24 Hours in Parma

Just a short jaunt from Milan are several towns renowned for their DOP (denominazione di origine protetta) food products. These products must be produced in certain areas and only with certain products. Everything is checked for quality by officials of local consorzios. The quality of these products is known to be higher and of a more specialized nature.

An example of this is the cheese Parmigiano Reggiano. To qualify as a DOP product the producer must follow strict standards to have their cheese meet the requirements for the seal of DOP.

Despite America's love for that plastic green can of Kraft parmesan, I promise you that is not the real thing.

A few weeks ago, Caitlin and I headed to Parma to check out their regional food products. We spent the afternoon wandering the town, listening to a surprise orchestra concert and drinking some wine. The following day we joined two of our co-workers for an opportunity to check out local ham, cheese, and balsamic vinegar producers on the Three Kings Tour offered by FoodnWalk tours.

three types of tortelli

At the cheese factory I shot this video using the Hyperlapse app so that you could see it happen super fast! It was pretty cool and I was impressed with how it all happened. However, I can't imagine doing this work EVERY DAY.

We also got to see where the cheese ages, for anywhere from 12 to 28 or more months. I bought some 24 month aged cheese to share over Mother's Day and with my book club.

So delicious!

early in the process

watch the video to see how the cheese ends up like this

the cheese takes a swim in some salt water

#cheesefordays

the cheese is marked to identify its DOP status 

We also stopped by a place where prosciutto is cured into Parma ham. Before living in Italy I was fairly uneducated about prosciutto crudo and what it was but after living here I am a total convert. I love it. Especially when you get crudo super thinly sliced...it's like butter melting in your mouth.

outside the ham production plant

the hall of ham

the mark received when it's legit

Unfortunately, we did not get to sample enough of this product on our tour. We had just a small amount over lunch and I was definitely disappointed.

Last, we made a trip to an acetaia in the region to check out their balsamic vinegar production. Modena is home to Italy's most famous balsamic production, but there is production in other nearby areas as well. Modena's balsamic is made with red grape, but the production we saw in Reggio Emilia was made with white.

cute little barrels of different woods with aging balsamic

tasting the balsamic

I have become a balsamic snob.

At least for the high end grocery store versions.

The prices of the fancy balsamic made by DOP producers is really high! But, given that the version we liked most was aged at least 20 years, I suppose that makes sense.


Some of the nitty gritty details:

We stayed here for one night. It was clean and fairly modern. Prices were decent. It is close to the train station, but we had no trouble with the area.

We ate here. It's a huge place, which surprised us. Order the three types of ravioli and the gnocco fritto. We made the mistake of skipping it and totally regretted it.

Book the tour here by contacting them via email. While this tour has some great Trip Advisor reviews, I'm not sure I'd recommend it. Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly, the tour was full of information, but little food. I think that should be improved. For the price you pay, I'd like to see more tastings on offer. Note...you must have your own transportation for this tour.

To learn more about the cheese:
Brochure about Parmagiano Reggiano

Tulips of Amsterdam

In mid-April Caitlin and I met my friend, Marc, in Amsterdam. We wanted to see the tulips and we decided that biking through the tulip fields was a must-do while living in Europe.

We rented an AirBnb apartment, made several trips to Starbucks (4 in under 48 hours in fact), wandered the city a bit, found "the bench" from The Fault in Our Stars, and, of course, saw MILLIONS of tulips and hyacinths.

so delicious! 

yes, admittedly, we are total nerds.

I'm likely to overwhelm you with pictures of flowers now.

You've been warned.

so many flowers...everywhere!

Travel tips: 

Keukenhof Gardens is just outside of Amsterdam and are open for only 8 weeks each year. 

We bought 48 hour bus passes and used those almost exclusively. We took a tram to bus 69 that has an airport stop. From the airport we took the Keukenhof Express and bought the combo ticket for the bus ride and the park entrance fee. 

We rented bikes from the bike rental place to the left of the gardens. By the time we got there all the bikes were rented and we had to wait about an hour for bikes to be returned. 

I'd go as early as possible for both as the park got really crowded the longer we were there. 

