Every city in Italy seems to have their favorite type of bread. Whatever type it is, you’ll see it used in sandwich shops and sold in bakeries everywhere. The bread of Padova is zoccoletti. In my opinion, these are the perfect style of bread for prosciutto, tomato, and mozzarella sandwiches. The crust of these little gems is crisp and flavorful, while the insides are tender. They seem to come in a varying number of sizes, but not on purpose. It’s almost as if the bakers just form imprecise sizes, and with a kind of round shape, which results in no two zoccoletti looking alike. Trying to buy 4 zoccoletti of the same size is a challenge. Some are no larger across than a plum tomato, while others are bigger than a beefsteak – and their shapes are just as varied as tomatoes with some long and others round. Whichever shape your zoccoletti are, you can be sure that they will be delicious.
As the cooler weather rolled in with the new month, so did new cocktails. The tables in the piazze are usually sparkling with the bright orange glasses of Aperol Spritz cocktails as the aperitivo of choice. It’s almost a given that women, and most men, will order an Aperol Spritz in the afternoon. Every bar offers them. But the cold weather has brought about a change here in Padova. The orange drinks are diminishing as a new violet cocktail is gaining popularity.
On Thursday we went back to the Basilica of Saint Anthony, or La Chiesa del Santo (The Church of the Saint) as it’s known locally. We had visited on our first day in town, but wanted to check it out again. There’s so much to see and photographs are prohibited. Cinzia, always one to obey the rules, stepped out of her comfort zone and managed to sneak a few shots on her smartphone.
There are a great number of varieties of tomatoes in the markets here in Italy. Each one has its uses and is available at different times of the year. You’d better know what you’re doing. We’re learning our way.
Today we went to Burano – one of the tiny islands of Venezia. If you’re ever heard of Burano it might bring to mind thoughts of their brightly colored houses, possibly seafood risotto, or maybe their handmade lace industry. But you’d be missing something special – the bussolà. What are bussolà? They are delicious cookies unique to Burano and are fashioned in either the traditional ring or essi (reminiscent of the curve of the Grand Canal as it snakes its way through the cluster of individual islands that make up Venezia).
It’s October 1st. The weather is cooler. Vendors selling roasted chestnut from their carts have magically appeared in town. Gone are the plums, peaches, and melons of summer and in their place you’ll find artichokes, pumpkins, and chestnuts – beautiful red-net sacks heavy with unbelievably fat chestnuts. If I only had a sharp knife to score them I’d buy a sack to roast at home. We’ve been spending quite a few days at home. After all, it’s tiring to travel out of town every day. I think we’ll go to Burano tomorrow, but the skies are grey and overcast today, so we’re staying in once again.
After weeks of above average temperatures here in Italy, autumn has arrived, and with it, the temperatures have dropped. The mercury dipped from the mid 80’s, past the 70’s, and into the 60’s seemingly overnight. This makes walking around the town much more comfortable and gives us the chance to put away our summer clothing and bring out the fall outfits along with our scarves – that very Italian accessory to protect you from “the evil winds”.
It’s Monday. After a relaxing weekend spent mostly indoors, we decided to get our butts out of the apartment early today. “Early” means sometime before noon. We did well. With shopping bags in hand we headed to Piazza dei Frutti just after 10am. Our goals were modest: pickup some tasty cheeses and bread to make grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, and then pick up ingredients for linguine alla puttanesca for dinner. The seafood vendor always has fresh anchovies filleted on his marble table for sale, and I wanted to try these when making a sauce with fresh tomatoes. Alas, not realizing that it was the day after Sunday, the seafood vendor was closed. Since the fishermen are off Sundays, there’s no fresh catch to sell today. I’ll have to put off making puttanesca until later this week, but I’ll pick up the Gaeta olives and capers today.
Let’s face it; we’re in Italy to eat. Staying in hotels or traveling the country on a tour bus doesn’t allow you to buy local fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, etc. to prepare in your own kitchen. That’s why it’s so great having an apartment. Every time we go to the markets I see things that I want to buy (and eat). “I wonder what that salami tastes like?” “Look, 7 varieties of prosciutto!” “There are 4 types of fresh ricotta: cow’s milk, buffalo’s milk, sheep’s milk, and goat’s milk.” “That yellow pepper is the size of my head!” “Which saddle of veal looks best today?” “What on earth are all these varieties of bread used for?” “I wonder how many pastries I can eat this evening?” And then there’s gelato, but we’ll save that for another blog.
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