One Michelin Star...and one dog

On the advice of my sister, who had been in Northern Italy a couple of years ago, we went for lunch at Ristorante Strada Facendo, a one-Michelin Star restaurant in Modena, which is an easy 30-minute train ride from Bologna.

First, let us introduce you to our dining companion. This is Nina:

Yes, as the title suggests, and the photo establishes, Nina is a dog. Apparently, Nina's owners have lunch in this restaurant about once a month and she is welcome. We, of course, were thrilled with her presence, and Nina was very well-behaved after a couple of minutes of pure joy and excitement when she arrived.

Ok, now on to the meal. As usual, with Michelin-starred restaurants, it was just ridiculously amazing. The tasting menu was nine courses, but with extras (amuse bouche, palate cleanser, petit-fours), it ended up being 13. Plus, about five or six kinds of bread all of which we had to at least try. The menu was heavy on shellfish and I was proud of Shana for trying everything, and even liking some things she normally would not eat. Here is a quick tour of the meal:

The amuse bouche, which was actually three things, each of which was fantastic (notice that one of the items is a drink - it was the first of two alcoholic drinks that were part of dishes; and, of course, we had the wine pairings).

Bread (I know, not very exciting, but note the variety):

Oyster in a green apple sauce:

Crab (the blue liquid was a drink made with Blue Curacao):

Honestly cannot remember what this is, but it had ice-cream on top and was yummy:

Red mullet in a soy-based sauce:

Cuttle fish:

Of course, this being Italy, there had to be a pasta dish. This is a very traditional dish for the area we were in: tortelini in a cheese/cream sauce. We had this dish in other places and, while always good, this one was so light and perfect:

Deer tartare:

Lamb:

Dessert:

Petit-fours:

Yes, the meal was as fabulous as it looks. Truly a fantastic dining experience.

Modena is the place to be if you are an Italian sports car aficionado, with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and Pagani all in the area. As you can tell, we're far more interested in food than cars. Still, Modena is a cute little town that has a Duomo (church), which we went to see before our dining experience (and, yes, the tower is leaning; the tower in Pisa is far from the only leaning tower in Italy).

We have now returned to San Sebastian, but we will have more from our Italian adventures soon.

Ciao,

Jeff and Shana

Visiting Verona

On Monday, July 16, we hopped on a train from Bologna to Verona to visit the city Shakespeare helped make famous with Romeo & Juliet. Verona has a lot more to offer than an old balcony surrounded by tourists, including a tower to climb, quaint piazzas, a Roman arena, a classic castle and bridge, and superb pizza. Truth be told, we skipped the over-crowded balcony, which of course is as fictional as the characters that made it famous since Shakespeare was never actually in Verona!

History is everywhere in Italy and Verona is no exception. Sitting in the middle of the historic center is an ancient Roman Arena (coliseum).

Built in 30 AD, it still hosts major events, including an opera festival each summer. Check out the opera props waiting for use outside in the surrounding plaza.

We didn’t make it inside the Arena because they were setting up for Lenny Kravitz to perform that night. Nice place for opera and rock ‘n roll.

I can’t resist climbing a tower to see the views, so we headed up Torre dei Lamberti, which sits in the central Piazza delle Erbe. We were surprised to see that this tower has an elevator . . . but we took the 368 stairs to work off some of the pizza and gelato calories.

The Castle Vechhio and Ponte di Castle Vechhio protected the city for many years. At the time of its construction, the bridge was the longest of its kind in the world.

While we enjoyed Verona’s architecture and charm a lot, what we may have enjoyed the most was the pizza at Sapore Downtown. Pizza comes in many forms  in Italy and Sapore’s take was modern and stylish. We loved it.

Let’s face it, Italy is all about the food and the passion for food. You won’t be surprised to hear that we’ve been very passionate about the food here. More food related posts to come.

Ciao,

Shana & Jeff

One Year in Spain...And Two More Approved!

Today we celebrate a full year of living in Spain (ironically, from vacation in Italy). We arrived in Madrid last July 23rd with five large duffel bags, two carry-on suitcases and two backpacks. We did not have a place to live. Since then we have integrated ourselves into life in San Sebastian, made substantial progress in our ability to speak Spanish, and pretty much lived as Spaniards for a year.

In more exciting news, this week we learned that our visa renewal application was approved! That means we can live in Spain for at least the next two years. We still have to jump through some hoops to get our new ID cards, but we will be official through July 23, 2020.

Finally, we failed to note the one-year anniversary of vinoconvino. Our post introducing the blog was on July 13, 2017. This is our 71st post, so we have posted a bit more than once a week. We would like to thank all of our readers, whether you have been here from the beginning or only recently discovered our little blog. Hopefully, our continuing adventures will be worth reading.

More soon from Italia.

Ciao,

Jeff and Shana

Bologna - City of Arches and Porticos

We are currently spending two weeks in Bologna and other nearby cities. We didn’t know much about Bologna before we arrived, other than that it is considered the food capital of Italy. Like Italy needs a food capital?!? Wouldn't that make Bologna the food capital of the world?!? We’ll be posting more on the food shortly.

