Yes, I saw La Scalla, and the Duomo, and the Sforza Castle, but no-one will be surprised to hear that my favourite moment in Milan (where I was for the last few days, while Typepad's 'Publish on...' function busily clicked away) was walking into the SuperFresca supermarket on the Via Torino and spending an hour ogling everything on offer.
Paintings of dogs playing cards are not remarkable, a man with breasts for eyes is not astonishing, and why then should the possibility of porcini stock cubes when I'd never seen any hold me rapt? Food is portable, and changes your life in little ways; this evening's leek and mushroom soup was ennobled by those cubes. Food is social, and supermarkets are humble, and there is for me a difference between sharing a supermarket packet of tender almond nougat with friends that is a pleasure finer than fancy costly fare.
I did not find buffalo milk, though I was hoping to, reasoning Italians
must surely not always manage mozzarella straightaway: One of my many fond
memories of India is fetching metal pails of milk from the neighbouring dairy,
where in the cool deep blue interior – a dream of milk – they would ladle me the
day's milking and I would take it home and bring the pan to a boil to
pasteurize the milk and then perhaps have some milky tea, or just some milk.
Buffalo's milk is undeniably whiter than cow's milk, and richer, and not even
the charming glass brown jugs of milk you can buy at the BioCompany touch it for
taste.
As second best, I bought this UHT pack featuring a roguish goat on its front, and will leave it for a moment where someone is bragging about caramels or custard with the stuff and I can pull it out of the cupboard and feel pleased to be there.
As second best, I bought this UHT pack featuring a roguish goat on its front, and will leave it for a moment where someone is bragging about caramels or custard with the stuff and I can pull it out of the cupboard and feel pleased to be there.
You look, and a little looping voice in your head declares 'that's the
same, that's different, that's the same, that's the same, what's that?',
ever-tireless, ever-curious.
Here's what I found:
- Olive oil from Bari
- A jar of Santa Rosa sweet chestnut paste with real vanilla
- Classico and porcini stock cubes
- Pesto with olive oil, not sunflower oil, and pine nuts, not peanuts, for EUR 1.59
- Whipped cream stabilizer, for the packaging
- Vials of almond, orange blossom, and lemon extract
- Almond nougat
- Goat's milk
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