travel

Fabulous gift ideas for your favorite traveler

Strolling through all these Christmas markets, I’m reminded of all the useless crap people tend to give each other around this time of year. Instead, why not give the travel-lovers in your life presents they will actually like and use? “But Jul,” you’re thinking, “I don’t know what gifts will delight them.” Ah, don’t you … Read more

Toasting Obama in Zurich

I’m a little behind on my travel blogging here… the day after the election I crawled out of bed and hopped on a train to Zurich. It’s always a treat to see my Zurich-based friends, but this particular trip was even more joyful than usual. The election results had us all in a fabulous mood. … Read more

Bringing Italy home (to eat)

It has been 3 years since we lived in Italy, and our hoarded kitchen supplies from Milan are long gone. Last week’s Italian adventure was the perfect chance to change that, since we went by car. I was giddy with anticipation. Grocery shopping in Italy ranks high on my list of fun stuff to do. … Read more

Italy: what I ate this trip

Just slapping this up here for posterity. You’ve already heard about the kilos of mozzarella balls I scarfed down in the south, but surprisingly there was also room in my belly for other food, too, as we made our way up and down the peninsula. Here’s a little taste: Pumpkin gnocchi with roquefort sauce and … Read more

Buffalo mozzarella, part 2: the source

You’ll know when you’ve arrived in buffalo mozzarella country by all the roadside signs advertising it. It’s kind of like driving through the American South and seeing all those billboards for fireworks superstores, except the southern Italians are excited about cheese instead of explosives. Just a small cultural difference. The signage starts as soon as … Read more

Mmmmph mmm mm mm mmmph!

OK, that title was supposed to say “Greetings from the land of mozzarella!”, but my mouth was full of, well, mozzarella. Mozzarella di bufala, to be precise, freshly made, right off the farm, never refrigerated… the way it’s supposed to be, but alas, rarely ever is, unless you happen to be hanging out in, say, … Read more

Gone eatin’

I’m off to Italy for a little while. Not sure how much internet access I’ll have while I’m there, but I’ll try to get a little blogging in from the road so you don’t miss me too much. In the meantime, just imagine all the wonderful things I’m eating right about now…

Norway: Bergen & other notes

I can’t wrap up my posts about Norway without mentioning Bergen, our favorite city of the trip. It was adorable, charming, vibrant, historic, and fun – everything a European city should be. There’s a small market for extremely fresh fish (and other stuff, like local knitwear and cloudberry jam) downtown. This was a gorgeous sunset … Read more