StringGrrl sees the World

Grilled Prawn and Squid http://www.tripadvisor.it/Restaurant_Review-g187855-d2196089-Reviews-Osteria_La_Cena_Coi_Fiocchi_Cucina_Viva-Turin_Province_of_Turin_Piedmont.html Primo piatto of Mussels  http://www.lacenacoifiocchi.it/index.html StringGirl gets attacked by the PrimoPiatto of fried seafood Fried seafood first plate Crudo Salmon and Bufala StringGirl Strikes back Victory Zabione

On our most recent visit to Torino, Italy, we had some amazing food just about every day--lunches and dinners. In fact one night just for a change of pace, I opted for discount sushi (also good) to take a rest from all the rich and widely varied Italian food.But perhaps the most surprising meal was the one I had in the grocery market, Eataly. Preserves, jarred sauces, and other condiments  Eataly is a chain of upscale markets throughout Italy, with locations in the New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Yokahama, Istanbul, Dubai, Brazil, and Seoul. There mission and manifesto , revolve around bringing quality of food, life, the world up through the sharing of Italian food culture. I went in looking only to find a reasonable bottle of wine to bring home, and left after buying a couple bottles, eating dinner, and sampling a few glasses of Piemontese wines. The surprise dinner, they were celebrating something with a limited time menu featuring this Duck Breast The duck dinner was a fe...

Lately, the eBags TLS Mini has been looking a little rough around the edges. Zippers have gotten worn due to the bags less than perfect tendency to bulge and let the sippers drag during rolling. I am resistant to retiring it as it has served me so well. But the Trunkster has me considering things differently. NO Zippers. GPS tracking and a built in scale. The scale is fairly trivial for me as the carry-on size would have to really add some cargo to go over the 70 pound limit afforded me as a platinum flier with Delta and Skyteam, but the zipperless design has me thinking. AND it can charge your phone: http://trunkster.refr.cc/HVPQP49 (use this link to let them know I sent you). Old reliable. was the best bag I had. But maybe???

Panorama from the parking near the refuge  About 1 hour of driving from the city of Torino (Turin) Italy, you can visit a mountain refuge with fantastic vistas, nearby climbing and mountaineering routes, room and board. StringGirl posing with the rifugio in the background I did not know exactly what to expect when friends offered to take me up to a mountain shelter just outside the city of Torino on a recent work visit to the "Motown of Italy". Rifugio Selleries  is a Hotel and Restaurant located on the grounds of the Piemontese Regional Park of the Hautes Alpes (Regione Piemonte Ente di gestione delle Aree Protette delle Alpi Cozie ). The trek in on car is 5km of single lane dirt/rock road with some at some dizzying heights When Fabrizio mentioned that we could drive to the refuge (his wife is 9 months pregnant and due the day after we visited), I figured that we would drive up to some tame little visitor center with ample parking and well provisioned r...

Really sad to hear that HitchBot has come to an end. http://m.hitchbot.me/about-me/canada/ Hitchbot is a robot from Port Credit, Ontario. conceived by Dr. David Smith (McMaster University), and Dr. Frauke Zeller (Ryerson University) to travel the world by the good acts of strangers. Or as put in his own words on the HitchBot blog: Simply put, I am a free-spirited robot who wants to explore the world and meet new friends along the way. I am an avid instagrammer and tweeter. On my downtime, I can appreciate a good game of trivia and would never pass up any opportunities to bake desserts. On instagram @hitchbot   has posted photos from the many travels around the world. Oh dear, my body was damaged, but I live on back home and with all my friends. I guess sometimes bad things happen to good robots! My trip must come to an end for now, but my love for humans will never fade. Thank you to all my friends: http://goo.gl/rRTSW2 A photo posted by @hitchbot on Aug 1, 2...