If you rent bikes, you're given a map of different possible routes. The girl at the bike rental suggested how fun the fields and dunes would be (the longest route) so we tried it out. We'd like to issue this public service announcement: The dunes and foresty area was SO boring. And it was uphill, against the wind the day we were out there. Not so much fun. 

Summer Book Challenge

I've come across a few book challenges recently, but usually find them after they've started and never quite feel like trying to make a rushed effort to complete them.

However, Megan over at Semi-Charmed Kind of Life recently posted a summer challenge and the timing seems right to give this challenge a go.

General rules:

• The challenge will run from May 1, 2015, to August 31, 2015. No books that are started before 12 a.m. on May 1 or finished after 11:59 p.m. on August 31 will count.
• Each book must be at least 200 pages long. Audiobooks and large-print books are fine, as long as the regular print versions meets this length requirement.
• A book can only be used for one category, and each category can only be completed once. If you want to switch the category of a book during a later check-in, that's fine, just be sure to account for that in your point total.
• Rereads can be used for a maximum of three books in the challenge. This rule is meant to encourage you to try new books while still allowing you to revisit books from your childhood or young adulthood that you might get more out of now. Please reread the entire book within the timeframe of the challenge in order to count it; no simply finishing old books or partial rereads.
• The highest possible total is 200 points, and the first five people who finish the challenge will be invited to contribute a category for the next challenge.

Here are the categories:

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that fits the general rules. 

• A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett: It's our book club book in May, so I know I have to read it anyways! 

10 points: Read a book you have never heard of before. (Just go to a shelf and pick a book based on the cover, the title, whatever you want!)

• Accomplice by Eireann Corrigan: I was wandering our school library and picked it off the shelf because I liked the cover. 

10 points: Read a book that has been on your TBR list for at least two years. (If you've had a Goodreads account for 2+ years, this will be easy to figure out. If you don’t, do your best to pick a book you’re pretty sure you’ve been wanting to read for years.)

• Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger: It's been on my list for just over 2 years...though I have plenty of other choices on my list should I change my mind. 

10 points: Read a book that won a Goodreads “Best Book” award in 2014.

• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: Won the Best Book award for Young Adult Fiction. 

15 points: Read a book by an author who is completely new to you.

• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand: Never read anything by this author, yet have two of her books on my shelf. Time to get moving!  

15 points: Read a book by an author you have read before. (No re-reads for this one.)

• Not sure about this one...have several options on the shelf that could stand to be read, but there are also a lot of books I want to borrow this summer from the library, so I'm going to hold off listing one for now.

15 points: Read a book with "light" or "dark" in the title. (Or "lightness" or "darkness.")

• The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman: It's on my to-read list anyways, so... 

20 points: Read a book with the name of a city, state or country in the title.

• The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Kate Furnivall: It's on my shelf and I'm trying to clean house! 

Already got a few of the books ready to go for May 1!

20 points: Read a book with an animal on the cover.

• Life of Pi by Yann Martel: Also sitting on my shelf, and it belongs to someone else! Needs read so that I can return it! 

25 points: Read a book that is part of a series with at least four books.

• A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton: I've considered reading one in this series for awhile and since I've read all the books in the series I want to read, this seems like a good option. 

25 points: Read a book that is longer than 500 pages long. — Submitted by winter finisher Kristen from See You in a Porridge.

• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: I bought the Kindle version forever ago and haven't even opened it.  

30 points: Read a book with an alliterative title. (All words in the title must begin with the same letter; no exceptions for articles or prepositions. Examples: Gone Girl or Nicholas Nickleby. Yes, this is tough, which is why it's worth the most points!)

• Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt: Could change...because if I come across another option I'm interested in I might switch it up!

Getting at those Goals

When 2015 rolled around I set a few goals for myself for the year. I haven't really written much about them, but I figure putting pen to paper...or in this case fingers to keys...would help me stay more accountable to achieving them.

So, here goes...

goal #1: to walk 1,007 miles

Sometime over the Christmas break I came across a site where you or a team could attempt to complete 2,015 miles. I thought it would be a solid challenge to go for half of the year in miles, which translates to 1,007 miles.

Using my Moves app, I've been adding up the recorded mileage at the end of each month.

