Monday Morning Market Trips

The good thing about Mondays is that they are no longer Sundays. That means the market, which is always closed on Sunday (the one day a week I seem to want to go), is back open.

In an under-caffeinated beginning of the week haze, I almost went to the supermercato. I snapped out of it in time to detour to the fresh market open on the piazza Monday – Saturday.

After picking up spinach and adorably tiny Lazio strawberries, I headed for the cheese shop.

If you are going to visit or attempt to live in Italy, there is one crucial phrase you need to know: ha finito.

Ha finito means “we’re out,” “there’s no more,” “over.”

I hear ha finito nearly every day.  Apparently, just about everything is out of stock in Italy at all times, but you get used to it.

I was therefore less than surprised to hear that my favorite asiago ha finito.  The cheese shop man then tried to sell me on some other cheese, the name of which I did not catch.

So, I did what any self-respecting straniera would do in a moment of Italian non-comprehension: I said, “va bene,” and took my mystery cheese home.

Laziness and deadlines forced me to turn my would-be frittata into a scramble, but the abundance of eggs, mystery cheese, spinach and fresh bread always reminds me how lucky I am to live in bella Roma.

6 thoughts on “Monday Morning Market Trips

  1. Paula Feldman says:

    I’m sort of waiting to see whether you take a day trip to one of the incredibly beautiful ‘buffalo’ farms in your area where there are farm stores which sell you their home-made mozzarelle e various other products. If you can get it BUY buffalo butter. It is very low in lactose and cholesterol and is delish.

    That mystery cheese sort of looks like an young pecorino…nice yellow color, soft texture sort of cheese. How was it?

    • Royce says:

      I was going to guess that the mystery cheese looks like a manchego, but of course that doesn’t make any sense.

      What did it end up being? Any guesses?

      PS those strawberries look great. They’re real, and they’re fantastic.

  2. peven says:

    I’ m quite sure mistery cheese it’s “cacio”, a best seller there in Rome, used for example to make one of my favorite dishes -> spaghetti with cacio & black pepper

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