I wanted to see a bit more of the real Milan today as I only saw a very touristy version of the food, the shops and the city yesterday. I bought my first subway ticket (always a bit daunting in a strange place in a different language) and caught the train to the duomo as it was the closest point to where I wanted to go - the canal district. This is a buzzing local neighbourhood that still has some existing canals and ancient monuments scattered amongst more shabby apartment blocks, hip up and coming designers, and graffitied walls. My breakfast pitstop was a little cafe that had procuitto and cheese croissants to go with their great cappuchinos.
After a long walk past many interesting shops, I reached the canal and found locals feeding ducks and generally hanging out around them but they are not beautiful, more utilitarian. There is a Saturday produce market and it is filled with all sorts of good things! I bought cherries and peaches, and was salivating at all the vegetables that are not finding their way onto menus - am craving veges, just a big plate of mixed veges! There's alot in season, zucchini flowers, broad beans, bortolli beans, beans, asparagus, the most amazing tomatoes, and when you buy at the market the vendor will choose the very best produce for you. The homemade salumis and marinated olives look so good.
I am trying the different specialties everywhere I go, so thought I would have cottaletto ala Milanese at a local trattoria - I got a dinosaur sized version of a veal chop flattened and crumbed and fried served with lemon. I followed this with gelato, today's flavours mandarin and green apple, really really good.
I caught the tram back to the duomo and it terminated in a little side street, just outside the front of two amazing foodie stores. The first was laduree, the famous French macaroon shop that the masterchef guys went to in the Paris episode and George could not stop eating them while the contestants were cooking! They are very nice, but no better or worse than adrianno zumbos macarons. The other shop was pecks, a gourmet food hall that sold the most pillowy fresh made stuffed pasta, amazing antipasta like zucchini rollups and stuffed porchini mushrooms, and premium meat as well as all the other stuff you would expect to find. If I ever come back to Milan i will stay in an apartment and cook!
Dinner was an aperitif crawl in my local neighbourhood - for €7 at each place you got any drink you wanted ... Coffee, wine, cocktail and access to a smorgusboard of snacks except these included pasta dishes and more elaborate antipasta.