Puglia: il cibo

Maybe it's typical of me to start a series of posts about Puglia with a list of foods, but I'd been counting the days til I could mosey down south and try the cuisine. A lot of it's peasant food and much is vegetables, which suits me just fine. And when you go to the market you see hand-scrawled signs over the fava beans and tomatoes and oranges that say "locali," local, something that doesn't happen so often in Lomarbadia. And the orrecchiette, the pasticiotti, the olive oil, the wine...My favorite meals took place in Lecce, but Gallipoli seemed to be a paradise for lovers of fresh seafood caught that morning. Anyways, a selection:

orrecchiette, the famous ear-shaped pasta pugliese, with respectively pesto leccese, a pesto made with arugula instead of basil (top) and a tomato sauce with thinly sliced zucchini and eggplant

potato foccaccia?! layers of deliciously oily potato sandwiching tomato, olive, and onion

my new favorite pastry, the leccese rustico, delicate buttery dough surrounding a gooey hot center of mozzarella, bechamel, and tomato

our daily breakfast: the pasticiotti salentini, a crumbly pastry filled with sweet custardy cream, and a cappuccino

pizza really is neopolitan, not pugliese, but the pizza we had our first night--tomato sauce, fresh cherry tomatoes, butter smooth mozzarella di bufala, and grana--was to die for

frittura di paranza, an assortment of little unfortunate fried fishes, so named for the small boat used to catch these critters, not eaten by me

spaghetti con le vongole, spaghetti with clams, also not eaten by me

ricotta with arugula, walnuts and honey

(not pictured but nonetheless thoroughly enjoyed: ciceri e tria, crisply friend pasta with chickpeas, la primavera, a first course of fava beans, green peas, and artichokes cooked in broth with mint that comes out tasting like the spring itself, red beets with olive oil and mint, pasta with salted ricotta forte, green beans with tomatoes and spicy pepper, salted turnip greens, cakes of ricotta cheese and marzipan...if only my stomach had been larger)

Zucchini

Rounding the corner to enter a classroom, I noticed a commotion near the trashcan by the door. A boy had darted towards it to throw something away, then moved away quickly. The kids were making casino, laughing and joking in Italian, and the prof, Fabrizio, was giggling.
I came in the class and asked, "Hi guys, what's up? What's the story?" They just pointed to the trashcan. Under it lay a big green zucchini clothed only in a purple condom.
"Oh, look at that, a zucchini" I said, attempting to minimize the condom part. Fabrizio just shrugged. We started class.

The next week, we only had a half-hour lesson, so I decided to play 20 questions with them. A guessed my animal, which was an elephant, so she came up to the front to have the kids ask her about her type of food. After remonstrating them for asking in Italian ("I don't speak Italian. I only speak English, please"), she answered some questions (Is it Italian? Sometimes. Is it a vegetable? Yes. Is it long? Sometimes.). Someone guessed zucchini. Fabrizio turned to me and said, "They really like zucchini."

The Characters

A compelling story without compelling characters is a rare thing. My story may not be compelling, it might be kinda normal, but I can at least include some kinda normal characters as well. (My roommates, I can say for certain, are less than normal).

RACHEL: 22 years old, native tongue assistant, teacher, tutor, English language gigolo (gigola?). Intrepid bike-rider, book-reader, and Italian-speaker. A little fuzzy about the next step, or The Future.

THE OTHER PROFESSORS:

GIOVANNA: Generous and sweet professor who guides Rachel through the delights of the Italian school system and its bureaucracy (speaking of which, when will Rachel ever get paid?). Before class, a little scattered and tends to drop things, but during class she's totally in gear. Frequently talks about her son, who apparently has little passion for English.

ANGELA: In gamba professor with a beautiful British accent. She doesn't yell or scold the students, and together they do their best to encourage and teach them. Gave Rachel bedsheets and one day even took her to the Virgin Fitness Center (fashamancy) to try out their vibrating pedestals and sauna. Oddly insists on translating simple Italian phrases into English for Rachel.

ELENA: The second of the two blonde, in gamba professors. Sweet and confiding, bonds with Rachel because they are both southerners (Elena from Ischia, near Napoli). Invited Rachel to lunch at her house, where she taught her a delicious fresh zucchini recipe, and frequently heaps advice upon her (which pesto to buy, which alleyway to take to school, where to get a mattress/umbrella/pastries/mozzarella di bufala). Has an adorable and embarrassed son in one of Rachel's former classes, plus two other boys. Is frequently exhausted.

LUCA: Passionate and intelligent literature teacher. Needs to discuss all lesson plans at length, but in the end they usually come up with nifty ideas together. For example: Everything Rachel --> the South --> Civil Rights and Obama's victory speech --> American ideals --> Romantic ideals --> Whitman --> Emerson --> Dead Poet's Society. Now that they are working together in the 4th year, he seems a little less enthusiastic.

MS. B (first name unknown): warm and competent professor, with the philosophy that a little bit of strictness at the beginning doesn't hurt. Laughs a lot. Rachel would be really happy to be in her classes more, if she ever let her, but there always seems to be an exam or grade to prepare for. Still, when they are together they make a cheerful team. Rachel misses her 3rd year class with Ms. B.

ROBERTA: Über competent teacher big on intimate discussion. Rachel is working on "the open road" as a concept in her class.

MS. R: Very strict but very curious about the United States. Gives Rachel a candy after every class because she has to "talk so much".

MS. G: Called her class "donkeys" on the Rachel's first day. This has colored their relationship ever since.

FABRIZIO: Former Alitalia employee now teaches. Suave and tall. Happy for Rachel to teach pretty much anything, and to teach that anything to both his second-year classes.

MARINA: Professor at the fancy classics high school who hired Rachel. Small and sweet, refers to herself as a nanna, gnome. Candid about her personal life. Thought Rachel was English, almost kissed her when she found out she was, in fact, American. She loves Americans.

Then there are the professors I am getting to know little by little, mostly by smiling and speaking Italian competently. There is the Siciliana that confided in me how incredibly difficult teaching can be, especially when a student tells you to your face she doesn't give a fuck. There is the gym teacher that starts awkward conversations while I am working. There are my wonderful "students" of my conversations class: the French teacher who considers herself timid but says her personality is red, the scientist who declared the life of the punctual man (his life) a lonely one, the hyperactive vice principal who invited me to her house for dinner and introduced me to her lovely daughter (female friend! working on it...), the professor who brought in Pink Floyd to learn from the lyrics...

Other characters to follow...