Italian Stories, Legends & Folktales…
In Sara’s dishes local produce (from Abruzzi Region) are always at the center of her recipes. Here’s one of them: the Altino Sweet Pepper, a key ingredient in her Red Spaghetti alla Chitarra, also a typical pasta from the Italian Central-Eastern Region.
… Altino Sweet Peppers and Sara’s Guitar Pasta
When portable phones became popular, callers did not say “How are you?” any more but “Where are you?”
Being somewhere else from the landline phone device was (then) so weird that the first question did not concern how you were but rather the place you were answering from. … #AppetibilisInstaFood: Girls Night Out + Snaps and Tips
The zero-waste attitude is the posh translation of “non si butta via niente“, here expressed with a recipe from the series Appetibilis Lunch Box: the Leftovers Quiche.
… Appetibilis Lunch Box: The “Leftovers Quiche”
Everybody aged 40+ rode one in their teens. It was born in the Sixties and since then it has become a symbol of freedom and nonconformity.
… On Two “vintaGe” Wheels :: The “G” spot is NOT what you’re thinking 😉
photo: ©MariagraziaLalli
Every year during the Carnival week Castiglione Messer Marino, a tiny village in the province of Chieti, hosts “La mascra” (i.e. the mask). On Sunday before Mardi Gras people – only men – dress up and parade along the village streets and drag everybody into the hectic and wild Carnival atmosphere. The parade is led by the pulgenèlle, whose leader plays the part of the “master of ceremonies” and manages the whole parade.
White-dressed “pulgenèlle” carry their “scrujazze” (herdsman’s whip) and cowbells, take the scene with their huge headgear – it can weigh up to 14 kg – and other characters follow: Carnevale, loaded with sausages and foodstuff, Il Monaco (the Monk) and the Wine Cart. Pulgenelle decide the path to follow and the stops to be made for a drink or for some food. During the stops they play some comic sketches about recent politics or current events, music is played live by marching bands.
photo: ©GiuseppeColangeloScultore
A typical dish of this period is “sagne a lu cuttéure”, short pasta that tradition requires to be eaten with bare hands. True Castiglione people do not use cutlery!
ITA :: Glossari di lingua abruzzese
~ Pulgenèlla via beniculturali.it
~ Scrujazze = frusta via scannolive.com
~ scrujazze: frusta via abruzzo.fm
Tasting Notes: Cheers to the Spuma Bliss In A Hiss…! When we are kids, we are used to have the same food and beverages. We are creatures of habit and we don’t like exploring new ingredients. We just stick to what we like – usually three or four dishes – and that’s it. Then, we grow up, we try new food and those flavours, tastes and smells disappear.
Last year I was at Fritto Misto All’Italiana, an annual food show focused on fried food. Regional recipes with fried ingredients are offered at stands, and even though fried food is a sort of bugbear for high-cholesterol-level people (i.e. almost everybody), visitors wolf down every single piece of food, showing no regret at all. While I was strolling around the stands, I got close the beverage stand and I saw it. Perhaps I haven’t seen it for forty years.
My madeleine is the spuma, whose taste is hard to explain, since it is not an orange juice, it is not a coke. Nor any other popular drinks that kids usually have these days. The best thing is to try it out.
My madeleine is the spuma, whose taste is hard to explain, since it is not an orange juice, it is not a coke. Nor any other popular drinks that kids usually have these days. The best thing is to try it out. As for me, when I opened the bottle, the gas hissing out of the crown cap was like music for my years and the taste on my mouth was the taste of happiness.
I felt as if a time machine took me back when I was six and I was sipping my favourite soft drink with my cousins and my uncle. I believe that was the same feeling Marcel Proust experienced with his madeleine.
The taste that just a comfort food can give. I raised the glass and had a toast to my uncle. He used to spoil us, and needless to say, we deeply loved him. One of his treat was to take us to the local “osteria” and he would ask for a glass of wine for him and a small bottle of spuma for us kids. He is no longer with us, but every time I drink a glass of spuma, I know he’s right beside me. Cheers to my uncle, wherever is now!
This post originally appeared in Italian on Verba Volant Il sapore della felicità (ovvero: Na onbreta par mì e na spuma pa’ i boce).