Claire and I were on our weekly mischief and we thought about stopping by McDougals for a milkshake. Despite the flak about McDougals, I don’t mind it so much when it comes to their cheap milkshakes.
Anyway, there was one just opposite of the Pantheon.
Imagine our surprise when we saw this :
Closed for business. Which is strange because it’s located in a very high traffic area which means that it’s impossible that they were not able to make a profit, right?
But this was not the first McDougals that has closed for business, this one in Piazza Sydney Sonnino, in the Trastevere area was closed too.
But I remember that it was bustling the very first time that I visited Rome. I wonder if McDs is not doing well in Rome.
Sidenote : Yes … yes … I know it’s spelled McDonalds but McDougals sound more charming.
Anyway, Il gelato is located in the charming area off Via del Corso, but it’s fairly attainable with a bit of a walk from the closest metro (Spagna).
Anyway, inside, there are so many different types of gelati. And if you’ve been living in Italy for a while, you can tell more or less tell by sight if it was handmade (artigianale) or not. Firstly, the gelati doesn’t look overly fluffy.
But it was quite mind boggling to decide at the first visit. There were so many kinds! In fact, it was divided into two segments. Just look at their chocolate ice cream segment. Even a chocolate lover like me was stumped at what to get.
There was the chocolate, the dark chocolate, the extra dark chocolate. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, there is chocolate with cinnamon, chocolate with ginger and lemon, chocolate with chilli … The choices go on.
I was a little overwhelmed so we chose to have the set-apperativo in the end. I was looking around at the other plates and Cart and I were a little worried as we saw something looking like ham, so we asked for those to be omitted and asked for the prosecco to be changed to coca cola.
And then we got this :
Huh? Gelato with nachos and vegetable slices is a strange combination. But there are stranger flavours of ice cream around the world like Horse Meat, Charcoal and Wasabi so I had to keep an open mind, moreover it’s not ice cream-ice cream, it’s an apperativo-ice cream.
So let’s start!
This bright and cheerful orange gelato here is peperoni (not to be mistaken for cured sausages).
Have you ever had bell pepper ice cream before? No? Me neither. Tasting it, you can definitely detect the bell peppers inside, but it was refreshingly creamy. And it went surprisingly well with the vegetable slices.
This is the pistacchio ice cream.
A little bit tainted with the orange peperoni bits. Nevertheless, I quite like at how light it tastes like, and that it was slightly gritty with the little bits of pistacchio inside.
And then this is Cart’s half eaten Gorgonzola ice cream.
I have to admit that this definitely is an acquired taste and probably not for everyone. I’m not a big fan of ripe cheese but I gave it a try anyway. And indeed it was very strong. If you were blindfolded while eating this, you could actually tell from the smell that it was made of blue veined cheese.
The taste is completely unique. And it was really wierd for me to taste it as a gelato. Cart, who adores cheese, liked this though.
I was observing some of the other guests who were there trying out this ice cream, and I was amused to see them had the same curious reaction as I did.
Luckily for me, I was able to change mine to another flavour.
Green tea! I’m crazy about Matcha ice cream and it was love at first taste for me when I first tried it at a Japanese dessert shop. And this was the first time that I’ve ever seen Matcha green tea gelato in Rome.
Cart didn’t like it so much though and thought that it tasted like grass. Nevertheless, this made me so happy! It’s the little things like these that makes life memorable 🙂
There was a bunch of parsley in the fridge. Since I was grilling some chicken breasts, I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to whip up some salsa verde as a condiment.
Salsa verde, literally translated as green sauce is really great on fish and grilled meats. And to make it, is really easy – you dump a bunch of parsley, a bit of mint (optional) and basil (optional) in a food processor, add some extra virgin olive oil, some vinegar, a bit of capers, some garlic, a slice of anchovy (optional) and salt and pepper to taste.
The traditional way is to chop everything by hand with a mezzaluna, but nevertheless, doesn’t my sauce look lovely and bright and cheerful? Don’t be deceived at how simple it looks, this sauce packs a punch with it’s flavour notes! I had a very lovely lunch indeed.
There was only one thing that I forgot to keep in mind and I only realised my folly till way later when Cart came back home.
Me : Ohai abang! Welcome back! *smooch!*
Cart : Ehm … I can smell garlic …
Me : * Recoils in horror *
You see, when cooking with ingredients like garlic, the flavours get absorbed by the main bulk components. But when working with raw ingredients, it is much more potent. And I took for granted at how mild garlic tastes like when fried in olive oil that I happily threw in three cloves in the food processor when only one would do.
