Ask the Expat: how to eat zucchini flowers

Do you ever post recipes? I had somewhere heard you could eat the zucchini with their flowers, but I'd never seen it done.

-Bonnie, The Blue Suitcase

One of the reasons I was so excited to start a balcony garden was realizing that I could have a cheap and plentiful supply of zucchini flowers. Yum yum yum.

Zucchini flowers are quite easy to cook and eat. You can pick (easiest with scissors) male or female* flowers, preferably on the day they bloom. Wash them gently, inside and out, and pat them dry with paper towels. Pluck out the sexual organs inside, if you're so inclined. The flowers can be refrigerated and kept for a day or so, but it's best to eat them the same day you pick them.



There are plenty of ways to prepare zucchini flowers, but I usually fry them in olive oil after dipping them in egg and dredging them in a mixture of flour, oregano, salt and pepper, the way my grandmother made them. I fry the flowers on both sides until golden brown, then usually serve them with a dollop of tomato puree. To make them even more exciting, I sometimes stick a small piece of cheese (fresh mozzarella or ricotta) inside each flower and pinch the petals shut at the top before dipping in the egg.



Some people get really fancy with zucchini flowers, stuffing them with delicious mixtures of things, but I tend to find that's not worth the effort. But if you're skilled with a piping bag, I say go for it.


* Female flowers have a little zucchini at the base, and the male ones don't. You can see the two types in the picture above.

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Ask the Expat is a new feature I'm trying out here at the blog. If you have a question for me, go to this post to find out how to submit it.

Ask the Expat: a week in Bologna

My husband and I are planning our trip to Europe this summer and have decided on spending some time in Bologna. I think we want to make it our home base for about a week. We will likely be there the last week of August after my husband finishes a course in Ireland. I have read things are quiet in Bologna at that time, but that is really what we are looking for. We are considering a day trip to Venice and a trip to Parma to do the food factories. Would you have any other suggestions? Any must-sees or eats in Bologna or other cities to visit? I really wanted to see more of Tuscany, but didn't think that was possible without a car which we won't have. This will be our first trip to Italy and we are really looking forward to it. We did way too much hopping last year so while we want to see a lot of things we are also looking forward to some relaxing dinners and great wine.

- Lori, Blondie in Brazil

Good choice! Bologna is a lovely city, and there are tons of great day-trips you can take from there - Ravenna, Ferrara, Modena, Verona, Florence, Milan... you can check out the Trenitalia site for travel times. Bologna is a train hub for northern Italy, and the number of interesting destinations within 1-2 hours is practically endless. Since this is your first trip to Italy, I'm tempted to encourage you to hit some of the big, famous bits, such as Venice and Florence, both quite convenient to Bologna, but make sure you fit in at least one smaller town, too.

Since you also mention wanting to see some of Tuscany, consider Siena or Montepulciano. Both can be reached from Bologna by train/bus in around 3 hours (so maybe you'd want to go for an over-night).

In Bologna itself, I'd recommend: the museum at the Accademia; gelato at Grom; pizza at La Mela; a stroll through the small food vendors in the area between Piazza Maggiore and the two towers; a look around the interior of San Petronio (keep your eye out for the fresco of the two-headed people eater); several hours of just wandering around exploring the city center. If you're up for a longer walk, head up to San Luca, a basilica up on a hill just outside of the city. You can walk under zig-zagging porticoes most of the way up.

Now for the big caveat: August can indeed be very, very dead in Italian cities. Not just slow, but practically shuttered down. In Milan at least 3/4 of restaurants and shops were closed down for multiple weeks if not the whole month. It got very hot and felt deserted. Bologna is similar, from what I remember (it was many years ago that I lived there). Honestly, it could get pretty boring spending a whole week there with not much open, and not much restaurant choice. The main holiday is August 15th, so the farther away from that you get (ie, as late as possible in the month) the more open you will find things. If you can re-juggle your schedule to push your time in Italy into September, all the better. Cities in other European countries don't get nearly as ghost-towny as Italian cities do in August.



