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.
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.
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 đ
Know someone unattractive?
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 …
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!
Cart and I were at the Rose Garden in Circo Massimo last weekend. It has 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 a very touristy destination, but like Parco Laghetto, it’s another side of Rome which I find very charming.
Unfortunately, we’ve been having a rather bad 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 didn’t look so “fresh”. Nevertheless, it was 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.
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 should see, is this large FAO building. Follow the road, 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.
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.
There were so many kinds of roses here, it was 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.
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.
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, it was probably dyed.
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 who got trapped and suffocated under the rose petals.
Did you know that it takes 900 kg 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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
So if you’re in Rome during springtime, don’t forget to visit the lovely and charming rose garden near Circo Massimo and get lost in all it’s beauty.
Just in case you were wondering, my favourite flowers are yellow roses đ
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?
Katie-Lucie was asking me if I’ve heard of a strawberry ketchup in my strawberry risotto post. I haven’t but for today, I’m going to show you, 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.
Basically its made up of bananas, water, sugar, vinegar, salt and starch. A red dye was added to make it look like ketchup. I think that it would be better if it wasn’t dyed. Its kind of deceiving to be something that it’s not.
Nevertheless 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.
Visually, it looks kind of tomato ketchup even with the lumpy banana bits in the sauce. Taste wise, it was not bad. But it does takes a bit of getting used to as 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.
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.
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 more confident in myself.
And then it dawned to me.
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 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?!
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.
First melt some butter in a pot. Add some chopped onions and then some chopped strawberries.
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.
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.
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.
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*
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!
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
I feel very honored! But if that were to happen, people would probably switch off the tv. Yeah?
Its very rare for me to fall in love at first sight.
One of the things that I fell crazy in love was the Vespa GT 200. I was surfing through the internet innocently some years back, stumbled upon it and at first look, there was a deep longing and I knew that it just had to be mine.
So much so that at the time when I didn’t have a riding license, I was willing to sacrifice time and money to learn to take my 2B riding license.
It was a lot of sweat and tears. I still remember having to go through the 8 ring in a certain amount of time and the emergency break round was one of the scariest one for me since the floor was wet and there was a chance to slip. But it was worth it in the end.
And the day when I finally got my baby Vespa was one of the most thrilling experience of my life. And I loved every moment. And I’ve never regretted it. Its the feeling of having your own wings and be able to fly.
Since moving to Italy, I havent rode on a scooter for a while. Firstly because I had to start all over again since Italy doesn’t accept to convert Singapore riding license since I’m living here permanently. I was accompanying Cart to the Motorizzazione Civile (driving school) to have his license replaced when his wallet was stolen last year. I was looking through the list of licences and thought to myself. Rather than just getting a patentino, which allowed you to drive a motorcycle, I might as well get the patente which lets me drive both motorcycles and cars.
But which car would I choose? I don’t know yet. Perhaps the smart car?
Its small, its cute and it looks pretty suitable for city driving since it looks easier to find parking with it in the limited amount of parking spaces here in Rome. Only thing is that its a two seater. And contrary to the namesake, Cart thinks that most smart drivers aren’t very smart.
But all that chanced when Cart and I were walking in Parco Laghetto last sunday for our exercise. There was a police fair going on and then I spotted this and I was totally mesmerized.
Isn’t it the cutest thing? Its like Mr’s Bean’s car only much much much cuter. I love the shape, I love the design. I love everything about it. Its so adorable!
Its the Fiat 500! In Italian, 500 is cinquecento, and I love the character the car oozes out. Just like my vespa. Did you know that Michael Schumacher, multiple world champion of the Formula 1, has a couple of cinquecento himself? Good taste.
Even the insides is really cute. I love the choice of cream coloured steering wheel and the bright and happy red seats. Check out the dashboard! Isn’t it totally retro? I think I’d feel happy just sitting and driving in this.
The only problem is that the car is really small. Meant to fit 4 people at the same time, it looks quite cramped. Judging from the picture of me next to it, I could probably fit in fine, but poor Cartcart would probably feel like he is in a sardine can with this. Imagine if we had to drive all the way from Rome to Milan in this.
Actually, I don’t want to imagine being in this for 10 hours. It was tiring enough being in a roadtrip from Rome to Napoli.
But in anycase, now as I am typing this, I feel like kicking myself for not opening the door, and sitting down to get a feel of it. I was just too chicken with all the police swarming all over the place (it was a police fair after all) and the last thing I wanted was to have them catch me and fold me into two or something. Cart said that there are still people driving this car and will ask around for me to have a go for it, but I don’t wanna feel like I’m a bother.
In any case, this model isn’t manufactured anymore with the last one being produced in 1975. And instead, its been replaced by the Fiat 500 nuovo. Its vastly improved with better safety system like 7 airbags all around, comforts of airconditiong, and USB drive where you could plug in to listen to music. And its slightly bigger, so it should be more comfortable for passengers.
