But, it’s not all bad. Sure– the apartment is tiny, the bed is uncomfortable, the broken glass on my bedroom door is thinly concealed with duct tape, the toilet seat is barely attached to the toilet, and turning the shower head on and opening the blinds require a strength that I just cannot muster. I do have a bidet, though.

Joking aside, it’s not so terrible. I do have two super sweet Italian roommates (both from Basilicata), and the neighborhood is decent enough. It’s not a pretty area (outside of the center, very little of this city is), but it’s near a university, so there are a lot of shops and traffic.

Also cool…

Yep. That weapon is the key to my apartment. It did take me a few days to master the seemingly simple feat of opening my door, though. (Something about jiggling and pulling and then pushing.)

Also nice…

Orange trees in my neighborhood!

It’s a bit of a funny story as to how I found this place. On my second day here, I had a job interview. During this interview, the school’s director asked where I was staying, to which I responded that I was looking for an apartment. Apparently, one of the instructors at the school was looking to move out of her current apartment so that she could live with her boyfriend. Two days later, I was moved in to said apartment.

In Italy, it’s never about what you know, but who you know.

Alla prossima!

It’s been a very chaotic week. I hit the ground running, and managed to find an apartment in just two days. It’s near Piazza Bologna, off of the Metro B, and is mostly a student area, as it’s very close to Sapienza.

It’s been a difficult week– finding an apartment, lining up job interviews, not to mention acclimating myself to the language and culture again. (I went to the supermarket this afternoon. Big mistake. I forgot questa è Italia. Things aren’t open when you need them to be.) There’s also the difficulty of being in a new place and not knowing anyone here. But piano piano.

Anyway, here are some photos from the first few days. My dad and I had some time to do a bit of sightseeing. More photos to come.

1. The monument to Vittorio Emanuele. | 2. The Roman Forum. | 3. The Arch of Septimius Severus, I believe. | 4. A painting of the Madonna. | 5. The field where my dad used to play soccer in Castel Fusano, a suburb of Rome.

I’ll have an update soon as to how things are going over here. As for now, I’ve got some pictures that I’d like to post from about a week ago.

Just before I left, my family, some friends, and I had brunch at Fiorino in Philadelphia, PA. This is the restaurant that my father owns and operates, and it’s a fantastic little place. (Though, perhaps I’m biased?)

We had a lovely meal of prosciutto and melon, salad with gorgonzola, pasta, seafood, and eggs benedict (with pancetta no less!). For dessert, we had panna cotta, cannoli, cassata siciliana, and gelato. If you happen to be in the Philadelphia area, I hope that you make a visit to Fiorino. It’s certainly well worth it.

1. Fiorino in Philadelphia, PA. | 2. Panna cotta for dessert. | 3. My parents enjoying themselves.

1. I’ve been focusing on work. In Chicago, I was working for a few non-profit organizations as an English as a Second Language instructor. Between teaching, lesson planning, traveling between three centers, attending meetings and professional development workshops, developing a teaching portfolio, and making sure that I had a sufficient amount of positive and creative energy for my classes, I’ve been exhausted.

2. Now, I surely could have found some free time in the past ten months to provide the sporadic update. But, the fact is, I’ve been wrapped up in other creative pursuits. You’ll be happy to hear that I’m still eating (too much) and cooking too, but I’ve also been playing my fiddle, experimenting with photography, and working on some short stories– not to mention catching up on my reading and movie watching.

3. Changes. I’m currently in the process of relocating from Chicago to Rome. In fact, by this time next week, I’ll be in Italy.

Because of this move, I’d like to get this blog up and running again. This time, though, the focus will be much more general. As my little corner of the internet, I’d like to use this space for: musings regarding my new home city, a space to promote my writing and publications, my experiments as a novice photographer, the occasional recording of my fiddling, and, of course, a few recipes and food-related posts. This will be a haphazard pastiche of things that I find interesting, inspiring, amusing, and beautiful.

Cheers to a fantastic 2012!

Irish Soda Bread (adapted from Saveur)

• 4 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 425. Mix together flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Work room-temperature butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal, then add in raisins.

Making a well in the mixture, add egg and buttermilk. Mix liquids into dry mixture with a wooden spoon until it is too stiff to stir (if mixture is a bit sticky, add a little more flour). Knead dough gently in bowl, form a ball. Move dough to floured surface and shape into a round loaf.