Bologna is known for its food, and the wine is cheap and plentiful, so you should have no trouble fulfilling that part of your vacation goal.

Have a great trip!

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Ask the Expat is a new feature I'm trying out here at the blog. If you have a question for me, go to this post to find out how to submit it.

Ask the Expat: how did you get here?

Hey, can you point me to any past posts that tell a bit more of your story? How you became an expat (nomad)? Thanks again!

-Bonnie, The Blue Suitcase

I admit, this blog is definitely missing an "about" page, which I always intended to add whenever 1) I got around to switching blog platforms or 2) Blogger started supporting pages that aren't blog entries. So far neither one has happened.

The short answer to your question is that we moved to Munich after my (American) husband got a job here with a local company. But that's only part of the story; Munich is basically my 5th expat adventure in Europe, and each one began differently. Here's a quick run-through:

Bologna, Italy, was my first experience living in Europe, during my junior year abroad in college. I was hooked.

My second expat gig was as an English teacher in eastern Germany. I applied for and received a grant from a foundation which was trying to bring more native-speaker English teachers to eastern universities, which were sorely understaffed after the wall fell and demand for English skyrocketed.

Fast forward a few more years (and careers) and I'm working in New York for a finance company. I've expressed my desire to eventually be transferred to one of the foreign offices, but I don't expect it to happen for a while. Then the company opened an office in Milan, Italy, and decided to send someone from the New York office to staff it. Suddenly that college Italian was coming in handy, as it got me a job in the new office. I was off to Milan, new husband in tow.

At a certain point we decided we were ready to be done with the situation in Milan, but we wanted to stay in Europe. My husband started applying to jobs in a couple countries, and that led to him working for a company in Zurich, Switzerland (which is when I started writing this blog).

After about two years in Switzerland, we started itching for another new adventure, which led to more job applications around Europe, which led to our current situation in Munich. We've been here for a year and a half, and have no plans to move on anytime soon.

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Ask the Expat is a new feature I'm trying out here at the blog. If you have a question for me, go to this post to find out how to submit it.

Ask the Expat: search term edition

Most 'Ask the Expat' inquires come to me as comments or emails from readers. These, however, come in the form of search terms that bring people to my blog. Gotta love site stats.

american gaydar doesn't work in europe
Yes and no. If your gaydar is set to detect mainly visual cues, then well-dressed Italian men and German women with short haircuts are likely to give you a barrage of false positives. But with a bit of fine tuning (and a voltage converter), you'll find that your American gaydar can become useful in Europe, too.

german and american life difference
This one is easy. In Germany, the beer, public transportation and unemployment benefits are better. The Mexican food, friendliness of people, and availability of ice are worse.

mexican food in germany
Is not worth your time (see previous answer).

reality tv germany
Not as sophisticated as the American version. Although one can watch Flavor of Love and Rock of Love here, Germany has thus far failed to produce compelling equivalents. In the meantime we entertain ourselves with Germany's Next Top Model and DSDS.

what kind of job can an american have in europe
Well, you can be a runway model coach, or a revered pop icon. Those are basically the only two options I can think of.

expat basel blog
Try The Big Finn.

swiss view on nudity
Well, I hear that from the men's restroom at the Bauschänzli in Zurich, one has a view of the topless sunbathers next door at the Frauenbad.

how did the hair dryer change american life
Um, it made it fluffier, and more blown out?

should i move to zurich
Maybe.

swiss german horrible people
No, not all of them.

waste time internet
Impossible!

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Ask the Expat is a new feature I'm trying out here at the blog. If you have a question for me, go to this post to find out how to submit it.

Ask the Expat: temporary or permanent?

Hey Jul: I see that you have lived in some of the most difficult countries in Europe to obtain citizenship (Switzerland and Germany). Are you planning on making your stay permanent or are you planning on coming back States side?

