Day 2 Thursday June 5th 2008

We slept in until 8:30 and Brit went down and got breakfast while I mapped our path on the internet. The hotel was nice and quiet but the beds were really hard. We decided to stay another night in Rome so we had to see if they had room. They did, but we had to move to a different one. We decided to go explore some of the things I found on-line. I used google maps to mark all the places I wanted to go to and then uploaded them to my GPS. It worked so awesome and it made it easy to get around.

We decided to head to the market first since they close when the food is gone, usually about 1:00 pm. On the way there were some fun windows we went by. One had tons of candied fruits that looked delicious. The name of the store was called Dolciumi e Frutta Secca.

Going to the market we passed by the butcher. Their chickens are so yellow compared to ours. The meat looked so different to me. The market was pretty good and it was fun to see many of the items I had planted in my garden there. I took so many pictures of varieties, sizes, and just the beauty that vegetables can be. We bought cherries and strawberries and they were both so sweet. I found someone at the market selling seeds and we bought a few. There were a few things I had never seen before, Agretti, and some different types of lettuce and chicory. They had wild asparagus and manna which I had never seen sold before.

Since Italy is such a food capital of the world I wanted to visit some specialty food stores. I had to find some treats for Brit to eat. He does better if he isn’t hungering for something. So we decided to go to this bakery/pizza/food store. It is called Marco Roscioli. Walking into the bakery there was flour and bread crumbs scattered outside of the door. They had the pizza bianco there but I liked it better at Alice’s. It was still really good and the crust was very thin. Its amazing how they just wack the pizza to cut it with a knife and then fold and wrap it so quickly.

They had sandwiches there all kinds of bread and lots of antipasto, but the gnocchi they do on Thursdays only was divine. It was so smooth and tender, and the sauce was perfect. Brit wasn’t even that hungry and he ate the whole thing. They had Porchetta di Ariccia there but we were too full to try it. There was the cutest shoe store across the street that I knew Hiedi would love. We walked around the corner to the gourmet part of the store. There were so many racks of ham and olive oil.

We decided to go find gelato and saw a garden store on the way called Formicheverdi. It was really beautiful. I bought a few seeds there and I saw this cool ficus tree that was woven. It was cool. Gelataria Alberto Pico is famous for their Riso Alla Cannella flavor which is basically rice pudding to us. It was so good the rice in the gelato was al dente. Brit got the manna flavor which was really good also.

There were some workers hanging out there. I took some pictures because they looked pretty funny. We saw a grocery store called Despar and decided to go see what they had. Their tubes of anchovies, tomato paste and capers were so cheap we decided to buy some.

We were off to the next area, the Jewish Ghetto of Italy. It was packed and you could barely get into the store. I didn’t see anything I wanted to buy but it was fun to see this area of town. I never knew there were so many Jews in Italy. We walked back to get the bus and they were already taking down the market. Good thing we went early.

We walked by another bakery that looked good to, but we were so full. It was called Il Fornaio, which is what I think they call all bakeries in Italy. They had a huge mortadella in a glass case inside their store. I’m not sure why? Their torta’s were so beautifully laid out. Their bins and bins of cookies looked so good especially the brutti & buoni ones. The shredded zucchini pizza looked awesome also.

We kept walking to Volpetti and I saw the Lardo di Colonnata in the case. I wanted to buy some and take it home, but I knew that would not be possible. They had Mirtillo which I want to look up and find out what it is. At Volpetti they had all these prepared dry pasta ingredients, bagged and dried. They would be awesome to have in your food storage.

We went to Moriondo & Gariglio which was supposed to have the best chocolate. I would never go here again. It was horrible and totally overpriced. As we walked back they were making the trellises in the café garden. It was cool to watch them work, they were so fast. Time for more gelato. Should we have Crispino or Della Palma? Della Palma wins. They have the biggest selection I have ever seen in Italy. Every flavor imaginable. It is pretty good too. I got fig and sesame honey. They were both delicious.

After we stopped at Cartoleria Pantheon a great Italian paper shop. I bought a cute book there to record my trip. I wanted to find some cool vegetable paper so I could make a log of my journal. I bought some pretty patterns and I’m excited to make my book. As we were walking I saw another specialty store and they had lots of meat too. They had some pork roasts that were wrapped in bacon and garnished with rosemary all tied up. I’m sure they would be tasty. One the street we saw the cutestest pink car.

We took the bus to go to Castroni and when we got off we ran into another store called Franchi, a fine-food landmark. Assistants in white jackets work with a dexterity that only comes with years of practice, slicing hams, cutting cheese, weighing olives and preparing panini . There's also wine, vegetables conserved in oil and truffles. You can buy ready-made dishes, such as poached salmon, baked aubergine parmigiana or zucchini a la Barese (Bari-style courgette), to take away or eat at stand-up tables. The fried dishes are renowned. We had aranchini balls which are rice and tomato sauce balls, stuffed with mozzarella cheese and then deep fried. To bad we ate so much gelato, because these things were the bomb!

Castroni was awesome. It had the capers and lots of other things I wanted to get there. They had a huge candy bar, where you could get any type of candy. Brit got so many flavors and types of licorice for his dad. We bought lots of yummy stuff that I can’t wait to fix. On the way back on the bus there was a store I wanted to stop at, but I knew Brit was done. It was called Flamant, by Blanc Des Dunes on Via Cola di Rienzo. Hopefully I can go back there sometime. It had cool home décor stuff in it.

We went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We were eating at Perilli which you have to have a reservation to go to. It was supposed to be classic Roman food. The streets where we went were lined with beautiful tall trees. We took a taxi to the restaurant and it was empty when we walked in. The antipasto were all set out and looked delicious. I took a few pictures as I walked it. They have them all on large plates and then they just take off what you want and put it on your plate. We got the fresh artichokes, a stuffed zucchini, two small veal meatballs, chicory greens, which weren’t as good as yesterday, and this white celery dish that was so good with emmental cheese. I don’t even like celery and this dish was so tasty. They must use celery hearts or some type of white celery.

We got the Bucatini alla Amatriciana, Ravioli di Ricotta e Spinaci. I got the Abbacchio alla Cacciatora which is lamb with garlic, rosemary, and vinegar. Brit got the Vitello al Forno con Patate, which is roast veal with potatoes. They were both pretty good but not excellent. For dessert we got a yummy thing I had never had. It was made with chestnut paste, whipped cream and a pastry bottom. The mix of flavors was so good. Mont blanc, as it was called was made with whipped cream, vermicelli (noodles of chestnut puree), pieces of chestnut and meringue. It is also called Monte Bianco. I’m going to have to make that when I get home. Brit got crème caramel and loved it. Time to roll out the door. The couple next to us, true Romans, thought it was funny we were taking pictures. The husband tried to talk to us but really couldn’t. His wife was totally ridiculing him and it was funny to watch. After dinner we went home to get some sleep.