| :: The Leonetti Family - October 2015 :: |
I love this time of year - there are tons of fests and wine events. The Slow Food International Cheese Festival Bra, Italy I had so much fun. We love this event, only every 2 years - I get so excited waiting for it, after all these years it just keeps getting better. Never disappointing, but sadly one can only eat so much cheese. "Autumn's sweet we'll call it Fall." RHCP |
| . Asti Sagre - excellent Piemontese food and wine |
Zaven's first university visit at NABA here in Milano. We will be visiting the Netherlands to visit 2 universities on Z's birthday weekend. And 2 more UK universities the 1st weekend of December. Stay tuned...exciting times! |
| It is a tradition at the American School of Milan that the parent's (really just the moms) of seniors put on a fabulous lunch every few months for our babies and our babies' teachers. Sadly, our senior baby was home sick on this day, I made vegan spicy Asian noodles and brownies - it was still fun to hang out with his best friend's moms...and I brought Z some food. Francesco's mom Nicolo's mom Wataru's mom Love them! |
| The vacation house renovations are complete. :: The Leonetti Vacation House Evolution :: |
| We celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary by going to Venice! I wanted to spend the day someplace romantic and beautiful. The problem is that Venice is so touristy, you don't always get good food and I wanted to have something yummy and local wine. I had done research and found excellent reviews for Cantinone Già Schiavi - an enoteca/ wine shop that had cicchetti - like tapas, a huge assortment of sliced breads with different combinations such as: gorgonzola, pear and balsamico, pesto and mozzarella, robiola cheese and chestnuts, ricotta and caviar and on and on. I was in heaven. We got a huge sampling and a few glasses of local white wine and stood outside and ate on the wall while watching water taxis and gondolas ferry visitors up and down the canal. It was perfect, I love to eat like this and the weather was lovely, which was an added bonus because it was supposed to rain. Hooray! We are heading up to Stuttgart for Oktoberfest where I get to wear my Dirndl and Joe gets to wear his Lederhosen! And then the annual Alba Truffle Festival... |
| We haven't been to the Milan Expo yet. I know we are bad but the thought of expensive long lines wasn't appealing. However, my friend is very involved in the Japanese Milan community and had VIP passes to the Japanese pavilion, so we could jump the 5 hour line. It was an amazing exhibit. We love Hello Kitty! I loved the UK Pavilion - their beehive was amazing. |
| Octoberfest 2015! Stuttgart Cannstatter Wassen! We had so much fun! Didn't drink too much, burned over 500 calories dancing on benches and no one went to the hospital. I would say it was a success! Our new annual tradition 10.10.15 Stuttgart, Germany |
| Sunday we met Avalon's German family of Australians for breakfast and a walk in the woods. Very German. And we got to see his darling Goddaughter Audrey. Later Z met a pal from ISS and Joe and I sat in the sun and drank beer. It was so nice. 10.10.15 Stuttgart, Germany |
| And a beautiful drive home over the Gottard pass. 12.10.15 St. Gottard, Ch |
| Di Sorì in Sorì Diano d'Alba I am so good at sniffing out wine events! Sadly, we can't be in more than one place at a time and there are heaps and heaps of events in the Fall. I loved the idea of walking through the vineyards in Autumn with the golds and reds of the leaves - truly gorgeous. There were 6 Tappa or stations to walk to and eat local Piemontese food and taste the local wine producer's wine. I could only eat food at one of the Tappa - every station had meat. I finally got to the cheese Tappa and said that I was a vegetarian and I was so excited to finally be able to eat something besides carrots (at the last station) and they said take 2 plates...and I did. Amsterdam & the UK for Uni visits. Zaven is in the last year of his International Baccalaureate, Joe started his doctorate program this month and I will complete my Master's in Education in February. If you need a quiet place to study, drink wine or play with cats, come to the Leonetti house. 18.10.15 |
| Our realtor friend contacted us Friday and said that there was a property near Finale Ligure we might be interested in...so we drove to the beach to check it out. Great location. We love that area for climbing and for the beach. Let's see. The Riviera in the Fall and Winter is amazing. We stopped and had some local Pigato, cheese and focaccia. |