The seal has been broken…

…yes people, it exists even here and I took the plunge…boxed wine is alive and well in Italy!  One night last week as I sat down to dinner and heard the crackling sound of the plastic seal of my liter box of vino da tavolo rosso, I couldn’t help but think…ah yes…this, is Tuscany!  I couldn’t help buying it, it was only €1,25 which amounts to roughly $1.95 (give or take) and believe me, it was way better than Franzia.. Who knows what grape it is, but who cares!!!  It was a buck ninety-five!

While on the subject of cuisine, I should mention that for the first two nights I was in Florence, the land of pasta and sauce, I chose, rather, to eat 1/2 a rotisserie chicken and some delicious little potatoes from the prepared section at the grocery store.  It was excellent and who knew italians had such an affinity for rotisserie?  Seriously, they’re everywhere.  Had I known, I would have bought the rights to Kenny Rogers Roasters and franchised the hell out of it…the Gambler would be back in business!

While on the subject of gastronomic endeavours, I have been to my grocery store several times now and I should like to point out a few things.  First, the produce.  Those of you from Chicago would appreciate this, because in my experience some of the poorest produce I’ve seen was there…Tuscany, however, is a different place.  It’s by far some of the best and they take care of it!  Imagine if you will, your local Jewel or Dominick’s employee actually inspecting tomatoes and taking away those that look perfectly acceptable…makes me chuckle too.  But they do it here…it was like a freak-show at the circus, I had to stop and just watch.

Next, italian grocery carts…what some would assume to be a good idea others (Americans) recognize as not.  Who thought it would be a good idea to put 4 “smart wheels” on a shopping cart?  (As a point of reference, a “smart wheel” is like that on the front of American shopping carts, they can pivot and go in any direction)  All of a sudden little old italian ladies are turnin’ corners like their in the General Lee being chased by Roscoe P. Contrain and Boss Hog! The back wheels slide out and there’s panacotta and ravioli everywhere…”clean up, aisle cinque!”

Alright, that’s all I got for today!