The search for a giant foot

2nd of June is Festa Della Repubblica here in Italy and it is a national holiday.

Already a week before, Cart and I noticed some temporary seating being constructed near the Colosseo and he deduced that there will be a parade going on on the day itself. We didn’t have any intention of going to see the parade though. Wasn’t in the mood for being crunched by the huge amount of people that will be expected there. But this lady was there though and blogged about it.

L'insalata ricca - rinaz.net
Can you spot something interesting by the way?

Anyway! Cart and I were having lunch at L’Insalata Ricca and I suddenly remembered.

I was watching the Amazing race season 1 where one of the legs was in Italy. There was a detour challenge where contestants have to head to the Vittorio Emanuele Monument or to go to the giant foot.

Giant Foot - rinaz.net

So excitedly, I asked Cartcart, “Lets go see the giant foot!”

The only thing is, being totally unplanned, Cart started to ask me which giant foot I was talking about, which made me a little stunned since I thought that ALL Italians would have known where it was. But we did a quick online search on the dinky little screen of my mob phone.

After we’ve finished our lunch, we were off.

Giant Foot - rinaz.net

It was super crowded with tourists when we reached the Piazza Navona area. The pantheon itself was crawling with people from all over the world as if there was a congress going on. Such a contrast compared to just a few months ago. The touristy season has already started.

So I blended in very well

And we did the touristy thing to do – snapping pictures, looking at interesting buildings, walking around and appreciating where we were.

Elephant Statue - rinaz.net

And we walked to places where were lesser known to tourists. Like this elephant statue and the church next to it. AndCart, being the proud Roman man, explained to me every detail that he knew about the place.

Men playing checkers - rinaz.net
Like the name of the road where these men playing checkers, had an actual fig tree like its name sake.

And being a kepokian, sometimes I couldn’t help but to go up to a restaurant’s menu board and look at the prices and feel a little smug.

Pigeon - rinaz.net
Pigeons eat for free and true Italian pigeons eat pizza and gelato

And eventually we reached a corner of a road where we found a giant foot.

Giant foot - rinaz.net

Huh? This isn’t what I had in mind. The shape of the foot was different. It wasn’t smooth and it was wearing a sandal. We must be in the wrong place. But it was interesting to see anyway.

Giant foot - rinaz.net

That a big shoe if you compared it to mine. And we all know that gladiator sandals are so stylish that its been revived back in fashion. The irony is, I’ve yet to see any Italians in the present time wearing them though :p

I looked at the statue and wondered if it could be part of a larger statue while Cart was postulating that this statue could be a sign from a shoemaker, telling that his shop was nearby. Its still a mystery for the both of us.

But in any case, the search of the giant foot continues …

(insert dramatic music)

Posted in italy | 10 Comments

Disturbing things in Rome supermarkets

I’ve put up a post on Engrish in Rome some time back. Today, I thought I’d share with you a few interesting and somewhat disturbing things that I noticed in the supermarkets of Rome.

First off, is the iBulli.

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Maybe its made to replicate the success of the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. Or maybe it is for Steve Jobs to announces that he will serve this when suing his competitors with a patent infringement. Nevertheless, I am curious to know what the freaking heck the company was thinking when creating this snack.

This isn’t disturbing but it was amusing anyway. In Malay, Malu means embarrassed or shy.

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Thus this is the shyest chocolate in Italy! And it will make you feel embarrassed to eat it! In all honesty, I was actually keen to try it out but it contained gelatin :(

Know someone unattractive?

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For an even less tactful manner, we suggest that you serve them Hag coffee! Gingerbread house not included.

And maybe it could just me but …

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There is something disconcerting when I’m all alone in the toilet, with cramps and bleeding out of my ladybits and there are eyes staring right back at me!

And last but not least, I dont understand why anyone thought that it would be a good idea to put a picture of the animals smiling on the label of a bottle of their puréed selves.

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I’m not a vegetarian but I think its disturbing! That soft, gentle smile beckoning you to be their friend. And you step closer to say hello.

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And then you find out that your new friend is lifeless, chopped up and puréed in a bottle.

I think a kid could easily grow up disenchanted and cynical with this.

Posted in life | 8 Comments

If you love roses, check out this rose garden in Rome

Hello! I look hot right?! *coughs*

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

Anyway, Cart and I were at the Rose Garden in Circo Massimo last weekend. Its been slightly over a year since we’ve last been there, so we thought that we’d pay a visit before it closes its entry in mid June.

