Becoming Venetian
When @leftoversantiques are in town… what’s a girl to do? Throw a dinner of course! And you most definitely don’t serve leftovers to #Leftovers! By coincidence a friend, a cookbook author, is in town & goes on a relentless mission to find ingredients to do a fish curry. The bright side of this extensive search in a town not known for its food diversity is I now have 2/3 of the spices needed to create curry in the future. We start with a salad of blood oranges, fennel & castraure - early season baby artichokes. The night before, Orsi made a similar salad & artichoke pasta. It’s artichoke season. It’s been unusually warm - historically the baby artichokes weren’t available until late April. The castraure arrived early alongside zanzarre - mosquitoes 🦟 It’s been sunny. I make plans to buy plants in Canneregio. For 5 years I’ve intended to create window boxes & finally I’ll do it. I am good at many things. But gardening I am not. I fear this might be an expensive endeavor into window box gardening if I restart my killing spree. My friend assures me as long as I have good drainage I’ll be fine. The last killing spree occurred when I lived in Berlin & had the most incredible rooftop terrace. I slaughtered plant after plant. I’m hoping to be more civilized in Venice.
This moment is a busy moment for me, & when I’m busy I always feel the need to purge. To make more space in my life by getting rid of things. Spring cleaning is also coming early this year. Where focus goes energy flows. Emptying drawers is like emptying my mind. I have some major projects that need not just space on my desk but in my life. I am struggling to find enough hours in the day. So I make space. I am learning to say no. At the Rialto Market I watch a vendor peel artichokes. The tough outer leaves are inedible. My friend Chiara has recently moved to Paris, & she is scandalized that the French make you peel your own artichokes. In Venice the fondi di artichiochi - artichoke hearts- are cleaned in the market & sold in buckets of water. Today I’m out of time but another day I’ll share the secret to making artichokes. For years I’ve made them wrong & finally Orsi shared the secret.
I’m becoming Venetian.
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