Rome City Guide

Ponte Sant'Angelo, Rome. Photo copyright Marina Vidor, all rights reserved. 

Rome is one of my favorite cities and there is no question that it is one of the world's great cities, full of some of the best food ever. Just imagine the freshest zucchini, tomatoes, the amazing gelato... When in Rome, eat seasonal fare and steer clear of anywhere that serves stuff that is way out of season. Also, check out this city guide put together by The Guardian before you go. It looks like a great resource with tips from some trusted bloggers based in Rome.

Rome City Guide - The Guardian

Doesn't that make you want to hop on your Vespa?

Pan'ino in Florence

Recently I was sent at the last minute to Florence, Italy for work. I had lived there as an 18-year-old during my gap year, but I hadn't been back since. Not knowing the current state of florentine restaurants, I consulted my favorite food blog, Parla Food, in search of some tips. Katie Parla appears to have impeccable taste and her blog is a vast resource of tips and observations. In one of her posts she recommended 'ino, a panino shop in an alley behind the Uffizi Gallery, calling it 'one of most delicious sandwiches of recent memory.' For a girl who will do anything to eat an outstanding hot sandwich, 'ino got jotted down in my notebook immediately. I was going to be filming on my own with a tight schedule, so I knew I wouldn't have much time to eat and 'ino seemed to be the place to try.

I showed up at 'ino sweating like a pig with all of my gear and was greeted with a cute little shop, minimalist and modern and air conditioned (phew!). Speciality products from all over Italy lined the walls and people sat chomping on gorgeous panini. On the walls are pieces of brown paper with handwritten panino suggestions. I ordered 'Il Solito' ('the usual') which was toasted and filled with fresh pecorino, prosciutto, sun-dried tomato, and olive paste. If you've never had fresh pecorino, it's a dream AND spreadable. I had my lunch with the chinotto (slightly bitter soda made from myrtle-leaved orange trees - similar to campari, but sweet) they stock and was determined to come back the next day for more. This was probably the best panino I've ever had.

I did show up the next day for lunch and had a gorgeous panino with finocchiona (salami with fennel seeds), mostarda di peperoni (roasted pepper paste), and fresh pecorino. Then I got another one to take home on the plane to London.

At 8 euro per panino it's not the cheapest, but it filled me up and the quality of the products was outstanding. You could easily spend double on lunch in one of Florence's many restaurants and not eat nearly as well.

‘ino
via dei Georgofili 3r/7r

055.219.208
www.ino-firenze.com
Mon-Sat 11am-8pm, Sun noon-5pm

*Please note that panino is the singular and panini is the plural. This is a common mistake by English speakers, easily rectified!

Sausage making - learn all about it!

This looks like fun! Learning how to make Italian sausage. :-)

From the Guardian - A family affair: Italian sausage-making

And you should watch Four Men and a Pig, too. It's the first part of the series. Enjoy!

I hate McDonald's and the Italian govt.

Dig this:
The 'McItaly' Burger Row
Gross!

Carciofi!

Apologies to those who don't like artichokes, but the next few posts are devoted to this huge, edible flower.

My cousin who lives in the countryside just outside Rome got married a couple of weeks ago and my mom and I went, extending the trip by a couple of days on either end to allow time for Roman indulgences. Little did I know (until my cousin made a passing remark about it), that we were in the midst of artichoke fever. The farmland to the north of Rome is famous for it's roman globe artichokes and we just happened to be in town for the famous Sagra del Carciofo Romanesco (Roman Artichoke Festival) in nearby Ladispoli. The artichoke season runs from late January/early February until late May. Taking advantage of their freshness, I ate artichokes every day I was there.

It's a great long street fair and market that leads from the train station all the way down the main drag through town and to the beach at the other end. Many of the side streets are lined with vendors as well. Besides fairly good deals on artichokes (15 for 5 euros) you can buy a Fiat, any household item under the sun, clothes, porchetta (roast pork with fennel - a specialty of Rome and Viterbo), numerous Sardinian stalls selling pecorino sardo and salami... in fact, there were stalls from many regions, selling off their regional specialties.

My favourite part was the artichoke sculptures - the best are below:


Castle on a hill.


Baby cradle.


Artichokes ahoy.


Butterchoke.

Sacrilege

I will admit that in general I don't like cheese with fish and that as a holder of an Italian passport, I feel I need to be more firm in this stance. It's a pretty well known fact that Italians are usually against cheese with fish because it lessens the enjoyment of fishiness in a dish. Or just because everyone else said that it's against the rules. I happen to like cheese with tuna, mostly because of the great American tuna melt. But you can't get me to put parmesan on a spaghetti with clam sauce. It's got so much flavor already!

The following article is a good argument FOR fish and cheese to be united in culinary bliss. I still don't buy it and will continue to cook fish in interesting ways that celebrate its fishiness, but do read on:

Just Grate - NY Times, by Robert Trachtenberg, 30.Mar.08

An alternative to cheese to enhance the flavor of a fish dish, you ask? GRATED/GROUND PISTACHIO. They do it in Sicily all the time and it looks beautiful and tastes divine.

The Great Mozarella Tragedy

Watch out, folks. That pizza could cause cancer. I've personally switched to ricotta. Just made a pizza with it last night and it was divine. But I admit I'd still prefer a little buffalo milk. Campania - Clean up your act!

How Italy's 'white gold' turned sour - BBC News
Italy recalls tainted mozzarella - BBC News
EU warns Italy over cheese scare - BBC News

Also in the news:

The Great Tam Tam Shortage of 2008! What's a Jew to do at Passover?!

It's Hide the Matzo, for Real: Where are the Tam Tams? - NY Times

And finally:

Everything is connected - as we saw with rubbish in Italy... Bees are having trouble in California, so it's time to truck them in so they can pollinate 80% of the world's almond crop!

Season of hope - LA Times

It's hard times for food!