I first met Jerrick at Tech65’s 50th podcast about a year back. At that point of time, I already knew a number of their crew. After the recording, a tall, friendly and gregarious person approached me, inviting me to try the cakes that he made. We talked and I found him to be a very interesting person.
I’m surprised at how well we get along together on account of how very diverse we are. Regardless, I really do enjoy his company. I still remember having pizza together with his friends on his 20th birthday, he was my date in the Money No Enough event and even participated in my lipdub project.
Anyway, Jerrick stayed over our place in March and we had quite the splendid time then. And he decided to stay over our place again last weekend. I was naturally very happy. It was so nice having a friend over.
He arrived Saturday evening and off we whisked him to La Gianicolense, one of my new favourite place to eat on account of their fantabulous pizza! 
It was a long long long wait for an empty table. I forgot that it being Saturday, it was a busy day for eating places. We didnt reserve in advance and had to wait almost a full hour outside. But boy was the food worth the wait.
Mmm … Tuna and Onion pizza. I’m totally hooked!
Here is Cart and his cakes
Here is Jerrick in my trademark pose 
And this is me being all excited about my food. But its so wierd having such a large plate for such a small dessert 
The next day we had a leisurely morning with the glorious cappuccino that Cart made. And that was when we noticed how very spikey Jerrick’s hair was after sleeping. He looked like a rock star! Naturally Cart took out his guitar for him to pose with.
In any case, we thought that it would be a nice day to spend the time outside of Rome and thus we headed off to Castelli Romani. We’ve already been there in August, but it was still a nice place to visit again.
It was a rainy day that Sunday. As we were passing through the bridge, Cart suddenly chimed out :
Cart : Do you know why this bridge was infamous for?
Me : What?
Cart : It was for jilted lovers to jump over
Me and Jerrick : What?! *horrified*
Me : Man, its so deep down. What a horrible way to go
Our first stop was at Trattoria dei Cacciotori – where we had really wonderful food the last time we were there. We were greeted by a little diorama which initially I thought was a nativity scene since it was getting close to Christmas.
But looking closer it turned out to be of a figurine of a man in a trattoria of the yester-years I suppose. I love trattoria! Here you don’t need to bother so much with the menu, while the waiter would recommend you what they were serving with what was in season.
By the time we were sitting down, I was famished and so looking forward to eating the food there.
By the way, do you like my brooch? My friend Lynn made it and I love it! Check out the other Rinaz stuff I have. If you can craft items, please let me know. I’d love to have more Rinaz stuff 
So while waiting for the food to be ready. Cart decided to have a little fun posing like a mafia.
Cart’s nose looks sharp enough to cut a slice of cake. 
Jerrick on the other hand was fingering his iphone
But at long last, our food arrived and I dug in.
This is Cart’s ravioli which is stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach and drizzled with tomato sauce.
While Jerrick had Pappardelle al ragù di cinghiale. Ehm. For sure its not halal. But it sure looks hearty though.
I don’t remember the name of the Pasta that I am having, I think it was the Piccantine ai funghi porcini which was listed all the way down the menu. Cart was hypothesizing that food listed at the top would taste the best since most diners come here mostly for the game. That made me wonder about my choice. But that’s the only few things that I could eat there since I can only eat vegetarian or seafood when I go out.
Anyway, it might look quite simple in the picture. But I love my pasta! The porcini mushroom was slurpiliciouslly wonderful and there was a dash of chilli in the egg pasta to make it interesting! Want MOAR! I loved gnawing on it.
We ended our meal with a nice plate of tiramisu. You have to be careful though and always ask, as some places like to add alcohol in their tiramisu which is strange as the original recipe shouldn’t have alcohol in it. But what can I say? I used to think that tiramisu is a Japanese food on account of how Japanese sounding it was
After our exceptional meal, we headed off to Nemi, which was just a few minute’s drive away.
Nemi is an interesting place to be. It is famous for its tiny strawberries and there is a picturesque lake near it. Its such a charming place with cobblestones. And everywhere you go, you’d see quaint little buildings.
I can visualise a cute little European girl wearing a bustle carrying a cute little embroided umbrella coming out of this door.
Alas, it was raining and too cold to stay outside, it was probably like 8 degrees C out, thus we had to find respite and we found a cosy little bar.
What a charming little place! While waiting for the rain to subside, we had a piece of strawberry tart and a hot chocolate each.
Om nom nom nom! Makan jer! Tak ada kerja lain! Yeah, I know that we probably ate too much, but what else was there to do when you are stuck with the rain out?
Regardless, the tart and the hot chocolate was spectacular. A little on the expensive side though, but the ambient was really lovely! There was a nice little fireplace next to our table and I happened to be wearing a red dress and the whole setup looked very xmassy.
I look like a taitai! Unfortunately, we are not rich enough to qualify to be one 
With the rain easing out, we stepped out to admire the Nemi lake. Woah, it was totally my moment to see it in daylight. Since 2006, every single time I was in Nemi, it was either too dark from the nightfall or too crowded to even enter during the Ferragosto.
And I admired the beautiful scene in front of me. Breathtakingly calm. Even with the rainclouds forming in the distance.
