Category: food fascination

Hi everyone!

I’m feeling a little beat from participating in the soup event yesterday, I’ll just spam you the pictures that I took at the chocolate exhibition that I snapped in Laghetto Dell’Eur last Saturday.

So many pretty chocolates!

These little mice and the block of cheese are so cute! Easily one of my favourite on display. And completely made of chocolate!

Vale 1000 baci means worth 1000 kisses.

Lecca lecca mean lick lick … haha

Chocolate iphone covers that I’m sure you wouldn’t want to wrap your phones in :p

Chocolates with booze inside.

This looked interesting to me as it looked like a slice of cake.

Chocolate coated fruit

I like how intricate these chocolates are. You could tell by the size of the stapler near it.

These wont work! A criminal would just eat through it!

And these, I assure you are made of chocolate.

Chocolate sausages

Chocolate cheese

Chocolate salame

Chocolate pasta.

Heck you could make a chocolate pasta dish with all the ingredients above! You know, kind of like how you could make spaghetti out of gelato. Which reminds me that, now that the weather is warming up in Rome, it’s a great time to go out for a gelato!

It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I guess you could say that I’ve just written a dissertation.

By the way, this reminds me of the one that we went to some while back, but this one’s much smaller though. Nevertheless, it was free to visit and still had an impressive variety of chocolates 🙂

I’ve posted this on instagram before, but I thought that I’d just put it up again on my blog :

Just a few days ago, I was telling Cart about how I didn’t seem to be able to find any Kinder Sorpresa during Easter, which is an oddity. So, as soon as I saw one for sale, I quickly got some.

(I’m not sure if these particular ones are a new design or a limited edition)

If you’ve never seen one before (which I think, is incredible) Kinder Sorpresa is a yummy milk chocolate egg and you can break it to find a little toy surprise inside – hence it’s namesake.

It seems that a lot of people have fond memories of this from the number of comments when I put the picture up online. And Cart has a huge plastic full of these toys and a lot of times I shake my head when he likes to put them on the shelves to show them off. It could be interesting to do a video-blog of the toys that he has … and he has LOTS it’s crazy!

Sadly enough, did you know that the Kinder Sorpresa is banned in the USA? Reason being that the toy is a choking hazard for young children. I suppose that there has been quite a number of cases as there is a fine of about 2.5K USD for each egg smuggled in! Yikes!

To be honest, I think the rule is rather odd as everyone (even those outside of Italy) knows that Kinder Sorpresa contains a toy inside and small children shouldn’t be unattended while they are eating in general (not just this chocolate) anyway. And it’s not that easy for me to push open the capsule to get to the toy inside so I doubt that it would be as easy for a young child to get at the toy without asking an adult for help.

(And this is the one I got in 2009. You could tell by the henna on my fingers 🙂

Anyway, while talking about this topic, I’m considering to bring some to Singapore when we head back for Raya, god willing. It would be such a nice surprise. Yes, I’m very punny like that 🙂

While I was still living in Singapore, I used to believe that mozzarella is solid. And yellow. You know, something like this :

As you can see, Cart is very amused the first time he saw it in our trip to a supermarket in Singapore.

Reason being, you’d be hard pressed trying to find anything like that in a regular supermarket in Rome (and probably the rest of Italy) because mozzarella is soft and white and is always kept hydrated in a pool of brine to keep it fresh.

This particular brand comes swimming in their own paper sachets, but you could also find them without, or in individual plastic sachets filled with brine.

And when you press it, it is soft and malleable.

And when you cut it, you’d sometimes see liquidy goodness oozing out.

Sidenote : If you were wondering what the green veggie is on the side, it’s actually Broccoletti and it reminds me a lot of an Asian veggie called Cai Xin.

Anyway, as this is fresh cheese, it’s best to consume it within a week. You’d normally find them in two varieties – the ones made of cow milk or the more expensive water buffalo milk. They each taste slightly different, but both delicate and fresh.

And it’s great in Caprese, Pizza Margherita, Lasagna and the likes. By the way, have you seen my video on how to make veggie lasagna yet? Here you can see the mozzarella in action (around the 6:55 mark) and also hear how to pronounce it.

But to play the devil’s advocate, I think it’s not all that bad to have those solid blocks masquerading as Mozzarella. The real thing is quite pricey outside of Italy. I found a 100g one for 10SGD! One!

