Things are finally settling down over here after a busy few weeks! The Verona post will come soon, meanwhile here's what we've been up to recently...

What was supposed to be a week-long trip to Berlin turned into a long weekend because of the volcano, but we still made it for the main event which was our god-daughter Emily’s 8th birthday. As you can tell from the photos Paul included in the last post, it was definitely worth the trip to be able to be there for the party.

Even though it was short, my Ecuadorian sister Maria Augusta and I still fit in some solid time in the kitchen together, just like we always do whether in Ecuador, Germany, or the US.  And little Emily likes to cook with us too. Dinner turned into drinks (in this case beer with an herbal syrup added to it) and chatting until we nearly fell asleep at the kitchen table. Meanwhile, Mark and Paul watched soccer and Mark told Paul about all things German.

It was hard to leave Germany because we miss Maria and family, but coming back to Italy felt like coming home.

That same day we flew back to Milan, we met up with our friend Emma, who has been one of my best friends since grade school. Emma was there the night that Paul and I met in 1995. Needless to say we were excited to meet her in Milan. After an aperativo, we went back to Parma to spend our last 3 days before the move.

Emma, me, and the aperativo - Aperol spritz (my new favorite drink)

The Duomo and gallery in Milan:

Emma's involved in art curation and is very knowledgeable, so she was our guide to all of the art and culture in Parma, including in the churches and in random spots. (Yes folks, that is Arnold on the wall above the underwear store.)

And we got to show her all of our favorite places, like K2 gelateria, and to do some cooking.

Emma also survived the move with us to Bologna, which we did entirely on the train -- not easy even with 3 of us there to wheel the luggage. To recover we treated ourselves to some delicious dishes at local trattorias...including polenta with ragu, and tortelloni with radicchio...yum!

Unfortunately, the new apartment was super dirty and still needs cleaning, even after full days of scrubbing and vacuuming.

But how can we complain when we wake up in the historic center of the city known as the food capital of Italy? Here is the view from our new place:

Emma left for a week in Venice and we stayed to settle in. After a weekend in Venice to say bye to her, I came back to Bologna to get serious again about my project. This last week I took a class at UNISG in Colorno on Food Anthropology and we celebrated Paul's birthday. Monday it is back to the clinic in Verona...