Baby Zucchini Salad

It was better when we were worse off.
(Chinese proverb, approx. XXI century)

One day the inevitable happens: your Internet connection goes down for no reason, the world around seems to be collapsing all at once, and the meaning of life is dramatically put to test. The electromagnetic wave on which your life has been riding brave and fearless, has all of a sudden crashed against some unexpected cyberrock. You keep repeating yourself there's nothing tragic, it's only a return to prehistoric times, and yet why are you feeling so bad?

The idea of a dark, cold, and mute future starts taking shape, a slow journey into the unknown without the constant sound of your distant radio, a world where friendship cannot be confirmed or rejected by pushing a button, and where there isn't any cat playing the piano or wandering around the house on top of a vacuum cleaner. You start wondering if life will ever be the same without those embarrassing encounters on chatroulette, without feeling obligated to update your status on a thousand different places, and without the comfort of the weekly emails from Sacks, Apple and Abercrombie, who call you by name and just like old friends seem to know everyone of your weaknesses. Suddenly you start panicking 'cause you don't remember how to buy a movie ticket, flip through the pages of a newspaper, and search for a phone number.

You take heart and decide that the best cure for this anxiety is going to the farmer's market, walking of course, and letting yourself being seduced by the seasonal zucchini. Pure and simple, as nature made them. Two tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil and few parmigiano cheese shavings, and there you go, the world starts turning in the right direction again.