30 May 2010

from napoli to louisiana

Yesterday I spoke to my mom, and she mentioned that she was following my blog and joked that I seem obsessed with food lately.  (She and my 85 year-old grandmother are among the five faithful followers.  {Hi Maw Maw, love you.} No kidding, BTW, Maw Maw and Mom are on Facebook, too.)

But back to the food obsession. . .

Mozzarella di Bufala (di Aversa) & Bread Delivered Directly from Napoli

So I attempted to explain that it's not so much about the food, well, yes it is. . . sort of . . . but it's also about the season, the local products.  It's e.x.c.i.t.i.n.g. to get the cherries each year for this short time;  we look forward to it and don't eat them any other time of the year.  We watch those trees as they go through the seasons.  Same with the peas.  We watch the farmers tend the fields.  There's just something about living in the middle of it all, as it wasn't as exciting when we lived 10 km away in the city.  She gets it.  She had it before I even explained, but I gave her the dissertation anyhow.  I take after her.

Just as we were ending our conversation, the door buzzer sounded.  Oh, yeah!  The Neapolitans are visiting again & have come bearing gifts!  So these pics are for my mom.  Oh, and Mom . . . the mozzarella and bread?  We can get those any time of year but only in Napoli does it ever taste so good . . . another reason for excitement.  It's like when we receive Bailey's andouille from Dad in the mail:  there's sausage all over the world, but nothing quite like andouille from South LA  -- but you knew that.  Didn't you?

Mozzarella in the form of braids is called le treccie.
Richard thinks these are more flavorful.

Today we are headed to Negrar (province of Verona) to check out a winery or two for the annual Cantine Aperte.

6 comments:

  1. I don't think it's possible to live in Italy and not be obsessed with food. That mozzarella di bufala is making my mouth water.

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  2. What do I do with andouille? I have some coming next week and other than grill it, I have no idea what to do.
    I miss the Italian seasons. My favorites were always asparagus and cantaloupe.

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  3. I agree. When you really eat local and seasonal, you get food obsessed, especially at this time of year, after a long winter of pumpkin and cabbage.

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  4. Okay, I'm glad you wrote this post because I've been wanting to talk about mozzarella di buffala with someone. It's SO good, but isn't it toxic? Chris keeps buying it and bringing it home with him from Napoli, but I read somewhere that you shouldn't eat it, much less feed it to your kids, because of the trash crisis and the general level of pollution in the area. Is that true? Chris and I had a big disagreement over it all and I'm curious, do you feed it to your Young One? You seem up-to-date and well informed, so your opinion matters!

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  5. Yummy YummyYummy!!!! I agree it is important to have entertainment when taking children anywhere not so child friendly. With three I try to just leave them with my mother as much as possible because they tend to feed off one another.

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  6. YUM!!! Ever since we did that tour of the water buffalo farm outside of Naples, I have been dreaming, craving, yearning for that amazing taste. Seriously amazing. And you are so right about living/eating/savoring the seasonal offerings. And I love that your Maw Maw is on facebook :)

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