WALKING IN THE AFTERNOON - ITALIAN STYLE

I have just been on a nice afternoon walk in a crispy cold February weather. After couple of days of rain, today was really beautiful here in Nervi. The sky was blue and there was a bright sunshine most of the day. Not totally unexpected then that the narrow streets were full of people: kids, mums and dads with pushchairs, couples and the elderly, who are often being helped by a family member. I am very fond of the afternoon walk, it is a great Italian tradition.
  Having said that, I also cannot help but noticing some interesting behaviour connected to the said tradition.
1. Stopping in the middle of the pavement to have a chat
Italians cannot pass by any friends by simply saying hello and moving on. No, they have to have a chat, however short. This means that they stop in the middle of the pavement effectively blocking everybody else who would ideally like to carry on with their walk without stopping all the time. At least here in Nervi, the pavements have been built decades, if not hundred years ago, when nobody had any reason to think that walkers could cause a traffic jam. They do. Normally you can pass by saying politely "permesso" and you will be able to move forward. I have bought the Nordic Walking Sticks, but I have not used them yet (partly, because they did not fit into the suitcase and are still stored in a different country altogether) but I wonder, if it would be wise to bring these to this environment at all, unless I would walk around 6.30 am instead in the afternoon?
2. Beaches are not only for the summer 
Even though the actual beach season has finished some months ago and there are no umbrellas or sunchairs around, this does not mean that beaches are not being used at all. On any given sunny day, there are people sitting on the beach, winter coats next to them and possibly wearing a t-shirt. It really does not matter that it is +7 C. The sunshine is enough.
3. The popularity of ice cream 
One might be forgiven to think that ice cream bars could not possibly survive during winter.  Wrong. Eating ice cream has very little to do with the seasons. It is eaten all the time. And yes, if it is a sunny day, every park bench & beach are full of people enjoying an ice cream. For me ice cream is so strongly associated with summer that having two deliciously flavoured scoops of ice cream in the middle of winter (even in a mild winter), it would not occur to me to have one. At least it didn't before moving to Italy. Now, I could consider it, but only just.

THE PAVEMENT WAS THEIR CANVAS

I love walking around Genoa. No matter how often I go, there is always something to see and discover. On one such walk I happened to be with my Italian friend Anna, whose knowledge of the history of the city is phenomenal. We were walking on a stone pavement in the city centre, when Anna stopped and started looking for something on the street. She asked:
"Did you know that hundred years ago, all these stone slabs were hand crafted by stone masons who then also decorated and signed them?"
So we are not walking on any old concrete slabs then?
I started looking at the pavement with a newly found curiosity.

Sure enough we found one such signature (pic above), hidden away in of the stones in a pavement leading to an alley. It was quite a revelation to realise that hundred years ago the pavement stones were not manufactured in some nameless factory, which produced thousands such slabs a day, but that every single one was painstakingly patiently made by stone masons who decorated every stone in their own style and treated this as an opportunity to leave their own mark in Genoa. Those stones have lasted to this day - respect!

THE RAIN AIN'T STOPPING IN GENOA

Today there was  a message on my cell. It is from the Comune di Genova informing all residents of the city that there is very heavy rain and a very real possibility of another major flooding.

I only need to look out of the window facing the street to know that it is true: there is already a small river flowing. Luckily the apartment we live in, is high above the street level but this is still worrying. There has been a thunder storm for couple of hours now.

People are being asked to stay inside and not to go outside unless absolutely necessary. No doubt a major traffic chaos will follow. We all knew that it was coming as the cell phone messages keep coming, Last week schools were closed for three days. If the situation has looked to be somewhat under control in the city centre of Genoa, it was far from it elsewhere in Liguria, for example in Santa Marghareta Liguria and Chiavari. And today there are already reports of rising water levels in other parts of Liguria too (www.ilsecoloxix.it)

This flower stand has been on the balcony and quickly filled in with water in couple of hours. 

It was only barely a month ago that the heavy rains caused major flooding in the city centre of Genoa. One person died, many had to abandon their homes and cars in great haste and millions of euro worth of damage was caused by flash floods. An army of volunteers,  quickly named as the "mud angels" started spontaneously arriving to the city centre to clean the mud, dirt and water. I was not here at that time, but the damage has been visible to this day, especially in the Brignole area, where many shop owners lost their stock and had to close down, temporarily or in some cases for good. Unfortunately insurance companies do not come to the rescue as flooding is not covered in most policies. Some businesses have tried to salvage what they could by selling flood damaged goods outside their premises. What has angered the residents of Genoa is that a similar devastating flood happened in 2011 and the city received emergency funding for essential infrastructure repairs. Very little has happened though because there was a dispute regarding the tender process of who should be awarded the contract and the money is still sitting somewhere three years later.

PRESCRIPTION VALID FOR ALL EU COUNTRIES - DOES IT WORK?

I have high blood pressure and the daily tablet has become a necessity I cannot live without. Yes, I know that loosing five to ten kilos combined with vigorous daily exercise would help too and in the end I might not need any pills, but I haven't got that far yet.  

