Monday, October 18, 2010

Sunday organic market











Yesterday I was so ecstatic there was a large organic market going on all day in Piazza Santo Spirito, approximately a 30 second walk from my apartment! I initially discovered this news last week in a magazine I picked up at a health food store, which I had to decipher for an extended period of time in order to make sense of it. So when I showed up in Piazza Santo Spirito that morning I felt really 'in the know'. There was produce and plants, baked goods, preserved foods, spices and herbs, tinctures and creams, clothing, baskets, books, it was lovely. I spent all the cash I had left and got some fruits and veggies, artichoke (carciofi!) spread, honey, a blend of herbs for cooking, some alternative baked products and a calendula/aloe face cream. The market occurs every 3rd Sunday of the month so I'll definitely be plotting that in my schedule.



Also posted above are some pics from an awesome bookstore/restaurant I visited last week called Brac. Vegetarian! I read about it online but once I got to the address there was no sign so I hesitantly poked my head inside and skimmed the menu before sitting down in the courtyard. This place appeared to be occupied only by locals which I guess makes sense as tourist usually don't venture into unmarked restaurants. So even though I mostly spoke english with the waitress I liked pretending I was a local too. I grabbed a few Italian children's books to read and drank my herbal tea while I waited for lunch.

One of the books was called 'La cosa piu` importante' (The thing most important) which was about different animals trying to decide what was the most important trait to have. The elephant said that a trunk was most important, the porcupine said spikes were most important, the duck said webbed feet were most important, and the all tried to figure out who was right. At the end, they all agreed that variety was most important. Very cute. It's fun being in the place of a kid again learning how to understand language, and being a visual person, reading books with fun illustrations helps. Although kids who start reading already understand spoken language and are learning the skill of reading, it's still about connecting the dots in your brain. For me I feel it's more closing gaps between many dots simultaneously which can feel a bit chaotic, but it's progress nonetheless.

For 10 Euros, lunch was a choice of 3 dishes. I enjoyed my plate of insalata cruda (raw salad), insalata del villaggio (village salad) and tagliatelle con carciofi e spinachi (pasta with artichokes and spinach). Yum. I decided I needed to try authentic Italian pasta, and this was the place to do it alongside my good friends, the artichokes.

Also posted below for my Dad and Papa are some pics from a car show I stumbled upon last week when on my way to the market. Also wanted to let people know (for those who don't already) that you can post comments to me if you're so inclined. At the bottom of each post, there's a little button '# comments'. Click it, type away, and click 'post comment'. Remember to write your name at the end (if you don't have an account) so I know who it's from! xoxo



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