One of the things that makes Bologna unique is its extensive network of arched porticos (arcades or galleries). San Sebastian could really use these porticos – they provide shade and cover from the sun and the rain. Even when it is in the mid-to-high 80's, it doesn’t seem too bad because you can walk through almost every part of the city under cover. Bloody brilliant!! We are not sure any other Italian city still has similar architectural features or not, but we are loving it! Charming, functional, and beautiful!

This portico ceiling near the Plaza Cavour is extra fancy:

Why porticos? Well, these were a natural evolution. In the 11^th century as the city population expanded with students coming to attend the university (the oldest in Europe), there was a need for additional dwelling space. Existing buildings were expanded over the street with a protruding structure. As theses structures grew bigger and heavier, it was necessary to prop them up with columns, which inevitably occupied the public street space. As the streets got more and more crowded with porticos, the city began to regulate them. In 1288, porticos became compulsory for all streets where they are considered useful for the public space. The law is still in effect. While porticos may have existed in other medieval Italian cities, Bologna’s have been preserved and continued to expand through the centuries.

Within the old city's walls of the 13th century, there are some 38 km of porticos built between the 11th and 20th centuries. Even more impressive is the longest portico in the world, nearly 4 km that spans from just outside the old city walls and leads to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, a church on top of the Colle della Guardia. We walked along and up this portico, which has some 666 arches, on our first morning here. It was quite a workout.

Ciao!

Shana and Jeff

Revisiting Barcelona

We were in Barcelona in 2007 and 2011, and returned again last month. Barcelona is one of the most visited cities in the world. And it’s easy to understand why. There is just so much to see and do. The city has so much to offer that we could easily go back yet again. We were lucky enough to spend one day with a special friend and his girlfriend before they got on a Mediterranean cruise, and it was great to see the city with my sister. We especially enjoyed visiting Gaudi’s master works. And we were lucky enough to come across the casteller teams practicing building their human towers – an amazing Catalan tradition.

At the Sagrada Familia:

The view from Parc Guell:

Casteller practice:

La Pedrera/Casa Mila:

Casa Batllo:

Plaza Espana:

Barcelona is an unforgettable city! And now, on to Italy!

Ciao, 

Shana & Jeff

Showing Off San Sebastian

It gives us great pleasure to show off San Sebastian to friends and family. We were so happy that my sister came to visit and thrilled when she said, “you picked a great place to live.” We do love living here, and we are becoming excellent tour guides. What better way to visit a city than with a personalized tour? Yes, this post is another invitation to come visit us! You won’t be sorry, just check out the photos to see why:

The views along the river:

The Ayuntamiento (City Hall):

The beautiful beaches:

Flysch formations:

The La Concha Bay:

The Peine del Viente:

We are looking forward to another friend’s visit in August, and another in November. In the meantime, we’ll be exploring Italy this month.

Hasta luego,

Shana & Jeff

Watching World Cup Soccer In Spanish

The World Cup Finals are currently taking place in Russia. For those who do not follow soccer at all, the World Cup Finals take place every four years among the national teams of various countries. The quadrennial event is actually the culmination of a complex qualifying system that starts with 216 national teams (more countries than in the UN) and is winnowed down over the four years between tournaments. Given the worldwide popularity of soccer (futbol to the rest of the world), it is probably not surprising that the World Cup Finals are the most-watched soccer event in the world. The final, which takes place on July 15 will be watched by over 1 billion people.

Although the system is set up such that countries from all regions of the world qualify for the tournament, the World Cup Finals is decidedly non-egalitarian. Since its introduction in 1930 (there was no tournament in 1942 or 1946), only eight countries have actually won: Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina from South America, and Germany, France, England, Spain and Italy from Europe. This year, once again, the winner will come from Europe or South America (although Russia is part of both Europe and Asia) as the final eight teams are Brazil, Uruguay, Belgium, France, England, Croatia, Sweden, and Russia. At least there is a chance there will be a new winner.

My viewing of the World Cup began in 1994 when the tournament took place in the United States for the first time (it will return to the US, along with Mexico and Canada, in 2026). That summer, Shana and I were studying for the California Bar exam and for the month of the tournament I did nothing but study and watch soccer. I vividly recall that the US played Brazil on July 4th and there was a lot of talk about the US beating the world's biggest soccer power on Independence Day. They didn't, and Brazil went on to win the tournament that year.

At times, when we lived in the US, I would watch matches on the Spanish-language channel Univision, but, of course, this year I am watching the entire tournament in Spanish. So, how has it been going? Well, I definitely feel like all our weeks of studying Spanish have improved my ability to follow what the announces are talking about. However, they talk so fast that I find if I don't concentrate very hard on what they are saying, I quickly get lost. All-in-all, watching in Spanish is good practice for improving our language skills, but it involves a relatively limited vocabulary. And, I admit, at times I read English-language articles about a game to better understand some of what I may have missed.

The tournament so far has been fun, with hopefully some good games to come. The times are not too bad in the US (games are at 10 am and 2 pm EDT). I recommend checking it out.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff