The Bittersweet Life

Latest Episodes:

Episode 503: How Geese Created Money Oct 23, 2023

Show notes

Every time Tiffany hears the word "money," she pictures geese on the Capitoline Hill. If you're curious why (and have an interest in word origins and ancient history) this episode is for you. You'll be surprised by the number of words that come to us direct from Ancient Rome.

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NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 502: Italy by Ingredient (with Viola Buitoni) Oct 16, 2023

Show notes

It's the ingredients, stupid.

Ask anyone who knows Italian food and the'll tell you that what makes it so delicious and so universally beloved are the ingredients.

Viola Buitoni's new cookbook Italy By Ingredient: Artisanal Foods / Modern Recipes is a celebration of this concept. Italian-born, California-based cooking instructor and food writer, Buitoni was honored by the President of the Italian Republic with the title Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia for her work furthering the culture and business of Italian food.

Today she joins us to talk about the very ingredients that go into her recipes and what makes them so special.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 501: How often do you think about the Roman Empire? Oct 09, 2023

Show notes

How often do actual Romans think about the Roman Empire?

You probably saw the recent Tik Tok trend, in which women from around the world asked their male partners how often they thought about the Roman Empire. The results were surprising, with a lot more ancient Roman contemplation than the askers expected.

We decided to ask Tiffany's husband Claudio, who has lived in Rome his entire life and works in a place full of ancient Roman art and artifacts, just how often he thinks about the Roman Empire. And Tiffany weighs in as well.

Listen in for one of the first (if not the only) ever appearances from Claudio!

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 500: Celebrating 500 Episodes! Oct 01, 2023

Show notes

500 Episodes! Can you believe it? (We can't!)

(And by complete coincidence, we taped this episode on the 19th anniversary of Tiffany's arrival in Rome!)

Join us for this unbelievable milestone as we muse on what happens when we do something (a podcast, living abroad...) for a very, very long time. Longer than we could have ever imagined!

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 499: Losing Touch with the Soil Sep 25, 2023

Show notes

"You're an expatriate. You've lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you…"

A famous quote in Tiffany's current read sparks a lively conversation about the unglamorous side of the expat life.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 498: Cultural Fluency Sep 17, 2023

Show notes

How long does it take, living out of your home country, to lose your cultural fluency?

When you grow up and live in the same country for most of your life, you might take it for granted, but understanding a culture, its nuances and customs, both big and small, is a huge part of everyday life. And strangely enough, we've found, if you don't use it, you lose it.

Today Katy talks about the things that Tiffany no longer "gets" about the United States because she has lived abroad for nearly two decades. Hear about how her vocabulary has changed, and the words that, according to Katy, she gets wrong.

And how does it feel to no longer understand the many aspects of your own home country?

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 497: Finding Inspiration on Your Doorstep Sep 11, 2023

Show notes

Where do you find inspiration—for your writing, your painting, or just the art of living?

A listener question about the flowers of Italy, of all things, sparks a conversation about where we find our inspiration, and how to go about seeking it if the well is running dry.

As always, we welcome listener questions. Write to us here (or better yet, send us a voice recording of you asking your questions) and we may just do an episode on it.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 496: What We Did on our Summer Vacation Sep 04, 2023

Show notes

With our August break officially over, we're back with all new episodes, and oh my goodness, I guess that means it's Season 11! (What??!!)

On this spontanous episode, we get back into the swing of things nice and slow, with a recap on what we did during our August vacation.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 495: Loneliness and Belonging (with Hala Alyan) Aug 28, 2023

Show notes

Palestinian American poet Hala Alyan and her family fled Kuwait when Saddam invaded. She joins us to explore storytelling, straddling cultures, loneliness, therapy, and what value belongings come to have when you move constantly.

Alyan is also a clinical psychologist and author of Salt Houses.

Find Hala Alyan at her website.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 494: Your Brain and its Perceptions (with Erik Vance) Aug 21, 2023

Show notes

Why are colors brighter when you travel? Why do foreign doctors' offices seem sketchy sometimes? This has more to do with your brain than with reality. Science writer Erik Vance, author of Suggestible You, helps us examine the science behind our brain and its perceptions.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

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