Castellini is a small village in Tuscany located between Florence and Sienna. The first settlement in the area dates back to 800BC and the current village dates back to 1100s. Perched on the top of a hill and surrounded by olive trees and vineyards this is a quaint little town with great wine, cheese and olive oils which […]
Today we are spending a simple day without a schedule. We got into the car and started driving around from one small town to the next starting with San Gimignano our favourite of Tuscan towns. We did a bit of shopping and had a great lunch and got soaked. It rained on and off all […]
For the next 6 days this will be our home away from home. We decided to stay in one place and simply drive out to where we want to go as opposed to moving from place to place to place. It is quite lovely here. Tour of the inside maybe tomorrow. We have a busy […]
WOW, it’s been quite a while since we posed anything on here. Having said that we are back on the road again travelling a bit. Short break, nine days in total – destination Tuscany. We did what all responsible parents would naturally do, leave the kids in school and in charge of the house and […]
Today we are trying a different bread recipe made with a fresh yeast starter. Evelina is helping with the baking today and getting her hands really dirty.
Today we set off for a nice walk at Deep Cove Park with some old friends from Anna’s university years – Damian and Allisa and their children. The one hour leisurely hike up offers spectacular views of the bay and a great vista of downtown Vancouver. On the way down we stopped for some coffee and crêpes […]
Strathcona band was preforming a Christmas Concert today at the church downtown. We have been to the junior high Christmas concert, but the high school kids are in a league of their own. They are more refined and mature and quite sophisticated in their sound. They played one very modern piece which was our favourite. […]
Today we have our first taste of what is coming and will be here for the next 6 months – snow and frost and lots of both. Luckily it did not get too cold quite yet but we all know it is coming. Until it all melts it will be white and pretty and clean […]
Today we woke up in a frozen world. It has been quite humid and overnight we had a bit of frost. It is absolutely beautiful outside, but cold.
Today the girls came over for a coffee and dessert. Allie and Eveliana had a cappuccino whereas Gemma decided to go straight for dessert a home made Crème brûlée. Delicious.
Today is a Remembrance Day celebration at Mount Pleasant School. At the assembly the children recited poems, sang some songs and played music. There was even a representative from the airbase at the school. It was well done, that’s for sure.
Yesterday was Halloween, today is a lazy Saturday morning. While the kids were out shopping at WEM for some Christmas gifts, we made a quick stop at Audio Ark. For me going to Audio Ark is like going to a giant candy store – it is a happy place full of refined sophistication and decadence.
Today for breakfast we are trying the Liege Cakes once more time. This time a bit different recipe which has a bit less butter but instead of yeast we are using live culture. We essentially used the same recipe as last week but scaled down a bit on butter. This should have been an entire […]
A quick trip around the neighbourhood with a shield and a sword and a smile yielded some great returns. Tomorrow we are going to buy a shed for the back yard to put it all in.
Today is Halloween – it is great many things to many different people. For ghosts and goblins and witches and monsters it is time to freely roam the streets. For little Vikings at heart it is time to get out and liberate the neighbourhood of some candies and for the dentists it is time to pick up […]
It is snowing! At around 5pm today the skies opened up and it started coming down like crazy. Huge wet snow flakes everywhere. Only Evelina was happy with this turn of events, we all just looked in disbelief! I am sure this snow is not going to stick around around for long, but we all […]
Let’s call this for what it really is – it is a blog mostly about food. We are always talking about, eating too much, over eating or seeing some church. Of the last 8 posts 6 of them are about food. We had a little brunch today with Dobrescu’s. Simple brunch with little to no work. […]
What better way to spent the weekend than doing little to nothing at all. Today is one of those days, we were all waiting with anticipation for 4:30p.m. to have dinner at Thanh Thanh. This is one of two restaurants that we really missed when we were in Europe. On the agenda today is a […]
There are many different things we all miss about being on the other side of the pond. From the simple narrow and twisted cobble stone streets we walked in the old town Nuremberg to our friends and our favourite coffee shops and stores, the amazing gelato and the atmosphere of the old city, the history and […]
You will have to take my word for it, even though the pictures don’t show it, there really were 14 pizza on the dinner menu tonight – each different than the last. Twelve of them were consumed on site and two went home with us. There was also bread pudding. There was a lot of […]
Today we finally got a chance to get together with our good old neighbours we first met in our first house in Pleasantview some 15 years ago. We have been friends ever since. In his yard, Jeff built an amazing pizza oven, a project like no other! The pizza is all home made with love, […]
Perhaps one of the things that Boris and Evelina missed the most about Edmonton was their cousins. The greatest thing in their minds is the fact that our family lives close to us. On a beautiful fall day with the sun shining and leaves blowing in the wind they got on their bikes and went […]
If we are not eating, we are actively thinking about what to make and eat next. Seriously, that is what we do. Today is another lazy Thanksgiving weekend morning. On the go for breakfast are fresh, homemade Belgian waffles! Life is good.
