Cremona Wednesday Mercato

This morning I went to the 'Mercato' which takes place on Wednesday mornings until 1pm. I had almost two full hours to take in every part.  It's setup mainly in Cremona's Piazza Stradivari but overflows out onto the side streets and ends in the Piazza del Comune with a large flower market which offers plants, cactus, cut flowers and seedlings. The brightly colored tulips I saw today were still in their wrappings, marked New Zealand. 

I took lots of pictures of crated fruits and vegetables, cheeses, salami and dried meats.





The traveling vendors have elaborate refrigerated trucks which unfold into full service counters.

I bought three pairs of cotton socks  (5€), a soft wool/cashmere scarf (10€) and a pomegranate (3€) for Rosa. I was surprised to hear she has never tasted one. This week, I'll show her how to easily peel it and if we have time, we'll make a recipe I brought her for a rice salad with pomegranate. 

I made it home by 12.00 and four of us had salad, cheese and bread for lunch. 

At 1.30, Marta and I left to walk to her house and run errands.  When we returned at 3.30, three trays of fresh ricotta-spinach ravioli were sitting on the table in a spotlessly clean kitchen. In that short time Marina had done it all herself. 

At 4, Marta and her mother, Marina made cheesecake topped with a thin layer of raspberry jam. 

Tonight seven of us devoured all but ten of those feather light ravioli and most of the cheesecake.  I am getting a refresher course in cooking and in eating.  (My ravioli pasta definitely needs to be thinner.) 

Here in this family, we come to the dinner table hungry and we eat our fill of wholesome, unprocessed, delicious food.  The grazing and snacking habits in the USA do not foster healthy eating. I always feel hunger when I'm in the US and I know it's not a hunger of the stomach. 

When I arrived yesterday, Marina had a long serious discussion with me on the topic of Minestrone Soup. I need to correct my recipe (which she had read on my Blog) and remove the reference to the herb timo (thyme). It is not her recipe if it calls for timo. 

Rosa and Marta have chosen their husbands well. Before dinner Mattia, Rosa's husband of two years, walked into the city center with us. During the hour we shopped, he was such a pleasure to be with. 

I bought torrone candy and mostarda, a hot dried fruit compote, from the Sperlari shop.  A sign in the window proudly states the shop has been in business in this location, since 1836. 

 

Tonight I was pleased to see Mario, Marta's husband of six months affectionately greet her when he arrived here for dinner. 

Primo and Marina have been excellent role models for all of us.