Usually, when I am in Finland I go and see my doctor to stock up on these tablets so that I don't run out. Last time I visited my country of birth, there were several news articles about a new EU directive which says that a prescription given in one EU country is valid in all EU member states providing that you have asked your doctor to give you an EU prescription. 

That is worth trying, I thought and promptly got one. 

This morning I realised that I have only five tablets left and therefore, it will be necessary to go to a pharmacy here in Genoa. I assumed that there might be problems: perhaps it needs to be translated in Italian? Perhaps this type of medicine is not sold here? Perhaps I need all sorts of documents to prove that this is a genuine prescription? Armed with the correct vocabulary and ready to explain, I went to the nearest pharmacy. 

The pharmacist took the prescription and nodded.
He went to get the tablets.

I paid and left. Time elapsed: 5 minutes. 

Perhaps people advocating against the EU forget this type of little benefits the EU membership brings to ordinary citizens. For once, someone out there in that big bunker in Brussels has been thinking about practical problems faced by millions of EU citizens and got it right! 

HUNTING FOR SPICES IN PORTO ANTICO

I really, really like Italian food. 

But there are times when nothing but a curry full of chili and exotic spices will do. For some reason, I get this craving especially when the weather turns hot. 

  When I moved to Genoa, this was a big problem because initially I could not find any hot spices or curry pastes in the shops. Coconut milk was a particular challenge. The mainstream supermarkets stock soy sauce and some very mild Mexican salsa sauce, but that was about as exotic as they are prepared to go. 

This is one of the shops on Via Gramsci in Porto Antico selling spices, all types of rice, curry pastes, spicy sauces and coconut milk. 

   Even though chili is certainly used in Italy  - I have even come across one Italian who actually makes his own mule kick strength chili sauce - it is usually in a very mild form, unless you are in Calabria: there they make nduja salami where one of the key ingredients are roasted hot red peppers. 

   But in Genoa? I found some spices and sauces from tiny ethnic shops in centro storico. The problem was that as much as I wanted to remember the exact street corner and address, I never did and even if I did, I always seemed to arrive on a wrong time of day and the shop was closed for lunch or a holiday. 

We are definitely eating a Thai curry tonight and I already have roasted couple of eggplants for baba ganoush, where tahini is one of the "must have" ingredients. 

Then one day I was on bus number 20 coming towards Porto Antico and saw a very welcome sign for Asia-Africa-South America market on Via Antonio Gramsci. I went back there later and ever since then I have been a regular customer. This is not the only "ethnic" shop on this street, there are at least two others, where the selection is quite similar, but perhaps more catering for people looking for authentic Japanese and Chinese food ingredients. 

FESTIVAL BANDS WITH HAPPY TUNES IN GENOA

I could kick myself for not realising earlier last week that there was an International Music Festival going on in Genoa! Shame, as I missed the party in Porto Antico, where the Copenhagen Showband from Denmark danced on the street ( http://www.ilsecoloxix.it/p/multimedia/genova/2014/07/12/ARbWr5AB-grande_genova_tutto.shtml?hpar=1.) Some lucky friends had also been on Piazza Matteotti on Saturday evening where several bands played happy dancing tunes until very late into the night.

Finally I managed to see some of the action yesterday at Palazzo Ducale - last day of the festival - where bands from Hungary, France, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Israel, Italy and Spain entertained an enthusiastic audience with everything from old classical numbers to jazzy pieces of contemporary film music.

Concert Band of Sarvar from Hungary 

The Junior Orchestr Plzen from Czech Republic has won several band competitions and it showed, they were a joy to listen to. 

This was the sixth time Filarmonica Sestrese www.imf.filarmonicasestrese.com has organised such a huge, international gathering for brass bands, marching bands and youth orchestras. The whole event was free to the general public, thanks to generous sponsorship from the public and private sector.

When one band finished, another one took the stage. Here are members of the German band Fanfarengarde getting ready to play.

SEDUCED BY FRUITS OF SUMMER

Today I felt like a modern day hunter gatherer after a little stroll on our street. 

There are two tiny shops (literally the size of one small room each) selling organic, home grown veggies and fruits. It is always worth going into these shops to see what is on offer and worry about recipes later. In any case, I have stopped making shopping lists since it is a totally useless activity here: I am so easily seduced by whatever looks delicious. Even though I am not always sure what to do with some less familiar vegetables (for some reason artichokes come to mind), I trust that Jamie, Nigella and others have explored this neighbourhood before me and I have never been let down by any of them yet. 

Right now it looks like cherries are on their way out, but on the other hand fresh figs have arrived. Nigella suggests figs preserved in rum and I might try that. I also picked a bunch of dried oregano - the perfume is simply divine and it looks pretty on the kitchen counter too. The blueberries were a bit of a surprise, since they were not particularly sweet, but they will taste perfect in muffins or mixed with yoghurt and sunflower seeds with little bit of honey for breakfast. Garlic makes a regular appearance in almost anything I cook and the cloves of these were big and plump. The lemons are from a friend who came by yesterday and said that there is too much growing in her garden and would I like to have some. Yes, please!