Ciao Readers!

A couple of weeks ago in my dream grocery post I mentioned the countless varieties of pasta they have here.  I thought it would be fun to underline my point by taking my camera into the two grocery stores in our neighborhood (COOP and Conad).  Mind you, this is the pasta at just regular ol’ smallish groceries – not the big fancy groceries and not the foodie markets (where you can find pasta in every shape and color).  The idea is that there is a perfectly shaped pasta for each and every individual sauce out there (the right nooks and crannies to hold sauces of differing densities/viscosities).  I haven’t counted, but I’m guessing you could find at least 100 varieties of pasta in each of these groceries (hey, if you’re gonna eat 51 pounds of it a year, ya need variety).  Notice that there are 3 types each of just the store-brand penne and rigatoni (each just a slightly different size)!   Every store has at least one entire aisle side dedicated to pasta, as well as an entire section of inexpensive refrigerated pasta, then a separate section of various types of locally made “fresh” pasta.  Just a sampling from a trip the grocery…  Boun Appetito!

(If by chance you are thinking “hmmmm, this post seems a bit thin,” you’re not off-base; I started back to Italian school last week, and for reasons I will explain in a forthcoming post, ended up in level 6 of 6, so my brain capacity and blogging time are seriously hampered! I will likely only be posting 2 times/week for a while.)  In any case, there are pics of cute little mini pastas, too….