EAT LIKE AN ITALIAN!!!
I thought I'd give you a little snippet into our eating habits when we are in Italy for any of you planning on going there this summer. In the south of Italy where we go they are very passionate about their food and very strict about their eating times, I remember sitting on the beach around 1 o'clock during one of my earlier visits and looking around wondering "where was everyone gone"?.It was like a mass exodus, they'd all gone for lunch. I think the heat of the day affects when people eat, 12-4 is the hottest part of the day so they have lunch then, unlike us where we just have it when we can, normally driving the car or sitting at a desk. There is no such thing as a quick sandwich either, it's the whole works. The longest lunch I ever had was for Bru's Zia(aunt) Franca' birthday, 1 to 6pm, I thought I was going to die!!!! i think we had 6 courses. I had a great excuse for my 10 limoncellos, I had to digest!!!!
As you know from previous posts we are addicted to our coffee so of course when we are in Italy every morning starts with a cappucino and a cornetti(croissant). In Atina there is a little cafe called Cafe Del' Arco on the village square, it's just around the corner from the apartment so we go there for breakfast every morning. The village is really small so we usually end up meeting the whole family and sitting outside enjoying the sunshine. If we're at the beach we'll usually have breakfast in the hotel or find a Lido(beach bar).
The one thing I always notice about Italians is they don't pick, they save themselves for their next meal whereas here we think we're going to die from weakness and starvation if we don''t eat(well I do anyway). I've gotten better though when I realised I was eating more between meals than Bru and then could never finish my lunch or dinner!!
Lunch in Italy is rarely served before 1pm and may begin as late as 2.30pm, a lot of the shops close for a siesta until 4 or 5pm but then they stay open till 7.30 or 8pm. If we're in Atina we always eat at Bru's cousins restaurant Il Viccolo and normally have just 2 courses, normally an "antipasto" and a "primo" which would probably be some cold meats and cheeses and then a pasta dish. If we're at the beach we'd go to the the lido again and just have a sandwich or a salad because it's always too hot. Of course vino would always be consumed, as they say"when in Italy........." we wouldn't want to be rude!!
One of the things I love about Italy is going to the bar for an aperitivo around 6pm and most bars are packed at this time as everybody does it. They always serve you olives or peanuts with your drink, this is to keep you going until dinner because it's usually not until 8 or 9pm. Of course we always savage them down because we don't get it here and it's such a novelty for us. Once again I ruin my appetite! I always have a prosecco, bragetto or white wine as an apertif. The Italians drink a lot of Campari but I've never really liked it, it's very bitter.
In Atina sometimes we go to one of the local restaurants for dinner or an agriturismo for a change!! Most restaurants in this area specalise in a particular food so you go to one restaurant for good meat, another one for fish, pizza etc which is great because you are getting fresh local produce in a family run establishment. Mamma or Nonna is normally in the kitchen cooking and Papa' or Nonno are on the floor serving the food and the local wine. We would normally have 3 courses for dinner; antipasto, primo, secondo(meat or fish) and a contorni(side dish)
There is great local wine in this area and in the summer there are loads of wine festivals. There is a big one in Gallinaro which is just 5 minutes from Atina, Paulo Tullio is from there. We went 2 years ago and it was one of the best nights ever. You pay €5 and you get a wine glass and a holder for around your neck. There are about 30-40 "canteens", these are little rooms where they make their wine, you basically hold out your glass and they give you a sample of their wine. Yes, you can have as many samples as you want so you can imagine what you are like at canteen no. 40. Some of the canteens provide nibbles like parmesan cheese, breads, olives. It's amazing, it would never work here though, free wine, it would be gone in 5 minutes. They had a local band in the square, I have never seen so many drunk Italians singing their heads off, it was brilliant. At the end of the night we had a porchetta(pork) sandwich and was served by a guy who had lived in Wexford for years and spoke with an Irish accent!!
Anyway after dinner we normally go to a local bar and have a coffee and limoncello. Dessert normally consists of a gelato and then a "passegiata" - which is a stroll to work off dinner. Up until now we would have went onto a few bars which normally serve until 3 or 4am but those days are gone with the arrival of the princess!!
