Così Ridevamo

The best part of Italy of course was the food (and the hot 24-year-old musician I met in Florence). I tried my best to eat a variety of things but in the end I think pizza won a piece of my heart. Though I did thoroughly enjoy the traditional hot flat bread brick oven pizzas found throughout the country, I really loved pizza Roman style—sold in squares and sliced to size preference, topped with a variety of topping like provolone, zucchini, sun dried tomato, with or without cheese. I also found I have a liking for anchovies. I especially loved one particular dish that uses the orange flower from a squash plant, stuffed with a cheese and anchovy mixture and coated with egg and flour, deep-fried.

I was on the look for a traditional seafood dish and so when in Florence I saw Tripe Florentine on the menu I for some reason jumped to the conclusion this was the Italian word for trout fish. Needless to say it was NOT trout but rather a plate of cow’s stomach lining submerged in a stew of tomatoes and other Italian spices. I could not, under any circumstances, bring myself to eat what many consider a great delicacy in Italy. I had to send it back. The cameriera was generous enough to let me exchange my plate of digestive organ for a much more enjoyable dish of penne pasta and salmon in a tomato cream sauce.

Later in Venice I had a great polenta dish served with butter salted cod, a specialty of the city and quite enjoyable.

Bruschetta is delicious in Italy and pronounced with a hard ske sound like brusketta. I and most people I know have always said brushetta with a shh sound. In imitation I cooked a lot of bruschetta for dinner in the flat each night along with pesto pasta and chocolate cake.

Of course gelato, gratina or Sicilian ice, and other pastries and breads were delicious. My favorite flavored gelato had to be the Nutella, which, after promising myself to try others, always remained a scoop of safety somewhere in my copita. On one particular afternoon in Venice I found myself to the point of dehydration and was introduced to gratina, a sugary lemon ice drink served with spoon and straw, so refreshing I had to have another that night before bed. I also had the great pleasure of sharing half a sweet Sicilian stuffed ricotta cannoli with a cute tall Canadian man beneath a red umbrella in a rainstorm, maybe the best way to enjoy rich bakery food.