I honestly cannot believe it is Friday AGAIN. The weeks zoom by so quickly. We have absolutely no plans this weekend, so
maybe time will slow down just a hair.

Last night I went to an event called Jewelry Bar, which
involved local made Hawaiian Jewelry + cocktails. It’s kind of a cruel and unusual combination
for people who are trying to refrain from unnecessary purchases. I compromised by buying a couple gifts for
family instead of myself.

When I got home, Lloyd had water boiling for his scallop
piccata on angel hair. I chipped in
with some of the chopping (it called for cup garlic!) and the whole thing
came together in less than 20 minutes.
The end result had a kick – very piquant, true to its name.

I just surfed around to double check on the true meaning of “piccata,”
and it turns out someone else had the same question. Sure enough, according to this answer,
it does mean “tasty, savory, spicy, piquant” – there are no better adjectives
to describe our meal.

“In a context of food, for example veal piccata’ (in Italian, piccata di
vitello’), i.e. a tender veal cutlet quickly sautd in the butter, then
dressed with lemon juice and parsley [+ capers sometimes], the word
piccata’ means tasty, savoury, spicy, piquant,’ as this dish is tasty, thanks
to lemon juice, parsley and capers.

As for its origin, the past participle piccato’ (piccata’ in the feminine, as
it agrees with the term ‘carne’ or fettina’ which are feminine in Italian)
derives from the verb piccare’ literally meaning to wound someone with a
pike, to prick, to sting’ and therefore metaphorically to stimulate the senses,
especially taste and the sense of smell.

The verb piccare,’ as well as the other verb picchiare’ derives from
the noun picca,’ meaning pike ,’ i.e. the tip of a spear.

The verb picchiare’ however does not mean to wound someone with a pike, to
prick, to sting,’ but simply to hit, to strike, to beat,’ and moreover
its conjugation is different from the conjugation of piccare,’ except two
forms, i.e. tu picchi'(2nd person singular ) and “noi picchiamo” (1st.person
plural) in the present indicative. In this case it is the context that explains
the meaning of the verb.

Finally in the best Italian dictionaries we find 2 entries for “piccata” :
1-“piccata”(feminine noun) meaning “stroke of pike”
2-“piccata”(feminine noun) meaning “veal dish”.

Alsk you can find “piccato”(masculine-Past participle of “piccare”) which
has two meanings:
1-tasty, piquant, etc.(see above)
2-touchy, irritable.

So, to conclude, American menus do not confuse “piccata” with
“piquant” as the Italian term “piccata” related to veal
really means “tasty, savoury, spicy, piquant”.

Hope all is clear enough.

Best regards
Maria”