I don’t know what it is about the local hot spots around Italy, even those little carts with the Trippa and Lampredotto always seem so intimidating to me. I have actually never been to them by myself and all of the hole in the wall places we frequent I only go when I have Maurizio in tow to do all the talking.
Tomorrow Maurizio and I are going to Livorno Ferraris to visit his family and to celebrate the birthday of his father. Maurizio’s father Bruno absolutely loves Trippa so to do something special I thought we would take him some of the Florentine Trippa from the stand frequented by so many locals and located a stones throw from our apartment. In thought, I figured after suggesting this that Maurizio will be able to find the time to run over and buy the Trippa. Unfortunately things didn’t work that way and he had to go to Palazzo Tornabuoni for a banquet and I had to step up to the plate to get the goods.
So after making two stops at local grocery stores hoping they might have some Trippa I had no luck and had to go to the stand. Its hot outside today and I was sweating, I am not sure it was really the heat or just my nerves. I thought since I waited until after 2pm that the lines would have died down quite a bit. Even though there were definitely less people, there was still a crowd of about 15 students stuffed in at the front of the bar.
The customary thing to do is just scream out your order but since I lack confidence with my Italian language this is always difficult for me. I so need to get over this confidence thing. I mean I can speak Italian, I can be understood and I can understand about 90% of the language when being spoken to, even some of the Florentine dialect but I am just so afraid of making mistakes. I know I should get over it and speak but I am still a little nervous and timid when it comes to speaking.
So, I stood at the back of crowd for a bit watching what they did and not really knowing what I should do. Finally the younger man behind the bar said, I am making the Lampredotto and Babbo (Florentine for Dad) is making the Trippa. I quickly shuffled over to Babbo and waited for him to notice me. He gave me a look to order and I quickly spit out “Una vaschetta di Trippa”. Obviously he knew right away I wasn’t Florentine and not even Italian for that matter. He gave me a big smile and said “Arrivo subito bella” (coming right away beautiful). Afterwards we went through a series of questions about how much I wanted, if I wanted it spicy, if I wanted cheese, if I wanted to eat it there or take it away etc. At first he went through the motions of showing me things and pointing to things to make sure I understood but as I responded with more than 1 word and actually spoke to him he started treating me like I was one of those Florentine’s in the crowd. It was such a good feeling! What did I have to be afraid of? The old man was so nice and that big smile wiped away my fear and built up my confidence. I walked away with due porzioni di Trippa (two portions of Trippa) and a skip in my step. I love those days when the people around me make me feel like one of the locals.
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