Today I Had a Visitor

  Today a Heron flew over my house and and landed on a tree directly outside my window. It sat there and posed for a few pictures before heading off back to the sea. Lovely.

The Fiat 500 Takes on America

  It's official! The Torino made Fiat 500 (or cinquecento in Italian) has been named the #1 coolest car under $18,000 in America according to Kelly Blue Book's "Best, Coolest and Top 10 Lists" competition. Let's be honest, the 500 is dang cute right!?

The 500 has been knocking around for years in Italy (since 1957) and has never really lost it's popularity, even when the factory took a long break from making them in 1975. Much like the Mini Cooper, a cute car with a vintage pedigree is just now is coming to America.

Would you drive one?

Are You Greedy?

   My new favorite cooking show is a recently aired BBC series called Two Greedy Italians I was a fan of the show in the first minute of watching it because the chemistry between Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo reminds me of Jack Lemmon  and Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men. They also visit the most beautiful places in Italy and cook delicious food that I believe you could easily copy at home. Another interesting angle of the show explores why the young women in Italy have stopped learning how to cook and pass on their families traditional recipes,which yielded some interesting answers.

Two other fun facts I learned: 1. Marco Polo did NOT bring pasta to Italy. It was a Roman invention. 2. The birth of the Pizza Margherita came out of a Cholera epidemic.

Take a peek....

Bring on the Curves

Props to Vogue Italia's June 2011 cover containing 3 beautiful, sexy, CURVY models. Although they are not household names yet, models Tara Lynn, Candice Huffine and Robyn Lawley made us average sized women proud.

Two things I did notice, they put them in underwear to be sexy or because there is no designer clothes made in their size? Second, the cover reads "Real Beauty", what does that mean?

Next cover idea: Curvy model in a Chanel Suit. Chanel who never makes a suit over size 8.

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Tea Party

*Staring*  Me

...and Jolie

Pour the tea..or is it tea?

It's not a tea party with out the goodies

We thank you for coming....now off with you.

Back to A Fanciful Twist for more fun.....

Torino Makes the Top 100 List

Susan Van Allen's list travel guide, 100 Places In Italy Every Woman Should Go, includes Torino on her list at #51.

She notes the Royal Palaces of Savoy as the city's highlight recommending them to all women visiting Italy.

Now I could make a list of 100 places to visit just in Torino, and half of them most likely include chocolate, but that's just me.

Check out Susan's blog that includeds many of the places from her book is here:
http://susanvanallen.wordpress.com/books/

The directTorino page is here.

Print It, Laminate It, Take It With You to Italy

Take this handy guide with you on your trip to Italy so you always know what coffee to order.

Chart found here.

It Seems Like Everyone Went Fishing Today

  It's been raining so when the sun came out today with a vengeance, it seems that everyone took advantage...in the Rapallo way of course.

Even the kids were out on their little boats.

Remember the Salty Sailor? He was out too. I just love his row boat against the backdrop of the mega yachts.

The Restaurant Review: Vino e Cucina

  The best tuna I ever had was only a couple of night ago in Chiavari (Liguria) at a place called Vino e Cucina.
Chiavari is one of a string of seaside riveria towns that dot the coast line stretching from Portofino down to Cinque Terra. With the sea at your front door, it's pretty hard to not get a wonderful fish dish anywhere in this area but this place, this place has the best tuna dish.

Here was the menu we had.

Appetizers: Carne Cruda with Shrimp and Vegetable Medley

First Plate: Gnocchi with Zucchini and Langostini

Second Plate: Tuna Encrusted in Sesame Seeds and a Finocchio and Mandarin Salad

Dessert: Puff Pastry with Fig Jam and Cream

Everything was delicious, the service was typically slow and our wine selection was out but the manager recommended a nice substitute. I recommend the tuna! The restaurant itself is quite small so a reservation is reccommended.

Vino e Cucina

Via Bighetti 107, Chiavari
http://www.beremangiare.it/vinocucina/

Door Series #44

Teenagers

  School's out so the teenagers hang out in the piazza all day, trying to look cool.

Nice Day for a Nude Bike Ride

  The annual nude bike ride buzzed by my house on Sunday and I just have one question, isn't that uncomfortable?
Some people were all nude, some wore bikinis. Either way I think they got the point across. It's just not summer until nude people on bikes ride by my piazza. Summer has begun.

Last Day of School/First Day of Summer

  Teenagers once again took to Piazza Castello to drench themselves in the fountains to celebrate the last day of school OR should I say to celebrate the first day of summer? Why? It's tradition.

Whoops.

  The kids of Jersery Shore are still in Italy but I think they forgot to give a shout out to St. Christopher (Patron Saint of Travellers) before they arrived because they keep running into trouble every where they go. Shocker. Perhap St. Acarius is more their style.
The latest trouble comes from Snooki who crashed her car into...your gona love this...an Italian police car. The same police who were trying to escort them around town. The two police in the car, had to go to the hospital but are ok. Oh ya, so is Snooki.

I have 2 questions. 1.Why is she allowed to drive in Italy? 2. Where was she going? Florence is small enough to walk anywhere and even when she arrived, there would be NO parking.

The mayor of Florence, who sounds quite smart and speaks good english, laid down a few ground rules before they arrive and they were: No drinking and/or public drunkenness, No flights, no disturbing the peace, no blocking traffic, and a enforced curfew. Yet they still managed to get in a car accident.  I'm sure the accident will be in the show, are you watching?

Image of saint from Select Italy: http://selectitaly.com/magnets.php