Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts

Monday, September 20, 2010

The Price of Tea in China

I have a confession to make. A couple days ago I spent 36 Swiss Francs (approximately equivalent in value to the US or Canadian dollar at the moment) on one bottle of really amazing balsamic vinegar, 250 ml. Have I gone crazy? Maybe. But we tried it at our friend's house and it was really really really good. I also bought this bottle topper that dispenses it in small droplets, so it should last. And all four of us really liked it. And we are all foodies to begin with. And we were in Switzerland where everything is hugely expensive anyway. The boutique we got it from was in Lausanne, right on lake Geneva. It is such a lovely town, I would happily go back, preferably with oodles of cash. The kind we got is on the left in the first photo. Check it out (and yes, that is indeed an olive oil chandelier):



I also just spent 5.15 Euros on 'American tape,' otherwise known as 'duct tape,' one roll. The US/Canadian dollar equivalent is roughly 7 dollars at the moment. In comparison, here in Italy, one tub of 254 g of Genovese pesto is 3.81, or 5.15 in North America.

Currency is a funny thing.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Mangiare!

Pavia seems to have a couple main drags here with shops ranging from pizzerias to high end fashion, boasting of fur coats priced in the thousands of Euros. A block or so away from us is an amazing gelateria that has all these fantastic flavors and a very Italian woman behind the counter. She chooses flavors for us because we fumble so badly with our poor Italian. Can't complain about any of her choices yet, and I hear it is the best place in town. So far I have eaten pasta and pizza for basically every meal, including home-cooked ones (here is my Man enjoying our first). Haven't gotten tired of it yet, but maybe I will. We scoped out a sushi place the other day to run off to if we do. There is a large supermarket a short bus ride away, but I have been mostly buying from all the little shops around the corner from me here in the old town. Bread shops, produce shops, fresh pasta shops, tiny markets, etc line the street just a short block away, in a very traditionally European way.