And then I thought about my session with my driving instructor and then having coffee with Cart and a couple of his colleagues who were working near the driving school and how they have been exposed to my unintentional dragon-breath. And I felt so very embarrassed …
In Rome, there are a plentiful of bancarelle (ban-kah-rel-leh)
These are makeshift stalls that could sell anything from clothes, cosmetics and accessories and sometimes even second hand stuff. They usually function in the morning till late afternoon and they are easy to spot because they seem to be quite out of place – cheerful, colourful stalls stark right next to the roadside.
Bancarelle are different compared to mercati (mer-kah-tee) as they are usually separated, located outside of the wet markets.
And you can also almost always find them outside of Metros, train stations and bus interchanges in Rome. One of the most well known bancarelle would be the weekend market at Porta Portese.
I like bancarelle because they tend to sell items for cheap, compared to items that you can find in regular shops. So it’s like a sale everyday! Although, you’d have to keep your eyes wide open and always compare prices, as this is not always true.
Personally, I don’t go for beauty items here because I feel a little dubious about the source and the expiry date. But that’s just me.
But most of the time, you could find some little treasures here like clothes and bags. I even saw a bancarella selling a smaller version of my cat bag. It was only 5 euro! You can imagine how much I was so tempted to get it. But I’m sticking to my “At least once a year” rule. i.e. If I don’t use it at least once in a year, it’s better not to get more
I need to get this fixed though. I still love this bag and want to continue using it. But one of the side of the handle is torn. I wonder if there is a cobbler here who could do that for me?
Anyway, sometimes you’d find stuff that you probably won’t feel it. But sometimes you would. I recently got two top which I really really liked. This comfy cotton shirt :
And this rainbow striped one.
Yes. I’m totally molesting this cat.
Anyway, the only bad part is that unless you’ve got really thick skin and don’t mind trying out the clothes in public, you might not know if it fits you well or not. So I’ve yet to buy pants at this point of time.
Nevertheless, I got these top for 5 euro each! What a steal!
Updated : Check out some of the outfits that I’ve created with the items that I’ve bought from some of the bancarelle around Rome!
Cart and I were at the dentist’s recently and I can’t help but to notice this :
Isn’t it cute? The illustration plays on the word “dente” which means tooth in Italian. See if you can spot some familiar Italian words. The tooth with the permanent hair was such a riot!
This is a way overdue post that I’ve been meaning to blog about earlier but I didn’t get a chance till now.
I won a cooking DVD from Putri Berendam, one of Singapore’s top food blogger which I respect. (coincidentally, we were supposed to meet this year, but unfortunately didn’t have the chance) Anyway, she hosted a contest on her blog in mid-2010 and just for fun, I decided to participate.
To my happy surprise, I received an email by her saying that I won a “Tanya Mami Asmah Laili” Cooking DVD! (I was amused when Cart asked, “Who’s Tanya Mami?” As if Tanya was a first name) Asmah Laili is a well recognized TV personality and celebrity chef in Singapore and Malaysia and has vast experience in cooking.
Here she teaches you how to choose fresh fish
But because I have little faith in the Italian delivery system, I asked my parents to hold it for me till I return back to Singapore. And because Cart and I were busy meeting friends and relatives during our stay there, it was only when we returned back to Rome when I had time to watch the DVD properly.
Anyway, I really love this DVD. Watching the videos is like watching a hybrid of my mum and aunt teaching me about food. You can tell that she’s really dedicated to her craft by the way she handles her food. And it’s really cute when I spot out some of the slang that she uses, “Masin Kebabai!” or “keras kojol!” or “en den” which is something that Malay aunties tend to say.
Speaking of Malay aunties, even though this DVD is in Malay, there are subtitles and also dubbings in English, Mandarin and Japanese so everyone can enjoy them.
I think the spelling should be “Penyet”, but that’s my opinion
Opening the case, there is included, a little cookbook filled with colourful illustration of each of the recipe in the videos, both in English and Malay for a quick reference.
But one thing which I think could have been improved about the content page though is that the content page should be grouped and arranged accordingly to the chapter list on the DVD.
For example, opening the recipe book for the very first time, (which is very beautiful by the way) I was very excited as I saw one of my favourite food, Ayam Penyet in the list. And I thought wow! I want to know how it’s made! I want to watch this part first! And thus, that was the first thing that I wanted to watch first. But where do I find on the DVD?