The rose garden, or the Roseto Comunale in Italian, is a municipal rose garden here in Rome which is open to all from the 10th of May to the 10th of June. There are a huge variety of roses here and personally for me, is a lovely place to visit if you are in Rome during these times. The temperature is comfortable and being spring time, flowers are blossoming.

The Roseto Comunale is probably not very touristy destination, but like Parco Laghetto, its another side of Rome which I find very charming.

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

Unfortunately, we’ve been having a rather crappy weather for the past few weeks with it raining incessantly. And I think that it affected how the roses looked. For lack of a better word, they dont look so “fresh”. Nevertheless, its very picturesque here with the huge variety of roses of different colours and kinds and with the iconic Vittorio Emanuele Monument and some Roman ruins in the background.

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

In any case, one of the easiest way to get here is by taking the subway and exiting the “Circo Massimo” stop. One of the first thing you’ll see is this huge, eye catching banner. I’m not sure if its a temporary or permanent banner though, its been there since the beginning of the year.

Anyways, you have a slow stroll and before you know it, you’re already at the Rose garden!

There were a healthy amount of people already there when Cart and I arrived. I spotted out families, groups of kids, even monks, priests and nuns.

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

All of them looking around excitedly, smelling, touching each rose. Many of them camwhoring with the roses. There was a couple who snapped pictures of themselves before we arrived there, and they were still camwhoring when Cart and I left the place. There were even people picnicking and making out. Which is understandable, since it *was* a romantic looking place.

Anyway! There are so many kinds of roses here, its quite mind boggling! The area is divided into several segments, one part where there are the original roses as well as the modern cultivated ones.

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

There were signs every few steps or so where we could read up more information about the roses. And there were a lot of things which I didn’t realise till now!

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

Like, did you know that there is no such thing as blue roses? Even with modern cultivation, roses do not have the right cells to carry the colour. The closest colours that it could carry are lilac and purple. So even if you do see a blue rose, its probably dyed.

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

And it was interesting for me to read that in ancient roman times, the emperor would have frequent orgies where one of the highlights were a false ceiling would open to drop down rose petals. And there was once, a drunk guest got trapped and suffocated under the rose petals.

Man. What a way to go.

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

Did you know that it took 900kg of rose petals to make about 5 grams of attar of rose? That was one of the reasons why ancient romans decided to cultivate their own roses rather than importing it from Africa since it was such a lucrative business.

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

To me, what was interesting was that there were a lot of roses which didn’t look like how a “typical” rose was supposed to look like – multiple layers petals, starting from a long bud. Like this flower below for example.

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

So I was quite surprised to see these flowers below categorized as roses too. They don’t look like roses since they had only one layer of petals. But Cart pointed out that they had thorns which was a strong sign that they were.

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

The name of this rose below is “Queen Mother” by the way, and I like the shade of pink. It doesn’t look very rose-like but the shape of the leaves and the thorns are a dead give away!

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

And speaking of names, there were loads of interesting named roses, like ‘Aspirin’ (!) ‘Aladdin’, ‘Purple Rain’, ‘Isn’t she lovely’ and others you could check out from the video at the end of this post. I really wonder how they named their roses. some of them are really curious.

And obviously while admiring the roses, I camwhored here and played out that I was part of the royale family. Its easy to imagine that here! Too bad that we didnt bring a long some tea and cakes while we discuss about croquet or something like that.

Next year

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

Here is a video I took while in the rose garden. Check out the crazy names that the roses have! And please excuse my ramblings

Very beautiful yeah? So if you’re in Rome during springtime, don’t forget to visit the lovely and charming rose garden near Circo Massimo!

Roseto Comunale - rinaz.net

Oh! And just in case you were wondering, my favourite flowers are yellow roses

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Sidenote : Sha’s post totally reminds me back of my days in IRC. I used to spend hours in them and my nick used to be |rose| and then spyrulina. A little corny huh?

Posted in italy | 7 Comments

Ever heard of Banana Ketchup?

Still recovering! So here is a quick blog post :-)

Katie-Lucie was asking me if I’ve heard of a strawberry ketchup in my strawberry risotto post (no I haven’t) so today, I’m going to show you, Banana Ketchup!

