We finally got around naming the kittens. Whiskey for the male (orange) cat and Sheeshah for the grey (female) cat.
Their main habitat is still the small bathroom. They gave us a few more ‘where are they’ scares … but they are getting more used to us and not living outside anymore, where they have to constantly worry about other predators. They actually both now purr when being touched and we let them explore the adjacent room (the kitchen) …
But I think it will still be some time until we can let them roam around freely all over the place without fearing they hop off the balcony.
(Picture is totally photoshopped .. color, contrast, tiltshift .. here is the original)
This has been a project long time in the making … from first mentions on our Turkey trip this year … and then we heard from a friend that they found a litter of 4 in the backyard … we had since then been visiting to check on them … they are 100% feral cats, the only human contact they know is ‘look at those giants giving us free food, let’s wait until they are gone’ …
At one point Julius had been able to get quite close to them (bearing gifts).
Now, they have reached the 3 months age mark and it was time to get vaccinated. Great challenge to catch them and then take 2 of them home with us.
The visit to the vet went down pretty well (a lot of meowing, since their mother was still at the vet, she had a little surgery the day before, that was the first night the litter was without mama).
Turns out the orange cats are both male and the grey ones are females. Possibly from 2 different dads (that was a cat-fact unbeknownst to me!)
And now they are warming up to our place. Following some text book advice we keep them in a small separate room and give them peace, quiet time and food. But also attempt the occasional cuddle, which starts to work (7 hours after traumatizing capture)
Here is a video (now also in HD) of the ‘how to catch 4 kittens at once’ event:
[update]: Seems that the female is a descended of Schrödinger’s cat, either she can walk through walls or skip dimensions … she manages to disappear within our very tiny second bathroom …
Riddle solved, she is not skipping dimensions. She found that the bidet in that bathroom is hollow and there is a hole in the back, big enough for them to crawl in. And we did not know about this hole.
I first heard about Yuika as Julius’ latest best friend when I saw her in the school transport during summer school a few weeks back, but as it turns out, he also knows her from Japanese school.
Anyways, once we had established contact with the parents (who do not appear to be speaking anything else but Japanese) we met for a fun dinner at our favourite Asian restaurant.
I think it will make J’s transition to a new school environment much easier, knowing there are some kids he already knows.
Yuika must have quite a hard time as she neither speaks English nor Italian … but I hope Julius can help her along a bit.
Not only does the Osteria Madernassa have a great pool, they also serve great food. The chef is Japanese, trying his talents on Italian fare.
I opted for something I was not sure what it would be .. I was able to decipher goose and liver .. and that is usually a paté watered down with pork liver and other salty meats … but not here. 2 big slices of goose liver, buttery soft, with an imaginative array of condiments.
Other highlights we had after we had been pampered with a trifecta of amuse bouches:
chocolate and gorgonzola cream, a fritata with lardo and an incredible cold zucchini cream sauce.
Followed by an anchovie appetizer, 2 delectible pastas and a dessert based in 3 strawberry creations. Fantastic …
It is in no way cheap, but they offer 2 reasonable set menus. I am looking forward to try them for the evening, once I find out the next place to stay overnight, as they don;t offer rooms, but we think we saw a b&b just across the street.
The last few weeks have been too hot, so we looked around for another pool option (we had booked the great pool at Vignolo again, but it seems they have been closed down by the fire department. I guess over the security concerns I had mentioned when I wrote about them.)
While this pool was less spectacular, it was nice and cool and J was the only kid. So it was also pretty quiet.
I wonder if anyone can guess what I made for dinner tonight … I have not made this in a looooooooooong time .. and it is related to Julius’ place of birth … once I get a correct answer, I post the recipe. ( main ingrediant, but can be substituted with any other fresh, white fish)
update
Maggie got it right, here a link to the recipe.
