Scout goes to Piccolo Italia, San Diego

Scout and I went to Piccolo Italia (Little Italy) today to pick up a few of my favorite things - pasta e gelato.

It is still very warm here in San Diego, California so our first stop was at Cafe Italia per gelato espresso. Scout waited patiently. If you are wondering whether I looked silly taking pictures of my dog while standing in line here, I did, but really, who cares. The Italians have a saying, "No te preoccupare" (which literally translates to "Don't preoccupy you" or non-literally, "No worries") and is always accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders and a tsk sound as though to say, well, "Who cares. Life is short. Enjoy ...".

Next, Assenti's Pasta where I bought fatto a mano (hand-made), gluten-free linguini. This pasta is made from CeCe (chickpeas) which is pronounced che-che in Italian - another fun word to say. Take a look at their website for recipes like portobello ravioli con salsa di noci (mushroom ravioli with walnut sauce). This shop was started by Adriana e Umberto Assenti and is now managed by their handsome sons, Roberto e Luigi. It is always a pleasure to be assisted by a handsome Italian man.

Our last stop was the Chiesa Cattolica. We sat on the shady steps outside Our Lady of the Rosary so we could fully enjoy the last of the gelato which Scout finished up. On the first Sunday of every month at noon the entire mass is delivered in Italian. Even if you don't parla Italiano and you are not Catholic, it's lovely. The church is always full with at least three and sometimes four generations of Italian speaking families.

Ciparliamo presto

(We (informal) will speak to one another soon).