Even with the currency converted, for the same price you could get 4 of them in Rome. Thus, I’m kind of undecided if it is a good or bad thing. I wouldn’t really call it Mozzarella though. It’s not a snob thing. It’s just that when you’ve been around, you become more discerning. For example, I’ve been to some restaurants in Rome where they serve curry…but I wouldn’t call it curry.

(Fun fact! Did you know that Japan tried to patent Curry in 1999?)

Nevertheless, if you’re interested about this topic, there is an organization called Coldiretti and they represent Italian Agriculture. About once a year, they would put up a page revealing food which claims to be Italian, but is not. Here is the link – it is in Italian, but it’s mostly pictorial.

I didn’t even know that it was World Nutella day till Nerys mentioned it on twitter yesterday.

I’m not crazy about nutella, but whenever I’m eating out, I always choose to eat Mousse alla Nutella if the restaurants have it. Have you had one before? If you haven’t, you should! You should! You should! (I’m saying this 3 times because it’s that awesome) It’s wonderful and luxurious and decadent and is sure to make you very contented with each spoonful.

There are restaurants that serves them with chocolate shavings on top, and some that puts layers of cream and syrup and cookie crumbles.

But the one that I like the best has got to be this deceptively simple looking one from Antica Schiacciata Romana. From top to bottom is pure Nutella Mousse topped with pine nuts.

Every single bite feels soft and fluffy on your tongue, Immediately the rich taste of hazelnut and chocolate hits you and you feel good all over, immersing yourself in the heavenly, comforting feeling, compelling you to take another bite. And so you do it again, and again to keep the constant buzz.

And yet, it is not cloying, the thick feeling you get when you eat most other rich and decadent food. And once you’ve spooned the last bit of the creamy deliciousness, you feel happy and content. And all is al-right with the world.

Technically, it should be easy to make them – the most basic recipe calls for nutella and whipped cream. However, the most basic recipe tend to usually be the most challenging. Like omelette and Kuih Bahulu. Nevertheless, I think I would like to give it a try soon. Perhaps even for Valentines day. Romantic? I’ll eat them all by myself. Cos I’m greedy like that.

Can’t really believe that it was 4 years ago when we were in the mosque in Singapore, with Jules and Hema and my close relatives for our solemnization. To be honest, it’s all a blur to me then, and even more a distant memory now. Which is why keeping a journal is important to me, to look back at the past and remember.

Nevertheless, I feel quite blessed that Cart and I met each other. We both are imperfect, but we both have our strengths and what we are strong at, we help each other in our weakness. One of the most wonderful quality about Cartcart is how I can talk to him about anything and everything, and and he’d listen … and still be impartial.

Of course, every relationship has its weak moments, and there are times when we get upset with each other or be unhappy. But that’s normal, and will make the relationship stronger as you understand each other better. I don’t believe in a relationship where they never quarrel or don’t debate at all, just to keep the peace because underneath, there will always be underlying problems and eventually be an exhausting symbiosis (on the other hand, quarrelling too much is not good either)

ANYWAY! Because we are such unromantic people, we didn’t plan much for our anniversary, and decided to just have dinner together.

Initially, I suggested that we head and try something new, like eating at Corno d’Africa, but it was madness looking for parking in the area, coupled with the insane amount of traffic on the roads – blame it on the fact that there are another 2 excellent restaurants in the vicinity (but who goes out on a Tuesday evening anyway?) gave me such an insane level of stress. I’ve been driving for roughly 6 months now, and am very comfortable at driving but yesterday was a different ballgame altogether.

We changed our minds and went to this restaurant called Il Cortile, which is a charming little restaurant a short distance away. I’ve been here once while we were dating, but like I mentioned, everything more than a few weeks is becoming a distant memory. I’m growing old for sure.

Anyway, what I do remember is that when you enter, there will be a table all full of wonderful antipasti that will just draw you in (This picture is taken towards the end of the evening, so it doesn’t do it justice)

There’s always a dessert table, which was so lovely. Next time, I’d eat just these, without going for the main course.

But we did … and Cart had a plate of ravioli con ricotta e spinaci with tomato sauce, which was really really good.

While I had Coda di rospo alla cacciatora. It’s a type of deep sea fish. It was tasty, but whenever I hear alla cacciatora, it makes me think that the dish has a hint of tomato, so I was surprised to see this white sauce. Actually, I preferred Cart’s ravioli after tasting it.

By this time, I was starting to feel full, so I skipped the contorno, while Cart had Carciofi alla giudia (this is a dish made of deep fried artichokes and was created in Rome, and is a very popular seasonal dish here)

I wasn’t too full to have dessert though, and I was looking so forward to having my chocolate mousse. Have you ever had one before? It’s one of the most decadent, delightful, sensual, sexy thing that you could ever have. Of course, I had to savour it slowly.