Of course he would find something to play with
For my birthday, Ritsu had made reservations at the very fantastic Magorabin restaurant, a place we had tried to book before (but they were on vacation around our anniversary)
The short version: service was great, food was plenty and almost everything was outstanding.
Severe food porn warning! Do not scroll down if you are on a diet or hungry right now!
| Before we got the menu we were encouraged to have an apperetivo, Ritsu had a Rossini (sparkling wine with strawberries) and I had a Margarita.
Julius was very intrigued by mama’s drink, so after he tried a sip, they actually prepared a non-alcohol version for him. |
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Then we were presented with a posh bread ensamble. Everything from onion to olive bread, mini pieces of pizza, cracker and grissini, served with a pink pepper butter.
We had opted for the 7 course chef’s menu, which means we basically had no idea what was coming, I just stated that we rather prefer seafood. |
So they started with a Russian salad “destrutturata” (basically ‘disassembled’ into it’s parts), but (unlike i.e. @ Villa Tiboldi), very different … Very fresh and crunchy and … Just tasted special.
Then we had mussles in seawater aspic with oven roasted tomatoes and parsley / olive oil drizzle, equally nice.
After that we were told that this was not even part of the menu yet, but rather just a little food amusement (at that point, the chef Marcello Trentini, was working the tables quite prominently. He also shows up as a screensaver on the check out computer …)
So, the next thing we got was the actual beginning of our 7 course meal. And this one was probably our favourite of the evening: slices of beef tongue and raw shrimp under some tangerine jelly lightly sprinkled with crystal salt. Superb.
Sitting on a green bed of thinly sliced zucchini, swimming in apple sauce, a big scallop covered in breadcrumbs awaited us next.
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Then we had a piece of ‘Bacchala’, which usually is salted codfish cooked in milk. In this case it was slow-cooked at 60C and served on a bed of sweet roasted onions. Yum!
Next up, a cream of fava beans with a scoop of a kind of cream cheese and a wallop of trout caviar. Julius was especially interested in those orange bright shiny balls.
I don’t recall when exactly we switched from appetizers to main dish, but I am glad there was no stuffy pasta dish.
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But I think what came next was a main dish. A piece of white (monk?)fish, wrapped in bacon, in a fennel sauce.
While this was all very nice, in this case I had the feeling the flavours cancelled each other out, rather than enhancing … If it wasn’t for the leaf of sage, I would have called this one ‘slightly boring’ |
| One has to keep in mind that by that time we were already getting full … Maybe this is why the next dish we got was probably the least we liked that evening:
A fillet of ‘triglia’, again with smoked sheep ricotta cheese on rucola. It was bitter and not really that enjoyable. |
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The second main dish we had was pieces of pork belly (super yum!), 2 shrimp (kinda bitter), tomato jam (sweet!) and a piece of steamed pumpkin.
Surrounded by some interestingly spiced oil / sauce. The pork was fantastic, while the shrimp were better earlier in their raw form. |
By now we were super full and Julius, up and running, happily drawing and eating one minute ago, had taken over 2 chairs to lay down.
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I was very happy that we only got a tiny tiny tiramisu as dessert. But that was not the end of it:
One of the young waiters recommended as a digestif a Gin & Tonic, which happens to be my favourite drink … And he boasted that he knows the recepie for the best G&T in the world!!! Which of course I had to check out! |
And he was right! He uses an oversized wine glass (instead of the usual cocktail tumbler or long drink glass) to fit in a lot of ice (I always say the most important ingredient in a G&T is the ice). Then he uses a gin (Brecon) and a tonic water (Fever Tree) I have never even heard of before. It was a very smooth, clear and cold flavour sensation!
Since we did not order any coffee we got a little tray of nibblies anyways which we ate while chatting with Marcello, the chef, who had printed out the (nearly) complete menu for us (including the wine we had, but he forgot the mussle dish) and signed it.
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So, all in all it was like 10 -11 course, a bottle of Arneis wine, 2 pre-dinner drinks and 1 after … 158€ … More than our other ‘expensive’ special outings e.g. At Mare Nostrum, but well worth it.
