They love mayonnaise. And french fries. Together. It's an abomination.

I am terrible at blogging.  I always think I need some huge topic to discuss.  All these little bits have been going through my mind; all these little observations that I want to share with people so I'm going to just share a bunch of stuff I've observed about Italy.  Bear with me if some of it is repeated from Facebook or Instagram.

There is no salted butter.  You would think, no big deal right?  Except that you notice it in strange places.  Like on toast.  Also the grilled cheese tastes just a tad bit different because they don't put nearly as much salt in any of their foods, including the cheese.

Cheese.  There are only a few kinds of cheese indigenous to Italy.  Ricotta, Marscapone, Mozzarella.  I might be missing one, but I don't think so.  There is 1 kind of cheddar cheese available at the grocery store where we shop and it is so orange that a British woman I met won't eat it.  It didn't seem strange to me since most of our cheddar cheese in the US is colored.  I realized that in England most of their cheese is white.  Because its... *gasp* natural.  I forgive them for not having an abundance of cheddar cheese except when I'm craving a burger.  Also their Italian cheese is sooooooo good that it's hard to complain that its all you get.
A lot of their cheese is also lactose free.  They seem to be much more aware of allergies and intolerances here.

Salamella Mantovana, split open and grilled
 with gnocchi and green beans.

Meat.  I'm not sure exactly how to describe the meat situation here.  I don't think they eat very much of it.  Many of their cuts are very thin.  Chickens are much smaller here, which is fine, but there are not a lot of options in the store.  You can buy back quarters with bone and skin or skinless, boneless breasts.  If you want something other than that, you have to buy a whole chicken and do it yourself.  But let's talk about the sausage.  I have posted pictures of the sausage, however I mistakenly called it Salsicca.  The sausage I am in love with is the Salamella Montovana.  It's like what we think our Italian Sausage is.  Except that the only similarities are the shape and size.  This sausage is one of the most flavorful things I have ever eaten in my life.  I'm going to leave all my clothes and children's toys here and smuggle back suitcases of this sausage.
They also like veal, rabbit, turkey, and quail, and they are all available in the grocery store.  It's kind of crazy.
They love to grill their meat here.  There is an entire section of kebabs, skewers, sliced and seasoned meats that are made for the "griglia".

Pizza is everywhere.

Italians dress up to leave their house.  Except for a few teenage boys who, I think, were actually purposely dressed in sweat pants, no one is caught dead outside the house in anything but real clothes.  And shoes.  No uggs with shorts, no baggy pajama pants, no oversized sweatshirts.  Not even on the college kids who I frequently ride the bus with.  Girls wear cute tops with skinny jeans, leather jackets, tights, cute boots, blouses, sweaters, all kinds of real clothes that say, "I care what I look like".  You can tell who the tourists are because they wear yoga pants, jeans that don't fit, ugly shoes, sandals with socks (I'm certain no Italian would be caught DEAD wearing that), fanny packs, gym shorts (I'm talking to you, American Dad.  Yes, I heard you and I know you're American.  You're making us all look bad!) etc.
The men wear beautiful suits, shiny shoes, ties, button down shirts, and carry briefcases.  Even the adorable Italian Nonnas wear their suits and pantyhose to go grocery shopping.  It makes people watching really enjoyable.  It also motivates me to dress a bit better.  Although how these moms with kids find time to do their hair before they get them to school still completely escapes me.

Breakfast.  Let's talk about breakfast.  Americans have come to some weird conclusion that we should eat a huge breakfast full of protein OR... cereal.  Well, Italians say, "Just say no to boring cereal" (They might actually say "Dice non a cereal" or something like that).  They eat pastries.  Pastries filled with apricot marmalade heaven.  Or chocolate cream heaven.  Small, sweet, flaky pastries that make you close your eyes and say "Mmmmm".  And coffee.  Do you know what the secret is to getting the creamiest, smoothest cappucino?  Use whole milk.  It will change your life.  Just one day, when you go to Starbucks (I do miss you, Starbucks) don't get that Venti quad skinny half caff mocha thingie.  Just get a double tall whole milk latte.  It will change your life.  Just park further from the store if you're worried about calories.

They love mayonnaise.  And french fries.  Together.  It's an abomination.  I could go on and on, but I don't think there's really anything else that needs to be said.

Those are my bits for now.  I'll try not to let 2 months go by before posting again.