90 Day Journey – End of Week 10 Self Awareness (I forgot week 9…)

So first, I apologize Week 9, I forgot you… So I will include you with week 10.

Digging deep into who you are, discovering the Why, and even the Who, What, When and Where, are important. If you have not taken a few days at some point in your life to really dig in and ask yourself “Why…” like Why do I react that way to situation X, why do I believe in Thing Y, etc, you are missing something.

Often these tidbits are not Life Altering, or some huge discovery about yourself, but they are important. BUT if something is big and life altering, then you have done yourself a favour.

Self Awareness, and being HONEST with yourself about who you are, what you believe, how you want to live, how you want to love, is some clarity that I believe very few of you ever really get.
We all know Who We Are, but do we REALLY know Who We Are?
The answer will shock the fuck out of you.

Elements of Self Awareness – Self Love, Confidence, Self Acceptance
These elements are not used to fool yourself into a delusional state, that would be the opposite of Self Awareness.
You could easily use “Confidence” to hide things, build up around them. That is not real Confidence.
Confidence is there to allow you to be Honest with yourself, look yourself in the eye and accept what you truly see (self acceptance) and then employ Self Love to improve upon it, or realize it is what it is, accept it and move on.
Not every weakness you find or see needs to be worked on. Sometimes they are just what they are, and the effort to truly improve them is not worth the time and extreme added effort, when you could do so much more with that effort on either a different weakness, or a strength and gain exponentially more. BUT Accepting It is ALWAYS worth it, Acknowledging it is ALWAYS Worth it.

What have I discovered recently about myself with this process? Glad you asked:
I allow the status quo to set in too often, give up the fight for change too easily.
I am not straightforward enough with employees and co workers when it matters most. (sort of part 2 of the status quo weakness)
When something finally has to be done, I knee jerk react to it, because I allowed the status quo too linger too long and now it has to be solved.
I am smart, determined, flexible and capable of almost anything I set my mind too (as long as I cure the status quo part…)
I avoid confrontation in situations that really need it, and confront at times in situations that do not need it (part of the knee jerk reaction from above).

There are a host of other things as well, strength and weakness, but these were the higher level ones and things I have chose to work on actively.

Now on to the Fun Stuff:
On May 5th – 7th I got to head to Eastern Washington for some fantastic wine events, a tour of Cascade Cliffs and the Leonetti release party. While there did some tastings at Gramercy, L’Ecole, Lagana, Col Solare and Jacob Williams.
Some FANTASTIC wines in that group. I will get some content out around those this week and a post or two.

Happy Weekend and looking forward to a great week a head for all of you!

–Chris

AFV2022: Italy so far…

So I am WAY behind where I wanted to be on posts, but it has been a WHIRLWIND so far in Italy. Milan, Venice, Florence, San Gimignano, Bologna and now on the train to Rome (and then to Sorrento).

I figure most of the detailed posts will have to wait until I am home and then will gather thoughts and notes and pictures over the next few weeks.

So far the trip has been amazing, Food, food and more food, wine flowing pretty free also. Prices in Italy for many things are significantly cheaper than I remembered, the EUR and USD are about even, which helps a lot as well. Dinner is usually about $15-$25 a person, for two, if not three courses and wine. And this is not Olive Garden italian food… this is real food.
Your average pizza, about the size of a medium from Domino’s, $10-$12.
Bottle of wine $8-$20 ($20 is extreme, usually $12-$16), a glass $4-$6, maybe $8 if you go top end.

Quick thoughts on cities we have stayed in:
Milan – not a lot to see, food is so-so, likely a good party city, as it is the most modern city in Italy.
Venice – I am not a fan. Have been twice now. The history of Venice is amazing but the actual place leaves something to be desired.
Florence – amazing sites, great food. A lot of our group did not like it, but I do. I especially like the surrounding countryside
San Gimignano – Tuscan Hill Town, but very touristy. It is the visual representation of Tuscany, but is not the intimate, individualistic, Hill Town experience. Worth the visit, but not a long stay.
Bologna – Still confused by this place, just leaving the city right now.

The trip on the whole is amazing. Even if parts of it have not hit the spot for me, something in every place is has been someone else’s favourite. Just being here in Italy is fantastic.

We had quite a few side trips, wineries, restaurants, cheese prosciutto and basalmic makers. Details on those things and more coming.


AFV2022: Milano, Italy – The Food

Milano, or Milan, is located in the Lombardy region in northern Italy. It is the financial hub for Italy. It is also a fashion and design capital, arguably for the World and is Italy’s most “modern” city. Home to about 1.4 million people, and about 4.4million in the greater Milan area.

Personally, I found food in Milan to be so-so. But they do have some very notable dishes.

Costoletta alla Milanese
A veal cutlet, dredged in bread crumbs and pan fried to golden perfection. My father had this at the restaurant we went to in Milan, it was very good.

Risotto alla Milanese
This was the dish I was most excited for, as I love Risotto and make it often. Given its golden yellow colour from the saffron, it should be velvety and refined. Now maybe it was the restaurant we were at, but it was slightly undercooked and not velvety at all.
Flavour was spot on, texture was not.

Ossobuc
Maybe the best known dish from Milan, though I do not know if anyone knows it is from MIlan, the Risotto alla Milanese is the most recognized from Milan is my guess. Ossobuco means “marrowbone”, and is usually served with Risotto alla Milanese. This is made with a slice of shin on the bone, veal, pan fried and then stewed for a bit in broth, and topped with “gremolada” (a paste of garlic, lemon peal and parsely). Done right and this savory dish will blow your mind.
Very good and well prepared. This bailed the Risotto out and saved dinner for me, I had it with potatoes (dry and chewy), as I had just eaten a while plate of the Risotto.

RS had the Caprese Salad (tomato, buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil), and a very good filet with roasted tomato and eggplant. Maybe the best meal of every one on the trip. Amazing flavour.

While not what I hoped for in Milan, it was still good and Milan has some great things to see, which we will get into in the next post.

Anderson Family Vacation 2022: Italy

Ten of us on this trip, eight from Seattle and two from New York.
Meeting in Frankfurt, then on to Milan, Italy.

The basic outline is Milan -> Venice -> Florence -> San Giamono -> Bologna -> Rome -> Sorrento/Capri and then fly out of Naples.

Three generations of Anderson-Huppert’s on this trip. Organized by my parents (TA, CA), the tip includes by sister, her husband and their three boys (LH, BH, KDA, RH, JH) and the oldest’s nephew’s girl friend (G) and then myself and my girl friend (RS).

Food, wine, sights, and who knows what else in store for u over the next three or so weeks.