I want to return and try some of their a la carte stuff … I saw some very nice meat dishes on other tables.
Magorabin
Corso San Maurizio 61/b
10124 Torino
011 8126808
Just a quick note that we made it back home swiftly (less than 2 hours from close to Milano).
| And once again, Telecom has disconnected us … why? Well, long story short, to not run into the old problems again, I used Telecom’s P@gonline feature, using my credit card (back in June) …
What I failed to do was to check up a few days later if that feature really works (apparently not). And since then the August bill arrived (late, when we were already on vacation) and this time they did not give us any extra time … sigh. |
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So I had to come into the office on a Sunday evening to check if any money had been moved (nope) and try to explain everything in my poor Italian to some phone operator, and if I got her right, she will switch us back on, which should be ‘within hours, not days … most likely tomorrow morning’ … we shall see …
Today was just to be ‘driving back home’ and to mix things up a bit & avoid the terrible Brenner highway, I had mapped out a route going through the mountains at the end of the Ötztal over the Timmelsjoch (pass) which is 2509m at it’s highest point.
Beautiful scenery left and right and a fun drive, once we reached Südtirol, we had orchards full of apples and peaches next to us.
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What I had NOT planned was crossing a much more crazy pass, the Stilfserjoch (or Passo Stelvio in Italian) which climbs up to 2760m with 48 hairpin turns on the north side and 40 on the south side.
(There are quite some videos of the drive up and down on youtube: like this, this or this.) The drive is a bit nerve wracking as you encounter 3 ‘enemies’: the bicyclists who one has to pass, the bikers that keep passing you (especially just after a turn) and the occasional camper van that needs to do a broken K turn in some of the curves. Once we reached the top we thought we were at fairground or a motorcycle sales show. It was crazy crowded, a handful of shops selling localized souvenirs and 2 restaurants. We selected a pizza place with a very nice view (and so so food) |
The way down on the south side is a bit more relaxed, until you get to some short tunnels (200m long) which are too narrow to fit 2 cars next to each other and there is NO kind of traffic regulation (a traffic light would help here). So, of course, we got stuck with 2 other cars in front of us and we all had to get back out in reverse.
Overall we were on the road for about 9 hours (incl. rest stops), but it was more fun than being stuck in that huge traffic jam they reported about on the radio. We stopped for the night at a very nice hotel close to Milan (free upgrade to suite, sweet!) and had a decent, but overpriced dinner.
One nice last ‘sunset’ view from our balcony. Tomorrow we are heading back, straight through the mountains.
Too bad, no other pictures of today, since we were pre-occupied by packing and playing ‘raiders of the lost iPhone’. As Ritsu disovered her phone missing this morning and calling it went sthraight to voicemail. Not a good sign.
So after calling the lost and found office, several information offices, the police, the cable car company we used 2 days ago, the restaurant we ate, we set of re-tracing our steps (first Obergurgl, then Hochsölden) to the point that I even got a free ride on yesterday’s chairlift, so I could scan the ground from 10m above if I see anything like a phone. But there was nothing (well, I saw a shoe, a pacifier and several water bottles)
There is still some hope that an honest soul had found it and just did not have had the time turning it in …
Schweinshaxe is a crunchy baked pork knuckle, a regional specialty which has to be ordered in advance.
The food was nice, lots of carbohydrates (potatoes AND dumplings) and the atmosphere of the place was very cozy.
Unfortunately, the advertised ‘honest Tyrollean hospitality’ was somewhat lacking. Our waiter guy was so cold, compared to other service experiences in restaurant, it felt borderline rude.
Based on this, I can’t really recommend this place. But maybe he really just had a bad day.
We started the day with a nice ride on a chairlift up the mountain in Hochsölden.
But up there was a bit too cold and we had planned a different route, so after having taken in the panorama, we went down again.
