The Famiglia called me and said they were going shopping at the market at Zattere (pretty much around the corner from my house.) I asked them if Mamma wanted to come over and see this place I'm staying in. She did indeed, so about a half-hour later they showed up.
"Kricka, come ad esempio un palazzo!" Kricka (her name for me) it's such a palace!
She tried a small bowl of my soup. Loved it. Had some more and chatted. Marco started looking at his watch and I asked him if he had a hot date - are we keeping you? He said he had only had three hours of sleep and wanted to get more and we were chatting like hens. Mamma smacked him in the arm and told him to go home and go to bed; Kricka will take her shopping and out visiting! Ha - you got owned, pal.
Sufficiently put in his place, he shut up and had another bowl of soup. I cleared the table and the three of us left to the store. Mamma kind of frowned that I left the dishes in the sink (I guess you don't do that as a good Italian woman, but I'm not Italian, after all.) I reassured her they were soaking in dishsoap and everything would be cleaned the moment I returned.
We maneuvered around the store getting the items listed. Mamma pondered over vegetables. She saw three friends and chatted, while I steered Marco to the meat counter to keep him from frowning at the social hour keeping him from sleep. Grouch. I told him it was a great thing to see her out and about and talking. For months she hasn't wanted to go anywhere but church three times a day. He's been doing all of the shopping because she's deeply grieving still. She's just now wanting to go out of the house, instead of constantly praying rosaries at church. Let her be social; her friends are happy to see her outside.
I'm right. He admitted it. Small victory for me. I love him like a brother but I want to punch him in the throat some days.
I went back on the boat with them to Giudecca and stayed to help put the groceries away. I bade them goodbye and told him to get some sleep. On the way back I received a text message from my friend Safwat, the owner of Dona Onesta (another favorite restaurant.) I had stopped in on arrival in town and his nephew told me he would be returning from Egypt on Friday. Safwat was calling to invite me to lunch at his trattoria to welcome me back and celebrate my good news that I was working here. Fingers crossed on that...
I messaged that I would be there within 20 minutes and made my way. A lovely meal - which he actually sat down with me the whole time. Grilled prawns and polenta, pork cutlet with lemon wine sauce. Fantastic and simple. Then as the time passed, the local shopowners he's friends with would pop in, they'd have a drink to celebrate Safwat's safe return - out comes the Amaretto. Next one pops in, they have an Amaro (liqueur similar to ouzo, but not as nasty.) Next one comes by, there's another round toasted. It was raining outside and while I like the drinks, and I assume they will keep me warm on the 15 minute walk back in the rain, I also know that one or two more would have me slipping flat on my arse somewhere in a downpour. Not pretty.
Eventually I made my way back to the house without slipping. I took a video of the house and managed to post it up to the webs without too much trouble (or embarrassment, in my semi-inebriated state.) I'm not slurring, we're okay. :)
Had another bowl of soup to soak up the drinks, then did the dishes. I managed to pack up the clothes I'm taking to Rome & Florence for the first 2 legs of the tour. My train of thought is to pack only that much, then upon arrival back in Venice in a week I can supplement and trade things out as needed. And do laundry. I had verified with Jeremy that I have the run of the house, so I can keep anything I want here the whole month. I just need to make sure I close the shutters and lock up tight when I go to Rome. No problem!
Puttered around the house with my mental lists of packing this and that. I had cleared all the food scraps out in preparation of being gone for a week and was wondering where to go for dinner when I got a call from Katherine & Chris. They asked if I wanted to meet them for dinner at Al Garanghelo, an old venetian-style osterie near the Rialto bridge. I told them I'd meet them there and would try to call the restaurant on my way there; they are an old and popular place, with Venetian classic dishes at a good cheap price, but the dining area is small. I wanted to try and save a table since I'm sure they'd be just about full by 8pm. Repeated calls with no answer.
I found the restaurant and found we had just been beaten out of a table by a few minutes. We wouldn't be able to get in there, so I called Kat & Chris and told them the news, then suggested they get off at San Silvestro stop, one stop earlier on that side of the canal, and I would meet them there. We're going to Francesco's - that man will stuff us silly. I know he's been adding more if the Venetian classic dishes to the menu, at least with the antipasti, so I would let him dictate what we'd eat.
I met them at the boat and walked them in to the restaurant - the patio was enclosed in the rain-proof tent on the campo. It's always so warm and cozy. I love it here in the rain. It's like camping with really good food. Upon being seated I told Francesco in Italian, "This is my niece and her new husband. We are celebrating their wedding. Can we something special for the antipasti please?"
My gawd. It was obscene. Within five minutes the table was covered in plates. We had fresh bufalo mozzarella in various sizes, small grape tomatoes and baby arugula, prosciutto and melon on one plate. There was the marinated olive salad with red and yellow bell peppers, with folpeti. Never thought I'd say I like octopus, but these are small pieces, well marinated and it's like eating squid or tuna. I've had it in his olive salad the last few times I've been here. Good stuff.
There was a plate of plain flatbead - basically thin pizza dough baked crisp with no topping. Then they brought out piadine, basically thin pizza dough with a bit of fresh tomato sauce on it. No cheese, no toppings. The dough/bread is baked and then sauced. Very light.
And then the big platter of Venetian dishes. All the oldies but goodies.
Schie - grey ghost prawns, were grilled to barely pink.
John Dory fish - also called San Pietro, found only in the northern Adriatic and in the lagoon, the filets grilled with herbs.
Sarde in saor - sardines marinated in a combination of onions, vinegar, raisins (of all things) and pine nuts.
Carpaccio di pesce - extremely thin shavings of fish that has been air-dried
Bacala mantecato - stockfish that has been beaten into a creamy, light whip with oil and milk, served over polenta squares.
This is the stuff that has been a staple in Venice for at least five hundred years, some dishes are even older, like the bacala, and as far as I'm concerned they can keep it coming.. Oh, so good. The only Venetian old-fave that was missing was fegato alla veneziana (calf liver in onions) - which I can pass on. I don't like to eat organ meats.
Chris was getting rather full. There was no way we were getting to any pasta after this spread. And then they brought the dessert cart. We each shared profiteroles, almond cake and sfoglitella and were becoming nauseated with too much food, when Francesco brought out a cake with candles on it. The restaurant sang to Kat & Chris, wished them well and cut the cake for us to have a piece.
Sant-Onore cake is similar to tiramisu, but with no chocolate or coffee flavors. It is thin layers of vanilla cake soaked with maraschino liqueur with marcaspone custard between the layers and on top. Profiteroles on the rim of the cake topping as well, because everyone needs more decadence in this town.
This was too much. Chris was about to go into his food coma, so we opted not to go Cafe Noir for after dinner drinks, as we'd planned. They were ready for bed after that meal. I'm so glad we were able to share this fantastic meal together. I planned to run over in the morning before heading to Rome to give big hugs and kisses to Francesco. This was a meal to go down in the books, for sure.
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