The Van

I know I've mentioned the Van in my ramblings before, but it's one of the wonders of Lake Como. As you can see, it's nothing to look at but once it opens it's like Aladdin's Cave with theatre.

It comes to Varenna every Saturday, same place, approximately the same time, goes to Bellano on Thursdays and who knows where else, when. It's packed full of unmentionable yummies, but I'll mention them anyway. There are meats, cheeses, sausages, salami, some only available in the local valley and others from France. He had a good looking Brie the other day, but we opted for an oozing Taleggio instead.

On the next occasion we wanted some Gorganzola picante for a pizza. Our Van man chose a piece and asked if I wanted the lot. It wasn't the biggest piece of cheese, but more than I needed for a pizza, so, please cut it in half. He looked at me and babbled away in Italian, translation which was along the lines of....Ok, I can do it, but for the trouble you put me to, I'll probably have to throw you in the lake! All said with a flourish and a smile. He thought we were French, we think, he kept throwing in French words to please us, but we confessed to being Australian. He asked if we were from Melbourne, lucky guess, but in fact he had been to Melbourne once for a short visit.

Anyway, that's us served again, down to the regular customers........