Things to Do While in Rome: Testaccio Market

"But before we can radically reshape the world, we need to shop.”  John Green

Let's get it out right away, I love markets, food markets that is.  If you really want to get to know a city and its people, go to the local market and observe how the microcosmos of a neighborhood work.  Growing up in South America, my Saturday morning routine included a visit to the market with my mother, you always got the best deals and came home with baskets full of treasures, and fresh fish.  A market can be a bit intimidating, vendors are loud especially if the place is crowded, but no other spot is so full of life and real city scenes than the market. 

If you are coming to Rome, make sure you carve some time to visit the Testaccio market.  Testaccio is a Roman neighborhood on the south west of the city center.  Many connoisseurs say Testaccio is one of the few Roman neighborhoods that has kept its original "flavor", where you do not see many tourists and life is like that of a small town.  To get to the Testaccio market, take the Metro B to the Piramide stop from where you'll have a ten minute walk to reach the market.

This market can be a one-stop-shop as you do not only find fresh produce but you'll also find great deals in shoes, bags, belts, vintage cooking ware; basically anything your heart desires and more. 

If you love food, I would encourage you to join the Taste of Testaccio eating tour, that will take you around the neighborhood with a stop at the Testaccio Market.  The stories I learned about many of the vendors made me love this place even more.

If you are there around lunch or dinner time, a couple restaurants I can recommend are Angelina at Testaccio and Flavio  al Velavevadetto, both great at making the typical Roman dishes (don't know what the typical Roman dishes are? click here!)

Hope you have the chance to visit this charming part of #Rome!

PS. Keep your eyes open and see if you can spot the cool street art around Testaccio...

Arrivederci for now,

From Me To You

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”  Pablo Picasso

Gift giving is something many of us associate with birthdays and Christmas, at least I know I do. But in reality we should not have to wait for a certain date to share a gift with those we love.  And I am really enjoying the trend of "paying it forward", when people do something nice for a complete stranger without expecting anything in return.  The world is so crazy right now, that those on the side of peace, love and tolerance, need to step up our game and give more of us to the world.

There are people who are natural givers, including my sister-in-law and my friends Rosi.  No matter how busy they are and how hard life is at a particular moment, they always find time for others and in my opinion, there is no better gift to give than your time and your presence.

But going back to my recurrent theme of all things Italian, I wanted to share with you how much I appreciate gift giving in Italy, as many people still give culinary presents to each other.  And I'm not talking about a box of chocolates they picked up at the store, I'm talking about jellies and preservers, garlic-flavored olive oil and spicy pepperoncino, all home made.  I can only imagine the amount of time and work it took the cook to peel, cut, process and bottle a preserve.  I don't care if I get onion jelly in a jar that used to hold tomatoes, I don't care if the presentation is not as fancy as the one from the store.  Home-made-with-love is the only label I really care about.  (PS. have you every tried onion jelly? yummo!!)  And all the jars used for these culinary presents are reused and recycled.

A couple of weeks ago, when the season for lemons was in full swing, we received a whole bunch of organic lemons from a friend of ours.  Son#2 made tons of lemonade and I baked my friend Laura's Lemon Cake, but my husband really wanted to try making home-made Limoncello.

So today, from me to you, here is my Hubby's Limoncello recipe:

Peel the lemons making sure you are only taking the yellow part of the peel (leave the white part behind, it will make your limoncello bitter).  Pour the alcohol in a big glass container and add the lemon peel.  Leave the concoction to macerate for 11 to 15 days.  Shake the container every day.  After your long wait, make a syrup with water and sugar (bring the water to a boil, pour the sugar and mix until it dissolves) let it cool completely.  Pour your alcohol mix through a strainer or cheese cloth to get rid of the lemon peel.  Add your alcohol mixture to your cool syrup.  Mix well. Pour your home made Limoncello into glass bottles and keep it in the freezer.  Enjoy a chilled shot glass after dinner.

Arrivederci, and pay it forward whenever you can!

Learning About Food

“This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook- try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!” Julia Child

One of the joys of living in Italy has been learning more about food.  The way Italians prepare their food accepting nothing but the best ingredients is something we should all learn from them, as food can make you sick or it can be your best medicine.  I will certainly take with me the fact that the closer you are to the source of your produce, the better your food will taste.  And the cleaner your food is (less processed), the healthier you'll be.

I've had the pleasure to meet Rita, an Italian friend who runs a county-style restaurant where she also gives cooking lessons to those foreigners crazy about Italian food, like me.  I've learned lots of good cooking tips from Rita, but her passion for eating unprocessed foods when mother Earth gives them to you, is in my opinion the best lesson to take away.

In Italy they respect the cycles of the earth, and the produce you find available at the markets is what's in season in Italy at the moment.  If you are American, you've probably been spoiled by having every fruit or vegetable available to you whenever you want it.  You just have to come to accept that produce travels from far away places to end up at your table.  But, have you ever really considered when was your produce harvested and how long has its trip been before reaching your table?

