Yesterday, Gus picked me up from work and we drove to the Italian Market, in South Philly, to pick up a few ingredients for a dinner we're hosting on Saturday. The Market, which runs primarily along Ninth Street, has many food specialty shops, some dating back to the market's origins in the 1880s, as well as produce vendors whose offerings line the streets outside. One of the blogs I follow, Philly Market Cafe, often includes great photos of the market through the seasons.
On this visit, we stopped first at The Spice Corner to pick up juniper berries and allspice, then we ducked into DiBruno Brothers for cornichons and stone-ground mustard. I was hoping they carried picholine olive oil but they did not (although they did offer to order it), but no matter, we still oohed and aahed over their incredible selection of pasta, cured meats, olives and other accoutrements in addition to an unsurpassed cheese selection.
Our final stop was Cannuli's Meats, otherwise known at the House of Pork. These are true butchers, men who know their product and the proof is in their blood-stained aprons. As our butcher weighed and calculated our order, another sauntered by, clapping two lamb legs together in front of him as if extensions of his own arms. A third sat on the edge of a barrel, reading the paper through large, round glasses, his feet planted firmly on the sawdust-sprinkled floor.
Last year we didn't visit the Market during the holidays, but this year, knowing that we will be here at that time, I'm looking forward to putting together a Christmas dinner from these stores. Before we moved here, I had a picture in my mind of shopping for special ingredients in a biting cold, snow blowing sideways in the dusk as I went from one ancient store to the next, door bells ringing as I entered and exited, collecting my packages. I think the Italian Market will come pretty close to making my imagination come to life. Not sure who to talk to about the weather though...
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