The theme continues: food, food and more food. I wrote about our trips to the market last year but this year you get to see a video! Market day is always an adventure. We get to see everyone else schlepping to the market; we get to see the street life of a non-tourist area; we get to see beautiful food; and, we get to interact with lovely people.
We go to the same deli/butcher, pasta maker and bread maker as last year. The drill is to take a number and wait your turn. Italians are notorious for not getting into an orderly line so the numbers are essential. This system also helps me with learning my Italian numbers, I pay serious attention to my number.
On this day we lined up first for pasta (we were #49 and they were on #20). We bought a Tuscan specialty, Picci pasta. I like to eat that with the wild boar sauces or the duck sauces. So, are you just so jealous that I can talk about purchased wild boar sauce like I was talking about buying tuna fish? We also bought spinach gnudi (like gnocchi but made with ricotta not potato); and ravioli filled with ricotta and walnut. This is not a “fast-food” experience. The people are having elaborate conversations with the clerks about portion size and how to cook their pasta. I understand very little of what is said but I still find it entertaining. When it is my turn I just tell them that I want pasta for 2 people and they always give me the correct portion. One of the pasta women remembered us from last year and when she waits on us she is very patient and shows me the amount of time to cook the pasta by holding up the corresponding number of fingers. She also gives us the receipt at the same time that she tells us the price. She must see the look of complete concentration on my face as I interpret sette e venti, 7.20. This pasta is incredible. The picci is a thick spaghetti that has a real bite to it when it is cooked. The ravioli could make you cry. The next stop is the bread people, we were # 02 and they were on #80. You tell them how many people the bread is for and they cut you a hunk of the appropriate size. We are always tempted by the other treats and this day we bought a slice of apple strudel that tasted as good as it looked. They have a deep fat fryer at the bread stand. They fry bread balls, then sprinkle them with sugar and they fry polenta squares then sprinkle those with salt. We often buy the fried polenta for a snack on the way home. It is all of a 20 minute walk and we don't want to starve on the way home! Last is our deli/butcher. He still feeds us as soon as we arrive. It is usually a slice of bread with the Italian soft cream cheese spread on top. From him we buy our mortadella, prociutto, pecorino cheese and sheep milk ricotta. Every now and then he tells me that his sister made something; sometimes pasta, sometimes cheese. Then we have to buy whatever it is and we are never disappointed. He always tells me how beautiful I am and tells Arnie how lucky he is to be my husband. Now, I know he says the same thing to the 80 year old grandmothers but I don't care. After we leave him we take a look at the vegetables and buy whatever strikes our fancy. This day it was fresh peas. They had Fava beans but we weren’t in the mood to deal with them. When we went to the same vegetable vendor a week later she threw spring garlic and parsley in the bag of peas for free, I guess the second purchase makes one worthy. All of those goodies make up 3 dinners and a couple of lunches. Throw in the lettuce and pear that we buy every day from the guy around the corner from the Palazzo and we are good to go.
On our way home from the market we stopped into a shop that sells wine in bulk. You bring your bottle and they fill it up from a spigot then cork it. They sold us a few empty wine bottles since we were not prepared to do this. La signora doesn’t speak English but that didn’t stop her from explaining everything to us in Italian and we got the drift of how things worked. Then she took my camera and gave it to Arnie and brought me to the spigot to have my picture taken filling a bottle. The wine was not bad for 3 euro. It beat out our favorite $3.99 Trader Joe’s Nero d’Avola. She is now Arnie’s BFF (Best Friend Forever). Arnie has been back every few days.
The best part of market day is always coming home to enjoy the spoils of our toils.
Here’s the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/user/alaguar1
We go to the same deli/butcher, pasta maker and bread maker as last year. The drill is to take a number and wait your turn. Italians are notorious for not getting into an orderly line so the numbers are essential. This system also helps me with learning my Italian numbers, I pay serious attention to my number.
On this day we lined up first for pasta (we were #49 and they were on #20). We bought a Tuscan specialty, Picci pasta. I like to eat that with the wild boar sauces or the duck sauces. So, are you just so jealous that I can talk about purchased wild boar sauce like I was talking about buying tuna fish? We also bought spinach gnudi (like gnocchi but made with ricotta not potato); and ravioli filled with ricotta and walnut. This is not a “fast-food” experience. The people are having elaborate conversations with the clerks about portion size and how to cook their pasta. I understand very little of what is said but I still find it entertaining. When it is my turn I just tell them that I want pasta for 2 people and they always give me the correct portion. One of the pasta women remembered us from last year and when she waits on us she is very patient and shows me the amount of time to cook the pasta by holding up the corresponding number of fingers. She also gives us the receipt at the same time that she tells us the price. She must see the look of complete concentration on my face as I interpret sette e venti, 7.20. This pasta is incredible. The picci is a thick spaghetti that has a real bite to it when it is cooked. The ravioli could make you cry. The next stop is the bread people, we were # 02 and they were on #80. You tell them how many people the bread is for and they cut you a hunk of the appropriate size. We are always tempted by the other treats and this day we bought a slice of apple strudel that tasted as good as it looked. They have a deep fat fryer at the bread stand. They fry bread balls, then sprinkle them with sugar and they fry polenta squares then sprinkle those with salt. We often buy the fried polenta for a snack on the way home. It is all of a 20 minute walk and we don't want to starve on the way home! Last is our deli/butcher. He still feeds us as soon as we arrive. It is usually a slice of bread with the Italian soft cream cheese spread on top. From him we buy our mortadella, prociutto, pecorino cheese and sheep milk ricotta. Every now and then he tells me that his sister made something; sometimes pasta, sometimes cheese. Then we have to buy whatever it is and we are never disappointed. He always tells me how beautiful I am and tells Arnie how lucky he is to be my husband. Now, I know he says the same thing to the 80 year old grandmothers but I don't care. After we leave him we take a look at the vegetables and buy whatever strikes our fancy. This day it was fresh peas. They had Fava beans but we weren’t in the mood to deal with them. When we went to the same vegetable vendor a week later she threw spring garlic and parsley in the bag of peas for free, I guess the second purchase makes one worthy. All of those goodies make up 3 dinners and a couple of lunches. Throw in the lettuce and pear that we buy every day from the guy around the corner from the Palazzo and we are good to go.
On our way home from the market we stopped into a shop that sells wine in bulk. You bring your bottle and they fill it up from a spigot then cork it. They sold us a few empty wine bottles since we were not prepared to do this. La signora doesn’t speak English but that didn’t stop her from explaining everything to us in Italian and we got the drift of how things worked. Then she took my camera and gave it to Arnie and brought me to the spigot to have my picture taken filling a bottle. The wine was not bad for 3 euro. It beat out our favorite $3.99 Trader Joe’s Nero d’Avola. She is now Arnie’s BFF (Best Friend Forever). Arnie has been back every few days.The best part of market day is always coming home to enjoy the spoils of our toils.
Here’s the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/user/alaguar1