While Cart had a slice of chocolate cake, but the amount of cream on top, so sinful! Nevertheless, I don’t think that it could top mine though :p

In the end, I was bursting! It was tough driving us back home with my tummy expanding like a basketball. But we managed somehow and we both had to take some brioschi.

Such a simple evening. There wasn’t any grand romantic gestures of affections, neither did we regaled expensive gifts to each other. Regardless, it was a pleasant evening, just the two of us being comfortable and happy with each other’s company.

During the cooler season, you’d see a lot of these being sold in supermarkets and in mercati. They are pretty cheap to get these times, costing about 1 – 1.5 euro a kilogram.

This is called Verza. Also known as a savoy cabbage, it’s pretty much like a regular cabbage, but it has a deep green hue and a bubbly texture. It looks so cool doesn’t it?

Anyway, one great recipe to make out of this is Involtini di verza – stuffed cabbages. I used the recipe here, but made some changes to fit our dietary constrictions. Nevertheless, it’s so yummy that I hope that you’d try them too! (I’m pretty sure it’ll work fine with regular cabbages also)

First boil some water and carefully peel out 12 leaves. Rinse and clean them and then slice away the hard stem. Then dip each one in the boiling water for about 1 – 2 minutes to soften them.

After that you’ll get a dozen floppy verza leaves which will be ready for wrapping. Chop the rest of the unboiled cabbage into small pieces and set it away for the risotto.

Next, finely chop some celery, carrot and onion – this is probably the base of most Italian cooking.

Heat some butter (yes butter!) and olive oil in a pan and fry the soffrito.

When it’s sufficiently softer and glazed, thrown in some rice. (about 300gr or so) It’s best to use carnaroli or arborio or whichever rice which is good for risotto. (Not sure if Basmati or Thai rice is good for this. I don’t plan to experiment!)

Toast the rice in the sofritto for about 5 – 10 minutes or so. And in the meanwhile, boil 1 litre of vegetable broth. We just use those cube stocks.

In the original recipe, you’d use white wine. But we substituted it with tiny bit of balsamic vinegar. You could also add some minced meat or chopped sausages in but we’re leaving that out for a vegetarian version 🙂

Now add the broth slowly and stir constantly but leave about one ladle worth of broth in the original pot for spreading in the oven dish.

And now we add the chopped cabbage! (By the way if there are extra because the cabbage was too big, you could turn them into salad 😛 )

Nevertheless, cabbage shrinks (and the rice expands) quickly in heat.

Wow, look at that. It looks like a soupy cabbage soup that I used to eat as a kid. If I cracked an egg, add some su’un and dried lily buds, I think I could even eat it straight away like this.

But we are making this into risotto! So we stir and wait till the rice is almost cooked and at this point we add some grated parmigiano cheese, give a stir and turn off the stove.

While the risotto is still warm, Cart also added some chopped up smoked scamorza cheese for an extra smoky taste.

You could omit this if you don’t have access to scamorza. But it makes the risotto extra cheesy and gooey when you pull it. Like those pizza commercials.

Uh oh! The rubbish bin! SO UNGLAMOROUS! Nevertheless, pour the last ladle of broth in the oven dish. And preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

And now the fun part! We take each leaf …

Put about two spoonfuls of the risotto on top of each leaf …

And wrap it up as snugly as possible. This sort of reminds me of making spring rolls. Yummy! Look at my beautiful involtino!

You should have enough risotto for 12. And after you’re done rolling all 12, spread the top with some melted butter …

And then sprinkle it with some more grated parmigiano.

Now leave it in the oven for about 15 minutes and then after that set it to grill for another 5 minutes. Take it out and leave it to rest for a few more minutes before eating them.

They look so beautiful!!!

And believe me, they are absolutely yummy! I’ve never been that big on eating cabbages, but it’s a wonderfully hearty meal during cold days, so I hope that you try them!

There are still a few more in the fridge, so I’m going to eat them all before Cart gets back from work.

Time to make : About 1.5 hours
Amount of calories per portion : I really don’t care

If you liked this post, you may be interested in :

• How to make risotto agli scampi
• How to make strawberry risotto

Remember Cecere? The pastry shop that I adore for their absolutely delightful Maritozzo?

After going to the Trastevere branch, I was happy to know that there was a branch nearer to our home in Eur. So Cart and I were there practically each Sunday the past 3 weeks to enjoy their cakes and pastries.

