The Pasta Shop

It's a normal weekend morning.  I just ate breakfast.  I have no plans for the evening set up so it means dinner at home tonight.  But what to make?

A quick look in the fridge tells me nothing is really good for dinner.  That means it's time to get out of the apartment and search for dinner!

This calls for a walk around my local neighborhood and after a short time I come upon a fresh pasta shop.  This, by the way, is a luxury of living in Rome.  It's really not all that common to be able to go to the neighborhood pasta shop in the United States.  So when in Rome, take full advantage!

In I walk and immediately my mouth salivates after seeing this.

 Beautiful!  Zucchini flowers, some sort of Italian cheese all stuffed inside and rolled up like cannelloni.  Some day, oh yes, some day I will be trying that.

 The line up was wonderful.  They had everything from fresh linguine to filled ravioli to gnocchi and more!

 I especially enjoyed watching this guy making fresh pasta and bringing it to the front.  Looks like somebody ordered sheets of pasta to make their own lasagna or their own cannelloni!

 A look behind the cash register shows their kitchen where the magic really happens.  When the guy at the register noticed me NOT putting away my camera, he opened the door to the back and insisted I take pictures without a window blocking everything.  Good sir, you just won VASGO's store of the year award! Thank you for being so incredibly fantastic.

This lady was clearly getting a fresh pasta dish made.  From the looks of the big tub of tomato sauce at her station, I'd safely say the end result was something delicious.

 This is the station where the man was making the dough...

... which eventually was flattened by the machine on the right.  He loaded it in the front dock halfway up the machine a few times and eventually it came out all smooth and flat.

I ended up purchasing Pumpkin Ravioli!  Inside, the pumpkin filling was mixed with a slightly seasoned fresh cheese that had sour notes, such as formaggio fresco spalmabile. You probably know this as cream cheese.

Then a small walk around the neighborhood led me to a meat counter where I found these:

Arrosticini.  Skewers of lamb pieces.  Seasoning recommended: salt, some pepper then put on a VERY HOT grill for a minute or two flipping once until it's medium rare.  Best if it has grill marks on the outside!  A friend here in Rome explained to me that he easily eats 10 of these skewers in a setting!  That is not surprising because they are that good!

Still, I opted for 3 each for myself and my expert because my focus was the ravioli for this meal.  I remember the look from the butcher when I said I needed 6 total.  His facial expression said, "That's it?"  Indeed it was.

For the pumpkin ravioli, I melted some butter, sauteed some sage in it (even the dried stuff works fine for this) and tossed the boiled pasta in it to accent the dish.  Simply outstanding!

Add a quick salad on the side and you've got a restaurant-quality meal at a quarter of the price. That makes this one of my recommended Cheap Things to Do in Rome!

Buon Appetito everyone!  If you get the chance, get some fresh pasta.  You won't regret it!

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

How do you know it's fall in Italy?

The roasted chestnut vendors are in full effect!

Every December I grew up hearing those oh so important words in Nat King Cole's, The Christmas Song.  The first sentence in the song, "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire," always left an image in my head.

Like I said, hearing that first sentence of the song left an image in my head.  But I never really gave much thought to them as a culinary delight because in the U.S. there really aren't many roasted chestnut vendors on the street corners where I've lived each Christmas.  Even though I had never seen them in person, I was left with this impression that roasted chestnuts mean cool weather.  They mean happy times.  They mean Christmas is near.  

If you've never had a roasted chestnut, try it.  They are slightly sweet, slightly smoky, nutty, warm and have a texture that reminds me of sweet potatoes.  Kind of gritty, kind of mash-y.  

