| Chapter 2: | Street Life |
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He sold sweet meats and this food was popular with Sicilians.
“Buon giorno, Signora Cassara. How is Signore Alfio.”
“As well as can be expected of a man who supports his family.”
She would look carefully at his displays to determine what came in today and what came in yesterday. Sometimes she would buy tripe. Other times it was liver. The lambs’ heads were a special treat but I didn’t like eating the eyes. Occasionally she would buy brains. I liked it when she made tripe in her special homemade tomato sauce.
“I’ll take a pound and a half of the tripe.” She was proud of the way she cleaned tripe. We never got sick eating it.
I liked the smell of Mr. Nicola’s store. It had a clean smell. The tiles on the floor were shiny white. His white apron was spotless. His wife must have a scrub board just like grandma and a bathtub to wash his clothes.
We went to the Italian fresh cheese store located near the cappuzzelle store. I didn’t like the smell of milk but I did enjoy the taste of mozzarella especially the kind that was smoked. Mozzarella came in braids as well as round with a puckered kiss at the top. The smoked variety was hanging on hooks. The plain mozzarellas were in refrigerators. Ricotta was for sale as well as fresh cheeses in baskets. Grandma bought a plain mozzarella used to make her thick Sicilian pizzas. Sometimes she melted mozzarella over eggplant.
She always bought fruits and vegetables. Grandma made a salad of oranges with olive oil that I liked very much. We never bought bread because grandma made her own. She ordered red wine from