Saturday 30 September (Day Thirteen)
It was a perfect day to lay low. It wasn’t the perfect day to go market shopping. I knew this already – the Saturday before it was awful so why shouldn’t this Saturday be the same? However, I was forewarned.
I made a shopping list and stuck to it (more or less). Supermarket for Chino, Aqua Frizzante, a small cheese, and crisps! Farmers Market for lettuce and beans. Indoor Orologio market for sausages, bread and a snack or two. Remind me not to wear my regular shoes to the Orologio – I was sliding around in there!
Proud of myself for ordering in Italian for the sausages, the server stumped me by asking ‘Francia o Espana?’ (France or Italy) for the salsiccia picante. Francia, I say, more confidently than I feel.
Also in my bag – an arancino with ragu, and a small portion of melanzane parmigiana. That could even hold us until Monday. I do think about going into the fish shop but the queue is spectacular. No then.
I started a new book on my Kindle – Under the Tuscan Sky. Very fluffy and fitting. So nice to lay on the couch reading. I feel almost normal.
I have a habit of setting up friends before going somewhere new. It’s always good to correspond with a person or three in the place you are arriving in. They serve well as advisors, ports in a storm, and hopefully coffee companions. This time, I’ve found a woman who’s a friend of an old work colleague, and from Facebook a Canadian living here in Turin.
The Canadian is Liat. Fortuitously on this quiet day I get a message from her asking if I’d like to meet in the afternoon. Yes! We arrange to meet in the Quadrilatero and happily in the part closest to me, less than ten minutes’ walk.
I go a bit early so I can check out the area and see what the Vietnamese restaurant looks like. It’s really interesting to me that in every country the ethnic food is a little to a lot different. It’s particularly interesting when Indian people are cooking Indian food, Chinese people the Chinese etc. Have they merely adapted to the country they are in? Were they never cooks in their own country? I fantasise that they were actually doctors or lawyers at home and arrived in Italy to find out that they can’t practise so what to do? ‘I know. I’m Indian. I’ll cook Indian food.’ Hmm. Anyway, location noted. The shutters were closed so no peeking at the food today.
Liat is meeting me at Pastis, a coffee and drinks bar with outdoor seating. When she arrives, we order a drink – macchiato for me, wine for her. This comes with four little squares of pizza and a bowl of olives. We chat about this and that. Liat is doing the same work as Esmeralda, teaching in English to Italian children. One day she will invite me to her flat for wine and pasta with the other teachers. That would be fun! And she’s never been to the market so, as we leave, I show her the area very quickly and get home before it’s too dark.