They are perfect for a stroll with a loved one through an Italian piazza on a cold evening.  Arm in arm, bundled in coats and scarves and still keeping close, feeding on each other's warmth.  There's something magical about walking through a piazza artistically lit up at night by its fountains and restaurants.  The sounds of water splashing on 400-year-old marble, high heels on the cobblestone, waiters politely trying to draw you into their restaurant by saying "Buona Sera," good evening.  They all play their part.  Then enter roasty, toasty chestnuts into the equation.  Well that, my friends, THAT is what we in the writing biz call romance.  And it is completely, totally VASGO-worthy.

This was all found at Piazza Navona.  A must-see to any person visiting Rome, especially in the evening.  

Now take a look at the guy below.  He's got an intelligent business plan.  This photo is of his roasted chestnut stand in October.  Just before the cool fall weather really hit, he used the small drum, and used fewer chestnuts, fewer materials, etc. because his demand wasn't that high.  Notice the vendor is wearing short sleeves?  That is your proof the next two photos were taken in October.  Early October.  I think he was the only vendor in Piazza Navona during that time of year.

I went to him a few weekends ago. I walked up to his stand, looked over the chestnuts to see if they passed the visual inspection.  They did.  So I asked, how much are they? "Quanto costano?"

His answer: "5 Euro."

All the romance left my brain and VASGO's alter ego from the past, Corporate America Sales Guy, made a brief appearance.

My answer: "Troppo caro!"  Too expensive!  I did the one move every sales person has at his/her disposal to get the other party to counter with a lower price.  It also pressures people to make their decision faster.  

The Patent-Pending Walkaway Move. It can be done in many forms.  Verbally is most common.  A great example is "I didn't really want them anyway.  Especially not at that price."  Physically beginning to walk away is particularly effective.  But not too fast.  You need to let them know they can still get you... but only for a discount. Combinations of the two are highly effective.

Since I had a language barrier, I didn't go with just the verbal routine.  Physical interaction would have to do the talking.  Let the show begin!

My face said I was pensive. Should I spend that much???  Then it went into concern.  My hands followed that by waving no thanks.  Again, I repeated the important words troppo caro, too expensive, a couple of times and then slowly inched my way away from the stand. 

One foot stepped away and I heard, "4 Euro."

Another foot stepped away and I heard, "3 Euro."

And that's when I felt like I would be getting a fair enough deal.  I turned my head back to him.  "Tre Euro?" I replied. 

"3 Euro," he confirmed.  

Not exactly the most romantic thing in my book, but saving 2 Euro might mean I can do a different romantic thing with my expert another day.  Like eating more chestnuts.

The last weekend in November, things changed a bit.  

A Christmas market opened up.  Crowds filled the piazza. There were many more vendors there and at many nearby intersections.  They each used much larger drums to roast the chestnuts over coals.  The colder weather brought on so much more demand for their roasty, toasty product.  That higher demand also made it much more difficult to bargain.  I watched one person ask how much it cost and the vendor said 5 Euro.  The guy started to walk away and I expected the vendor to go through my experience, but he just let him walk away.  I guess the vendor knew he had the upper hand.

Even for 5 Euro at their peak demand, I believe it is still worth it to experience Romantic Rome the way I did. It's a cheap thing to do in Rome and will create memories you'll never forget!

The Traditional Roman Saturday Feast

Whether it was by book or by local friend, I somehow came across the fact that many Romans use Saturday afternoons and evenings, once the kids get out of school of course (Saturday morning sessions are typical here), as a time to meet with family or friends and spend the entire afternoon socializing over a wonderful feast of dishes.

So while the kids are out at school, mom and dad or grandmother and grandfather can be found at the nearest market buying the best looking vegetables, fruits, fish, meats and pastas all to be consumed that afternoon.

In the spirit of this tradition my expert and I joined our friends, Graham and Francesca, to live that Saturday as the Romans do.  So right around noon we met up in a neighborhood by the Vatican City called Prati and went to the largest market in Rome, Trionfale Mercato.  See my post titled The Market Scene if you want to learn more about that.

We agreed to go there with no plans of what to cook later that day.  We would take a look at all the stalls and see what looks good to eat and go from there!  So we made our way around the maze of stalls and found some great items.  What should we eat?

