the cuppycake and italian boiled peanuts.

i know this post will definitely draw a lot of attention from "y'all" back home. today i ate lupini.

they are basically just beans. they look very similar to a lima bean, just yellow. they are soaked for a few days in a brine, so they are a little salty. to eat them you bite or tear the outer skin and then pop the inside in your mouth. it was so similar to eating boiled peanuts! it really reminded me of home.
the story of how we got them is funny, so i'll share it. on the way to the gallery event as we were driving renato was pointing out calabria (the south of italy, visible from messina) and we were coincidentally stopped right in front of an older man sitting on the side of the road selling little bags of lupini. he was pointing over to calabria (just past the lupini man) telling me, in english of course, about the bridge that will be built to connect the two shores (the longest suspension bridge in the world!). well, the lupini man thought renato was an englishman and that he was wanting to buy some lupini. we didn't realize this until we moved up a bit and realized the man was getting ready to sell us a bag. so then renato called the man over and explained, in italian, that i am american and he was telling me about calabria, but he bought some lupini for the trouble (one euro for a bag). and that is the funny story of the cuppycake and lupini. the end.