This St. Patrick’s Day we had a big celebration. The plan was simple enough: invite a few friends and neighbors for Irish Coffee. Along the way I managed to spend half a day shopping and two days cooking. Not a single Irish dish, but almost everything was green or had some green in it, other than the apple Sharlotka and the orange-almond cake.
Among the various savory and sweet dishes, the green hummus was a big hit. Best in show, though, went to the homemade salame.
The half that didn't get consumed on St. Patrick's Day
When I brought it to the table, someone asked if I really made my own salame.
Looks like the real thing, doesn’t it? And it even has some green it it, courtesy of the pistacchi.
Only after cutting a few slices it became clear that it was a vegetarian salame. :)
By the way, I’ve been thinking about those Italian lessons, but haven’t had any time to get started. Mostly it’s that I want to figure out a plan of attack and I am not sure how to proceed. In the meantime I leave you with a few Italian words:
• salame al cioccolato = chocolate salami
• pistacchi = pistachios
• all’italiana = Italian style
In Italian we say salame, not salami, when we talk about one item. Salami in Italy means more than one salame. Several Italian words that have made it into English have been modified and often Americans use the singular where Italians use the plural and viceversa.
We say lasagne (plural) and Americans say lasagna (singular). Just so you know.
Happy Spring!
Posted by Francesca