How about some fresh Skate wing?  Pretty sure the top right manta ray look-alike is a Skate Fish.

There is no doubt in my mind this Porchetta would delight our taste buds.  Look for a post in the near future dedicated to my newest favorite food in Italy.

We could always make things easier and just eat all of these delicious pastries and cookies for lunch.

Or, we could cook fresh horse meat.  For anyone that didn't know, horse meat is not a popular item to eat in the U.S.

Although eating our horsey friends would have been a more than adventurous experience, we ended up buying some wonderful looking steaks (from cows).

... along with makings for an arugula salad tossed with a delightful mixture of fresh olive oil combined with fresh lemon zest and juice, parmesan cheese, and pepper. Add some dried porcini mushrooms for a porcini risotto. And let's not forget our aperitivo of whole green olives and sfuso primitivo vino (sfuso is draught wine.  This kind happens to be Primitivo wine and you buy it from a vendor who has a number of large metal containers (each probably holds 50 gallons of liquid of various varietals) and then he fills up a sanitized bottle.  Often, it's cheaper than buying a single bottle, you get twice to 3 times as much wine, and it's still very good table wine.

The first course.

 Once the first course was completed, we moved back in the kitchen to cook the steaks and make a porcini mushroom, red wine and herb reduction to top everything off.

If only your computer had smell-o-vision right now.

The second course.  We let the steaks rest for about 5-10 minutes, ensuring the juices would remain in the tender meat rather than all over our plates.

Oh yeah.  Perfect medium rare. At first I thought it looked more rare than I expected but the touch was a warm center.  Rare is close to that color, but cool in the center.

The herby, mushroomy, winey reduction added all sorts of wonderful flavors to the steak.  In my book, we scored extra points on this second course because we were able to buy a cheaper cut of meat knowing the reduction would add levels of deliciousness.

Fun fact about VASGO? You will rarely see him eating a good cut of steak such as strip steak or filet, or both!!! (a porterhouse), with toppings because he believes those cuts are best flavored by themselves, with only sea salt and fresh ground pepper to season it.

Fun fact #2 about VASGO?  You will never see him decline a steak topped with lump crab meat, or gorgonzola, or reductions, or anything else that goes with steak if that is all he is offered.

Buon appetito my friends!  Unplanned meals with your friends can make the best memories as you all buy and cook the food together.  I highly recommend trying it out!

Autumn Beer Festival!!!

A while back, my expert told me her friend mentioned that we should go to a craft brew pub called Open Baladin.  Last Friday, we had a free evening to finally go investigate.  We walked down the dark, cobble-stoned streets near Campo De' Fiori to reach the pub and found that it was rather crowded in there.  Immediately I noticed a sign on the outside of the door.

Wonder of wonders!  MIRACLE!  MIRACLE!

The Roman Beer Gods decided to align their interests with mine for one fortunate evening.  Why?  Because we happened to arrive precisely on the same night within precisely the same hours of...

AUTUMN BEER FESTIVAL!!!!!

19 different breweries from all over Europe, 44 different beers.  All birre artigianale.  All craft beer.

I experienced the utmost satisfaction at that moment.  It's kind of like that feeling you get when you randomly find a $20 bill or a 20 EURO bill just sitting on the ground and no one is around you to claim it.  Or perhaps its more like when you put your business card in the drawing at the carnival or festival and your name is called to win the brand new LCD television!

I had no idea this was going to happen to me that night.  And it couldn't have been a better and more welcomed surprise.

These were the rules:
For 10 EURO, you get 5 glasses of your choice.
Each glass holds up to 33CL, just over 11 fluid ounces U.S.
The exception is barley wines.  Those orders are put in glassware that holds up to 10CL pours.
Each glass of beer was filled about halfway.

Take a look at the line up!  I couldn't even fit the entire chalkboard into view from where I sat at the bar!

