Holy Burgers!

In the land of pasta, pizza and other delicacies, gourmet burgers are now the trend...

Holly Cheeses!

After the disappointment with the tuna at Eataly Rome, I was not in the mood for any more food disasters (I can get so dramatic when it comes to food) so our friends suggested we tried a new place in the Roman ghetto. So, we headed to this beautiful area of Rome, my food mecca, and after a short walk we got to Beppe e i suoi formaggi (Beppe and his cheeses).

Eataly Rome: in decline?

As you might remember, we were in Rome this summer a week after the opening of Eataly Rome, the foodie's paradise. We were so enthusiast about it: great food, top quality products, good prices. So we decided to make it our Trevi Fountain (you know the deal: everytime you visit Rome you must go throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain so you ensure your return to the eternal city) and visit it everytime we are in Rome.

So last weekend we headed to Eataly to find out if it was as good as we remembered. And to be honest, we were a bit disappointed. First of all, the Roman Osteria where we had the delicious tripe has been turned (only for a month) in a Neapolitan Osteria  -nothing against Naples but we are in Rome, and when in Rome...-, then we found out that the water, which had always been free of charge, is not anymore so you have to pay for it, fair enough. The biggest disappointment was the tuna. You know we are fans of Eataly's tuna, so have a look at the tuna from Eataly Turin:

and the tuna from Rome this weekend:

After waiting for ages to be served, as you can see, the fresh salad, the tasty potatoes, coarse salt and mustard (not pictured) were substituted with... fennel... yes, just sone fennel that was not even cooked or garnished to be paired correctly with the tuna. The quantity of the tuna was reduced. The only thing that saved the dish was the quality of the tuna because it was tender and tasty.
I was still hungry so we went to the beer restaurant for a beer and a cheese platter. Since we hadn't been here before I couldn't compare it to any previous experiences but the beer was good. The cheese platter was also good, but that evening we went to another place I'll write about in another post and there I had the best cheese platter (stay tuned).

A positive thing that keeps us coming back are the prices of the wines, we still found the same good prices as last summer.
After we came back home, I happened to read this post on one of my favorite websites (sorry, it's in Italian). It shows a picture of a Despar truck in front of Eataly Rome, so, if they say that their ingredients are top quality from only small producers, what do they get from a low-cost supermarket like Despar (I'm praying they only get toilet paper and hand soap) ?
I don't know if it's true or not that the products are no longer top quality - the tuna and cheeses I had were very good - , but what we could notice were those aforementioned details. I'll be coming back next time we're in Rome, just to see where is it going.

Best of 2012

2013 is almost here so I'd like to share with you mi top ten favorite posts from 2012:
(in case you missed them, the link to the post is under the photo)

1) Caribbean Cruise:
We had a blast cruising the Caribbean for the second time on NCL's Epic; we visited Saint Thomas, Saint Martin and Nassau, had lots of food and enjoyed great shows.

http://www.tfoodie.com/2012/02/epic-cruise-part-1.html

2. How to piss off a Mexican
I wrote this post as a humorous example of some annoying stereotypes about Mexicans

http://www.tfoodie.com/2012/03/how-to-piss-off-mexican.html

3. Dubai:
I loved Dubai, it was a great trip, best part of it was being able to dine inside the wonderful Burj Al Arab.

http://www.tfoodie.com/2012/03/dubai-day-3.html

4. Eataly, Turin:
For the foodie in me, any trip to Eataly is like going to Disneyland so I enjoyed going back to Eataly Turin and having their delicious tuna.

http://www.tfoodie.com/2012/04/eataly-paradise.html

5. Tuna recipe
As I just wrote, I love tuna, and I enjoy cooking it at home as well, this has to be one of my favorite recipes.

http://www.tfoodie.com/2012/06/saturday-lunch.html

6. Eataly, Rome
Our weekend in Rome was even more special after we discovered Eataly Rome had just opened, and we had a delicious Roman tripe to make it even better

http://www.tfoodie.com/2012/06/eataly-rome.html

7. Piazza Navona, Rome
Rome is one of my favorite cities in the world and Piazza Navona is one of my favorite spots in the Eternal City

http://www.tfoodie.com/2012/07/piazza-navona-rome.html

8. Club Med Ixtapa, Mexico
we had a relaxing (and weight-gaining) holiday in Club Med Ixtapa, best service and food ever!

http://www.tfoodie.com/2012/09/club-med-ixtapa-part-1.html

9. Statue-hunting in Düsseldorf:
It was a great challenge to find the 9 Poeggeler statues while visiting Düsseldorf

http://www.tfoodie.com/2012/10/statue-hunting-in-dusseldorf.html

10. Hangar Bicocca:
Although I live in the area, I had never been to Hangar Bicocca, a very nice exposition space in North Milan

http://www.tfoodie.com/2012/10/sunday-in-hangar-bicocca.html

Bonus -  Sunflower fields forever
Beautiful landscapes, great weather, fantastic food, I just love Le Marche!

http://www.tfoodie.com/2012/08/sunflower-fields-forever.html

Roman snapshots

As you probably know by now, Rome is one of my 3 favorite cities in the world (together with NYC and Copenhagen). We spent a nice summer weekend there a few weeks ago - as you may see in this post, this other one and also this one.
Here are some other random pictures from our weekend in the eternal city.

