On Friday afternoon, I went for a walk around my neighborhood with my camera. I usually walk with my husband, but that day he wasn’t with me, so my camera was my companion. Among the vegetation along the side of our strada di campagna (country road), it was the tendrils of the Manroot that mostly inspired me. I am a poor botanist, so I am not sure whether I was looking at California manroot or Coastal manroot (if you have any suggestions on this matter, please, send let me know). The light green tendrils gave me the idea of writing about two kitchen items: cavatappi e apribottiglie.
I like to say cavatappi (corkscrew). The word tappo in Italian (plural: tappi) is generic and may indicate a cork (tappo di sughero), a crown cap (tappo a corona) and other types of caps, plugs and stoppers, depending on the context. My father likes to use the word tirabusciò to indicate a corkscrew. It is the Italianized version of the French tire-bouchon.
Apribottiglie literally means bottle opener (bottiglie is the plural of bottiglia, bottle). The one in the photo is a gift from a dear friend. Sometimes I take it out just to look at it and smile at its cute shape. In case you are wondering, it was made in Italy.
The apribottiglie makes me think of the following three beverages: Coca-Cola, gazzosa and birra (beer). When I was growing up, drinking carbonated beverages was reserved for very special occasions. As a consequence, I have never developed a taste for fizzy beverages.
Coca-Cola to me is the dark, sweet drink in its characteristic slender bottle, which occasionally I was allowed to have, usually at kids’ parties. Gazzosa and birra were bought by my father for our (infrequent) picnics. I have never liked birra and always preferred wine (with water, of course, as I was still a child). Gazzosa (or gassosa) on the other hand, was a favorite of mine. It is clear, sweet, but not too sweet, fizzy, but again not overly so, with a delicate lemon flavor. My parents mixed birra e gazzosa, while I enjoyed my gazzosa unadulterated, at a nice, cool temperature, no ice. Some of you may be thinking: what’s about Italians and ghiaccio (ice)? That’s a story for another day.
Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:
or launch the cavatappi e apribottiglie audio file [mp3].
Once I dug up the root of a wild cucumber and it was huge! Pretty creepy.
I looked at pictures in the web and it looks like the california type has spiky fruit, while the coastal manroot has smooth fruit. The leaves look different too but it hard to say from your photos.
In Venetian cavatappi is “tirabusson”, which is derived from French.
Oh I didn’t know no ice was an Italian trait?? huh. Looking forward to that post.
I don’t like it either! Like my water room temp and my diet Coke ice cold from the can, no ice cubes!
Come by TWTE, the MLLA round-up is posted, thanks for participating Simona!
LL
Very interesting post. I’d love to try Gazzosa.
Paz
That’s the way to enjoy a walk, Simona. Lovely images.
Ciao Laura. I’ve seen photos of it, but not a real one. You are making me curious. Thanks for the tip: I’ll keep an eye on the fruit. And thanks for telling me the Venetian word.
I’d say we have a different approach to ice. More about this later. Thanks, Lori Lynn for hosting MLLA!
Ciao Paz. You may be able to find gazzosa in some store that carries Italian foods. Let me know if you do.
Thanks, Susan. Nature had something interesting to offer to the eye of my camera.
E’ delizioso l’apribottiglie blu 😀
Ciao Lenny. La mia amica mi ha regalato alcune altri oggetti da cucina dello stesso colore e dalla forma simpatica. Ne parlero’ in futuro.