So many choices, so little time.... let's figure out what we want, shall we?

I wanted to really mix it up and see what these craft beers were made of!  I wanted to try a dark beer, a hoppy beer, a fruit / special beer, a sour beer and then maybe a standard bitter ale.  Here's what I ended up choosing:

Brewery: Girardin (I've linked each brewery's website on their names for your convenience)
Beer Name: Oud Lambic
Alcohol Content: 5%
Description: Lambic aged for at least 2 years.

My Thoughts: This was an interesting sour beer.  The nose - you could smell the sour, like some sort of sour fruit that I couldn't pin-point exactly.  One disappointment was the ZERO carbonation.  Zero head because of that.  If there was any in there, it wasn't noticeable.  First sips told me it was surprisingly bitter but then the tongue went back and forth between sour and bitter nuances.  Mouth feel was very thin, no heaviness.  It ended up being a wonderful blending of both as the tastes went back and forth.  The first impressions weren't very pleased, but it grew on me over time.  Very well balanced lambic.

Brewery: Montegioco
Beer Name: Demon Hunter
Alcohol Content: 8.5%
Description: Amber beer of great complexity.  The nose hints of dried fruit, prunes and caramel.  The taste, intense, the attack, honeyed with a well balanced finish.

My Thoughts: The nose was not as big as I was expecting.  I imagined this big, high alcohol beer to have a strong hoppy nose full of fruit from the description and it really, hardly hinted at any of the descriptions.  The taste, though, was full of caramel.  The taste of alcohol was noticeable but not overpowering, and I tasted hints of the dried fruit.  It had excellent carbonation, its beige head always retained on the surface of the liquid.  It had a strong, almost heavy mouth feel.  What a great overall blend.  I very much enjoyed this beer.

Brewery: Baladin / Stone
Beer Name: Super Arrogant
Alcohol Content: 8%
Description: The meeting between our Super Baladine and Stone Brewery's (San Diego, CA, USA) Arrogant Bastard.  A beer for all to discover from two grand beers, from two grand breweries.

My Thoughts: Ahh yes, the concoction from Baladin and Stone.  The nose was interesting.  Nicely hoppy, but has a smell of overripe fruit.  Almost unpleasant, but not turn your nose away from the glass unpleasant, if that makes sense.  The taste was absolutely outstanding!  What a floral bouquet, and lots of honey!  An excellent balance.  It's not a very bitter beer.  They clearly didn't go overboard on adding the bittering hops, but they did add a heavy hand on the taste hops.  Again, very well balanced.  And a lovely veil of head remains on top of the liquid from the good carbonation.  My definite favorite of the night.

Brewery: Baladin
Beer Name: Zucca
Alcohol Content: 7.5%
Description: Amber beer made with cooked pumpkin and cinnamon.  The nose of cinnamon is felt.  The taste, soft and pleasant.

My Thoughts: I am very critical of pumpkin beers.  I prefer them to taste more like pumpkin pie with a hint of beer rather than beer with a hint of pumpkin pie.  And this one clearly fit into that preference. The nose smelled like fall.  It was full of cinnamon, even apple-cinnamon.  The taste was light on pumpkin taste but heavy on spices, particularly cinnamon.  It was kind of sweet for a beer.  And the more I drank, the more the cinnamon overpowered the pumpkin.  It was light on mouth feel.  The carbonation was rather light.  The head did not stay, but just ended with a ring at the edges of the glass.  All in all, it was still one of the best pumpkin beers I've ever had because I prefer them to be low on bitter, high on spice.  By the end, I kept thinking I was drinking almost a buttery piece of cinnamon-sugar toast.  Yum.

Brewery: Turan
Beer Name: Sfumatura
Alcohol Content: 7.2%
Description: A dark beer produced in the style of an Imperial Stout, made with smoked malts.

