reminiscing rome

my husband liked rome more than paris. must be the warmer weather, ubiquitous pinoys (even our hotel receptionist was pinay), and the almost manila-like chaos which one misses in most parts of Europe. it feels like home indeed, but chicer, with much better views and definitely richer backstory.

and the food!

it's the food i remember the most when i think of this city. pizzerias are like our very own carinderias, turo-turo style. i-turo mo, ititimbang ko. you don't order pizza in small, medium, large. you point the variety you like, show how big you want to take, then the pizza guy cuts and weighs it. you order coke, and munch it in a small table in the corner or standing by the bar. then you listen to the melodic italian chatter of the policemen, the vendor and the other regulars, and it feels like a scene in NYPD blue.

the pizzas in these turo turo taste way much better than the ones offered in our posh italian restos here. but i love the ones by YC and CPK nonetheless, dear darla most especially.

bars refer to the coffee bars, because italians take their coffee seriously. no collectible Starbucks rome city mug for me, because it's utterly pointless to have Starbucks in Rome (and of course they don't have one single branch there). (pardon the two becauses)

romans swarm these coffee bars for their after-lunch espresso fix. italians like it black and bitter. no fancy coffee concoctions here. they drink their milk only in the mornings as lactose is thought to disrupt the digestive process (or something like that).

i think italians are generally minimalist when it comes to their coffee, and even fish dishes*. they want it plain and simple, no fuss, no frills. i remember one jamie oliver show where an old italian guy told jamie to skip the herbs because it will only overpower the natural flavor of the fish.

cold winter nights are no exception for enjoying a scoop or two of gelato. this i realized one night in trastevere where we had our budget-friendly dinner (we left no tip, because we had no euros to spare, and i absolutely regretted it afterwards. one should always honor good service).

St. Peter's Basilica is grandiose and overwhelming with details to the point of vanity. but that's just me. there will always be arguments about reserving the bestest and the most grandiose for God. i should have no problem with that, except that there's so much poverty around that grandiose is so out of context. whatever. i probably have no point here. i probably am just not a fan of grandiose.

the ruins in rome are all beautiful and majestic (even in ruins at that!). but they are reminders of the perversion humanity once glorified, if not enjoyed. proof that beauty and good don't always go together. then again, they are also reminders of humanity's endless capacity for change and continued enlightenment. so that makes these ruins good right? perhaps there's always good in something beautiful.

whatever.

*my picture below says otherwise. but generally, they like it with salt and nothing much else when it comes to grilling fish