Two “fashion” trends persist for men around here: orange-colored pants and the Milanese “man purse”, a sleeker, chic-er version of the multi-pocketed, safari vest. U.S. travel outfitters sell them as “travel vests”, but here in Milano, they are daily wear for the 60-80 set. Now that winter has gone, these functional garments have come out [...]

This day was not set aside to mark the beginning of barbeque season. Memorial Day is a time to remember and honor those that have given their lives while in service to their country… OUR country. The bell is rung at the calling of each name, newly engraved on the memorial wall. A salute goes [...]

Another day at the Antiques Market along the Naviglio Grande. Summer is in full swing and tourists have found this hot spot. It’s “the” place to be on the last Sunday of the month for anyone wanting a very diverse selection of some pretty choice items. “Antique” in Italy covers a broader range than “antique” [...]

12:20 a.m. Why go to bed when they’re just outside my bedroom window pressure washing the streets and sidewalks? (At 12:20 in the morning!? Hey! They’re early tonight! It’s usually at quarter to one!) Might as well wait, rather than lying there watching the pattern of their flashing orange lights and the patterns they make [...]

It was another sunny afternoon and a good time to go to the Piazza del Duomo to wander around. I hadn’t known that there was a sidewalk art sale going on. Much of the work was very mediocre, as if the artists were uncertain. I saw the work of a few painters that showed surety, [...]

What to do when the temperature is in the 80s on a Saturday afternoon, post jet-lag? Go for a bike ride with a cyclist friend, start along the canal, ride through the farmland to a little lake, get and fix a flat tire and make like a sculpture. Cyclist Emilio and I rode out west [...]

My flight arrived yesterday evening, followed by a train ride into the city. I caught a cab and loved the winding ride through the tight streets. Summer had arrived. It was warm. People were out strolling and the sidewalk seating was filled with people enjoying their aperitivi with friends. The whole mood had shifted in [...]

My house in Seattle is a mansion. My living room here is as big as my whole apartment in Milan. All of this space for one person? Really, it’s just a two-bedroom, 1950s rambler with a basement and a great yard. But after almost a year in Milan, my house seems enormous. I can’t imagine [...]

The fence joints along the canal were interesting to Dad, so I had stopped to take some detail shots. One of the cyclists, Emilio, stopped to ask if I needed any help. I explained about the fence, then we stood at the canalside and continued chatting for 20 minutes or so. On this cloudy day, [...]

Boy! My two cousins come into town and a riot ensues! Connie and Gerry arrived yesterday morning, crashed out for a nap then wandered the town for a while. I met them in the evening at their Duomo-close hotel and we goofed around the piazza for a while. Connie succumbed to the bird food man, [...]

The original plan was to head to Firenze for the day (!), but I caught a short, quick cold Friday night and couldn’t dare think of hopping on the train this morning. (I could hardly get out of bed!) After eventually getting up-and-at-em, I dragged myself up to the Naviglio Grande, knowing they were having [...]

On the last Sunday of the month, one can browse Antiques and Flea-Market-Finds for as far as the eye can see (2 kilometers), on both sides of  the Naviglio Grande, the Grand Canal. (This canal intersects with the Naviglio Pavese, the one I ride my bike along.) . . There is still some limited boat [...]

“My car fits. Doesn’t that make it a parking space?” “It looks like a parking space.” “Oh. You mean this is a sidewalk?” “If I park here in the road, when I come out I can just put the car in gear and go.” Not ALL Italians are on foot, bike or metro! Seattle cops would [...]

Wednesday is “ricotta day”, the day they make fresh ricotta at the Cascina Femegro. Even though I had just been there yesterday, a sunny afternoon and the thought of hours-fresh ricotta on some nice bread easily convinced me to hop on my bike. I headed south along the canal, and turned west into the farmland. [...]

They put the temporary, scaffold-and-tin poster walls back up in my neighborhood just in time to feature advertising for the regional elections. Three inch holes are bored into the sidewalk, with rubber plugs for the off-season. Overnight, they can pop the plugs and throw up the walls clean and ready to be weighted with soon-flaking [...]

After the flea market at Piazza dei Ciompi in Firenze last Sunday, I walked a few blocks further and saw yellow-tented stalls. Hmm. A food market: cheeses, meats, breads and a few other goodies. Some from Toscana (Tuscany), Firenze’s region. Some spicier ones from the south. ‘Nduja is a casing-stuffed meat that is spicy and [...]

Winter has been long and gray and holding tight, unwilling to give way. But it’s late March now, and winter goes grudgingly, allowing spring to tip toe in. It’s rained much of this last week, and I haven’t been out on two wheels for too long. So in spite of forecast rain and the questionable [...]

There’s an ingenious citizen taking action along the frontage road that borders the canal and leads to the bike path. Why wait until the city gets around to patching chuckholes on this minor road? Fill them with ceramic tile scraps! It may not be a perfect solution, but it’s an improvement.

They call it “Cavolfiore” or Cauliflower here, but Americans call it “Romanesco Broccoli”. Either way, it tastes great, it’s absolutely beautiful, and it’s math on your plate. The Romanesco is a clear example of fractals and the fibonacci number sequence. See how the whole head of Romanesco is made of smaller heads that mimic the [...]

Would you let 30 random strangers eat off your plate? Would you, in turn, eat off the plates of those 30 strangers? The Uovo Performing Arts Festival included one “performance” yesterday of 30 individuals, by reservation only. “Mangia che ti fa bene”, “Eat that you will feel well.” For 10 euro, or about $13.50, I walked [...]