At the end of March, my total is 258.1 miles, keeping me just about on pace to make my goal. I'm hoping that with the nicer spring and summer weather it will be a little easier to get out and crank out a few more miles every week.

goal #2: to read 75 books

For the last few years I've set a goal of how many books to read. It really helps me to push myself and using Goodreads' Reading Challenge encourages me to stay on point.

As of today, I've read 31 books.

Best book I've read so far this year? I've rated 4 books with 5 stars so far, but the stand out is The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay. I was home sick one day with complete intentions of binge watching something on Netflix and started reading this story.

I did nothing all day but read. I HAD to know how this story would unfold.

goal #3: to regularly attend yoga

I've been practicing Ashtanga Yoga for almost a year now and I really want to commit to this practice. So far this year, I've been doing my best in getting to the studio, but with all the illnesses I've had I feel like this has been a little more up and down than I would like. And like every normal human being, sometimes it's easier to sit on the couch than drag my butt to yoga.

I did just order a brand new, fancy schmancy yoga mat. I hope it's worth it.

So, here's to the rest of the year...and a healthier and more consistent yoga practice.

goal #4: to learn more conversational italian

It's starting to become a little embarrassing to tell people how long I've lived in Italy and still be struggling with the language.

But what I've learned is that needing to use the language is the key to learning the language.

Unfortunately my daily life doesn't require conversational Italian.

I just finished a 12 week Italian course at local school International House. I had a wonderful teacher, Valentina, and considered taking more lessons with the school, but as our school year winds down and the pace of activities picks up, it just doesn't feel like the right time.

So, now back to Duolingo and working hard to immerse myself in experiences that will require me to practice my conversational Italian.

goal #5: to visit five new countries

Well, it seemed like a fair number to try and go for. Right now, I've reached two of the five for the year. I've got #3 planned for the last weekend of May and hopefully #4 on track for the summer. That leaves #5 for the fall.

So, who's coming with me?

Raving about Ravenna

Before jumping on the Ravenna bandwagon...because I am most certainly going to do that...pardon this interruption for a quick note about Easter Sunday.

I was invited for Easter lunch and egg dying at Leah's apartment. Christine and Leah were kind enough to share their plans with me and we had a fun afternoon. We dyed eggs old school style, no kit, no crayons, just vinegar and food coloring...and some tape.

Leah had Peeps! omg. My craving is satisfied.

Thanks ladies! The food was delicious and our eggs were, well, colorful, to say the least!!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

After my jaunt to San Marino, I headed to Ravenna, just a little ways north from Rimini. I had heard about Ravenna before, as my good friend Kate had visited there before moving back to the States two years ago.

Ravenna is most known for the most gorgeous collection of Byzantine mosaics.

Did you notice that the picture is made entirely of fingernail sized squares?

I mean, even the street signs are mosaics.

According to my good friend Rick, "The Roman emperor moved his capital to Ravenna and kept close ties with the other Roman capital at Constantinople (called Byzantium)" (p. 185, Rick Steves Italy 2011).

love, love, love

a little shaky on full zoom...

Once I saw how amazing these mosaics are I became kind of obsessed.

It's easy to see how artist Gustav Klimt took inspiration from the mosaics in Ravenna for his work during his golden period and pieces like The Kiss.

I began searching online for local mosaic artisans. I found a list from the Ravenna Tourism Office with a list of local studios. Another helpful list was a forum post on Trip Advisor that listed these artists.

Koko Mosaico Via di Roma, 136
Barbara Liverani Studio Via Girolamo Rossi, 21/a
Imad Punto Mosaico Via Francesco Negri, 4/a

Near Basilica di San Vitale I found another shop: Annafietta on Via Guiliano Argentario, 21

I admired something at each shop, but in the end decided to buy from Barbara Liverani this time around. She had a large variety of pieces for sale and the prices seemed on track with some of what I had seen around town. She was super friendly, allowed me to practice my broken Italian with her, and, well, I just liked her.

Barbara's workspace

This looks like the perfect spring frame to add to my collection of treasures from around the world. 

So if you're ever in Ravenna and have a burning desire to buy a mosaic to take home with you, I hope you'll stop by Barbara's studio and check out her work.

Several of the studios appear to offer classes...and that may put Ravenna on the agenda again.