My recent trip to Florence has renewed my penchant for Italian food and I hereby declare myself a pasta lover for life. (I may actually go and buy myself some ingredients for pasta making right after I am done with this post.)

I have several weaknesses when it comes to the Italian cuisine, aside from pasta. Some of them range in the antipasti department, i.e. the part of the menu you deal with before you get into the serious business of the mains.

Artichoke hearts, black olive paste, truffle butter and salted anchovies are stuff I could live on every day. Britain is not Italy when it comes to the presence of antipasti in your nearby supermarket, so there is a bit of a whaling going on whenever I shop.

Carluccio’s is a reliable source for black olive paste and truffle butter. And Lina’s, Lina’s in Soho is apparently a local classic when it comes to lots of Italian goodies. I bought myself some salted anchovies from the shop a couple of weeks ago and I think I’ll be heading back soon.

Anyways, to market, to market now to see what we can find for this evening’s plate of pasta.