My Thoughts: This was an interesting beer to end on. I'm highly critical of using smoked malts because they can EASILY overpower the entire beer and make you think you are simply drinking bacon.  Which is sometimes ok, but really it's a bad thing.  It had hardly any nose.  Maybe the slightest hint of roastiness, a bit of chocolate in there too.  No hops smell from what I could tell.  The carbonation was great.  A nice beige head.  The mouth feel was perfect.  Not too heavy, not too thin.  The taste finished heavy on the smoked malts at first.  My initial thoughts were it could use much less because it seemed to overpower the roasty, chocolate that is also in there from the use of roasted barley.  Then as I continued, I noticed that the smokiness lasted for at most 30 seconds and then transitioned into the roasted barley.  It left a wonderful, dark flavor in my mouth with only a hint of smokiness.  If I brewed this myself, I would still try to reduce the amount of smokiness by a little, but that's all personal preference.

My beer loving friends, a message to all:  I am finding more and more craft brew in Italy!  Change your impressions that Italy only has wine.  It's just not true!  And when in Rome, I highly recommend checking out Open Baladin Roma, and of course as many places that serve craft beer like them.

Ciao!

Free Things To Do In Rome: Porta Portese Flea Market

Hmmmm.  Where to put my wallet...

Should I put my wallet in my jeans back pocket?  No.  Way too easy.

How about one of my jeans front pockets?  Nope.  Still too easy.

Ok, let's think here.  I could put on a zip up lightweight jacket.  But then I'd have to hold onto the wallet in my jacket pocket the whole time.  Not into that either.

It's cold enough today.  I could wear a larger coat over the zip up jacket, keeping my wallet in the zip up jacket pocket.  Perfect!

There's no way my wallet will get stolen now!  Now all I have to do is figure out how to move my arms.

Source

Why all the security?  Because we are headed to one of Rome's most popular spots to get pick-pocketed: The famous-for-more-than-one-reason Porta Portese Flea Market.  

Held only on Sundays, massive numbers of people young and old show up between 7am and 2pm to walk the astoundingly long lane of vendor booths to haggle their way to the best deal on new and used clothes, cookware, office supplies, toys, antiques, garage sale items, trinkets, whammies and pretty much every widget imaginable.

Because of these large crowds, you are almost always within 3 feet (one meter) of a stranger.  Sometimes closer, sometimes farther.  But in general, hungry hands could reach into pockets quite easily if they were easily accessible.

All the books I have on Rome tell me to watch out for Pick-Pockets here.  Most of the resources on the internet tell me the same.  Even someone who has lived here for 30 years told me the best way to prevent getting pick-pocketed at Porta Portese was to go naked.

I decided it was too cold for the latter, but thought it would be smart to at least heed some advice.  So I packed the wallet carefully and made my way over there.

I started at the back end, on a side street where it tailed off, hence the luxury of open space in the photo below.

Upon getting to the more crowded spots, my eyes were darting back and forth more on the people than the items on display.  That guy over there with the jacket?  Possible thief.  That kid holding his mom's hand?  Likely a decoy.  The kid has small hands that could easily sneak into someone's purse.  That grandmother pushing her granddaughter in a stroller?  Clearly, they have a devious agenda.

Once I eyed up the potential thieves, I relaxed and was able to see all the fantastic items on display.

Where else could you so easily have nostalgia?

Notice the book below, "Mega Almanacco" has all the characters from "Ducktales" on it.  I watched that show every weekday during its prime.

I'm glad to report to the world that I experienced no thefts during my adventure!  I even witnessed a woman in her 60s drop her wallet on the ground, Euro bills clearly hanging out of it after that, and not a single "vulture" swooped down to steal it before she had a chance to pick it up.

So have no fear.  Don't let the stories scare you from seeing the Porta Portese flea market!  It's truly a feast for the eyes, and it can be one of the Free Things To Do In Rome, if you have the fortitude to not spend your money!

Ciao for now!