Another Food Adventure!

The sagras are starting!  You may remember that sagras are food festivals and I LOVE them.  They are such a wonderful Italian tradition where you eat and drink and dance.

 

A couple weeks ago Fabri & I went with our friends Piero & Valentina to the agnolotti and canestrelli sagra in Polonghera.  Polonghera is a small town between Faule and Casalgrasso.  Agnolotti are meat filled ravioli and canestrelli are super thin chocolate cookies. 


We had a really excellent time eating yummy food with them and watching the Liscio dancers.  I have to get a video of Liscio sometime to share on here...

Anyway, after the festival we all came back to Saluzzo for a beer at Baladin (Saluzzo's new microbrew hotspot).  It was a Saturday night so there were a lot of people around and we ran into other Savigliano friends as well.  Good times had by all!


Sunday was Mother's Day and Maria Pia & I decided that we should have a big lunch in Ruffia and spend some time with all the mothers (Maria Pia, Detta, Brunella & Brunella's mother).  Everyone had been through some stressful weeks and we just wanted to relax.

We decided to get a BUNCH of steaks and cook them on the grill.  Fabri, Maria Pia & I went together to the butcher near Ruffia.  We asked if they had any rib steaks available and the butcher said often this good steak house in Savigliano buys them all, but they didn't this time and we had our pick.  He went into the back and brought out a BIG rack of ribs.  To cut them, he grabbed an old fashioned butcher axe.  I had never seen such a thing and took some photos with my iPhone.  The meat was soooooo good.  I know where I'm going from now on!

The weather was amazing and we hung out, relaxed, played with the little girls and even had time for a 3 game volleyball tournament.  I think everyone slept well Sunday night including Olney who got 3 beef rib bones out of lunch as well as lots of other bits & pieces from the table.

Saluzzo with the Rents!

Before our weekend in Nice, Mom and Dad spent the week in Saluzzo at our house!  We weren't too lucky with the weather.  Rain off and on all week, but we still managed to have a good time.

We went to the Palace of Racconigi.

Mom & I in the garden at the castle.

We went to lots of microbreweries and drank lots of microbrew beer!

We had fun on our drive to Nice.  We stopped in the mountains to let Olney out and stretch our legs!

Thankfully we found beautiful weather in France and everyone had fun just the same.

Nice with the Rents

We had a nice visit with my parents.  The weather was pretty so-so: rain off and on, but we still managed to have some fun.  On Saturday morning we went to Nice.  The weather in Italy was overcast and chilly, but as soon as we passed through the tunnel into France we saw a blue sky ahead.  I love when it works like that!

This trip was extra exciting because we brought Olney to Nice for his first time.  Now he's officially an International Travel Pup! 

We did a lot of walking and exploring and a bit of shopping in Nice.  I think we really tired out Mom & Dad with all that walking. We found an artisans market in a piazza.  I felt bad for the sellers though because it was REALLY windy and things were getting broken and blown around. 

We took Mom & Dad to Wayne's to experience that craziness.  It was a little too crazy for them and we escaped to the Promenade to watch the sunset.

On Sunday we did some more shopping and bought some Lily of the Valleys.  May first is the Lily of the Valley fair in Nice.  As far as I can tell, they just sell a bunch of the flowers all over the city.  It's also a communist holiday, so we saw a workers' demonstration march as well.

Mostly we just soaked up the sun and enjoyed hanging out together and Olney was so well behaved I want to go back again next weekend!!