nacken

We found out while scouting for apartments, that just across the river from where we are, there are a bunch of neat restaurant. So last night we went to have kebab and tonight we wentto a place that advertizes asian food: chinese, thai, japanese and indian (?). We tried to figure out which dishes were thai, so I ended up ordering the duck a la bangkok and Ritsu has a shrimp dish and we had some dumplings before that (They call dumplings here Ravioli ) .

The food was really nice, my duck was really spicy .. and the 2 asian waitress ladies took care of Julius, too.

This was interesting today: He did not realize it and me neither, at first … while holding his bottle, he made some shy steps forward, without securing himself to anything (other than his bottle, maybe that worked as a security blanket). But this was indeed the very first time that he was walking freely!!!

And even better: He repeated it a few times later just for the camera crazy dad!

click here for the surprise milestone video.

Julius is totally in love with this new pillow-owl that Ritsu scored for him at IKEA (well, I discovered it, but Ritsu did all the hand and feet talk with the IKEA staff, as it appeared to be the last of its kind. She was talking with that guy who later told me not to take pictures )

He even can say his name already and loves to just bum out and rest on him.

Today started with an adventurous hiking trip into the hillside of Torino. We heard through colleagues of Ritsu about a great nursery, kindergarden, pre-school called “Il Cucciolo” and went to check it out.

Somehow the bus connection was not as great as we wanted it and we ended up walking quite some, uphill, but were also rewarded with some fantastic views of the alps behind Torino.

When we finally found the place we were very impressed. It feels a bit like ‘vacation on a farm / in a castle’. A lot of secure, non-traffic out door space, animals, a veggie garden that is actually used for the food the kids eat.

Julius was immediately interested in the other kids and basically everything that he saw. He is yearning for more social interaction, so we are giving this place some considerable thought. It also appears that the kids there come from all kinds of international background, and unlike other kindergardens we thought about, there is no specific religious background.

We just need to figure out a doable daily commute (It kinda looks like we would have to get a car just to get him there) and we are also still researching if we are happy with the pricetag. I compared with friends in Europe and the US and it sure is interesting how much child care can cost these days.

Just 20 seconds of whacky cuddling with daddy.

Today we strolled along the beautiful river Po twice. Once in the afternoon, hoping we would run into Ritsu on her way back from work (but we were too early) and then altogether later in the evening. Torino is on the flat side of the river, so you get to see hills on the other side, very nice. The river becomes a gym after work ours with lots of boats and kayaks going up and down. The weather was great and we did a big round to see what’s on the other side.

On our walk to gallery 8 (becoming a favourite Sunday spot) we had lunch at a nearby chinese place (Nuovo Secolo, Via Varazze 4, 011.6964396). They offer a great 8€ p.p. lunch special and so we had a variety of stuff, which was very nice. This time we also had some hot sauce to spice it up.

I found a little corner of asian foods in our supermarket, but I am still looking for some big asian food supply store .. there has to be one.

Especially when they are not even toys … but that 1 € basket of clothespins has Julius fascinated for hours.

It has indeed been 3 years since we have been to IKEA last time, and it was exciting to see that it still looks the same, no matter where in the world you are.

The 66 Bus brought us straight to the shopping area that also houses Le Gru and we arrived 10 minutes before opening. But they actually served some coffee and cookies for the waiting masses.

Main reason we went to IKEA was that we really liked one of the apartments we had seen, but it seems the current tenant has a weird idea how much money he can ask for his 8 year old kitchen, so we wanted to see what we can get for that amount of money. (And it seems we can get more, for less and brand new). Dito with the handcrafted wardrobe in the bedroom that they sell for cheap 5500 EU. We figured we can replace that with 3 wardrobes at each 75 EU from IKEA

Julius had a fun time and we got some stuff for him. A wooden cart with building blocks, a pillow owl, some cheap cups and bowls in funky neon colors. For us we got a very big (220cm x 240cm) comforter with matching duvet cover (Down from 44.90 EU to 12.90 … we just had to buy that).

And the swedish lunch after shopping was done was a treat … a generous portion of swedish meatballs, a hering tasting platter, smoked salmon and some strawberry cake.

Shall we get that egg shaped chair for Julius???

One afterthought: There was one IKEA employee who really spoiled the fun by coming over to me and tell me a lot in italian, then when I said I do not understand, he told me in bad english “it is not possible to take picture” … well .. it is very possible .. i guess he meant it was not allowed … but that really puzzles me … what is it with that recent ‘no taking pictures’ policy ??? If great companies like IKEA are so afraid about having their company secrets revealed … then they should put lots of stickers up “no picture taking” and become the laughing stock of those tech savvy people who simply snap a pic with their mobile phone and send it to a loved one asking “how do you like that?”. Seriously … what is the damage in taking pictures of things that are in the catalogue anyway? Don’t they realize that people these days use their cams and phones as notepads?

It would be a great step forward if they invite pic taking .. maybe some rental device with online uplink … nothing impossible by today’s standards … like look at that pic with Julius and the owl .. I could have sent that to Ritsu and say “should we buy that?”

No, instead some over eager sales person leaves his over run work station to tell me not to take pictures … hey .. if you are ever tired of lining up at those IKEA counters .. start taking pictures .. that makes them come over to you

No other topic has created as much feedback as our constant talk about gelato. Now our dear friend Anja asks me “why you keep saying ‘gelato’, why don’t you say ‘ice-cream’”?

Well, besides that gelato sounds way cooler and we have to work on our Italian language skills, gelato and ice cream are 2 different things!

The main differences seem to be

First, there’s more “overrun” in North American style ice creams than in gelato. “Overrun” is the amount of air beaten into the ice cream during the freezing process. As a result, gelato tends to have a more intense, concentrated flavour.

The fat content of North American style ice creams is higher, ranging between 16- 30%, whereas gelato only contains 3-10% fat. This is because North American style ice cream actually uses cream, whereas gelato is made with milk, water or soy milk (depending on the flavour).

(from foodtv.ca)

Wow, that means we can actually eat more gelato!!!