10 Most Memorable Meals of My Life - Rome

I have not blogged in quite some time. I guess I’m not really into the “here’s what’s going on in my life” sort of posts… that what Facebook status updates are for! But a long term project – that is something I get excited about.

This is the first of 10 entries describing the 10 most memorable meals I have ever had. Most posts will also double as restaurant recommendations, although only a few are local. Just like my movie list, the list has already been compiled and will not change… unless I have a truly phenomenal meal in the next few months (which is not out of the question with trips to Texas and New York on the horizon). Unlike the movie list, this is not a “ranking”, it is just 10 great meals that I have had in the course of my life that I remember. Note that it is not the “10 best meals” – in that case my mom’s cooking would be featured in almost every spot!

The first meal I want to write about was our first dinner in Rome, pictured below. We flew in that day from SF, stopping over in Amsterdam, and were pretty tired and jet-lagged, but decided we needed to push through it and not take naps so that we could get onto Italy time. It made it a little difficult in that Italians tend to eat late… many restaurants don’t even open until 7 pm. We consulted our trusty Rick Steves Guidebook that recommended a restaurant not far from our hotel called Est! Est! Est! Now, according to the Italian translation tool I just used, est is not even a word in Italian, let alone Est! Est! Est! So most likely, this is a restaurant that is catering towards tourists who don’t even know how to speak Italian. I don’t care. It was good.

As you can see from the photo, we ate outside on the sidewalk. The restaurant was located at the end of a cul-de-sac, next to an interesting stone façade (pictured in the background) that may or may not have been the phone company (we were trying to figure out what the sign said). Across the street was one of a number of Chinese restaurants we ran across in Italy, this one named Mr. Chow’s. Needless to say, we never got around to sampling the Chinese cuisine in Italy.

Onto the food: in Italy, you don’t just order one thing off the menu. It’s not like you pick the “steak and baked potato which comes with a salad”. Nah, you get to pick every little part of the meal. Which can add up if you’re not careful, especially since you have to pay for water! It feels strange to go to a nice restaurant and not have the waiter come over and pour you some ice water when you sit down. You have to order the water: and then they ask you if you want it “naturale” (regular) or “gesata” (sparkling). It usually costs a couple bucks per person. The funny thing is that often you can find wine on the menu that is cheaper than their water! Certainly you can find wine that is cheaper than soda in Italy, at one restaurant we visited (and it wasn’t even a fancy one) they were selling cans of normal, everyday soda for 4 euros, which is about $5.75!

So the way it works is you start with an antipasti, or appetizer. At Est! Est! Est! we went real traditional and got 2 – a tomato/mozzarella salad and a plate of sliced salami and prosciutto. The salami was just alright – the wild boar salami we had later at the panini place in Florence that Ginger D recommended was better – but the prosciutto was unbelievable, and I am not big on ham (although some would say a big ham I am). It was sliced so thin, it just melted in your mouth. Eating it reminded me of the scene in Ratatouille where there are fireworks going off in Remy's head when he tastes something. Next to the gelato, that was the best tasting thing we had the whole time we were in Italy, I thought.

Next up, you order a primi dish, or first dish. This is usually pasta or pizza. That night we had a pizza Marghuerite, which is just sauce, cheese, tomatoes and basil. But that was one TASTY pizza. Be warned, if you go to Italy and order a pizza with pepperoni, they’ll bring you a pizza with things like peppercini’s on it. There is another word for pepperoni.

Next, you get a secundo dish, or second dish. This is usually some sort of meat and is more expensive than the first dish. Italians generally agree that the secondo is less interesting than the primi. So we didn’t bother getting one that night. Although there were other nights where we did, such as the MASSIVE steak-for-two we got in Florence. But I agree, the pasta and pizza in Italy was more exciting than the steak and chicken.

So that sums up our first meal in Rome. I forgot to include the best thing about it: the price! A mere 19 euros, or about $26. And that included a glass of wine for each of us! So, when in Rome, visit Est! Est! Est!

Mustache Night

For those of you who know that we just returned from a vacation in Italy, these might not be the blog updates you're looking for. Blog posts from Italy will be coming, but not today as my brain is too foggy from a nasty head cold. Instead, enjoy a few pictures of the things Danny does for youth ministry. Our first Tuesday night youth group after vacation was "Mustache Night," so he had been growing facial hair (against both of our wishes, haha) since our vacation. He shaved the day of youth group and created what he called the "mustbeard." It was a hit at youth group, but it was a hit with me when it was gone the next day! (I was glad he kept it on long enough to get some pictures, though!)

For more laughs, read the writing on Danny's shirt. He thought it was appropriate for the look.