My husband and I love going grocery shopping together. Although I’m sure it may sound boring to most, we have fun looking at products (especially cheeses), being drawn by cool-looking and colorful packaging and getting inspiration for new recipes. We’re like kids in a candy store and I seem to be able to add to the experience by doing strange things that either make him laugh out loud or roll his eyes. In fact, American grocery stores have often offered me opportunities to learn, laugh, and reflect. Here’s a list of things that happened to me while shopping for food:

1) Spending at least 10 minutes looking for disposable gloves to pick my vegetables and then realizing people here pick their veggies with their bare hands.
2) Conversely, wondering why the roll of plastic bags stands right next to the chicken section, while  I nonchalantly put a package of chicken breasts straight in the cart.
3) Trying to order prosciutto in hectograms.
4) Entering a cashier lane from the wrong side (it sadly still happens).
5) Being mesmerized by exotic and colorful foods like Doritos, Pop-tarts and Strawberry Marshmallow Fluff….impulsively buying them and, only after the first bite, reading their huge list of artificial ingredients. Yet still chowing down on them while being crushed by guilt.
6) Being puzzled at the idea that people would buy a product that claims to “taste like the real thing”, instead of getting the “real thing”.
7) Missing the European insert-a-coin-to-get-a-cart-and-get-your-coin-back-by-returning-the-cart system when I see shopping carts abandoned in the parking lot and waaaay too close to my car.
8) Lingering in front of the fish department, desperately looking for fish with their heads on.
9) Trying to bag my own groceries (as I would in Italy) and getting weird looks by the person whose job is actually to bag my groceries (oh. I thought he was just standing there!)
10) Whispering to my husband while in line to pay at Trader Joe’s: “is it okay if we use Whole Foods  shopping bags here?” (like that would the cashier’s feelings! Total paranoia, I know.)

Although I’ve been in the States for some time now and I’m no longer a “fish out of water”, I seem to still be able to do awkward things that inevitably amuse or embarrass my husband. Just like when he overheard me asking the fish department guy this exact question:

“Do you have tentacles?” [read with cute voice and a light Italian accent]

I’m not sure if it was for my accent or the generic question (I’m pretty sure he thought I was asking if he had tentacles somewhere in his body), but the guy looked at me strangely and it took him awhile to understand I wanted squid “legs” (or arms??). My husband overheard the whole thing and barely kept his composure as he approached me.

Okay. End of my funny grocery shopping stories. The tentacles ended up with a bunch of squid rings in a delicious pasta with calamari –a fresh, simple and flavorful dish. Eating fresh seafood always puts me in a good mood. Eating squid tentacles, in particular, will always put a smile on my face.

SPAGHETTI WITH CALAMARI
Spaghetti con calamari
Servings: 2 | Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 15 min

INGREDIENTS
190 g (6.7 oz) spaghetti
a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup of strained tomatoes (no salt added, like Pomì)
1/2 lb clean squid tentacles + tubes, sliced in rings
coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper
a handful of parsley, chopped
red pepper flakes, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add spaghetti.
2. In the meantime, heat extra-virgin olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and let it sizzle briefly.
3. In the same skillet, add tomato sauce and cook for 6-7 minutes, until sauce becomes thicker. Add squid tentacles and rings and cook for 2-3 minutes, until opaque. Add salt & pepper to taste and then remove pan from heat.
4. When spaghetti are a little firmer than al dente, drain them. Place the skillet with the sauce back on the stove over medium-high heat, adding drained pasta in it.
5. Add chopped parsley, stir and cook for a couple more minutes. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes, to taste. Remove garlic cloves from pan and serve pasta immediately!

Buon appetito!
-Lisa