Spring is in the Air

I woke up this morning thinking in Italian.  The warmer weather is making me think of Italy and how it’s almost time to go back. Sunshine just brings out the Italian in me. No, I don’t have any Italian blood, but I have happily established some Italian roots.

I had a shopping date this morning, with my friend, Mitch. We were meeting at the Gandhi statue in Union Square Park, and then going to the Greenmarket to see what was coming in at this time of year. Sadly, it’s a little too early for local produce. There were some herbs, some greenhouse micro greens and a lot of apples.  We both bought fish, I bought pea shoots, Mitch bought maple syrup, and that was that in the Greenmarket.
In Italy, at this of year those fava beans should be coming in, mountains and mountains of them, and artichokes, and who knows what other goodies.
Then we headed over to DiPaolo’s in Little Italy, or what’s left of Manhattan’s Little Italy to buy some Italian cheese and other goodies. I indulged myself with some Italian tuna fish, and artisinal angel hair pasta, but I couldn’t get any sheep milk ricotta. Seems that some evil US Customs official hadn’t cleared the shipment of ricotta from Sicily. So, my only option is to go back another day. This was a lovely way to spend a bella mattina! Thanks for inviting me along, Mitch!