Fiat 500

house covered in plants near Piazza Navona

Ruins near the ghetto

Kosher restaurant in the ghetto (the one where Mark Zuckerberg ate)

Roman alley

Turtle Fountain in Piazza Mattei

detail of a turtle, probably added by Bernini in 1659.

St. John of the Florentines church

Castel Sant'Angelo (Mausoleum of Hadrian)

Piazza Navona, Rome

For me, the world's most beautiful square is Piazza Navona, in Rome. I don't know why but from the moment I saw it many years ago, I loved it and everytime I come to Rome I try to visit it.
It was built over the ruins of the Circus Agonalis, a long, rectangular stadium build by Domitian to celebrate the Greek athletic games. In the 15th Century, the city market was transfered here giving the square its festive and live atmosphere. In 1647 Pope Innocent X commisioned the construction of a fountain in the centre of the square to the architect Borromini (who many years later built the church of Saint Agnes, in front of the fountain) but the Pope then commissioned it to Gian Lorenzo Bernini, after seeing a small silver model of his project.

Flavio al Velavevodetto

When we decided to go to Rome for a weekend, the first place that came to my mind, being the foodie I am, was Sora Margherita, you know how much I love that place, so when I called a couple of weeks in advance and heard from them that they close on summer weekends I was so sad (I know these are not real tragedies, but these are a foodie's tragedies). So the quest for the new Roman restaurant offering tripe was on. By that time I didn't know Eataly was about to open and that they had a Roman Osteria with tripe as the special of the day.

Abitart Hotel, Rome

Everytime I'm planing a trip to Rome I get a bit concerned because of the hotels... I don't like hostels and I would love to stay in the best hotel in town but the price is always important. We've come to an average budget of 100 - 130 euros per night per room for an European 4 star hotel (thanks to advance booking and good deals on travel websites we've always been lucky). Unfortunately in Rome, these budgets are never good. Like many other European capitals (London, Paris, etc.), Roman hotels are expensive. And most of the times you pay lots to get bad service, rundown structures and bad locations.

Aventine, Rome

As you know, we visited Rome last month. It was a really hot summer weekend. After visiting Eataly, we headed to visit the Aventine hill, an area in which we had never been before. So we took a bus from our hotel that dropped us at the foot of the hill, next to the Tevere river.

All roads lead to Rome

Hey there!
While you read this I'll probably be on my way to Rome, where we'll be spending this super-hot summer weekend, playing with our new camera, enjoying the views and surely eating some delicious food :)
Here's the look I'll be wearing on my Roman Saturday:



Promise I'll bring back lots of photos!
xoxo
M.

Literary tourism

As I've mentioned, we'll be heading to Rome next month and I'm so excited! I've been to Rome tons of times but still the magic of the city remains a magnet to me so everytime we can, we jump on a train or plane and spend a weekend having carbonara, tripe, or whatever wonderful dishes Rome has to offer and try to discover a new part of the city. Since we'll be going next month, I started doing some research and while browsing for sights, I bumped into a website offering the Angels & Demons' tour.

Visiting the places where the books you've read took place has become a trend these years. The first one that comes into my mind is Sherlock Holmes' tour in London or Jack the Ripper's.

Sherlock Holmes' house and museum, Baker St., London (taken from this website)

Roma

Last week we decided to try the new Italo train (a new company offering high speed train transport between the main Italian cities), so we are booked for a weekend in Rome at the end of June, which we'll be surely writing about. But then I came to think that I never shared with you the photos of our last trip to Rome (the one where we discovered Sora Margherita!), so here they are!

Colosseum

When in Rome...

