Monday, June 11, 2007

The end of the electrical conversion story, the trail to Tonolo, and Ai (No!) Gondiliere

So the moral of the converter/adapter/surge protector story is, it's 2007, folks, and most electronics are "travel-ready" with the appropriate adapter. Everything works just fine with a simple piece of $4.95 hardware.

Saturday and the trail to Tonolo. Two patisserie/dolci shops stood out from all the rest in my foodie research and we found Tonolo - on the border of our sestier, Dorsoduro, and the next one north, San Polo, in time for breakfast Saturday morning. Yes, of course it was worth the haul - delicious cookies, buttery pastries, and, of course, stand-out cappuccino.

Also gave us the opportunity to check out Campo di Santa Margherita's Saturday market filled with fresh fish, fruit, vegetables, flowers, and wild teens!

Right in our own neighborhood, pricey ristorante Ai Gondiliere had come highly recommended. Unfortunately, as we all know, expensive doesn't necessarily translate into "great" and in this case it was downright disappointing. They try - with nice little touches like a glass of Prosecco as soon as we were seated, crudite presented in a water goblet, each carrot and celery stick standing up straight as a soldier nestled into crushed ice, a ramekin of fantastic mustard - local, I'm guessing - topped with olive oil that tasted oh so delizioso on the bread and the vegetables, and a little dessert sampler of shot glasses of chocolate mousse, white chocolate-covered ganache bon-bons and dark chocolate-covered orange peel. But the meal itself was completely uninspired in both flavors and presentation.

Moving right along - the Biennale is open!!


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