Transfer dough to lightly greased baking sheet. With a knife, score dough in an X shape. Bake in oven until crust is golden brown, about 40 minutes.

Serve warm.

My best advice is to eat this within a day (invite your friends over!). Though the bread is superb fresh, it left a little to be desired the following day.

Try for yourself though. Enjoy (with a cup of tea)!

It’s a little Italian song that I learned on the fiddle. I learned it just yesterday, so there’s a number of mistakes, but I quite like the song overall. It’s called “Che ridere.”

Anyway, here it is! (Just follow the link.)

Che ridere

And thank goodness! It’s quickly become one of my favorite recipes, and I’ve already made it several times within the past few weeks. It’s a wonder that I haven’t shared it sooner.

The smokiness of the cumin, the brightness of the cilantro and dill, the sourness of the lime, the heat of the chilli powder and serrano pepper, the sweetness of the caramelized onions– I’ve never had a more complex soup before. Yet the flavors don’t contradict one another or fight for attention. Somehow, they manage to coexist in harmony, each taste settling onto one part of the tongue, allowing you to enjoy them all. This is truly soul food at its best.

Though the list of ingredients is quite extensive, this recipe requires very little time and effort, especially when you consider that the payoff is so rich.

Ash-e Reshteh (Adapted from 101 Cookbooks, as adapted from Saraban: A Chef’s Journey through Persia)

• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 green serrano pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon of red chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste

• 8 1/2 cups of broth
• 1 1/2 cups of chickpeas, rinsed if canned
• 1 1/2 cups of cannellini beans, rinsed if canned
• 4-5 oz. of egg noodles
• 3 1/2 oz. of fresh spinach (optional)
• 1/2 cup of cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of dill, chopped
• one lime, juice and zest

• salt
• sour cream
• handful of walnuts

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the onion, along with a generous pinch of salt, and cook until caramelized, about 1o minutes. When the onions are almost ready, through the walnuts into the mixture and toast them with the onions. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add one onion and the chile, cook until they soften. Add the spices, tomato paste, and lime zest, and mix well. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add the chickpeas and cannellini beans. Let sit for a few minutes, until the beans are heated through.

Add the noodles, cook until al dente. Stir in spinach, cilantro, and dill. Squeeze the lime over the soup, and add salt to taste.

Serve immediately, topped with a generous helping of the onion/walnut mixture and a spoonful of sour cream.

Enjoy!

I find the overwhelming solidarity among Egyptians– young and old, rich and poor, Muslim and Christian– touching and inspiring, and am incredibly proud of my Egyptian friends who, inside and outside of Egypt, are shedding their fear and, at last, standing up against Mr. Mubarak and his regime. My respect and support is with them all.

In honor of my friends, I am going to make koshary for dinner tonight. Koshary is a popular Egyptian dish, cheap and often served as fast food from food stalls on the streets. In fact, though it is considerably warmer in Egypt, this dish seems like an incredible dinner for a wintry Chicago night. To elaborate, it is a huge bowl of carbs, guaranteed to warm and fill up.

Koshary is a mix of chickpeas, TWO  types of pasta (spaghetti and ditalini), lentils, AND rice, topped with a spicy tomato sauce and fried onions. I have no doubt that this will not be a pretty meal, but I am pretty certain that this carb-loaded dish will taste delicious.

A koshary recipe from Saveur can be found here.

Though I’m far from the protests in Egypt, my thoughts (and stomach) are with my friends in Cairo.

Mabrouk, ya misr. Your change is coming.

I recently found a bottle at my local grocer’s, and, while it is bound to be even more delightful during the warm summer months, I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit over the past few weeks. The taste, though quite delicate, is extremely flavorful.

I imagine that any Middle Eastern grocery store would have carry this. For Chicago folk, Kedzie Avenue in Albany Park is your best bet.

Jallab

• 3 tablespoons Jallab syrup
• water
• ice
• handful of raw pine nuts, almonds, and rehydrated raisins

Add the ice to the glass. Pour the syrup over the ice. Then, fill the glass with water and mix gently. Top with nuts and raisins.

Nothing to it, right?

Enjoy!