Salty in the AM!

Did you know that Italians had timers in their mouths? Me either. But it's my latest discovery. There are blocks of time in the day reserved for savory, sour, salty and blocks of time reserved for sweet. Any correctly raised Italian has this feature, but they must have grown up in Italy to acquire it. And be careful too.

They are quick to notice when this divine order is interrupted. Sure, it varies slightly from the south to the north, considering that meal times in the north span from about 8 am to 9 pm, and those in the south roughly from 10 am to 11 pm. Consider that I prepared myself a frittata around 9 am one morning, which is roughly an omelet with fewer ingredients (onions and zucchini and eggs, plus parmesan). As people meandered into the kitchen for their morning coffee with cookies and a cigarette, I went on about my business. As sleepy as they were (there are five others who live in this house with me, let's say two of them were up), their acute noses and mouth timers told them something was awry. They sidled up to me curiously and tried to hide their grimaces as they verifired what their sensory organs were telling them was true: SALTY for breakfast!! Salty in the AM alert! Salty in the AM alert! Salty comes only after 1 pm! (Which allows Italians to eat cookies for breakfast, an act of pure barbary if you ask me!)

I made a pumpkin pie this weekend at Giovanni's house, and his family said they like it. His cousin suggested that it would work better as an antipasto than as a desert because of the sweet/savory contrast because the crust had no sugar and she perceived it immediately.

It's 10:35 in the morning and I'm about to go heat up some lasagne for lunch because I have a 3 hour class ahead of me. Hopefully no one comes into the kitchen...