woohoo I was dancing :-)

(and better still, so was the 80 year old who can barely walk unaided while she decides about an operation).

Today was the 80th birthday of a good friend's mother. I wasn't sure I would make it to the festa, but in the end I decided that people are more important than other things, so abandoned all thought of work and set out for Cassino and beyond. I arrived in time to eat some great food at the long table under the loquat tree, and of course the cake! It's huge, I said to my friend. It was only 12 eggs, she replied. That reminded me that the Christmas cake another family makes has 40 eggs in it. It's a different world, it really is.

The music was playing, the aunts and uncles were all there... and I danced a very fast waltz on the cobblestones with one of the uncles.

The sun was shining, all that was missing was another generation running about underfoot.

It's nice to know that some traditions are still very much alive.



But this post is supposed to be about butter. You see, there are things that Italy does absolutely brilliantly, and then there are... well, life must have balance, mustn't it?

And so recently my wonderful travelling friends bought me some butter in Holland. Vegemite and olive all are a bit tricky together, and Italian butter... least said, soonest mended. Suddenly I had three butters to choose from. But which one is best of the three? I have promised to report in.

The three are (if I am reading the packets correctly) Botergoud, Gezouten and Lurpak.
(Later: I wasn'treading them correctly. The second one is Albert Heijn, and all are gezouten, salted).
The first one I tried was Botergoud. The taste sensation was wonderful. Then I tried the others. I didn't quite get the same effect from either of them. But, remembering Proust, I decided that I needed to be a little more scientific than this. It was surely just that this was the first butter that tasted like NZ butter that I had savoured in eight months.

The next day I tried another one first, Albert Heijn. It was good, almost as good as the first one, but maybe lacked that wonderful creamy after-taste that the first one surprised me with.

In between my taste testing I found myself reaching for the incredibly easy-to-spread Botergoud. That was purely a convenience thing when the bread was soft and squishy.

Now, several testing days later, I think that it is almost a tie. If I had to rank them it I would have to eat more, to be sure, and at the moment I am trying to limit the amount that I savour each day. Tiny little testing cubes of toast or bread. Butter. And now some Vegemite.

Yummmm

Today I am grateful for Marcel Proust's writings, and butter.