Being in class from 10-5 during the week, living in a small town, and living in a country where most everything is closed on Sundays - you really have to take advantage of Saturday's. we were informed about a grand opening of a farmer's market outside of parma called the Azienda Agraria Sperimentale Stuard. the products would be from association of “Agricoltori Custodi di Parma” and would include artisanal made products using varieties of fruits and vegetables typical to the province of Parma as well as jams, marmalades, tomato “pasatta”, cereals, wines and other products.
(wee side note) the night before, jules and popi both made two different types of carbonara - popi's was more traditional with spaghetti, 3 eggs, parmesan cheese and chunks of porchetta, and jules' was penne in a creamy sauce, porchetta, and sliced courgette - both equally delicious. it was an early friday night, we were all exhausted, so the next morning we tiredly made our way to the bus to parma, then two kind italian girls showed us how to get to the bus transfer (which actually was the same stop we got off at first, but still, they were nice to help) then we rode off to the outskirts of parma we went. we made our way to the farm, in the middle of nowhere, and arrived with stares which probably matched our curiously questioning faces. the
market was very small - a small store selling products and a table of samples that included a range of HOTT pepper jellies, from habanero to hot lemon, eggplant and chocolate crema, apple and pear jams, sparkling apple cider, local white wines and delicious fresh breads. it wasn't what we expected, but it was a good experience because we were told that it was just the beginning of the season and soon there would be tomatoes, artichokes, porcinis and most importantly, why we went originally - the chili peppers! and, if anything, we got to sample some free food!
drizzly Parma day -->
we anxiously returned to parma to shop in their saturday morning markets before they closed at 1 - and of course the first stall we came to was selling a good amount of the products we
just went out to the farm to see! then...a panini lunch on the steps of a statue and a necessary stop at Grom - maybe the world's best high quality gelateria. heavenly. i had the vaniglia (you might think boring, but i love vanilla and this is definitely the best) and the caramello al sale (caramel ice cream with himalayan pink salt. MMM.) the flavor of the month was green tea with domori white chocolate bits. we will definitely be back at least once a month. finally, lunch hours were over, the stores were open again, so we had a stop at the vodaphone store (i now have a phone!) and i was beyond overwhelmed with exhaustion and ready to get back to colorno!
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