Just back from a whirlwind two day foodie road trip to New Haven, CT, with a stop in Providence on the way home. Joined by friends with similar intent and their own gleams of acquisition, we set out.

The purpose of the trip was to hit some favorite restaurants and load the cooler with sausages and cheeses and homemade pasta, and to fill the back of the jeep with Italian cookies and breads and pastries than can only be found in the specialty stores of the old neighborhoods. To say nothing of the vat of half sour pickles that found its way into the cooler after a stop at Rein’s Deli.

More on the trip tomorrow. I have pounds of sausages to sort, and a huge bunch of broccoli rabe from a farmers’ market in West Haven to wash and wrap before it wilts.