We’ve been planning another trip to Italy almost since the moment we got home from our honeymoon.  Well, if I’m being precise, we started planning the moment we lost all of our honeymoon pictures that have us together in one frame, which was about three months after our honeymoon.  But the exciting new twist to the story?  We booked tickets for the very very near future, and we’re headed to Italy and Switzerland.  Yay!!!  We thought about going, then we decided it was a bad idea for now, then we decided we were wrong about the bad ideaness of it all.  The rest is flight booking history.

If you know me, you know that Lugano, Switzerland is my very favorite place on earth.  I got to live there for six months in college, and I will gladly tell any ol’ stranger that Lugano is just about heaven.  Sure, that sounds like an overstatement, but it’s true.  I felt content there, and I also felt like God designed that place to show off just a little bit.  The Alps and the lake and all of that good food in one place?  Definitely showing off.

So yes, I’m extremely excited about sharing Lugano with Scott.  Extremely.

Doesn’t that picture make you want to write a book or paint something or at least dip your feet in the water while eating three scoops of gelato?!  It makes me want to do something wonderful.  Sigh.

Back to trip-planning reality for a second though.  While we’re there for a few days, I have two main culinary goals.  My first goal is lots of gelato.  Duh.  My second goal is to eat raclette for the first time since I was a little kid.

If you’ve never had raclette, it’s essentially warm, smelly cheese on a plate with a few vegetables like new potatoes, small onions, or pickles.  It might sound unlikely, but it’s delicious. 

It’s going to be a big week for dairy in the land of the Swiss cow.