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Lavazza – Museo

Wednesday, 25 October, 2018

I’m continually surprised by the amount of history in this underrated and ‘invisible’ spot in Italy. Sure, there’s the Roman origins, but it goes on through its royal presence, its significance in the unification of the country, its entry into industry with chocolate, coffee, and automobiles, and its love affair with innovation.

Woke up to this weird red sail sunrise
Woke up to this weird red sail sunrise

Innovation is a strange word in Italy, where things seem set in stone. ‘We always do this.’ Tradition is everywhere. I see the people dancing, listen to the Klezmer-like songs at Balon, watch the pageantry of the markets, eat the food that’s been the same for centuries and tastes the same wherever I go.  Sometimes it feels quite stiff. And yet there’s also a passion to come up with something new. Maybe this is why Turin has been so immersed in industry – to produce and develop things that led the way.

I’ve watched them building the new Lavazza headquarters over a few years. The company has always been in this area of town, so it made sense that they’d stay more or less put and create the ‘Cloud’ complex. The way it’s all put together, you can really feel the pride. Finally on Wednesday I made the time to go to the museum inside the complex.

On the way to Lavazza, the mountains were the clearest I've seen them this year
On the way to Lavazza, the mountains were the clearest I’ve seen them this year

So far, Turin museums have been formal and old fashioned. I’ve not felt the need to linger. Even in the Egyptian museum last year it was the size and not the contents that kept me there so long. The Lavazza museum is quite the opposite. Apart from the Ontario Science Centre, which broke away from the traditional when it opened, I haven’t been as immersed or impressed. It’s innovative and so it seems was Luigi Lavazza, the founder. Continue reading “Lavazza – Museo”

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The MAO and Giovanna

Tuesday, 2 October, 2018

The temperature dipped and on went the warmer clothes. Calendar Fall is already here and now Real Fall is settling in wherever it can. The light is different and the air is clearer. How long till I can really see the Alps?

The sunrises are golden
The sunrises are golden
The architecture is golden too
The architecture is golden too

The free museum days in Torino are perfect for me. I don’t like to spend too much time looking around and in London this means I can pop in for a short time, leave when tired, and come back again when I have an inclination. Torino has designated days each month for free visits. First Tuesdays, first Saturdays, first Sundays…with a few others thrown in for good measure. On the first Tuesday of October, I went to the MAO – Museo d’Arte Orientale (Museum of Oriental Art). It’s on Via San Domenica in the Quadrilatero so an easy walk.

Narrow street of the Quadrilatero
Narrow street of the Quadrilatero
One side of the MAO's beautiful gate, which leads to a corridor - like a zen garden
One side of the MAO’s beautiful gate, which leads to a corridor – like a zen garden
The architect's date stamp, a stepping stone to another time
The architect’s date stamp, a stepping stone to another time

The exhibit on the main floor was of photographs of the Nomads of Asia. This didn’t sound all that interesting but I was wrong. I was so struck by these peoples who wander the plains of Asia – China, Asia, India, the middle East – living a life unchanged for hundreds of years. Some of the colours and clothing and customs were stunning. It seemed almost impossible to imagine that they were living in the same century that I was, or on the same planet at times.

These women in Russia had the most beautiful dresses. They stood beside a tent made of dozens of animal skins
These women in Russia had the most beautiful dresses. They stood beside a tent made of dozens of animal skins

Of course, I am struck by the images of women, doing the tasks that have never changed. The only clue that these are modern women are in the photos showing plastic bags and other paraphenalia around the walls of their tents. In three different regions of this massive continent, there are so many similarities.

And, most strikingly, this woman weaving, while tending to her child. No doubt there is food simmering somewhere that she will pay attention to. This multitasking changes from culture to culture yet is always the same in nature. The job of nurturing.

I’m always struck by the Gujarati of India. Gujarati people are descended from Aryan nomads who lived in the  valleys of the Indus River in 2000 BC and settled in Gujarat. They now make make up about one third of the diaspora worldwide.

The Aryan colouring of the Gujarati of India
The Aryan colouring of the Gujarati of India

As is often the case, the museum was more interesting than expected. I loved the photo exhibition. I liked the exhibit spaces less and I felt a little stifled.

Continue reading “The MAO and Giovanna”

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Market to Table – Cooking in Turin

Friday, 5 October, 2018

Third time trying and this year I finally managed to get a cooking lesson in Torino. My source was Bonappetour. I’ll definitely check this again for the future!

The course I chose was Market to Table with Rosemarie. The plan – meet for breakfast, go to the market, cook, eat! This reminded me of Lucy’s classes in Lyon so it was familiar. Always a little cautious, I set off on Friday morning just about 8am. I couldn’t find a single way to avoid the dreaded metro but ‘go’ it was.

Three Torets at Bernini
Three Torets at Bernini
The metro at Bernini
The metro at Bernini 

I’d done a little reading and, coincidentally, had stumbled over comments about Rosemarie and her cooking classes in other Torino blogs. That’s also how I discovered her blog! So when she walked into the little caffeteria, I knew her instantly. Accidental stalking pays off! We each had a pastry with pear and ginger and I had a ‘cappuccia’ – thanks to Rosemarie for teaching me that word.

The local market, Brunelleschi, is very small compared to Porta Palazzo and the markets Giovanni introduced me to but it’s got everything you’d need and it’s calmer and less rude. Rosemarie bought beans, pears, a cheese with peppercorns, some ricotta, five salted anchovies from Spain. It’s good to listen and pick up the market terms, hearing things that might be useful for me later. I was impressed by how the stall holders could make suggestions when Rosemarie told them what she was cooking. From here we moved on to a butcher where again they listened to the menu and knew what meat to cut up for stewing. And a generous stalk of sage, inside a twist of paper.