And fiddling with the DVD chapters itself was a little cumbersome for me, trying to figure out which specific episode contained what I wanted to watch. I had to click on episode 1 and then episode 2 and then episode 3 and then finally it was episode 4 (of course) which contained the video that I wanted to watch initially.
For simplicity’s sake, I’ll list of food here :
Part 1 : Pasta
Pasta Fiesta
Kasirol Mami – Mami’s Casserole
Spaghetti Sos Pekat – Spaghetti with Thick Sauce
Salada Buah dan Sayur – Vegetables and Fruit Salad
Slurpy Joe
Part 2 : Seafood
Ikan Bakar Kampung – Grilled Fish Village Style
Ketam Goreng Lada Hitam – Black Pepper Crab
Sayur Campur Goreng dengan Ayam – Stir Fried Veggies with Chicken Chunks
Ketam Berlada Mentega Kacang – Black Pepper Crabs with Peanut Butter
Part 3 : Festive foods
Ayam Tandoori – Tandoori Chicken
Udang Mak Besar – Mami’s Prawn Delight
Nasi Kunyit Tomato – Yellow Rice with Tomato
Salada Mangga – Mango Salad
Teh Serai – Lemongrass Tea
Part 4 : Mami’s favourites
Ayam Panggang Oren – Orange Roast Chicken
Ayam Penyet – Smashed Crispy Chicken
Sup Asam Labu Siam – Sour Siamese-Pumpkin Soup
Sambal Kicap Lada Padi – Birds Eye Chili and Soy Sauce
Laksa Nenas Kasturi – Pineapple Laksa
Going through the entire DVD, there are a couple of items that looks so good, that I would love to give it a try one day like the Ikan Bakar Kampung (Grilled Fish village-style) which looks absolutely mouthwatering and Ayam Tandoori (Tandoori Chicken) which looks wonderfully spicy and of course not to mention my beloved Ayam Penyet (Smashed Chicken)
However, unless you’re living in Asia, some of the ingredients could be a little hard to find like abalone sauce, fresh pandan (aka pinescrew) leaves and candlenuts. So I guess for people living overseas, we’d just have to be clever and substitute or omit them.
Nevertheless, I tried one of her recipe which looked pretty easy to make with easily acessible ingredients – Nasi Kunyit Tomato – Yellow Rice with Tomato.
One thing that you’d have to remember is that the recipes that she demonstrates are adjusted to her own taste and thus, her techniques might not be conventional. Her pasta segment for example, will probably make an Italian mama blush because she adds spices and chili way more than any Italian would.
But I can understand why she cooks it that way – because Asians like it like that. So the dishes are adjusted for the local palette. It’s kind of like the humble pancake. Americans like it stacked and thick while French like it thin and crepe-y. It’s not wrong, it’s just how the local people prefer it. It’s not like she claims that it’s the 100% original, trusted, generation passed down recipe.
By the way, did you notice one odd thing about the DVD? Did you notice that the video is a 4:3 resolution? Which is strange because, at that resolution, it would be more apt for VCDs instead. But nevertheless, it’s not such a big deal when you start to watch Mami working her magic in the kitchen as well as as the beautiful Labrador Park.
I’m not paid to endorse this but I highly recommend this DVD not only for people living in Singapore and Malaysia, but also others living overseas as it really bring a bit of home where-ever you are. I might sound biased, but there’s a point when it’s comforting and nice to hear a familiar language once in a while.
Moreover because at this point of time, the price of each DVD is reduced to $15 SGD ($12.4 USD) which is a really good price for all these knowledge, no? Also each $10 sold from each DVD will be donated directly to the Japan Quake and Tsunami relief efforts.
Anyway, here is a 1 minute preview of the begining of her video
And to end this post, I’m going to put up an absolutely non related picture.
This is Nasi Lemak. Another thing that I like to eat and I made it yesterday and I’m very proud of it and so I’m showing off 🙂
About a month ago, I went to a kiko cosmetics shop to get some of their nail polishes. As far as I know, the polishes here are the cheapest in Italy, with a bottle costing at a minumum of 2.50 euro.
Anyway, my eyes were attracted to the ’30 days extension mascara’. I don’t know why I decided to get it in the end since I normally wear glasses and mascaras (all mascaras) tend to streak my lenses.
I think I paid about 8 euro for this (though I feel a little cheated though that now the price has dropped down to 3.90 euro!!!) And now that I’ve been using this for 30 days, I’ll do a quick review.