So, what happens when two foodies choose their next travel destination? We start doing restaurant research! (Actually I do, G only approves). Anyhow, we start from Trip Advisor, Yelp, blogs from locals and expats (when we don't understand the language), etc. I love this whole research process and the discovery of special places. We don't want fancy Michelin-starred restaurants with micro portions and high prices and our worst nightmare is to end up in a McDonalds, so we focus on the places that offer good food that is part of the place's culture, and if the price is good, great!
Almost a year ago we were in Rome for a weekend and, tired of always ending up in an anonymous Trastevere trattoria offering "menu turistico" (when you see this sign, run away, fast!), after all the research we chose a tiny little restaurant in the Jewish quarter: Sora Margherita (Piazza delle Cinque Scole 30 - Roma - Tel. *+39 06 6874216* - no website). After reading in some blogs that they serve Rome's best tripe, a dish we both love, we couldn't ignore it. We called 4 days ahead and booked for dinner at 20,00 (they have two seating times (20,00 and 21,30), they are open on weekdays only for lunch and weekends for dinner.
It was a bit difficult to find the place because there's no sign outside, but we called them and they guided us to get there. The place inside is small, there's place for 40-50 people and you're literally rubbing elbows with the people in the next table. The decor is made of guides and newspaper articles (note: we normally don't do restaurants that appear on so many guide books - we feel they're too advertised and offer a fake food-experience based on what they think tourists may like - but Sora Margherita is definitely not one of those), some paintings by the owner, simple tables with paper tablecloths. The waitresses are nice, in their own way: they are busy, the place seems to be always full and they like you to eat everything in your plate, so they even yell at you - and you shouldn't think it's rude, it's just the way they are. The menu is hand written in the same paper used for the tables and it includes fried artichokes, puntarelle (roman salad with anchovy, garlic and oil dressing), fresh homemade pasta with different sauces, tripe, beef sausages, fried zucchini, broccoli, meatballs, ricotta cheese cake, etc. No wine list, so we ordered 1/2 liter of the house's wine. As a starter, we had the fried artichoke, cooked jewish-style, and the  puntarelle; both very good, the dressing of the puntarelle was delicious. As an entree we both had the trippa alla romana (tripe cooked roman-style in tomato sauce with parmesan), which probably makes it to our Top Ten of the best foods we've had in our life - simply delicious, tender, tasty, perfect portion and the atmosphere makes you think you've discovered one of those special places you keep talking about (sometimes even annoying people). But wait, we're not done yet, for dessert we shared a ricotta cheesecake with cherries, it was as italians say: "the cherry on top of the cake", very good, perfect to end this perfect dinner in the most beautiful city in the world. The bill was about 55 euro, perfectly average for Rome but a bargain for the supreme quality. The walk back to the hotel in a mild January evening with the enlightened monuments was just "another cherry on top of the cake".

entrance of Sora Margherita

EAT PRAY LOVE... My 10-year affair with Italy

in a couple of weeks Italy and I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary! can't believe it's already 10 years since I moved here!
I arrived on a sunny august afternoon with plans of staying not more that 3 years, just what (I thought) it took to finish my BA and here I am, 10 years later, still happy with my choice.

Coming from a country with a single rail line which is hundreds of kilometers from where I lived and not being able to drive with gears, train travel became my favorite. Oh, the incredible landscapes I saw on my trips in Regionali trains! Poppies blooming, sunflower fields, green hills, sharp rocks, beautiful towns on hilltops, old people sitting in the stations just watching trains pass...

Then I discovered food; but not only the great pleasure of eating it, I am actually finding more and more pleasure in the process of preparing it: at home, together with G, dividing the tasks without speaking, sipping a glass of good wine, decorating, finding new tastes... and 10 years ago the only food I knew how to cook was ham sandwiches!
What has happened in these 10 years? too many things to tell! new currency, new governments, a soccer world cup, a financial crisis, 9/11, etc. I loved Italy from day one, and even if the beginning wasn't easy (new language, new culture, new people, new values), here's my top ten of the things I love about it:

1. Food - what can I say, I'm lucky to live in one of the countries with the best food in the world

2. Fashion - it just makes my day to window-shop in via Montenapoleone

3. Landscapes - some just leave you breathless 

4. the care of the body and the mind - not many cultures pay as much attention to the care of the body like Italians, and they sure know how to enjoy life
5. Rome - the most beautiful city in the world

6. Wine - Franciacorta, pinot noir vineyards in Trentino, the great (almost unknown) Verdicchio... the happiness when I recognize a scent in the wine I'm tasting...

7. Love for the animals - Italy might not be considered very civic-oriented, but the love and respect of animals that they have here makes it a country with a high level of social conscience that I admire.

8. Lyric Opera - one of the moments that gave me goosebumps: listening to "Nessun Dorma" (Turandot) at the Arena in Verona

Turandot

9. Language -
"...Amor, ch'a nullo amato amar perdona,
mi prese del costui piacer sì forte,
che, come vedi, ancor non m'abbandona..."
need I say more???

10. Living the rural life - for a city girl like me the first shot of Castelraimondo (the 4000-inhabitants-town I lived in for almost 6 years) was shocking: an empty train station on a Sunday afternoon with two old guys chatting in an incomprehensible dialect, no cars passed by in 30 minutes... But I learned to value it: the silence, the peace, waking up to the sound of birds singing, opening the window and watching the green hills that surround the town, walking to work saying hi to at least 3 people on the street, fresh vegetables, homemade wine (actually, almost everything I ate was homemade)... just priceless!

So, grazie Italia!