Each time the lady at the counter kept staring at me dubiously. But, you know, after living in Rome for several years, I’ve learnt not to keep it to heart. After all, the important thing is that I get my beloved cream pastries.

Pastries from Cristalli di Zucchero

Anyway, looking through the beautiful pastries, I got enthralled and of course snapped a picture. And as I snapped, the lady looked distastefully at me and told me to stop. She still looked pissed when I said, sorry and walked out with the cakes that we bought.

Children’s chocolate cake from Il Bavaglino

But as we walked out, the more that I thought about it, the more puzzled I got. And I berated myself for not asking, “Why?” Because I never had the same experience with the branch at Trastevere.

It’s not that I’m not looking for a fight, but I really don’t understand. I don’t understand. I don’t understand!

So lets say the biggest reasoning is that they are scared that I could be a potential rival and steal their designs, what could stop an actual rival from going there, buy something, bring it back to the kitchen and try to recreate it from their own kitchen?

Carrot cake from Made Bakery

And I’m not talking only about the small pastry shops, even the big-chain fast food restaurants like Mcdougals are so protective of their menu. A staff stopped me from taking a picture of the huge queue in front of the counter with the reasoning that they are protecting the menu (at least she was apologetic and kind about it)

Maritozzo from Il Cornettone

I like sharing pictures of things that I find beautiful and it’s a plus if it’s food and is delicious. It’s like a word of mouth publicity, no?

Which is why I do not understand why there are still people who still are so protective that their merchandise being photographed (It’s like almost every other month, where ever I go, a shop would do that) But the more I am chided, the less I feel like going there as a customer. But it’s not like they will lose business from one client. And not as if I’m such a femes blogger to make a significant change (kind of tempted to make a flash mob going here with EVERYONE taking pictures) but still …

Someone please enlighten me.

On the day my family arrived in Rome, as per my request, they gave me loads of things. One of them is Durian brand tea.

Durian brand tea is a strong, fragrant loose black tea which I love and have fond memories of, especially during family gatherings. It used to have a golden-orange cover, but since changed to a red one.

Oooh! Check out the lovely steam coming out of the teacup! I like it better as it’s stronger than the strongest English breakfast tea that you could get anywhere in the world.

Amazingly, it’s also made in Singapore. All the while I thought that it was a Malaysian brand.

But the important part is, it does NOT have any Durian flavour whatsoever. I know that not everyone likes durian, but I’m impressed at how such a humble looking pack could bring out such a strong reaction when I shared it online.

This was on instagram :

This was on twitter :

And this was on facebook :

Loads of Westerners seem to hate durian. Even Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre foods, the same man who eats bugs and worms and other creepy crawlies willingly, detest having to eat a durian. While in Singapore and giving Cart a try on a Durian cream puff, he insisted that it tasted like onions!

While I myself like eating durians. I have to defend my beloved tea that it does NOT contain durian. It does not taste of durian. No durian inside whatsoever. It’s just the name of the brand. Don’t be scared of it!

The end. Thank you.

I’ll also attach a video on how to drink tea

Sidenote : Durian tea + dried mint leaves = heaven! Try it!

Long ago, before I even knew Cart and living in Singapore, I was brought to La Forketta by a friend. As we sat down, I saw a small bowl and curiously peered at it. “What’s this for?” I asked. My friend Juli poured some olive oil and some balsamic vinegar in it. “Dip some bread in it and eat it. It’s nice!”

Beautiful photo by Tony Tahhan

It looked like such an odd combination, the golden and dark viscous liquids, not mixing together. Like a science experiment. But doing so seemed like a good way to appreciate the taste of the breads. And since then, it has been the norm to go to any Italian restaurant (outside of Italy) to expect a basket of bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

And now that I’ve been living in Rome, it’s interesting to note that you’ll never find this in Rome or anywhere else in Italy.

Exquisite food at Il Bavaglino

Meals in Italy are served as courses. And bread is usually served during the first course onwards (not as appetiser) and are usually used to wipe away any remaining sauces from pasta or oil and vinegar from salad dishes.

Cart would always be amused with this when we head to Italian restaurants in Singapore.

Makes me wonder what other culture changed as soon as it went out of the country. One thing that I could think of at the top of my head is mixing wasabi and soy sauce together to be eaten with sushi. I’m not sure if the Japanese actually do it, but almost everyone I know does! And we do it so often, that it feels very natural to do so.

I wonder how many Japanese people baulk at the idea.