The mascara claims to increase the length by 169% with constant use with the help of their K2 pro-growth complex (what’s that?) and has been tested on 20 women for 30 days to prove this claim.
I’m not going to claim that I’m an expert on the ingredients. But it’s a good habit to read what the formula is made of, just in case you might find out that you could be allergic to an ingredient like silica or beeswax.
The mascara comes in a 8ml stick which is more than enough to last for about 30 days use. As far as I know, there is only one choice of colour – black.
Opening the mascara, you’d get a regular type of wand. And I don’t know if it’s just the particular stick of mascara that I bought or if I was unlucky at getting a bad batch, but the formula was so dry! Hence, it tends to be a little bit clumpy. It was as if painting the walls with semi wet paint.
The mascara is not water-proof by the way. And so it is easily washed away with regular soap. So, try not to cry when you’re using this, or you’d end up with racoon eyes!
Anyway, I have been using the mascara faithfully for about 4 hours a day. Here is what it looks like on day one.
And here is what it looks like after 30 days.
By the way, a good trick that I’ve learnt on how to put on mascara is to brush it down. Wait for it to dry a little and then brush it up like how you normally do, so you don’t stain the eyelids later on.
And … I see my lashes longer! But it’s very subtle though. I’m not sure if any of my close friends would ever tell the difference. Nevertheless, that’s pretty nifty!
If you asked me if I would buy it again, I’m not too sure, considering the dry formula that I got (but I could have been unlucky) and also as I’m mainly a glasses user, hence streaking accidents happen easily for me. And it’s such a commitment to be using it constantly during the day.
Maybe ‘the night treatment booster’ could be a better choice for me instead. Since it works the same way, and now that the price has gone down to 3.90 euro.
In the morning, we were rushing off to the mosque, which turned out to be a very stressful event as we needed to be there in time for the mass prayers but there were many traffic bottlenecks and police blockages around the way and it took us more than an hour to reach there. It wasn’t so bad the past years.
After the sermon, we then rushed off to the mercato (wet market) to get some fresh vegetables. Cart wanted to make some Parmigiana di Melanzana, Pasta con Rughetta e Pomodorini, Fried bell peppers and Fried Zucchini.
And then we rushed off to the butcher (I was worried that it won’t be opened for the holiday) to get some meat for making polpette and then the supermercato to get snacky stuff like pretzels and crodino. And in the end, we had to lug about 100kg of groceries up the 2nd floor (3rd floor in Singaporean standards) up the stairs and fairly immediately after that, started cooking to host some friends afterwards.
We started cooking from 4pm and only finished everything at about 9pm. Even the simplest Italian food becomes tiring to make when you times it by 10 people. Just think if I made proper Malay food
Phew! I’m so exhausted. I think I’ll just slack around today
In the meanwhile, can you spot something interesting here?
Usually around this time, when I was living with my parent’s, we would be busy preparing for Hari Raya, the end of our month long fast. And the house would be in a chaotic state – we’d be hanging the curtains, baking cakes, tidying up the house, prepping for lunch and dinner for the humongous amount of relatives that will be arriving later.
My big fat greek wedding pales in comparison to the amount of MY relatives
I’ve always hated all this fuss. All these chores are extremely tiring and to be honest, quite unecessary. Nevertheless, I enjoy being surrounded by relatives and friends, despite how eccentric many of them are … you know, there will always be an uncle who loves to blast his karaoke set, an aunt who would chatter non stop, the emo cousin and such.
For fun, I’ll put a picture of me and my non emo cousins and aunt back in 2004
And so, I was thinking of baking some cookies during the weekend, and planned to make Nasi Lemak for the guests to eat when they arrive later. After all, if they can’t take the heat of curry or even ayam masak merah, I should be fine with Nasi Lemak right? It’s the mildest (and relatively easy to make) Malay food that I can think of.
And then I found out that all of my Muslim friends aren’t in Rome, and even my family in laws won’t be able to make it since it’s not a public holiday in Rome and they had to go work.
And while trying to gather the ingredients, I started to get emo and mind started to go into a monologue :
“Why bother with the cooking? No one is coming over anyway? There is no one to cook for”
And I suddenly felt so lonely and started to feel depressed.
After skyping my family and friends, I feel better now though.
Sidenote : Just wanted to clarify why I prefer inviting Muslim friends over for the first day is because we’ve all went through the gruelling 30 day fasting together. Of course everyone else are welcome too. We’ve invited a couple of friends over already 🙂
