September 21, 2023
Day Twelve
September 12, 2023
Biscotti – Zoe, Jacob, Swadesh
Jacob
What is up everybody! I had a great morning today. Someone else’s alarm woke me up around 7:50. I went through my morning routine: play a few rounds of chess, make my bed, get dressed, down some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and then brush my teeth.
I realize that it sounds weird that I have Cinnamon Toast Crunch first thing in the morning especially when in Rome. I would like to clarify that this is not a part of my morning routine at home. I brought Cinnamon Toast Crunch for a snack on the plane ride but accidentally packed it in my check bag, so that didn’t work out. I have some every morning so it does not go to waste. However, it does not take the place of an authentic Italian breakfast; I always make sure to get one. Think of the cereal as a little boost.
I still had about 45 minutes before having to meet up with the group so I decided to go get some grub from a café. I had a wonderful cappuccino and a giant cornneto cioccolato. Throughout my time in Rome I have had a blast ordering food in Italian. When going to a different country, I highly recommend learning how to order food in the local language if nothing else. It’s usually pretty simple and for two minutes you will feel like you are fluent in the language. At least I do, it’s a huge confidence boost for me.
A few hours later I had a prosciutto and mozzarella panini and a slice of focaccia. Both were exemplary. Unfortunately though, it was very greasy and I did not have a napkin. I was not about to touch my phone.
What amazes me about Italian food is how many dishes have only a few ingredients. They seem rather simple. For example, the panini I had was just bread, prosciutto, mozzarella, and olive oil. A pizza bianca is just dough, oil, and cheese. A pizza margherita is just dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil. You get the idea. Yet somehow I am never able to replicate the food I find here. I can get pretty close but when I cook Italian food it always seems to be missing something. It’s never quite as good. Maybe my ingredients are not as good? Or maybe I’m just not in the right setting? Who knows? Anyways, the food here is great!
Zoe
Today our group met at the St. John’s University dorms, where we met Professor Wong’s wife and we started our walk to the bus stop. We were going to the Testaccio neighborhood.
We briefly stopped for a mini-lesson at the cemetery in the Testaccio neighborhood where World War II soldiers were buried. We had the chance to journal here for a bit before we resumed our walk to the Testaccio Market. The Testaccio Market is a huge complex of over a hundred food and shopping stalls. The market caters to locals, so a big group of American teenagers walking around was quite out of place.
Some of us decided to take Professor Wong’s recommendation and go to the Toastaccio stand, where they have about every topping you can imagine between two slices of toasted bread. I got one with hot dog slices, cheddar cheese, french fries, and barbecue sauce. I guess I was missing America.
Eleanor and I returned to the dorms after and sorted through some of the books we had gotten on a late night run to La Feltrinelli bookstore a few nights prior, and got in some good reading and journaling before we decided to venture back out for food. We found a good place that served big plates of any kind of pasta you could ever want, and for cheap, too. We enjoyed that part very much. Eleanor and I both enjoy a sweet treat after dinner, so we bussed and got lost and walked back to Giolitti, the gelato shop Professor Wong took the whole class to the day we saw the Trevi Fountain. It was even better the second time.
We decided since we were there, we would see the Trevi Fountain at night. I personally think it looks way cooler at night. After helping some fellow Americans get their perfect shot of them throwing a coin into the fountain, we finally decided to call it a night. And by that I mean we read for a few more hours and stayed up late with the assurance that the next day was a free day.
Swadesh
It’s Tuesday the 12th!
Sort of an oddly positioned day, actually, when I think about it. The 12th (and the 11th before it) is right in between two of the program’s assigned break days, where unusually proactive students can explore more of what Italy has to offer (and where less ambitious students can catch up on blissful sleep). Today had a bit of that in-between energy: a good, healthy mix of both movement and relaxation, with neither overpowering the other.
