Piatti / Plates
Food As Art 
Ristoranti / Trattorias  
Cooking School
Special Treats

Touring: Sites, Shops, Piazzas   ~   Piatti / Plates   ~   Chiesas / Churches   ~   Places / Side Trips
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Special Meals:
*Ristorante Da Pancrezio
*Cavor 313
*Hotel Lancelot's
*Happy Hour
*L'Asino d'Oro Ristorante
*Dagnino Palermo Sicilean Deli
*"Tony's Place"
Special Treats
*Cooking school


stairwell down underground,
Ristorante Da Pancrezio

*Special treats


Rice Crochet

    We were on the lookout for pumpkin or squash blossoms, and also some rice crochets - something my grandmother made that I've only since found once. In Rome, on this trip.
Wherever we went, it seems they were not in season, or had just ran out. But at Rick's Ensalata near the Vatican, they did have both, though our order got mixed up. Rick's, by the way, besides serving salads had an array of pizzas, each one a full serving for only one person. I.e., it's frowned upon to split a pizza between 2-3 people at most pizzarias. What a large meal for one person!

   Another treat I wanted to stow away for home, was Torrone - a bar of noughat candy filled with sliced almonds. Also something my grandmother would bring back from her trips, I remember boxes, divided (like chocolates) filled with tiny noughats, all in flavors of lemon or orange or vanilla, each layered with a sugary paper that was edible. I did find one crowded little grocery shop that had Torone, but these were foot-long bars, coated with chocolate or vanilla, meant to be sliced into thin wafers. Ummmm!

Piatti

* A Selection of Meals & Ristoranti ....

What are "piatti"? Plates.
The progression of courses that make up a meal.

an underground room laid out with a full-course, very welcoming meal. Ristorante Da Pancrezio is built over the ruins of the Theater of Pompey. What ambience!
    Our first dinner together with the group was wonderful. Antipasto(appetizers): was a mix of things: prosciutto, cream & vegies, cannelloni stuffed with meats. For Primo Piatto (pastas): we had two - spinach fettucini with mushrooms and ham, and another pasta with prosciutto. Secundo Piatto (meats): veal roasted with rosemary, and potatos. The next Piatto, was another combo of salad and Dolce [desserts]). The Italian custom is to have salad at the end, this time coupled with two desserts: layered chocolate and cream pie, and a berry torte. And my first espresso, to counter all that wine that went with our meal.

 
* Second group meal: lunch at Cavor 313 (the address is the name ). This one also had lots of atmosphere. We were seated in the back with suspended shelving around and above us to the ceiling, holding all their wines. Very nice. And so was lunch: Lasagna with vegies and cheese.


*Hotel Lancelot's breakfast buffet was sumptuous. Every morning we were treated to a full meal offering eggs/toast & muffins/spreads/cereals/yogurts/fruit & nuts/bacon & hams/cheeses/ and various flavors of coffee, including cappucino. I could have filled up here for the day if I didn't need to save room for more meals.

*Happy Hour at Paolo's family deli  
    Paolo was our Vatican guide and his family had a deli in a distant neighborhood (St. Agnes) away from the usual historic sites. They agreed to host us for a special treat. "An experiment," Stephanie said. "A success," we all agreed. This deli had a combo of pizza/bakery/meats/cheeses and wines. When we arrived they'd set up a long table and began serving us many plates of antipasto: li'l pizzas, cheeses, olives, nuts, salamis, and spreads. The dishes kept coming. As did our drinks: wine, beer, or spritzer.
     This setting was more "famiglia" for us and Paolo's mom was so glad to meet us. We gave her a clapping ovation. She beamed. I tested my Italian with one of the senora's there, "come si chiama il vino bianco?", but the signore who had picked out the wine for us had gone home for the night. She was so helpful to call him to find out the name for me. (Abiduru Vermentino di Sardegna).


*L'Asino d'Oro Ristorante (Golden Donkey ) - Four of us went to dinner at this more modern restaurant, taking Rick's advice to splurge on one good meal (we had so many). Jane, Mike, Susan, and I tried a variety in main courses and wines, then shared four desserts. My dinner was coniglio (rabbit) with grape sauce and the desserts were mostly all chocolate. Umm!
desserts at L'Asino d'Oro

The Book


    *It occurs to me that the processing pasta and paper are similar. Wet dough or pulp is laid out, flattened, shaped, and left to dry.
     Like putting a recipe together, various pulps and paper fibers are blended into a whole. Wet papers are peeled off the screen onto a felt base. Here's where other colors and textures can be added - yarns, cotton fibers, petals, seeds, spices for scent, and maybe feathers for soft interest.

