New here? Check out “Best Of” for some top posts, subscribe to my RSS feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/MsAdventuresinItaly or receive email updates!Garlic and Italian food seem to go hand-in-hand….in America.
In Italy, it’s a different story. Garlic is one of the things that gets categorized as “pesante” (or heavy/difficult to digest), the concept I discussed [...]

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In certain circles, the words “networking” or “networker” have a slighty negative connotation to them - adding themselves to the ranks of car salesman or ticket scalper. The word “schmooze” sounds greasy on purpose, but networking has an important role in everyone’s life.
I’ve received several nominations recently for the Schmooze Award (thanks, everyone!), and [...]

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Aperitivo is one of my favorite reasons to live in Italy, right behind gelato and pasta. Also known as aperitif in other parts of the world, it comes from aperitivus or aperire, Latin meaning to open. Open your palate before your meal!
Aperitivo is one of the things Milano does best, and it makes the humid [...]

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It’s funny the things that make you nostalgic.
It’s sticky hot here in Milan, and for the first time I won’t be going back to California for the summer. This time four years ago, I had already left California for Italy, and I made a pit stop in Spain since I had never been there. [...]

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There are so many different types of Italian coffee, and by now we know them all, right? Latte, mocha, Frappuccino…
You won’t find a single drink by those names here in Italy.
Ordering coffee in an Italian bar is quite a different story, and I often give my guests a little primer on coffee in Italy [...]

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Think you’re savvy enough to avoid being pickpocketed??
A video recently made the rounds about some pickpockets in action at the Stazione Centrale at Milan (the main train station) and I thought about how I consider myself to be relatively paranoid when it comes to traveling and I am quite overprotective about my things. Now, [...]

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Last year I attended a 4th of July barbecue-aperitivo organized by various expat groups. I didn’t partake of the buffet but I was there more for the company than anything. This year the BBQ was on a Sunday and I was out of town, so I was lucky enough to be invited to a small [...]

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So, now that it’s over, I can let you in on a big secret.

Yesterday, a package arrived, long overdue and highly anticipated. Quite overdue since my estimated time delivery window expired a few weeks ago and usually with Amazon I never have problems with on-time deliveries to Italy. So I opened a troubleshooter email [...]

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