We started the morning with a trip to Testaccio, an energetic neighborhood with a blend of historical and modern delights to offer. Among these was a thriving local market (though the phrase doesn’t really capture the fast-paced magic of the place) that I was particularly eager to visit.
After touching down, our class was led on a brief walk to the cemetery. ‘There’s a real weight to this place,’ I scribbled into my little black journal, ‘and a duality to acknowledge as well’ — the crumbling bodies of the deceased feeding lush greenery and wet grass, life and death held apart by only a thin layer of soil.
On entering, a few of us signed our names and offered our “Rest(s) In Peace” in a visitor log book at the entrance. I took this photo shortly after:
We spent a large part of the morning walking down the rows of graves, often pausing to jot down a stray thought or budding reflection exactly as it hit. One isolated area honored a young boy, a middle-aged man, and an older gentleman — all buried side by side. Human conflict doesn’t always sift, their placement may have been telling us, between the guilty and the innocent.
After some more time sitting and journaling in the cemetery, we were eventually led out and set loose on the Testaccio market. Groups began forming and going down their own paths almost immediately; a number of us decided to get lunch at a well-recommended place in the heart of the market. Their specialty was bread dishes, and they were located in the Testaccio market — can you see the pun?
Toastaccio!
One cool feature became apparent to me after I read the menu in detail, while I was waiting in line for my order; there were only two employees present when we got there, and our hungry group of eight would have been a task to feed for twice as many. Here, why don’t you give it a shot? If you’ve been keeping up with the blogs, perhaps you’ll have a slight advantage…
Spoilers incoming, so give the menu a close read and see if you can spot what’s different about it if you haven’t already:
All of the sandwiches were named after districts and neighborhoods in Rome! Isn’t that a delightful concept? I wonder if any restaurants where I live have something like that going on. Though I know very little about regional cuisine in Rome, I’d guess the preparation of the sandwiches themselves might have something to do with the places they were named for.
(Another lovely feature of the menu was the large set of vegetarian toast options, which I personally greatly appreciated).
After much indecision, I settled on ordering a Tor Marancia. Here’s what it looked like:
The picture doesn’t really capture how good it tasted. But let me say: if you’re ever in the area, you simply must try a sandwich at Toastaccio!
After a morning containing a fair amount of movement, the remainder of the day was more low-key — I spent it on a trip back to the dorms, more time for journaling and reflecting (and putting together the first part of this blog!), a shopping run, hanging out with my roommates, and hashing out plans for how I’d be using the break day tomorrow.
I would say that’s enough food journalism for a day, but as luck would have it, food is today’s theme! And as I didn’t have much of a breakfast (a smoothie at Vero), I’ll pay my dues in dinner.
By today, we had all gotten a chance to get to know our part of town a little bit more. It was easier to navigate to places without using Google Maps (or equivalent mapping software), and we had all started getting a sense of where the best places were for an evening walk, for a gelato — or for a meal.
And for me, that place was Pastasciutta.
Pastasciutta (4.7 stars, a few thousand reviews) was undoubtedly my favorite pasta in Rome. Of course, one doesn’t have to look very hard to find great pasta here — but this place really nails it, every single time. I would post pictures, except my every visit is too filled with vicious pasta devouring to leave any time to pull out my phone. So here’s this, from their website:
(image credit: Pastasciutta Roma)
AAAAAH doesn’t it look so good?
Over the visits I’ve paid to this Pastasciutta so far, I’ve typically switched between the pomodoro (tomato) and pesto (um, pesto) options on the menu; excellent, dependable, vegetarian meals I could eat inside the restaurant’s warmly lit ambience — or take out to go. This time, I went with a party of six, which was steady growth from the one person I’d come with the first time. Cacio e pepes and carbonaras galore flowed out of the kitchens and into our bowls. We all had a marvelous time and the food, as ever, didn’t disappoint.
Writing anything more about Pastasciutta at this late hour would only tempt me to go back out there and gobble up another bowl — so for the sake of all parties involved, I’ll call it a night.