Monday, September 13, 2010

2 Things I love about living in Italy

1. Pasteries (paste in Italian)!! Any shape, size, and flavor at any time of the day - I love them all! It really is a wonder that I am not 500 pounds!

Le paste at our favorite pasticceria La Caramella

2. Shopping at a few different, small shops for my food instead of a large supermarket. Just two blocks from our house there is a fruit and vegetable stand as well as a shop that sells bread, pastery, meat, cheese, and fresh pasta. The fruit and vegetable stand is Full Service (remember when they use to do that at gas stations) meaning when I enter I must wait for the one employee to finish with anyone who came in before me and then I tell her item by item (including the quantity) what I would like. It was strange at first not being able to touch the produce but now I have gotten use to it and it is GREAT language practice! There is an adorable couple that runs the other shop and they are very patient with my Italian because like the Fruit and Vegetable store most things are not self service. My absolute favorite thing in the store is a huge bowl of stunnigly, deep green pesto! You can order as much or as little as you want and poof you have the easiest, yummiest dinner ever. Now, don't get me wrong there are supermarkets in Italy and I do shop at them sometimes but it always makes me happy to go from shop to shop gathering my food for the evening and then walking home with the bags swinging from my arms.

Photo by Andrea

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