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Gelato With a Chocolate Twist

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I know temperatures outside are starting to drop, but can we really put a limit on when to have gelato?  I, for one, can not.  I love the delicious, cool, creamy treat.  If you remember, this is not the first time I’ve written about my love for gelato, and I’m sure it won’t be my last. My current obsession is not only with gelato, but with gelato topped in a coating of chocolate.  It.is.delicious!  I have been hooked. Most gelato is topped with panna (whipped cream), and the first time we visited, we were surprised with chocolate syrup drizzled over the panna.  A few days later I returned again and asked for chocolate sauce and got my gelato dipped in chocolate.  I literally squealed with delight at the sight of this.  I am a chocoholic, and combining delicious chocolate with delicious gelato makes me one happy girl!

As you can see by the line out the door, the word has spread and the phenomenon is catching on.  By the way, the gelato is homemade on site, and is made without hydrogenated fat.  

Yummm!  I mentioned before my standard ‘go to’ flavors are Bacio (chocolate & hazelnut), Pistachio and Stracciatella (similar to American chocolate chip).  At Frigidarium, I still stick with Pistachio (my favorite flavor), but I can’t seem to get enough of their Tiramisù (tastes just like homemade tiramisù) and Spagnola (Vanilla gelato topped with Amarena cherries).   

The tartness of the cherries in the Spagnola and the coffee flavor in the Tiramisù pair perfectly with the rich chocolate coating. 

If you are not a huge lover of chocolate, or if you prefer whipped cream atop your gelato, you always have that choice too (with or without chocolate syrup).  


Frigidarium
Via del Governo Vecchio, 112
Rome, Italy
(near to Piazza Navona)
Prices: Sm-€2, Med-€3, Lg-€4  (Even the small comes with 3 flavors and your choice of panna or chocolate topping)
Website

La Dolce Vita Series: Pasta

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Photo courtesy 4umagazine.net.

Pasta!  Who doesn’t love pasta?  From spaghetti to vermicelli, from penne to farfalle, or from lasagne to linguine … the pasta possibilities and varieties are almost endless.  To most people, pasta is synonymous with Italian food.  If Italian food is being served, then you can just about expect to see at least one pasta dish on the table.  Italy is known the world over for its simple and (oh so) delicious pasta dishes.  Italian food, especially pasta dishes, has always been my favorite type of cuisine.  It’s such a comforting food.  Living in Italy, we eat pasta all the time, and prepare it at home quite often.  I simply love it!

I recently learned there is a whole day dedicated to pasta.  It is known as World Pasta Day, and is celebrated each year on October 25th.  Care to take a guess where the day originated?  Yep, no other place than Rome, Italy!  It was established on October 25, 1995, by the World Pasta Congress.  (Who knew there was such a thing?)  The focus of the day is to promote pasta and its benefits when incorporated into a healthy diet.  

 
I don’t know about you, but I really did not need another excuse to enjoy a big, yummy plate of pasta.  That is what is on the menu for tomorrow as we celebrate World Pasta Day here in Rome, where it first originated.  The only dilemma … the sauce.  Red marinara sauce with fresh chopped vegetables or a white garlic cream sauce?  Don’t you just love these kinds of decisions? 🙂          
 
In honor of World Pasta Day, I would like to leave you with a poem about a delicious type of pasta … linguine.  Enjoy!  

 

LINGUINI
 
It was always linguini between us. 
Linguini with white sauce, or 
red sauce, sauce with basil snatched from 
the garden, oregano rubbed between
our palms, a single bay leaf adrift amidst
plum tomatoes. Linguini with meatballs,
sausage, a side of brascioli. Like lovers
trying positions, we enjoyed it every way
we could-artichokes, mushrooms, little
neck clams, mussels, and calamari-linguini
twining and braiding us each to each. 
Linguini knew of the kisses, the smooches, 
the molti baci. It was never spaghetti
between us, not cappellini, nor farfalle, 
vermicelli, pappardelle, fettucini, perciatelli,
or even tagliarini. Linguini we stabbed, pitched, 
and twirled on forks, spun round and round
on silver spoons. Long, smooth, and always
al dente. In dark trattorias, we broke crusty panera,
toasted each other—La dolce vita!—and sipped
Amarone, wrapped ourselves in linguini, 
briskly boiled, lightly oiled, salted, and lavished
with sauce. Bellissimo, paradisio, belle gente!
Linguini witnessed our slurping, pulling, and 
sucking, our unraveling and raveling, chins
glistening, napkins tucked like bibs in collars, 
linguini stuck to lips, hips, and bellies, cheeks
flecked with formaggio—parmesan, romano,
and shaved pecorino—strands of linguini flung
around our necks like two fine silk scarves. 
“Linguini” by Diane Lockward, from What Feeds Us. © Wind Publications, 2006.

If you enjoyed this poem, and it left you hungry for more, you can check out the book What Feeds Usfor additional poems by Diane Lockward.  