"Farm to table" is not a trendy concept here in Italy,  it's a way of living, and my friend Rita, lives by this principle as she grows her own vegetables or finds sources as close to her as possible.  Needless to say, her cuisine is divine.  If you are in Rome and have enough time to escape the city for a countryside lunch or brunch, look her up: A Casa Di Rita.  You won't regret it.  And if you live in Rome, check out her cooking lessons, they are the best!

Arrivederci for now,

A Light One Before the Food Coma: Veggie Pancakes Recipe

"To lengthen your life, shorten your meals."  Proverb

The holiday season is coming and with it, all the overeating of the get togethers, cookie exchanges and holiday meals.  Yesterday I decided to make some veggie pancakes to lighten up a little before the food-coma of the holidays. 

This veggie pancake recipe is perfect for those days when you want to use up leftover veggies that have remained in your fridge at the end of the week.  An alternative to making soup with whatever you find in your fridge.  And a great vegetarian alternative to serve with a side of lentils.

Separate your egg whites and yolks,

 and beat the egg whites until they are fluffy and full of air.

  Add the yolks one by one and incorporate to the whites. 

 In a frying pan with a little bit of oil,

 sauté your onions and add your cooked veggies,

 season to taste.  

I used fresh zucchini, added a cup of frozen veggie mix and ended with swiss chard.

  All the veggies will get softer after 5 minutes and the greens (spinach or any fresh greens) will whittle. 

Sprinkle the flour and baking powder to your beaten eggs.

Add your cooked veggies to the mixture and incorporate them gently.

Cook on a griddle like if you were making pancakes,

 make small sizes for parties or regular sizes to eat with a meal.  

Enjoy!!

If you make them, let me know how they came out.  Do you have a good vegetarian recipe to share with me?

Arrivederci,

Eating Real Food, Staying Healthy

"Your body was meant to run on good food: fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and lots of water. Eat good food!” Tom Giaquinto

I just finished watching a documentary called "FedUp" and mamma mia!  how sad it is to see the way people's poor eating habits affect their health and most importantly that of their children.  Let me back up for a second and explain my observations about the American obesity epidemic after living overseas for so long.

We've been living abroad for a while now and every time we went back to the U.S. it was impossible not to notice how America has changed over the last decades.  It was like seeing a child after a few years and noticing how much he has grown.  Our perception of America was heightened by the fact that we were not living in it and seeing it get larger every day.

I noticed our compatriots' growing waist size by realizing that every time I went back to the U.S. and bought a pair of jeans I had to reach for a smaller size even though my body was certainly not getting smaller.  Portions at restaurants were getting so overwhelmingly large, we had a hard time finishing any meal.  I had to order only one plate of the kid's menu and split it between my two boys and even then, I had leftovers to take home.  Soon, I also started splitting meals with my husband.  At the grocery store, choosing fruits and vegetables was always more expensive than buying processed foods.

This is how real food looks like, no wrappers, no brands!

Another simple observation was the super scientific fact that every time I went back to the U.S. I gained weight.  That is a recurrent comment from most visiting foreigners.  They laugh about the super large sizes found in the U.S. and talk about how much they love America's junk food.  Their advantage is that they get to go back home, eat better food and loose the weigh efforlessly.  Americans are in that respect "trapped".  The movie #FedUp opens your eyes on the subject.  I highly recommend it to every person living in America.   Hopefully you'll make better choices when it comes to what you put in your body.

A point that was highlighted at the end of the movie was that cooking home meals from real ingredients was basically the answer, and I couldn't agree more.  So, to be consistent with my wish to eat better in order to be healthy and to teach my kids to eat real food, I try to learn fun recipes and involve my kids in the cooking process.

I learned this recipe from a Japanese friend of mine, and it was approved by my teenagers.  So here it goes:

                                Nikumaki

• Buy thinly sliced meat (you can look for carpaccio meat);
• Cut carrots and string beans into long finger-size strips;
• Steam the veggies;
• Lay the meat flat and season it with salt pepper;
• Place the veggies on one end of the meat and roll;
• Once you finished rolling all your meat, season the outside of your rolls and sprinkle flour on top; 
• Pan fry them, making sure all sides are fully cooked.
• The veggies inside are already cook so you are looking to brown the meat which only takes a minute when it is carpaccio meat (very very thin).

This part is my spin on the recipe:

• Take the rolls out of the pan and set aside.  Add chopped onion or scallions to the hot pan;
• Cook until translucent;
• Season with salt pepper and a splash of soy sauce, stir for a couple of minutes;
• Pour onions over rolls and serve.  You just made Nikumaki!

Serve with a side of rice and salad.

Enjoy! And don't forget to eat real food, make the time to cook at home and reap the benefits.  Do you have a healthy recipe to share?