At the bakery, Rosemarie chose grissini and six crusty buns warm from the oven. At the wine store, they listened carefully to what we were going to eat and suggested the wine. As we left, Rosemarie told me they wanted me to have a biscuit – yum! I chose fig and nut.

At the enoteca. Fervent discussion about the choice of wine
At the enoteca. Fervent discussion about the choice of wine

Rosemarie lives on the third floor of a slightly older apartment building. We get there in a tiny lift whose doors are opened manually. I survive that risk too! The flat is large and homey. The whole thing is homey.

Rosemarie had invited another person over to help her with prep and cleaning. I’m surprised that it’s another Torino blogger that have I been reading, Sonia. (Did I find them through each other’s sites?) It feels a little odd knowing that I have had a glimpse of their Torino lives, while I’m a stranger. But it does feel like I’m among friends. That’s a good feeling.

It’s also a good feeling to have a helper while you’re cooking. Sonia set things out, cleaned up behind us, and was an expert hand with kneading the pasta dough. I learned a lot and I got to prep and help with the cooking. I’m pretty sure I could manage to cook all of these things with a little patience – not my strongest suit, going slowly.

The menu, as promised in email — Appetiser: acciughe al verde (Anchovies in green sauce) Starter: agnolotti al plin con burro e salvia (pinched agnolotti in butter and sage) Main: Fricandò di manzo (Piedmontese beef fricandò) Dessert: Pere cotte al vino (Pears poached in wine).

Rosemarie's kitchen
Rosemarie’s kitchen

My pictorial essay follows!
Continue reading “Market to Table – Cooking in Turin”

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Gobino and Consorzio

Thursday, 4 October, 2018 25C

Liat’s brother and dad were coming to Torino and, if they wanted, we could combine numbers and go to the Gobino Chocolate Factory in Vanchiglietta. I’ve been trying to get a tour there for ages and this was a great opportunity. The decision dragged on a bit but finally it was all sorted.

I happen on Via Caglieri pretty often while walking but, wouldn’t you know it, on the day I needed to be there I felt totally lost. But we made it…and perhaps ten minutes before Liat and her family got there.

Our tour guide was a young woman whose English was very strong. We suited up in an ante room and off we went to check out the factory. This is smaller than Caffarel for sure but still commercial and noisy. The noise was a good touch – lending a bit of oompa loompa style to the whole thing. We saw the sacks of cocoa beans, and of sugar, and had a chance to see the cocoa nibs, the cocoa butter and the cocoa mass. That mass smells amazing – gives me a feeling of wanting to roll around in it! I wondered how long before it becomes overwhelming. (In fact, by the end of the tour I needed air!)

There are quite a few processes for the chocolate to go through before it finally reaches the wrapping stage. It was here we got a taste of the chocolate from the production line. It tastes better than Caffarel.

No photos allowed! So I took some of the showroom and then of the plate of samples they had for us to taste when we’d taken off the gear.

Gobino is an artisan chocolate factory that makes giandujotti, whole hazelnut chocolate, dark chocolate disks and cremini (layered chocolate) and a few related things.  It’s not got the long history of Caffarel but it’s now our preferred chocolate.

Amaretti
Amaretti
Tasting
Tasting table
Plate of chocolate to taste
Plate of chocolate to taste
Yan reaching for the gianduiotti
Yan reaching for the gianduiotti
On the way to Consorzio
On the way to Consorzio

Krish promised that this year we’d go to a restaurant each week. We’re not doing so well! So I booked an evening at Consorzio, a restaurant with a strong Torinese reputation. And it’s close. Straight down Via Milano, which runs parallel to the market and just a few streets down. Continue reading “Gobino and Consorzio”

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Rain and Andy Warhol

Monday, 1 October, 2018 – 12C

Four weeks today since we arrived. Ouch! We’ve done a lot yet not a lot. We’ve resolved to never come to a hot country before October. But it’s spurred me to start filling in ideas on my October calendar. This week – free admission days to museums, dinner with Liat’s family, and my cooking day – on Friday.

One of the mosquito bites, on the back of my wrist, is very itchy and swollen. I’ve put a bandaid on it so I’ll stop scratching. I am now scratching the bandaid…

And it rained. And rained. And rained some more. The wind got serious. The air was chilly. The temperature dropped more than ten degrees Celsius.  We hunkered down but hoped it would clear enough since Krish wanted to go to a photography exhibit of Pop Art. And 1st October was a free admission day.

We put together a lunch out of what we had. No way to venture down to the market. We didn’t want to start our day already soggy.

The gallery is near Piazza Carlina. From there you can see the Mole looming. I heard that the NH Hotel Carlina has some lovely original features and also a wonderful staircase. I just feel uncertain though. When I get inside, there are three people in the unconventional reception area. I lose my nerve and can’t take photos of the interior.

Views of the Mole from the deserted square
Views of the Mole from the deserted square
The hotel courtyard - not too shabby
The hotel courtyard – not too shabby
Interesting history for the hotel building
Interesting history for the hotel building

Again, I’m not much for museums and art galleries so have a system that gets me through quickly but allows me time to look at something that may catch my eye. I can admire a painting or an artifact if it speaks to me and this exhibit, on pop art, may have more to say than most.  I cherry-pick what I look at.

Entering the exhibit
Entering the exhibit

Continue reading “Rain and Andy Warhol”