Setting out together with Italian food Goddess and author, Julia della Croce, for day two of the Mostra Artiginati, in Firenze. Our selfie might be a little, well, you know how selfies are, but our smiles should say it all: we were full of the joys of food/life/people discoveries and couldn’t wait to see what the second day had to offer.
The Mostra–from the verb: to show, meaning expo–was an amazing show of artisanal products soooooo many of which were food and wine, and soooooo many of which were regional Italian. There were other handicrafts: furniture, leather goods, baby clothing, hats, even one of my favourite events which was daily agrultural demonstrations of olive cultivation. Other countries which were welcome guests included: Greece, France, Tunisia, Turkey, India, and this year for the first time, Iran.I was excited about Iran, hoping to find the exquisite orange flower marmalade i once enjoyed with my long ago sister-in-law Shala.I never found the orange flower preserves but there were so many other fabulous tastes to assess, enjoy, and learn about, i couldn’t possibly be dissappointed.
Because, lets face it: i was in Italy. And that alone, as usual, is enough to make me hyperventilate with joy.
Couldn’t resist snapping this flock of red vespas. Did you know that the name Vespa means wasp?
A little hard to tell from this pic, but these are dry, cured sausages and salami. Did i ever tell you the story of how i smuggled a long thin salami into the usa in my bra? by nestling it inbetween the two ladies, it fit snugly and perfectly. I just couldn’t face life back home in San Francisco without a delicious salami, know what i mean? And i want to assure you that i didn’t fly the whole 11 hours with the salami in my bra, i put it there shortly before landing. it fit perfectly and was good for my posture too; when you have a long thin salami vertically in your bra you stand up straight. But i’m telling you: i was nervous, so nervous, far too nervous to ever do that again. It was written about in the Wine Spectator in an article my Sam Guigino titled “When your brassiere smells like a brasserie”. When I got to customs and saw the little beagle making the rounds i thought i’d pass out. i will never do it again regardless of how delicious that salami is, just not worth the aggrevation. And no, i don’t want to break the law, not me. I’m a good girl, I am.
But I digress, these salami were delicious, chewy and even more chewy, and funky from aging, and salty in that exquisite way that air-dried salami are. I wish i could cut you a slice. Wait, this is almost as good: 
help yourself!
Loved the stand selling pistachios: whole nuts, shelled nuts, chopped nuts, ground pistachios, pure ground pistachio nut butter, pistachio pesto, plus endless treats made with them. 
L’Agricola di Cartillone grows the nuts in the volcanic soil of Etna and is a family business. Visit them at www.pistacchicartillone.it
I bought a bag of the ground nuts for baking; so far I have made a fragrant pistachio flourless cake, perfumed with orange flower water and have plans for making pistachio financiers next. But what was amazing, and what I didn’t buy and hugely regret now, I don’t even have a picture of it, but it was one of the most sublime delicious little mouthfuls ever: a nutella-like spread of white chocolate and pistachio. It was pale green and so nutty, sweet, smooth and delectable, if i close my eyes I can remember the bliss.
I think I need to come up with a recipe for this delectable spread to share here, right?
There were a number of vendors selling olive-oil-based spreads: with olives, roasted peppers, capers, truffles, each one more delicioius than the next. This crema di broccoli was amazing; so unusual, and oh so delicious! 
My Calabrese buddy, Carmine and his leaning tower of hot peppers told me he is 91 years old and owes it all to eating hot peppers: hot peppers in olive oil! they are spicy, but not so crazy-hot that they are unbearable. Called La Bomba, they are more like spicily delicious; delicious tossed with al dente pasta, then either grated pecorinio, or olive-oil-preserved tuna, lemon and chopped flatleaf parsley. Translating from the brochure: Ideal to make the most delicious bruschetta, sandwiches, panini, great with pizza and whatever your imagination conjures up. www.fungosila.it
Oh these two sweet ebulliant truffle-scented ladies! So many wonderful truffle products: spreads, pastes, mixed with wild mushrooms or olive oil, but everything: scented with truffles and absolutely gorgeous. swooningly gorgeous, www.gazzarrinitartufi.it
Pistachio-White Chocolate Nutella Clone
This is a total knock-off of the pistachio white chocolate spread we tasted at il mostra. I just aproximated, and to be honest, don’t remember what the original tasted like: this one is pretty delicious though. Its sweet, very sweet, though you can adjust the icing sugar amount to your own taste. But really, you want it a bit sweet: it is, after all, what it is: melted white chocolate and pistachios. And also: you want/need to adjust EVERYTHING as you go along. You want to end up with a sweet, creamy, pistachio spread, just like nutella.
Though I used vanilla, I am thinking that almond would be even better, as it smells sweeter, more aromatic, more like pistachio.
About 2 ounces white chocolate
About 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
About 4 tablespoons ground pistachio nuts
About 1/3- 1/2 cup, or to taste, confectioners/icing/powdered sugar, starting with a few tablespoons then working your way up
A few grains of salt
A few drops of almond extract (or, if you don’t like it, of vanilla).
Optional: I had a few tablespoons of whipped cream I folded in that helped stabilize and bring it together after the butter and nuts had separated in the heat. Otherwise you can just chill it, and when its firmed up, stir it together again.
With over 70 cookbook titles (including contributions) to her credit, Marlena conjures up flavours and dishes from the Mediterranean to Mexico, California to France to the Italian islands and single subjects such as chili peppers, olive oil, mushrooms, to a book on classic Jewish food from all over the world.