  

There was the usual range of stands selling various regional foods and crafts.  There was also a lot of antiques, old books, etc.  But, of course, the cheese is the coolest item and the star of the show.  Stand after stand with great wheels of mountain  and regional cheeses.  This area is absolutely wonderful for exploring interesting cheese variants; mild and strong; fresh and highly aged.  While there, we got our typical range of goodies... nearly four pounds of various mountain cheeses, yogurt, apples, a variety of hand made salami, honey, and bread.  Some of the cheese went in the dinner, and the apples were baked for desert served with the honey and yogurt.  All very good!

As well as picking up provisions, we ran across a lot of our friends from Condove (our former town).  The cheese festival is sort of a Susa valley equivalent of the Plymouth (Michigan) Fall Festival.  An opportunity to get out and see a lot of old familiar faces.  It was very nice to be back in Condove for a few hours.

Queen Bee will be going to Venice on Monday for four days of Italian lessons with her cousin who is coming in from Switzerland.  I guess that leaves me alone with the remains of our haul... not so bad.

Tre Ore Spezzatino (aka Three Hour Stew)

Thinking of something to go with some good Piemontese red wine, it seemed that a stew might be nice.  So here's what I am thinking....

0.6 kg Beef for Spezzatino
0.1 kg fresh pancetta sliced thick (1 slice)
2 fillets acciughe (anchovies)
Pepper
flour
celery (as you like)
garlic       "
carrots      "
one onion
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 cup port wine
1 cup broth
potatoes (as you like, or what fits after everything else)

The plan...
Cut pancetta into strips and fry in the iron pot until mostly cooked through.
Add chopped garlic and brown lightly
Coat beef pieces with flour and a little ground pepper, then brown in pancetta fat.
Add port and simmer one hour



Add broth, celery (whole stalks with leaves), rosemary, carrots, several pepper corns, and chopped onion.  Dice anchovies and add as well.  Simmer for the second hour.

Remove celery.  Cut potatoes into pieces and add to pot.  Simmer third hour.

Prior to serving, thicken with flour if desired.