Ravioli

During my time in Verona I tried the best ravioli I have ever had in my life. I went to a little ravioli specialty shop, where only fresh pasta and bread were sold. I bought ten ravioli of Monte Veronese cheese filling to see what kind of ravioli Italy had to offer. How glad I am that I did! I went home and cooked them for about ten minute. I added olive oil and Parmesan cheese. What an appetizing meal! So simple and yet so fulfilling. I liked these ravioli so much that I ate this for three days in a row. I believe that the freshness did it for me. I also had fresh bread to accompany the dish. This homemade meal was one of the best meals I had in Italy and in my life. My greatest surprise is the fact that the delicious dish did not contain any meat at all. I am a meat lover; I cannot eat without meat. But these cheese filled deliciousness was better than steak. This shows that simple can be delicious and healthy at the same time. Go pasta Go!

Rome

Rome was somewhat disappointing. It was crowded, rushed and very touristy. On top of that the food service was horrible. Erica, Jenny, Nick and I went to a restaurant right across from the Vatican Museum. Before even entering the place we knew it was not going to be a good experience. The waiter dragged us into the restaurant and within less than a minute after having sat down he asked us for our orders. We had not even had a chance to look at the menu yet and this person was already rushing us. He asked us more than five times if we were ready to order. Finally, ten minutes after we ordered. This environment frustrated us, making our meals not as enjoyable as they should have been. Everything was reheated and did not taste very good. I believe that most of the lack of taste of the meal was due to the harsh environment. This is the perfect proof to show that environment plays a key role in the art of eating.

Since we had such a bad experience eating out and little money, we decided to try home made. We went to one of the little food shops down the street from the apartment we rented, which by the way was not touristy at all. It seemed like if real Italians lived there, and I loved it. We ate sausage with noodles which were really incredible. The sausage was so fresh and so tasty that it was amazing. The next day we had mashed potatoes with stake which was also delicious. Even though we were in Rome and we should have wanted to experience the city to the fullest, we had more fun cooking ourselves and enjoying the freshness of the local food than eating out. I believe that people enjoy food much better when they feel like they have all the time in the world to eat. I would like to lose the habit of eating rushing because my day is much more pleasant when there is no rush involved in my meals. I believe that that restaurant in Rome should learn it too in order to keep customers.

Nights of home made

On Monday night we eat in a Nick was our cook. He said that he would surprise Sara and me with some kind of pasta dish. When he arrived to our apartment he had vegetables, cheese, olive oil and some other ingredients. First, he lightly fried a small piece of meat. Then, he sautéed red and green peppers until they turned almost black. Right after, he cut the meat into strips and mixed it up with the peppers. Separately, he made a cream and cheese sauce. This sauce was mixed with fresh pasta. At the end with ended up mixing the pasta with the sauce and the meat. It was a marvelous combination. We had wonderful time hanging out and cooking dinner.


On Tuesday night, Rala invited Sara, Rachael, Erica and I to have dinner at her house. As we were getting comfortable in her house, we introduced ourselves to Erica, who arrived earlier that day. She was a little jetlagged and we were trying to keep her awake. Throughout the course of the conversations, Rala put to use her culinary skills. She prepared a three course meal of real Italian food. First, she prepared a pomodoro sauce with sautéed vegetables. In addition, she cooked gnocchi, which were obtained at that great ravioli store by Piazza Isolo. This was our primi piatti, gnocchi with pomodoro sauce and mozzarella. Another thing that Rala had on her pan was ground meat. This meat was in the form on meat ball. At the end they looked like hamburgers shaped like balls. As contorno we had string beans. As people know by now, I do not eat vegetable, so I mixed the gnocchi with pomodoro with the meat balls. It was a great combination I must say. For desert we had a kind of corn meal with almonds cookie. We had a wonderful dinner, thank you Rala.