Sweets & Treats

I have hardly posted about eating and drinking here – what’s wrong with me!? Italian food is wonderful. My roommate and I were laughing at how stereotypical it is walking down the street. Every five feet there really is a caffe/bar (they are often referred to as the same thing and serve both alcohol and coffee) or a pizza place! My neighborhood has many little caffes to stand at the bar and sip a cappuccino or grab a slice of pizza to go. For now, I'll start with my sweet tooth :) 

cappuccino

We stopped in this cute looking shop on the corner to have our first cappuccino. All my expectations were exceeded! It was creamy and sweet, and the bartender even sprinkled some cocoa powder (cioccolato) in it for me J I was in heaven! It is a bit strange standing at the bar to sip a cappuccino, but it was so worth every minute of it.

pastry

We walked a bit farther and stopped at another small place. The other girls got Nutella crepes and I had a brioche, which is a pastry made in the shop. They all look different so I pointed to one that looked tasty. It was perfect – flaky, custard filled, and perfectly sweet. I was in heaven!

gelato

Lastly, I have to rave about the gelato. The first night we had it my roommate Gianna and I were supposed to find our way home from the Coliseum as a challenge from the ResGrads who work at AUR. We got a bit lost and decided to venture to the Trevi Fountain instead. Around Fonta de Trevi, as it is called, there is supposed to be the BEST gelato. She got some chocolate chip and offered me a spoon. I couldn't say no, and it was delicious! Cool and creamy, it had the perfect combination of vanilla with a chocolate crunch. Oh, and then it started raining so we cheated and took a cab home. We were exhausted from our first day around Rome, so I think it’s a little bit acceptable. We’ve done a lot better since!

We have also found even more gelato since. It’s actually a long, funny story. We wanted to go for a nice, classic, sit down Italian meal the other night. We headed to Trastevere where the bars and restaurants beautifully line the cobblestone streets. It ended up being about 10:30 which turned out to be just when restaurants were no longer seating people. We did, however, stumble across a cheesy place catering to Americans with live music, twinkly lights, and over the top decorations. Of course, the friendly Italian man outside invited us to eat there. We had nowhere else, so we decided to laugh and go along with it!

The vino della casa was okay, but I had prosciutto and melon for the first time which was wonderful. It perfectly combined sweet and salty and was light enough for an appetizer. My pasta with pesto, tomatoes, and mozzarella was okay, but so similar to the gnocchi, tomato, mozzarella, and pesto meal we made the night before! We decided we were pretty good chefs after comparing the two meals. Our apartment, however, lacks the stack of tomato sauce cans, live singer attempting to sing “Sweet Home Alabama,” and our waiter who loved us and wouldn't let us leave without giving the Italian style kisses. He cracked me up. In the end, though, he suggested a gelato place to us about two streets down.

We think the gelato place was closed or we missed it, but when we headed back to the Trastevere area last night, we actually saw it and stopped in. They make all their gelato there in the store – it is never frozen or shipped in like some places. I got a tiny cup with two flavors – chocolate and creme catalana. The chocolate was the smoothest, richest, and creamiest I've ever tasted. The creme catalana was a delight, too. It had a creamy flavor with bits of brown sugar in it. To top it off, he offered homemade whipped cream. Perfection. We even passed our new friend from the cheesy restaurant while walking around eating it and had to thank him for the suggestion! He dove in for kisses again.