Got Milk?

Milk straight from the......,

noooo, not straight from the cow, but from a self serve dispenser in town.

I had heard rumors of this coming to Italy, but was pleased to find it on offer in Pinerolo a few weeks ago.

For one euro you can get a full flavor, and I should also say full fat, liter of milk.
Notice the cream on the top of the milk?
Exciting stuff indeed.

When I worked in Austria about 9 years ago I was a bit baffled upon discovering a new cubicle, about the size of a pay phone booth, on the street, where you could purchase a variety of sizes of fresh milk, from a cup to a liter, for a few shillings. I found it extremely interesting to say the least. The Austrians have been very forward thinking with regards to recycling and reduction of packaging in my experience in the Tyrol. I'm glad to see Italy join in the custom. We can only hope there are more bulk products coming to a store near us soon, to continue to reduce, reuse and recycle! We have found a steady stream of people using this facility every time we have been there. As our closest outlet doesn't offer you a brand new bottle on demand for a mere 30 centesimi, like our neighbors in Cavour, I noticed most folks had an abundance of bottled water empties. That's a step in the right direction, especially as Italians are the number one consumer of bottled water in all of Europe, which to my mind is not a wonderful mark of distinction! Now if we can only get our council on board with the recycling with a bit more conviction and get a few of these type of dispensers here closer to home, then we will be heading in a direction we all need to go, together! First our battle with the council over trash removal is just heating up, but that's a story for another day

Why is this man smiling?
Could it be because he's fondling a mechanical udder?

Small Change

I know it looks like it could be fixins for lunch.
And it was, but you might be surprised as much as I was as to what it was.
Give up?

Change. Small change.
My small change back from my purchase of the Grana Padana cheese in the left hand side of the photo.
That's right.
The other day when I bought some Grana Padana cheese in the market from from someone different than my normal GP stall just to mix it up a bit sometimes, and I gave the man my money, he asked if instead of my .50 centesimi that I was owed back, if I would like this package of mortadella, or bolgna as we call it in the States.
Obviously I said yes, Perche no?, why not.
This is not the first time this has happened. Once before I received a small sampler package of mini wurstel, or hot dogs as we, Americani, are so fond of calling them.
At first I thought how odd and then it dawned on me how clever it actually was.
More than likely he didn't lose any money on the deal, he had more small change to use for the others who said, no grazie, and on top of it all he got his customers to try a new product in hopes of upping the amount of euro out my pocket and into his again next time if I liked it. It's not always easy to increase your sales in the market stalls, so any clever marketing technique is worth a try.
I know it is a small thing, but I found it kind of fun. Instead of handing out all those little samples like they do at the grocery store where most folks sample it and then walk away and never buy the product, that includes me, he covered a few bases at once and helped the small change crunch while he was at it.
You never know I just might buy some next time. Just wish there wasn't so much plastic packaging, but then that's another topic for another day.

International Women's Day or Festa della Donna

March 8th is a day that gets a lot of attention here in Italy although it isn't even on the radar in America. I have to admit I'm not particularly fussed about it as it is yet another great marketing tool to get you to buy something to show that you care. It is rather sweet though I must say. I spotted this cake last week when I was in Torino as a build up for this weeks festa and couldn't resist taking a photo as it is so very typically Italian flavored. Do note the detail.

I found today when we did our market shopping that there were men everywhere on the street corners trying to sell little sprigs of mimosa to anyone who needed to make sure that they were thinking of that special woman in their life. As I have said in a couple of previous posts, International Women's day is not unlike Valentines or secretary's day as far as the commercial hype. I guess you could add mother's day in there as well, but it isn't without it's charms. The market today was full of folks getting the usual bargains and pawing through the latest table of bargains just waiting for someone to love them enough to take them home and bright with yellow boughs everywhere, mostly from peoples' yards, harvested and brought in to sell or give away. I found myself a recipient to a couple of bouquets also. I must admit when I purchased the last fresh basket of ricotta from one of my favorite cheese makers(and there are several favorites) along with an aged, slightly sharp Toma to accompany it home with me, and his teenage son stepped from behind the counter to hand me my purchase, he handed me a couple of lovely sprigs of brilliant yellow mimosa with a flourish. I was charmed. When the owner of our natural food store made sure I didn't forget to take along a perky potted purple viola, that I had been eyeing out of the corner of my eye, I was also very touched at the kind gesture. Now, I think it will be my new tradition to go shopping at the market on March 8th, because the festive spring flowers bring a smile to my face and a feeling that spring is just around the corner and that thoughtful gestures in life really do make all the difference sometimes.
I like to always keep that in mind.

Fabrizio's cousins' picture of the Mimosa out by the mouth of our valley that are always spectacular every year.

Happy Mimosa Day to all of You Too!

Not Exactly Wordless Wednesday

What do you think?
Did it bring em in to the party?
It makes me chuckle, what about You?

Happy May Day or Labor Day

Although May Day has been celebrated in a variety of ways as a bit of homage to spring with May pole dances and that sort of thing. May Day here in Italy is a bank holiday celebrating the common worker and an opportunity for the political parties, in particular the Communist party to have a bit of a rally. It's been a long holiday weekend with all our local second home owners, spending the weekend in their "Baitas" working in the garden, putting out the flowers, tidying up the yard with general maintenance after the winter. Our 2 local Osterias have been busy all weekend with large parties and the 1st communion luncheon season commencing, so the activity level in Serre Marchetto has gone from sleepy to buzzing. Tommorrow everyone is back to work and our tranquil little borgata goes back to sleep till the weekends again.