a taste of Liguria at the market

…is a pleasure the way all Italian markets are, where you are given an instant taste of the precise season, climate, weather, landscape, culture, economy, history, habits, and personalities of the region, and this morning it was mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms – all gorgeous varieties – being cleaned and prepared by expert knife-wielding hands at my favorite stand where I chose to gather huge dark grapes and tiny light figs for the upcoming 10 hour train ride south to Puglia.