There is finally food in the house!

We can eat again!

What a mistake to arrive in Italy on a Wednesday! We had to wait a whole week before we could get to the market.  I bought some stuff at the COOP (it’s like going to a Shop-Rite) but it wasn’t the same. I refused to buy cheese at the COOP, so we had no parmigiana for a whole week. It was severe deprivation, but I think I’m a stronger person now.
Finally it was Wednesday and market day, and we came home with our bags filled with all sorts of good things to eat.  The fruits were looking particularly good: watermelon, cantaloupe, apricots, plums, huge Sicilian lemons, oranges, and tons of pears and apples.  Its one of life’s mysteries why pears and apples are good in the summer, in Italy, but kind of mealy in the fall.

The cheese people are as sweet and wonderful as ever; and now I have salumi and parmigiana and baccala and pecorino and capers.  Go figure. In New York I had more capers than I knew what to do with, and here I am buying more. Oh well!!

I came home inspired.  I’ve set up a few different granitas: campari/limonata, orange/basil/black pepper and a lemon mojito. I wanted to try a tomato granita, but it was so hot that we ate the base last night as a gazpacho. Taking fresh tomatoes, peeling and deseeding them, and then pureeing the hell out of them makes a great base for all sorts of things. Yesterday’s tomatoes were almost too sweet; they needed some acid added just for balance.

It feels so much better to have a house full of flowers, and a kitchen full of fresh things to eat. Now we are home!