Banana Ketchup

Banana Ketchup is a Filipino invention during the world war two. Tomato was scarce during the time. But there was an abundant supply of bananas. Hence, instead of making tomato ketchup, banana ketchup was created as a replacement. And since then, it became very popular in the Philippines.

Banana Ketchup

Basically its made up of bananas, water, sugar, vinegar, salt and starch. A red dye was added to make it look like ketchup. In any case, I think that it would be better if it wasn’t dyed. Its kind of deceiving. To be something that it’s not.

But in any case, I spotted this in the asian grocery in the mercato some months back and it intrigued me so much that I had to give it a try.

Banana Ketchup

Visually, it looks kind of tomato ketchup even with the lumpy banana bits in the sauce. Taste wise, its not bad. But it does takes a bit of getting used to. It tastes sweet. Not really the type of condiment that I’m used to.

I’ve still more than half a bottle left. I’m not sure what to do with it.

Posted in food fascination | 11 Comments

This is married life #1

I know its bad to think bad of others, especially your partner, but sometimes this is what I think what Cart is thinking

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Sidenote : What is with the cough virus bout going on? I’ve been sick for over a week now! Is annoying!

Posted in relationships | 15 Comments

The emancipation of me me

I was on my way to head to a talk at the British School at Rome. With the event being held just after working hours, I had to go there by myself as Cart was not able to send me.

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I did a search online for the directions and was on my way to the place, pretty much drama free.

Even when I did get confused, I didn’t panic like how I used to last year. Last year I’ve always had irrational fears mostly stemming from me looking very un-Italian. This time round, I felt nothing even with some kepokians looking at me. I just pretended that I was really hot and they were basking in my beauty.

And then it dawned to me.

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I don’t feel so helpless anymore and that I’m actually really getting used to life here as compared to feeling the extreme homesickness when I first arrived here. So much has happened since then.

And I feel very hopeful about the future.

Posted in random thoughts | 9 Comments

Ever eaten strawberry risotto before?

Its strawberry season here in Italy.

Strawberries with Cream

And I love strawberries. I could eat them practically every day, be it with lemon juice and sugar or just with cream on top. Which is probably why I went a little overboard buying strawberries the last time I was at the market – 6 punnets of strawberries for 5 freaking euro. Who doesn’t want?!

Strawberry Risotto Alle Fragole

Unfortunately, strawberries are highly perishable, and wont last for too long before they start to get mouldy. So Cart and I were wondering on what to do with them apart from strawberries and cream.

And then Cart suggested. Lets make Strawberry Risotto!

Strawberry? In risotto? Sounds like a wierd combination since strawberries are usually used in desserts. But I’m game to try it out.

Strawberry Risotto Alle Fragole

First melt some butter in a pot. Add some chopped onions and then some chopped strawberries.

Strawberry Risotto Alle Fragole

And then add some rice and stir it in the mixture to be infused with the strawberries. You know, same technique as to how biryani is made.

Strawberry Risotto Alle Fragole
Arborio rice vs Long Grain rice

In this case, we used Arborio which is a type of Italian rice which is short and thick. I don’t know if you could use long grain rice like Basmati or Thai rice but for sure, the end texture would be very different because they are not as starchy as Italian rice.

Strawberry Risotto Alle Fragole

Then Cart added some balsamic vinegar to enhance the taste. Typically, the recipe asks for wine like 1/4 glass of prosecco or champagne. But we don’t drink though.

Strawberry Risotto Alle Fragole

Now add in some vegetable stock and put enough to cover the rice. And leave the risotto to cook.

As a sidenote, while editing the pictures, I was marvelling at how clean the stove looked. Till I saw the the picture below of some spilled stock. Haiyah, clean again … *shake head*

Strawberry Risotto Alle Fragole

And when the risotto looks just about done, add a bit more chopped strawberries and a bit of butter to make the risotto smoother.

And then you are done!

Strawberry Risotto Alle Fragole

Tada! Risotto alle fragole. And its actually not bad! But you have to remember, this is not a sweet dessert type of dish, but more vegetable-ly type of risotto. I think its a matter of perception to get over with.

Sidenote :

Zoori thinks that Suria should give me a spot on tv for a cooking show

Strawberry Risotto Alle Fragole

I feel very honored! But if that were to happen, people would probably switch off the tv. Yeah?

Posted in food fascination | 8 Comments