Thanksgiving is great. Three days off, three days of eating and relaxing. It is great to be home for this one. While Christmas has its own charm, Thanksgiving is special. It is time to take pause and reflect, time to be thankful and appreciative. Time to spend with family, time to relax and appreciate everyone […]
To make a long story short – this is what our weekend is shaping up to be. We are going to be sampling four more bottles of Prosecco to see which one will be perfect to make just the right tasting Hugo. We are looking for volunteers to help us empty these four lovely bottles. […]
Yesterday we received the last 20 kg parcel I sent out from Germany. Today we are starting our day off with some fine Java grown in Brazil, roasted in Warsaw, delivered to Nuremberg and brought back to Canada. Posh-Nosh!
It is finally time to make the landing post and say goodbye to Iceland. I have been home for a couple of weeks now buried in work. Not the business work but house work. There is a seemingly endless list of house chores that need doing, some due to what appears to be plain neglect, some […]
I finally got around to getting these uploaded, converted and here they are for you to enjoy. While at Villa Medici, this was the Masters of Piano graduating class, with formalities of the evening being done, everyone was a lot more relaxed and the music they got out of that wooden box with strings and […]
Here we go. Leaving Germany.
The train came a bit late which always causes unnecessary stress. But I did manage to push my belongings across the terminals and even squeezed in a quick espresso too. All my language is checked in: 22.9 kg, 23.1kg and 12.5kg for the carry on – one less thing to deal with. It is almost […]
First part of this journey home is done, that is getting on the right train with 3 suitcases and 2 bags. Next milestone will be to get off the train and switch airport terminals in Frankfurt. For now I have two solid hours to relax and do nothing.
Monza is an integral part of F1. It is one of the first 7 tracks that hosted the F1 championship in 1950. Since then 64 F1 races were run in Italy and all but one were held at Monza. Monza together with Monaco, Silverstone in England, and Spa in Belgium are four of the original tracks still used today […]
It is 10:30pm. The owner of the villa is staying in the private part of this complex behind a big iron gate, in a huge manicured private garden in a smaller private villa more suitable for a family. Alexandro the caretaker and Fiona the lady who makes breakfast sleeps next to the kitchen which is […]
After last night it was slow going this morning but a race day awaits. Karen, Carlos and myself are going to carpool since they know where the good parking is but don’t feel like driving their little Lancia on the twisty Italian roads. We were informed that to have a chance of finding decent parking we […]
After my day out at Monza, I got back to the Villa Medici for the piano concert which I was invited to by Maestro Kanno. Together with a number of other guests and the owner of this fabulous place we watched 4 young musicians show off their polished skills after a week of teaching and a […]
Villa Medici has a different look and feel to it in a daylight. Last night I just wanted to get to bed, today I had a chance to walk around this place, in its endless maze of hallways and rooms that lead to even more hallways and rooms. This place is truly huge and on […]
After some noisy Porsches trashing around the track it was time for F1 qualifying. The crowd cheers, for Ferrari of course, and to improve the odds and feel better, for any previous Ferrari driver, in which case Masa got a lot of cheers. On the way back to the car Red Bull is giving away […]
I ended driving to Monza. Found FREE parking by the Ingresso Biassano, read 300 m from the main gate. F1 qualifying is starting in 50 min. This is the view then from where I am sitting! It is 29C and on metal bleachers it feels like a frying pan! Awesome.
So after circling around the building for about 25 min I managed to find the big brown door to get to where I am staying, Villa Medici. This is a 4000 sq m musical villa. There are over 60 pianos here in this house. I have a piano in my room too, it is bigger […]
This is Villa Medici. I stood and drove around this place for 25 min and parked at least on 3 of the 4 available corners trying to figure out how to get into this place. Apparently there huge brown door had a large metal knocker that you bang, then the doors open and you are […]
After a lot of waiting, a lot of talking and a bit of planning this is finally happening. I am going to Monza to see F1 race this coming weekend. I am not sure what to expect, except for a lot of noise and testosterone around and a sea of red and yellow flags supporting […]
At the Imperial Castle, in the lower gardens – I have no ideal what this is…. Red Bull is doing something in town this weekend, perhaps this Cos play has something to do with it.
Today, I think is the last shopping trip I will be making. Just a few small things we still need to bring home. I say small because there simply aren’t too many things we need and there is no room in the suitcases. I am already starting to miss this town. It is had to […]
The two young ladies are taking the zip line at the end of the challenging obstacle course adventure, or as they see it, Hunger Games obstacle course.
While visiting some of these splendid structures, on a number of occasions, we were treated to the sound of roaring organs. Rouen Cathedral was also a nice treat. Someone was taking the organs for a spin and they sounded mighty.
Boarding passes in hand, family is off through security scan. That is a lot of electronic fruit they need to pull out.
I think these smiles say it all, or they are just posing for the camera. In Frankfurt at the airport just waiting to get bows all wrapped up and set off.
The lag gauge has arrived – all of these 12 suitcases came with me in a car with room for maybe two or there more. Now they are waiting for the family to help me push them to departures.
This is how you get 12 suitcases and 2 bows into a car with room to spare. That is one very loaded car!! The drive should be fun..
We are at T – 15 hours before we pack the car and the family takes the train for the trip to Frankfurt. Family from Poland stops by for a quick visit to say hello! We send the kids off to town in the early afternoon to visit at least one museum, and to have as much […]
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