Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

L'Angolo dei Sapori

More than a Fruit Stand in Brindisi, Italy

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

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It's so fun to food shop in Italy.

Walking around town there are these little vegetable and fruit stands that serve the neighborhood. Not far from our apartment, we discovered L'Angolo dei Sapori - The Flavor Corner.

Delivery truck

When the store's truck was parked at the corner, it was easy to recognize this tiny shop.

If the truck was out making deliveries we'd often ask ourselves twice if we were in the right area.

We were new to Brindisi, and just getting used to our surroundings.

Sometimes things looked similar enough to get us a bit confused.

The front entrance

This front entrance was little different than the front door of a home.

It was easy to walk by the place if you blinked your eye or was daydreaming for a moment.

Tiny entrance, but had good variety inside.

You can see by the sign that this shop sells fresh eggs, olive oil, wine from the vat, dried fruit, rice, different flours, dried beans, plus fruits and vegetables.

Sometimes when we walked past this small place, their displays were so colorful as to pull us inside.

The back wall

The shop was maybe 500 feet square. We liked it that the prices were marked. That was not always the case and when shops get busy, and prices are not marked, it's harder to shop.

Attendants are servicing other customers and to interrupt that with a price question seems rude... But here we could choose on our own what we wanted to purchase.

Apples, pears, oranges, melons and other fruits are at the back, green vegetables are on the left.

Green leafy vegetables

Some items were standbys and you could count on them being in the shop. At other times, you had to take your chances or instead you'd find something exotic, like these dried dates on the left.

Bright red and yellow tomatoes

See how brilliant these tomatoes are?

They could definitely turn one's head when walking past.

Let me share that as intense as these colors are, the flavors were equal.

What a tomato!

Fresh basil, garlic and mushrooms

We often saw fresh basil in these shops - mostly planted such as this basil above. The attendant would snip a handful right off the plant, and charge you accordingly.

Garlic bulbs on the left, fresh mushrooms on the lower right, and some green beans peaking out from behind the basil.

Lettuces and fennel

Fennel was used in Italy as a vegetable or on a crudités plate, and it was common to find.

Here you see some different lettuces on the right, and some curly green cabbage on the left.

Porcini mushrooms

We were happy to have a kitchen in our apartment so we could try our hand at cooking with local ingredients.

These Porcini mushrooms sold for $38Euros a kilo, or about $42USD.

Look how fresh they are!

Oyster mushrooms

These look like oyster mushrooms, and there were several different types in other boxes as well.

They are equally as fresh and look tempting enough to bring home. Since mushrooms are packed with a ton of essential vitamins and minerals, they are a great addition to any meal.

 Sunny yellow tomatoes

This color is called "YOWZA" yellow.

Just looking at these tomatoes, you can understand why.

Steel vats of both red and white wines

A unique feature of this corner store was that it sold table wine for $1.50 or $2Euros per liter.

This is a very drinkable, fairly young, non-headache-giving wine to drink with your afternoon or evening meal.

With delicious flavor this wine is a sociable option for the locals. One did not get lost in some complexity of "currant flavor and a hint of raisin and vanilla."

Nope. Just delightful daily wine.

On the left you will see dispensers for Virgin Olive Oil.

The store provides the bottles, which you can return for a discount on your next purchase.

The owner dispensing wine

The vats held dry white wine, a red wine and a rose.

Here the owner is dispensing wine into a liter bottle for us to take home.

This liter was $2Euro.

The entrance door is just behind him on the right.

Notice how clean the store is.

Sometimes the place got so busy, that only one of us would go in to make a purchase. The other of us just stood outside and waited.

Including the owners, I think the maximum capacity of this store was about 8 people!

Walking around in a hurry, it was easy to miss these lovely local shops.

We discovered these wine selling vegetable shops in Naples, Gaeta, Anzio, and Brindisi in Italy. Also in Catania, Sicily.

Definitely a great value.

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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