So if I’d choose a car, I’d probably choose the Fiat 500 nuova.
The main thing to do now is to work and save up about 15k euro. But to do that, I’d have to get a job first because I’d hate to have to depend on Cart for everything. And to get a job, I should be more fluent in Italian.
Le Sigh! The things I do for love.
In the meanwhile, check out this retro video advert of the cinquecento. Very cool!
Hopefully all goes well and I’d get one. Would you hope for me too?
Sidenote : I also saw a police lamborghini at the fair.
Ok question. Why would the police need a lamborghini? Cart thinks that its for the speedy transport of important items like a human transplant or documents.
After visiting a couple of museums in Rome during the last week of April, Cart and I were looking forward to visiting more museums. By chance, I got to know about the La Notte Dei Musei event through a friend.
La Notte Dei Musei is held in conjunction with the international museum day where there will be events in museums along 40 other participating countries worldwide. Cart and I were browsing through the Rome museum website, where we finally decided to visit the Musei Strumenti Musicali.
It was a dreary and cold Saturday in Rome. It has been raining the entire day and it felt really cold despite the fact that it was already the middle of May. I was amazed to see that temperature dropped down to 13 degrees celsius as if winter was back again. Nevertheless, that didn’t seem to stop the throngs of people, including us, from visiting the participating museums. When we reached the museum of musical instruments at about 10 pm, there was a healthy crowd walking around already.
There was only one floor that was being displayed, but there were loads to see anyway.
One of the first displays that I saw was the harpsichord. It was interesting to see how it evolved from a harpsichord to the modern piano that we have today. What I noticed was that all of them looked very ornate and richly decorated – probably meant for upper class society.
But what was more intriguing to me was how tiny it was. The size of an 18th century harpsichord looked as if it was meant for children instead of adults.
We then walked past the harps, the stringed instruments and others and we found ourselves in the musical box room.
This is very old. It goes back to old technology where they used parchments with holes in them to create the sound. Not sure if you could see in the picture, but there is a roll with little metal bit that looked a lot like staplers which is part of a music box too. But regardless of it being old technology, it was decorated very beautifully.
Later on, Cart and I walked over to the area where there on display were instruments from all over the world. It was interesting to me how instruments were influenced. Much like the display from the medieval times that impressed me, like Sawfish sword and the puffer fish hat, I was amazed at the use of accessible items. There was a Chinese Er Hu wrapped with snakeskin, a South America horn made of Donkey jawbone and then we saw this.
Guitars made of Armadillo. Its kind of bitter sweet that a cute armadillo ends up as an entertaining device.
There were also other segments such as the military musical instruments, hunting musical instruments and art based on musical instruments but the highlight of the night was the concert.
I thought that we could be smart and head there about 10 minutes before it started so that we’d have seats. But when we reached the performance room, it was almost full house and we realised that only those pre-registered with a blue sticker had priority.
Fortunately for us, the caretaker looked at our pitiful faces and found two empty seats for us at the back.
It was impressive how beautiful and full the group sounded like, even with just three instruments – There was a pianist, a violinist and a horn player. And they were so good! It was so lovely to see how expressive they were.
Here is recording of one of the pieces that the played. I hope you stay till the end of the video, it’s worth listening to đ
Don’t they sound lovely? It didn’t seem too long after that the concert was over. Nevertheless Cart and I were thrilled to have been able to have the opportunity to watch it and we are looking forward to visiting another event such as this.
Chicken is one of my favourite food to eat. Nasi Ayam. Ayam Penyet. I’ll whack them all, if only the ingredients to make them were more accessible
Here in Italy, practically every pizzeria al taglio sells roasted chicken. And the smell of a freshly made one is really tempting. I haven’t eaten one though, since its very difficult to find a halal restaurant here. Although, its not that difficult to find a halal butchery in Rome. So you just have to make it yourself.
My mum in law made me a chicken dish a while back and I loved it so much that I asked her to teach me and have been practically eating this for about once a week. It is called, Pollo alla Cacciatora which means, Hunter’s style chicken in Italian. Which probably means that the dish originated with hunters probably cooking this fresh on a pan over burning wood.
Anyway! Its so yummy and so easy to make. I dont have much pictures, but its quite straightforward
First clean and chop your chicken in small pieces and fry them in a bit of olive oil and garlic. You can slice the garlic so the oil gets infused better.
Then add some pieces of dried peperoncino which you break into small bits. Pepperoncino is Italian for small chilli. In Singapore, its more commonly known as Chili Padi
And when the chicken turns brown, you add a little bit of vinegar. And once its infused, you add one chopped fresh tomato then a sprig of rosemary. Once the tomatoes get cooked, its done and its time to eat!
Yummeh!
Sidenote : This is probably obvious to most but don’t rub your fingers in your eyes or put on contact lenses once you’ve cooked this. Personal experience.
