The Magic of a Simple Salad
A Note from Teri
When I travel, I connect with a place in the best way I know: through its food. If you know me, you know I’m always drawn to the farmers, the butchers, the bakers, the wine and olive oil makers, and all the passionate food lovers in between.
In Rome, where we usually spend a couple of days adjusting to the time zone, my favorite place to explore is the Testaccio Market. It’s full of personality and packed with everything you could possibly need to stock our lovely kitchen at the villa. Compared to grocery stores in Chicago, it feels so timeless and full of tradition. I love the sense of old-school charm that fills the market.
This September was our fourth one in a row spent in Italy, and we still feel incredibly lucky. We get to stay at our friend’s lovely villa in Tuscany for a couple of weeks, and the first thing we always do upon arrival is head to those local markets. Wherever I go, the foodies are always my favorite people.
For our group, grocery shopping is pure joy. We have our system down. For example, Roy goes to the butcher, and I take care of some of the cheeses and vegetables. The rest of our group splits off and gets the things they need. Laura is on deserts and Amy is on salads. Roy and I like to walk through the market first to get a feel for what’s available and start imagining meals. Then we go back around to collect what we need.
Of course, we don’t speak Italian, and most of the vendors don’t speak much English. So we rely on a lot of pointing, hand gestures, and help from Google Translate.
Back at the villa, there’s a little ritual in unpacking all our goodies and filling the kitchen. Over the years, we’ve learned a few tricks. For example, we always try to have some scallopini on hand. It cooks quickly and makes an easy dinner. By the way, we always get too much pasta.
In the kitchen, everyone has their role. Roy takes the lead on entrées. Amy puts together beautiful salads. I usually focus on vegetables. Lily and Monie are our table-setters, and Laura is the dessert queen. Jon is a great teammate for Roy, with a few tricks up his sleeve. He made a wonderful pork roast, and fabulous mortadella eggs one morning that we all devoured. After dinner, Michelle is on dishes with Lily and Monie, and she is queen of games, pretty much anything competitive.
It’s so much fun to cook relaxed meals because since I’m officially on vacation, I don’t have to film our creations or make sure the recipes are perfect. I absolutely love that! Eating our meals together is one of my favorite things we do in Italy.
At Adult Summer Camp, it was so much fun to see what kind of wonderful salad Amy was going to whip up each night! She was absolutely the queen of the beautiful salad! Amy’s salad philosophy is to incorporate a cheese, something salty, a fruit for a sweet element, a nut for crunch, and an amazing vinaigrette. I’ll be sharing her recipe below. By the way, we loved to use our celticseasalt.
Recipes to make now:
There are so many wonderful things to make on my blog. It’s a must-make moment for our Green Curry Meatballs. We’re so excited to be making our Italian Wedding Soup as well. Inspired by Italy, here’s a little something with mortadella, my favorite food group. We also have this unbeatable Salmon with Coconut Curry Broth. And it’s the very last moment for zucchini!
Oops, last week we sent you the wrong link! We’re about to have an AMAZING cooking contest! Sign up to learn more about our upcoming cooking contest HERE! There’s nothing I love more than a prize winning moment, so the cooking contest is always a highlight for me.
By the way, I’m LOVING my Future Fit journey. Like and comment on THIS POST to win one month free! I’m giving it to THREE people!