    
   

However, to put an authentic Italian meal together, we visited the cooking school. * Cooking class was a "trip". Our entire group boarded the Metro and rode way out (it seemed to end of the line) and met Stephanie at the cooking school. For a large group, we had a very organized plan, ... (continued)

Food As Art
(a variety of creative dishes)




Vegetable Bouquets, Fiori Market

curlycue carrots & peppers, Fiori Market

    We walked to our last group dinner, up the hill and through the park, above the Colosseum and I turned and saw that perfect image of golden arches in a darkening sky. A perfect setting for our last, spontaneous group photo.



    We started out quiet; hard to believe this was the end. But as the meal progressed we became much more animated and passed around lists of emails, books & videos of Rome.



    The food, amazing as usual, started with a large cheese ball with chicory. It looked like a 3-inch ball of whipped cream. And zuchini blossoms! But these were fried into fritters. Primo piatto was large tubes stuffed with artichokes. Too stuffed ourselves to eat more, we forgo other courses and went straight for the dolce: Pana cotta with strawberries.


Pizza bases waiting to be topped and baked. They were cut with huge shears.


More meats & cheeses

 
   Italians generally eat late and when we arrived at L'Asino, the place seemed empty and barely open. By the time we left hours later, it was full and bustling.



Palermo Deli



"Old Bridge" near Vatican Museum

   *Dagnino Palermo Sicilean Deli -Our first day we came upon this deli inside a mid-block mall, with "outdoor" seating, indoor food sections and a gift shop. In the deli was case after case, piled high with paninis, pastas, cheeses, aged prosciutto, meatballs, pastries and cookies such as genettes (lemon icing on top and lemon liquer inside), and marzipan in many shapes and flavors.

*And Gelato!
    Too many gelateria to name,
but I kept a list of favorite flavors:
* bacio: deep chocolate with almonds or hazelnuts
* pistacchio  
 * melon
* caramel cheesecake
 * tiramisu
* hazelnut and cherry cream


a variety of Deli's
 



 

 


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*"Tony's Place" (actually called Hostaria del Moro)- in Trastevere, across the river, round and round a few bends, we found this special ristorante, recommended by just about every student in the area and American Airlines personnel. Susan and I figured, it must be good, and it was. So good, in fact, the restaurant across the aisle "borrowed" their name, to entice everyone who came looking. Our tour was ended and it happened to be Halloween night. The kids were out in costumes, checking out the restaurants ( they knew the good ones) and a street guitarist sat across the aisle and entertained us with his very good voice and innovative, jazzy style.


at Tony's, Trestevere

    At Tony's, the plates were bigger and the menu was an extensive list of the best dishes we'd found yet. Susan's frutti di mare was impressive, topped with two large crawfish.
    Collage at left shows a collection of experiences there. (I couldn't believe a bus squeezed down that narrow street and let off a customer right at Tony's door.) Green dish at top left is fettucini w/pesto & garlic sauce.
     More photos at "Trastevere", Places & Side Trips.

 

* Cooking class was a "trip". Our entire group boarded the Metro and rode way out (it seemed to end of the line) and met our guide, Stephanie, at the cooking school. For a large group, we had a very organized plan, were divided into 2 rooms, and put a full course meal together in a couple hours. Our meal consisted of pasta/sauce/chicken/vegies, all with spices, garlic and oil. We ended with pana cotta dessert and wine.
    
Al flips the vegies                                  Jacque & sauce                                                   Assembly line

My grandmothers had opposite
styles of cooking and this meal
reminded me of the one who mostly
 cooked from her garden. (the other -more complex courses, baked, roasted, or fried). Here, we learned to saute herbs
with the dishes and to push vegies
through a sieve, creating
tiny decorative shapes.
And the dessert - pana cotta, had
a superb honey/fig sauce made
from the chef's own tree.

   Our group managed to stay together
for the long metro ride back to
the hotel (in spite of the wine).
We're getting
good at the Metro.
    
Putting it all together.

Continuing:

             
Places-SideTrips  ~      Photos       ~    Wows    
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