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Sunday, December 29 - Paradiso and the Antique Roadshow hit Piazzola sul BrentaWe woke up that morning to an breathtaking site. The rain had stopped and the moisture had settled in the valley, but up on mom's hill, we had a perfect view of the Dolomites! It was exquisite!
The fresh air combined with this amazingly grand mountains looming out of the ground, changing color with the sun while clouds floated by beneath us. My camera went crazy! And I found some great shots that I'll try for our CD.
Finally, we headed off to Camisano for their weekly market. There are two things I enjoy about going to the Camisano market: (1) seeing the people, (2) Cheese!
Long, long ago, my mom and I would go to the market, buy some Asiago cheese and a cooked chicken. We'd visit Tiziano, eat a panino while I'd look around and enjoy the vitality of the bustling market.
This Sunday, we arrived near noon which is about the traditional end of the market. So mom dropped me off, I hobbled quickly through the streets with one goal in mind. I passed Tiziano, "Ciao, Marco!"
"Ritorno subito!" I shout back telling him I'll be back.
I pass the shoes, the shirts, the fake antiques and turn left and stop in front of a big, trailer that is a portable cheese store! Things have changed. No longer is there the much-adored, slip into the side and be the first to get my order taken.
No this time, I took a number. As I waited to be called, I took some photos of the delicious cheese and the wonderful people working there. How much should I get? Ooo! And Asiago was on sale! I started to drool.
Finally, the order came and I got four etti (which is 400 grams) of Asiago and one etto of gorgonzola. I stepped away from the cart and saw my mom coming with lunch. I began to cry.
*Sob* "I can't believe it", I cried to her. "L'ho fatto! I made it."
My mom was all concerned. "What's the matter?"
"I m-m-made it. L'ho fatto a Paradiso. I made it to Heaven. *sniff* All this cheese only cost FOUR DOLLARS!"
She busted up laughing while I continued to feign crying. Finally, we stopped, and I wandered through the market on my crutches occasionally stopping to eat some cheese. I was happy!)
Then back I went to Tiziano's carella to wait for mom. Tiziano had the winter mushrooms out. Which I don't ever remember eating. So later that day he cooked me some and brought some over. But I missed out on 'em. Next Stop Antique RoadshowOkay, it wasn't the REAL antique roadshow, but Piazzola was holding an antique market, and I wanted to go. Piazzola is the place where I took the photo for A Celtic Renaissance Wedding.
I love going to antique markets with my mom. She is such a genius when it comes to finding great deals in the markets. She told me about how she was like her mom only instead of buying just jewelry, she could buy antiques, wait for them to gain value and sell at a profit...
Okay, that's the IDEA, but my mom grows a wee bit too attached to her furniture and whatnots.
I remember also coming to this market many years ago and almost buying some musical instrument from a Moroccan. It was really kinda cool. He started selling it at like $50, but by the time we left, it went down to $20. My brother later told me he could've gotten it down to $10. Dang! I wish!
Yes, I, like my Da, collect musical instruments...sorta.
We stopped at a neat little Gelataria to hit the restrooms and while mom waited, I grabbed a cappucio (it's really not that small after all), some water, and a table while I checked out the beautiful Italian ladies working behind the bar. OH!
Well mom had one real goal for this cold morning. There was a dealer in Roman artifacts from Libya she had befriended. He had little odds and ends of Roman coins and pieces of vases, and well, lots of little do dads. So we stopped had some wonderful hot tea there and admired some of the jewelry they were making too.
Finalmente it was about time to get back home to greet some Tatiana, Tiziano, and Lidia who were coming over to hear Tiziano and me play music together.
But on the way out, I caught a couple great shots of a man busking in the markets playing an accordian. Beautiful man and music. Got a sweet MPEG of it with my digital camera too. Italian Jam SessionAround 5pm, the group arrived. Tatiana's Tiziano told me he was a songwriter a few days earlier. So we arranged to jam together this day.
He arrived with a bunch of books and started playing. He likes attention. So I let him play his songs and occasionally strummed in. It started with some of his original songs, and then Lidia wanted to hear some good Italian traditional songs. So we played some Fabrizio and Angelo Branduardi.
Interestingly, I finally got a translation for one of my favorite songs, "La Pulce D'Acqua". I always loved it because it's such an upbeat happy song, yet I thought it was about the Black Death. This made my delight all the more...delightful.
Well on translating it, it wasn't but the lyrics just as wonderful.
We played together until we were starving and mom's Tiziano had arrived. And we went back to that restaurant that I wasn't overly impressed with their pizza.
Upstairs I ordered Gnocchi al Gorgonzola e Noci and veal with a truffle sauce. OH YEAH!
I first leared about truffles from Peter Mayle in his Provence books where he goes into detail about how they find the truffles and how valuable they really are. I took my time eating, cutting the meat into very small slices and savored every moment. The food was incredible! yeahhhh...
Finally, we went back home to prepare for the big day tomorrow--VENICE!
Posted by Marc Gunn on Thursday, January 09, 2003 |
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Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers
