The food, the food

They say there is nothing like eating fresh and cooking fresh. In a world of grocery stores and convenience stops, it's nice to be able to get back to nature and enjoy the mom and pop stores of the world. Since we've moved here, I've had an opportunity to eat some wonderful food and enjoy some pairings of food i would never have thought of. I mean really, what menu in America has a selection of over 30 pizzas? Anyone? And who would think that stuffing olives with meat would be a delicious morsel? Need I even mention the fresh buffalo mozzarella in water or the several options I have of cheese? I didn't even know this many cheeses existed. The Italians do though. Let's start with the markets. The local markets move around on a daily basis. Each city has a certain day for the market. Mine is on Sundays, from 8-12pm. The vendors come from miles around and begin to fill the streets with clothes, shoes, linens, kitchen utensils, produce, meat, cheese, etc. It's a whirlwind of activity concentrated in a small town, with only a few blocks of commercialism. Even the shops are open during this time frame. In my market, there are about 5-6 produce vendors, all with a little something different to offer but all with exceptionally fresh fruits and veggies. My friends introduced to me to one stand where their daughter speaks a little english. I tried to deal with the mother this past weekend and she handed me off to her daughter once she figured out I didn't know all the fruit names in Italian. (Ok I am still learning. Bananas are bananas, pineapple is ananas, and apples are mela.) I picked up some strawberries (fragola) which are so much better than the ones we used to pick, blueberries (mirtilli), blackberries (more), green pepper (pepe verde) and of course tomatoes (pomodoro). Then I picked up some fish fillets and headed to the meat market. I pick a rolled up beef product which I was able to decipher as a mixture of meats, pork and beef. I had to go on instinct that we might like it. When I arrived home, a little 1 mile walk later, I showed my hubby all the wonderful items I purchased. Dinner that night was delicious and the mystery meat turned out to be pancetta, prosciutto, a thin layer of filet with a sausage link in the middle. It was a tasty treat.

Yesterday I headed back downtown, prior to the stores lunchtime closing which is from 1:30-3:30. I hit the butcher shop, cheese & wine shop and attempted to hit the pastry shop, which unfortunately closed for holiday until next month. Yes, the italians do take a month long holiday usually in August so I guess this shop goes a little early. At any rate, at the meat shop, the butcher tried to tells us the meat with his broken english and our poor italian. I at least know that chicken is pollo. Now I know he was trying to explain to me the different types of chicken he had but all I got out of the conversation was that one was a small chicken and the other one was a bird of a different feather, perhaps quail. I am not sure, but we did get two chicken fillets. Then we moved on to beef. What i thought was beef was pork, but honestly I am going on the color of the meat and the fact that one is carne. After he told us it was porj, we decided on beef. He went into the back of the shop and brought out this beautiful piece of meat hanging a meat hook. I of course chose that, which I think was a steak of some sorts and then finger gesturing began because of course I left my italian translation book at home and I forgot how to ask for a pound of meat. It's some weird metric unit I cannot remember. Two cuts later and a an exchange of pleasantries of "ciao, ciao" and "grazie mille", we moved on to the cheese shop.

It was there I ventured in the back for the pinot I ended up purchasing. I am more of a sweet wine person, more like a moscato person, and thought I would try something new. (Let's say the wine was very dry and not to my tastebud liking). We decided to get some cheeses and pair them with some honey, a nice pairing we had the day before which ended up being the sweetest delicacy I have ever had. we picked  up some fresh mozzarella (packed in water) and then due etti (1/2 lb) of some swiss like cheese. No it wasn't sliced like you would get at the store but rather cut off in a triangular shape and wrapped in paper. I then asked id he had some honey because looking around the store I couldn't locate it nor read the jars. My translator on my phone fail me when it said honey translated into honey, because when I asked just for that, the shopkeeper had no idea what I was saying. It was then my husband saved the day. He did a little imitation of a bee and the shopkeeper was able to figure out what we needed, laughing all the way. When we left, he looked at my husband and said, 'I like bzz bzz, bene, bene." Well at least it got the point across!

I pair the steak with the fresh basil, garlic, pepper and crumbled cheese on top and had some fresh fettucine with a roasted garlic and mushroom sauce. It melted in your mouth. So your job now is to try the honey & cheese, best with a hard cheese rather then a soft one. try it and get back to me, you will like it. And the buffalo mozzarella was out of this world.