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Post by fumobici on Oct 31, 2011 21:41:20 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2011 21:48:11 GMT
Dammit, fumobici, I just ate dinner and your market pictures made me hungry again!
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Post by nycgirl on Nov 1, 2011 3:05:37 GMT
Great market photos, such a pretty array of vibrant colors. The rest of the town looks charming as well.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2011 5:52:31 GMT
I was looking again at all of the varieties of tomato, some of which I have never seen before. I have no idea if different varieties are supposed to taste different, though.
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Post by fumobici on Nov 2, 2011 18:47:36 GMT
I think they taste quite different. The commonest tomatoes in Italy seem to be the lobed type that nerer turn completely red even when fully ripe. And understandably so as they are excellent. I can hardly eat the grocery store tomatoes here any more. I try to grow my own but we just don't get enough heat so the harvest is meager. Luckily Trader Joe's frequently has some passable heirloom varieties grown either in S California or Mexico.
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Post by bjd on Nov 2, 2011 18:55:04 GMT
At my local street market, several of the producers have started growing more old varieties of tomatoes. I agree those lobed ones are very good.
And every May, there is an Englishman who comes to sell tomato plants at the market -- he has loads of different kinds. The problem with tomatoes here is that they need lots of water and we rarely have much rain in the summer.
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Post by fumobici on Nov 2, 2011 19:20:42 GMT
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Post by auntieannie on Nov 3, 2011 12:32:46 GMT
What a lovely lovely "passegiata" along the market streets! Nice bike! I see you still like your doors, Fumo. Fresh tomatoes in the spring. Here we can only dream of that.
And the supermarkets on the european continent! I know now why my English friends always comment about them. It's nothing to those of you who live there... but what a delightful sight when you are deprived of them.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2011 12:48:51 GMT
Minor cultural differences always fascinate me. In France, the whisky would be nowhere near the sparkling wine -- certainly not on the same sign!
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Post by fumobici on Nov 3, 2011 15:36:04 GMT
If one looks at the cardboard boxes the early tomatoes came in one learns they mostly came from Africa or the Middle East. I have noticed some coming very early from Sicily though. They may have been grown or started under protection, they set up hoops and have some sort of row cover in the fields to form a sort of field of greenhouses to give field crops an early start, then remove the hoops and covers when the weather warms.
I found the combination of whisky and spumante an odd shelf pairing as well. Where I live in Washington state liquors can only be purchased in a state run store, in Italy it seems one can buy a bottle of grappa from anywhere whether it's a stand at the weekly street market or at the corner bar.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2011 19:35:13 GMT
I also remain convinced that the Italians take far better care of their doors than the French.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 5, 2011 15:18:55 GMT
Fumobici, I'm embarrassed to say I'm only now looking at this glorious thread. But having waited, I got the whole package at one time, and what a variety of delights it is.
Although I never know what I'm looking at with machinery, your opening picture of the Peugeot motorcycle is a knock-out photograph. And yes! I did admire that palazzo as well.
The market is fascinating and I lusted after all that Italian gardening stuff. The food pictures are exquisite. I went back a couple of times to look at the eggplant gleaming almost translucently in the sun. I did have to gnash my teeth in frustration over the tomato pictures, though. Here I am in the very cradle of tomatoes, and we get two varieties -- really, usually only the shippable saladet.
I love the picture of the man reaching up at the cheese and salumi vendor's, with the fabulous cheeses and meats in the foreground. The trippa al sugo induced a nostalgic sigh. There was a eatery near the French Market in New Orleans that served that. It was a zinc bar, no seats place for working men to come in and have a quick meal. Of course that was gone when the market got Disneyed up back in the 70s.
Sorry, babbling on but I love this so much. As always, your shots of town are perfect gems. What is that strange dark wall just before the menu pictures, please?
You must often consider moving to Italy to live -- or not? Even though I love looking at all of the amazing threads on anyport that people post of places all over the world, the ones of Italy always give me a sense of joy. This one did that in spades. Thanks!
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Post by fumobici on Nov 6, 2011 18:26:49 GMT
I'd love to move to Italy but it's pretty much impossible for a self employed American without a million dollars to make the move. You either have to have a job waiting or a hefty guaranteed income. They don't want people like me!
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