Mom in town!

Amazing shape for someone that broke her hip a few months ago!

Tellaro!

The last time we went to Florence, I noticed some beautiful hill towns to the West of the autoroute, near Carrara.  I looked it up a bit later and discovered that there were a whole mess'o cool looking places along the peninsula.  Among those was a picturesque town at the end of a one way road called Tellaro.  A little Homelidays searching revealed a place to stay, and so Jon, Sue and the whole fam loaded up the Dragon Wagon for a short vacation.

There was another nice, but much larger town called Lerici right down the road where we found a nice cafe right across the street from the water, with a very friendly owner

There was a market, too!

And at the junction to Tellaro, there was an Olive Oil press, where we bought some excellent olive oil and were given a small tour of the press and ancillery equipment

In the corner of the bay is la Spezia, a famous Italian port where many of the mega yachts are built.  You can even catch glimpses of them as you are driving along the SP331.

We visited Portovenere together:

And I did a little riding in the immediate area, traingin for the dreaded Etape du Tour, but also taking in some nice towns, like Montemarcello, Ameglia, Cafaggio  and Arcola.

And of course, we had some amazing meals:

Some of my favorites are simple dishes like this tomato and octopus sandwich

And a new discovery for me was the whole wheat croissant.  Moist and delicious (and sometimes filled with honey!)

I tried

To shock the kids with this diorama of a T-rex helping himself to some organs, but it was instead greeted with cackling and snorting. Should I be worried?

Paella, v3

kicked ass.

oh la la

Never has a V8 sounded this good

This sounds like bullshit

According to some French wine producer, Americans used to add Coke to wine.

Thanksgiving

Since Thanksgiving isn't a holiday here, we celebrated on the weekend, with Maty-jane and family and some other friends, new and old. Mary Jane and I tried a new (to us) method of preparing the turkey -- spatchcocking! Despite the antique name, it is all the rage, apparently. First important thing to know about turkeys in France: they have heads!

After some poultry knife (Deba) work, and some cracking of bones, we slipped the turkey into our oven, and I'll be damned if the thing wasn't ready in under an hour. Definitely the way to go.

It was a pretty nice spread: stuffing, turkey (delicious and moist), roasted garlic mashed potatoes, orange-cranberry sauce (we found the cranberries at Picard, and they were waaay better than berries -- small, tart and flavorful) and then pecan pie, apple crumble and pumpkin pie. Nice.

RIDE

Cat sliding down the windshield

A new knife

I've been wanting a Damascus/pattern welded knife for a while, mostly because they look beautiful. The Banno Bunka that my mom bought me has been a bit of a revelation for preparing vegetables, so I thought I would take a chance with something new. I wanted something made near my dad's home town, and came upon the Nigari Forge in nearby Hirosaki. Of course, there was a strong rivalry between the country boys of Aomori town like my dad, and the Samurai of Hirosaki, but close enough! It's a single bevel, which I am more comfortable sharpening, too.

Lunch with CZ

At a new (to us) place in town: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187264-d3580943-Reviews-Une_Semaine_Sur_Deux-Grenoble_Isere_Rhone_Alpes.html

Fort St. Eynard

Forgot how tought that one is, but what a view at the end!

Lunch ride

a blast from the past

Miss ya, Daddy-o!

Lunch ride with Vero and friend