- TomD

I really don't know if we'll ever move back to the US. We have no plans either way. Certainly if we do stay in Europe for a longer amount of time, EU (or Swiss) citizenship would make parts of our lives easier (and allow us to vote in local elections), but it's not essential to staying here long-term. So far I haven't lived in a single country long enough to become eligible (the number of years required for eligibility varies from country to country - from a few years in Ireland to over a decade in Switzerland).

If we did live in Germany long enough to become eligible for citizenship, I doubt I would apply for it. Germany would require me to give up my American passport, and I don't think I'd ever want to do that. Permanent residency will just have to do.

The main reason I don't want to to return to the States just yet? I'd have to find a new name for this blog.

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Ask the Expat is a new feature I'm trying out here at the blog. If you have a question for me, go to this post to find out how to submit it.

Ask the Expat: Cute Switzerland

Jul - I've spent the last hour or so being super jealous of you, sucked into your old blog entries about Switzerland and happening across Chagall exhibits, big cows, and castles and such. Man. I've got to get out there. Could you please tell me a couple cities in Switzerland you think are the cutest?

-Em, Redenii in Deutschland

Switzerland is all kinds of cute, and a great place to vacation. I'm having a hard time narrowing it down to just a couple cities, so I'll name a couple in each region. Starting in the German-speaking part of the country, I'd recommend Lucerne (the wooden bridges are charming) and Bern (about as quaint as a capital city can get).

Moving on to Ticino, or the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, I'd suggest Lugano and Bellinzona (castles!) for their adorableness. Lugano (which I visited pre-blog) is a lovely lake town combining the best of Italy and Switzerland - great architecture, yummy food, and clean streets. In Francophone Swiss cities there's also plenty of cuteness to be found, especially in Fribourg and Lausanne.

If you want to get out of the cities, the cutest parts of Switzerland overall are the mountain villages. My all-time favorite is Mürren, which is in the Bernese Oberland and is so cute it will make your cheeks hurt. The whole area is fabulous - don't miss Trummelbach Falls or Grindelwald, either. Interlaken is the gateway to this area, and from there you can take cog-wheel trains and other quaint forms of transportation to get up to the various little villages.

But really, Switzerland is just so chock-full of cuteness it'd be impossible to get it all into one post. You're likely to find it wherever your trip takes you.

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Ask the Expat is a new feature I'm trying out here at the blog. If you have a question for me, go to this post to find out how to submit it.

New Feature: Ask the Expat

I get a lot of email thanks to this blog, most of it asking me to share nuggets of wisdom about travel or life as an expat. I enjoy corresponding with readers, but I find that I often don't have the time to respond thoroughly to all the inquiries I receive. There are also certain questions that I receive over and over again, so I'm starting to think it would make sense to post the answers here on the blog. Thus, I'm going to start answering questions in posts here, dear-abby-style. Because, you know, I'm so very much like Dear Abby.

If you'd like to submit a question, here are a few guidelines that will help me give you a better answer (and increase your likelihood of hearing from me):

• Check the archives first. You can use the search box at the top of the page to search this blog, or browse the category list on the left-hand sidebar. Perhaps I've already answered your question in a past post.
  

• Ask me something I'm likely to know about (or have an opinion about). OK, actually you can ask me anything you want, but you're probably not going to get an answer if you ask me something I know nothing about. I've lived and worked in Italy (Milan and Bologna), Switzerland (Zurich), and Germany (Munich, Berlin, and Halle), and I've traveled extensively throughout these and other European countries. But I'm not an expert on much of anything - keep that in mind, too.
  

• Don't ask me to do your research for you. If you can find the answer to your question using google, why are you asking me?
  

Have a question about European travel, expat life, or anything else that you'd like to ask me? You can submit questions by either 1) posting them in the comments section of this post or 2) emailing me. Either way, let me know what name you'd like me to use for you on the blog. I'll answer questions in new posts, perhaps once a week or so. Maybe it will be a Friday thing. I reserve the right to edit, re-write, ignore, and/or ridicule all questions. Ask away!