Chinese Food in Rome

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Chinese food?  In Rome?  I know, I know.  You are probably thinking Rome is a place where you eat Italian food, not Chinese food.  If those are your thoughts, you are (mostly) correct.  Rome has delicious Roman cuisine and Italian style dishes, but when you eat that always, your taste buds beg for something a little different from time to time (at least mine do).  
 
Being from the States, I am used to having a variety of cultural and ethnic food options, all usually in close proximity.  Monday – Mexican, Tuesday – Chinese, Wednesday – Italian, Thursday – BBQ (Barbeque), Friday – Mediterranean, Saturday – Sushi, Sunday – Southern comfort food.  I am willing to bet most weekly menus resemble something similar to this.  When I lived in the States, mine certainly did.  Now living in Rome, the menu looks more like pizza, pasta, risotto, pasta, pizza, pasta and the occasional kebab or Mediterranean sandwich.  
 
Even though Italian food in general is, and always has been, my favorite type of food, sometimes my taste buds need a little variety.  It’s what they have grown accustomed to.  That is why I was overjoyed when we discovered this great little Chinese restaurant in Trastevere.  When I am in the mood for something different, I usually head here.  The food is delicious, and it is very reasonably priced.  I usually order an appetizer, two main dishes, two side dishes and a large bottle of water…all for under €20.  If you are in Rome and craving something a little different, definitely give this restaurant a try.  It’s located right off the main piazza in Trastevere (Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere), so it’s very convenient.        
 
You can see everything I usually order below.  On your mark, get set, let your mouth start watering…     
You can dine inside the restaurant, or sit at a table outside and enjoy all the energy from the main piazza in Trastevere.  

Primavera – Spring roll (with carrots and cabbage and topped with sweet & sour sauce)

Shrimp Lo Mein

Fried rice with shrimp

Shrimp with ginger and green onions (pairs great with the fried rice).  

I saved the best for last.  My favorite…sweet & sour shrimp.  Yummm!

Ci Lin
Via Fonte dell’olio, 6
Open 7 days a week
Lunch served from 11 am – 3 pm
Dinner served from 6 pm – midnight

Water Fountains in Rome

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Rome’s water supply has been piped into the city from the countryside for centuries via ancient aqueducts.  The water is crisp, clean and fresh.  The city of Rome makes this great water free and available to everyone with the many public fountains located throughout the city.  In a time where it is the norm to pay upwards of €1 (in many cases more … much more) for a regular size bottle of water, it is refreshing (no pun intended 🙂 to find the sought after product for the low, low price of free.  It is so nice to be able to stop and fill up my water bottle with cool, fresh water when out and about in the city.  This is something I am thankful for on a regular basis, especially on warm, sunny days.  

Not to mention, the fountains are beautiful.  They are all so different and unique, and it’s always fun to stumble across a new fountain.  I have included photos of several different fountains I’ve come across throughout the city.  Keep in mind, it’s just a small sampling of the many fountains Bella Roma has to offer.  


Fountain in Villa Borghese Park

Fountain in Piazza Venezia

Fountain in Largo Argentina

Fountain near Piazza Campodolgio

Neighborhood fountain in Montesacro

 

Cheap Wine in Italy

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Italy is known for producing great wines.  I bet a plate of pasta and a full glass of wine are two of the first things to enter into your mind when Italy is mentioned.  (At least they are for me :-).

I love a good red wine.  I completely and utterly adore it to be exact.  Even before moving to Italy, my palette was always drawn to Italian reds.  Montepulciano, Chianti, Barolo, Amarone, Lambrusco, Brunello … oh Brunello!  Enough of my obsession.  On to the cheap wine.   
 
There are several supermarkets (I use the term supermarket loosely) here in Italy that offer very reasonable prices.  Two of them are In’s and Eurospin.  The first time I visited In’s and saw their prices for bottles of wine, my jaw dropped.  Literally, I stood there speechless with my mouth open, just staring at the wine.  My mind could not fathom the price tags staring back at me.  I honestly turned and asked if it was some sort of a joke.  Once confirmed it was not, I then asked how the store could charge so little.  
 
What were the prices you ask?  Are you sitting down?  €1.79, €0.99, €2.29, €1.19.  Yep, that is for a bottle!  In the States, I was used to paying a minimum of $10 for a bottle of wine.  Mind you, $10 was the minimum, and then it was usually for a bottle I picked up from the supermarket out of convenience and it was something basic like Merlot, Cabernet or sometimes a Malbec (juicy red wine produced in Argentina).  My mind started computing that I could now by 9 or 10 bottles for what I used to pay minimum for 1 bottle.  JACKPOT!  I even saw a bottle of Brunello (one of Italy’s top wines, and my favorite wine) for around €12.  The same bottle will run you around $90 (or more) in the States.  DOUBLE JACKPOT!
 
I am assuming the reason for the low cost is because the wines are produced locally.  Many of them come from small, local producers, not big industry leading wineries.  I know the wines I find here are not necessarily the ‘cream of the crop’ or the top of the line, but they are great for a girl on a budget who enjoys a regular glass of wine with dinner at home.  Cin cin!