… to be continued …
Initially we had 2 hikes planned for today, first this big waterfall and then a valley in Niederthai. But it turns out the they use some tricky ‘mis-advertizing’ for this fall hike.
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The brochure says ‘you can do the roundtrip hike in 1 hour’ … what they don’t say is that this means ‘to the first viewing platform at the bottom of the waterfall’ … once you see how great it looks and where the other viewing platforms are, you just have to keep going … You park the car at 1000m elevation and the top of the fall is at 1500m … so .. half a kilometer up … that was quite some kraxeling (climbing), but Julius had a lot of fun. We actually found a patch of fresh chanterelle mushrooms (off the path, looked dangerous to get to, and we still had a bunch in the fridge … so we just left them there). |
At the top of the waterfall is a scary suspension bridge and the final viewing platform that looks like a bungee station … and you could see very well how some crazy people used the ‘klettersteig’ to get up to the top secured by harness and rope and crossing the river twice by rope bridges.
We found the restaurant at the top a bit lacking and decided to go back down (it took us 2:15 h to get up, but only 1 h to get down … gravity … yeah ) and have lunch at the Wald Cafe, which also had a nice playground, very decent pricing and according to Ritsu, the best yoghurt she ever had.
Great thing to do on a rainy day, checking out the local super pool (Therme)
While not as impressive as the monster pool area in Fügen we had visited last year, the Aqua Dome was quite fun and getting wet for 3 hours (not hiking in the rain) was a great change of pace.
The pretty amazing thing was that Julius actually swam without any supports several times! Knowing that someone is waiting in the distance, bopping up his head every now and then to get air. Not the best in style yet, but a great survival skill.
Out of all the different attractions they offer I would have to say I enjoyed the outdoor 36C salt water pool with music the best.
The slide was nice, but not worth the 30 min wait for a 1.5 minute ride.
When we left, there was a huge line at the check-in and signs that the pool was at capacity and they would only let people in when others leave. Early bird .. yeah !
Today we got very lucky going up the Gaislachkogl bahn. A) they had a big mountain party at the middle station with lots of kids’ activities, music and llamas (Julius also enjoyed the free airbrush tatoos and said correctly ‘Danke schön’ once the job was done). B) The full ticket for the cable car is usually 20€, so we selected to just go up to the middle station for 8€ and back eventually for 4.50€, but maybe because of the party, the full ticket was only 8€, so we also could go up all the way to the 3000m+ summit.
The weather was a mixed bag, but in the end ideal: No rain until the very end, during our lunch break at the Heidealm the sun came out.
Julius noticed that his hiking boots had become too small, so when we got back down, we shopped around and got a great price on a new pair.
Only 2 pictures today:
We had to pack up everything and after saying bye bye to Großmama Renate, we drove grandparents Keiko and Kazuyoshi to the train station in Innsbruck.
Then we spent a lot of time at the DEZ shopping mall again, getting new hiking boots for me and Ritsu plus some more stuff.
Our drive to Sölden was about an hour and we found our new place just fine. Since it is an apartment hotel, we had to rush to get to the supermarket (before they close for the weekend) and for the first time ever I baked pretzels from frozen pre-made stuff. And wow, the results were pretty astonishing.
I wish they’d offer that in Turin.
The Leutascher Geisterklamm (klamm=gorge) is a beautiful hike through a forrest and along a river. And this is where we took Julius for his birthday.
Highlights included crossing a somewhat scary panorama bridge, crossing over to Germany on foot and meeting another little boy (Lukas) who was also celebrating his 5th birthday today.
The little man had a lot of fun. We had told him before that his birthday is coming up, but not being able yet to count days exactly, he was not aware when he woke up, until he found the M&Ms at his breakfast table seat.
He was very excited about getting a cake and blowing out the candles (something he sees a lot at kindergarten, I guess, but since his birthday is always during summer break, he misses out on that)
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