That was when this friendly cute little cat came up to me and snuggled up to me. How adorable! I picked her up. She seemed so comfortable. And then she promptly clawed my scarf 
I still love her though.
seems like you guys had a great time…
lovely places, good food, good company 🙂
the brooch is so cute!
WHA!!! So much food!!! I missed it!!!.. Nooooooooooooo…
Wow, the food made me droolllllll…!!! And such lurvvveely places….
I just had dinner but looking at your food makes me want to eat again. Hmmm. Tasty….
By the way, did you keep the cat?
what fun!
Xinyun
Yes, we had a fantabulous time! I am looking forward to the next time that Jerrick comes here. I hope that I didn’t scare him away though. 😛
Hopefully the next time my Italian would be better … ehm.
Anyway, yes! My brooch is wonderful! Much loves!
NTT
Boo to you! Jerrick already asked you along but you said no 😛
But nevermind, maybe in January? Yes? 😀
STUMPBO
I’m sure you’ll love Nemi. Its such a charming and picturesque place and boy, does Castelli Romani has great places to eat 😀
Daphne
I do enjoy his visits. Its quite nice having a friend stay over. And of course Jerrick is a sweetie! Oh! I’ve to blog about our pasta making time together … HEHEHEHE!
When are you coming over kitteh?!
Brad
No, but I really wanted to though. But then I thought again, that we’d be in Singapore for 3 weeks and no one to take care of her. Also, Cart believes that she already had an owner, I had to let her go reluctantly.
Clare
Oh yes, definitely! Come and visit me too? 😀
Shabel
Oh yes, the hot chocolate is definitely divine! Really lovely on a cold day. Its slurpilicious! 🙂
By the way, what brick wall? Do you mean the one at the first restaurant?
aiyah! u make me jeles. now i also want to go to rome. i wish i were jerrrick! 🙁 booo.
but i’m glad u all had a fantabulous time! it must have been wonderful to be able to catch up with jerrick and speak to someone from back home! 🙂 and jerrick is such a sweetie, i’m sure u enjoyed his visit. hehe.
That hot chocolate sure looks 100x better than the one i’m having right now! And the tiramisu… yum yum.
I love the brick walls and stuff. Wish we had that here. :
They say that Singapore is a haven and the land for food. After looking at all your pictures and the wonderful, wonderful food you had, I think that Singapore is no where near as nice as Italy (thought Asian food is still the best here). All those pictures are making me crave pasta. I think I shall have that for lunch.
hee doubt he’ll be scared off… 🙂
*drools over tiramisu*
Wow, looking at these photos makes me realise we did SO MUCH when we were in Rome. This is just the FIRST day! I need to do my OWN blogpost on it though seriously. I had so much fun in Rome with you Marina, truly. Even the weather couldn’t change the fact that I could get real Focaccia and amazing pizza just round the street corner, couldn’t change the fact that I was having an amazing time just exploring a city. I miss Rome already – but you probably already know that 🙂
Mintea
The food is good here, indeed! I just hope that I didnt put on too much weight. Everything is so tempting from the appetizer to the main course to the dessert :
Although yes, indeed, the best Asian food is better in Singapore, hands down 😛
Xinyun
Jerrick and Cart made a huge batch of Tiramisu before he left. Alas, I was too tired to document the process 😛
Jerrick
Second part of the post on the way!
I’m happy that you enjoyed yourself, though I do have to admit that I am a little worried though, that we had to spend time using public transportation instead of zipping a long in a scooter or a car :
Yeah, and the brick pillars or whatever. The brick-y decor basically! 😀
Actually, I think you met Jerrick about 2 years back. 1 year ago was your wedding. Time really flies…. Are you coming back to SG soon?
Wow, your blog post is making me hungry. And I just had my lunch like 1 hr ago lor. 😛
🙂
WOW.
Life in Italy, looks pretty amazing.
I wish I could be like you.
Someday..
wah.. yum yum such excellent food! boo I wish I could have visited you guys enroute SPB.. Even my postcard didn’t reach you! (has it?)
Anyway I also threw a coin into Trevi (although I don’t remember which coin.. Perhaps Singapore Dollars or Rupiahs.. Maybe that matters? :P) so I suppose I’ll also be back there someday! Yeay!
I’m on the next plane to Rome :DD
Ugh, I wish.
Shabel
I think there are a few deco’s like that in Singapore, but not so many I guess since many prefer a more modern look.
DK
We were discussing about this in plurk. NTT says that the first time that he and you met was at the Nexus talk in 2007. My gosh, that was such a lifetime ago!
Anyway, I’m returning to Singapore on the 19th December 🙂
So looking forward!
Sharithstar
Be like me? Eh? What do you mean? Living in Italy?
Sylv
No, it still hasn’t reached me. WHY?! How annoying!
But we would love to have you here Sylv and definitely looking forward 🙂
Maalikka
Just say when 🙂
I would love to visit you too but I don’t think there’s opportunity in near time. next year the choir is going to go to… Jeng jeng! Bandung. Urgh. Nowhere near.
Rinaz: Yeap, that’s also the first time we met, at Nexus 2007. I still remember you have a badge of your avatar. 🙂