Adventures in food

For everyone that kind of scoffed at the idea of me cooking when I went away to college, I would like to just say that, since I've been in Rome, my cooking has taken off. Or rather, my cooking as taken baby steps.

Today, we went to the supermercato, and instead of buying prepackaged deli meats like we had been doing, I proudly went up to the deli and proclaimed:

Un mezzo kilo di prosciutto, per favore

(spelling may be incorrect... these things happen). Yes, I spoke in Italian to a real Italian, who spoke Italian back to me. Now, this is a fairly astounding revelation. The deli counter man is either encouraged by my efforts, or he speaks no English, but this made me incredibly happy. Most of the workers in the supermercato will speak English at you if they have even the slightest inkling that you, yourself, are not Italian. I'm here to learn, people, and I can understand a lot. But the cashiers will always speak English, in a sort of mocking way, it seems. One time, the cashier looks at me, and in such a flat voice goes "Bags?" And I go "Si, due busti (I don't know if this is the word, exactly, but that's how it sounds)" And then they will tell you the cost in English. If they say it in Italian, and I don't get it, they should rest assured that I can read the cashier sign behind them that displays the final total.

But anyway, he spoke in Italian with me. Although at first he thought I said tacchino (turkey), but I said "non, prosciutto," and we had the normal deli counter dialogue. But it was a real dialogue, in Italian! Hooray!

So, anyway, adventures in cooking. I'm okay at it, turns out. I mean, I haven't made anything earth shattering, nothing to get me on Iron Chef or Top Chef or anything like that, but dinner meals that are pleasing to eat. And so, I present you with two of the meals I have prepared, the two that Carolyn really enjoyed.
They are both pasta dishes because, surprise! pasta is fairly inexpensive. So, they have a pasta base. In a skillet, I heat some oil, and some fresh minced garlic (mmmmmm. garlic) in a pan. When the oil is hot, I added broccoli (for one of the meals), and let that saute a bit. Once the pasta was cooked, I drained it (in it's original pan, because I'm lazy and that equals less dishes) added some olive oil and parmigiana cheese, then added the broccoli and garlic mixture. Carolyn loooooved this, I was a bit impartial, but it was edible for sure. The second dish was one I made tonight, and we both really loved this one.

Two whole tomatoes, cut into 1 inchish sections, two cloves of garlic (because I love garlic) some basil, some salt, sauteed. The garlic and olive oil sauteed first. When the oil got hot, added the tomatoes, and let that kinda simmer, added the spices. When the pasta was done, it was drained, and I added a pasta sauce to the still hot pot (metal, so it stayed warm all over). Italian tomato sauce is incredibly basic, and actually tastes a bit like tomato soup. Really watery tomato soup. So we haven't been really using it. But I used a bit here, mixed the pasta, put it on plates, and added the sauteed yummy-ness, which had solid tomato chunks, garlic, basil, and salt. It also created a very little bit of it's own sauce.

What I'm saying is, I can cook. A little bit. Maybe not the -most- interesting dishes, but my culinary skills are improving, for all concerned. I'm still afraid of trying to incorporate meat, for fear of under or over cooking it. Some day. Cooking meat is my Everest. It's a very small Everest. More the smaller mountain next to Everest. I'll get there, some day.

Anyway, tomorrow (or Monday night, because I think I'll be tired tomorrow night) there will be an illustrated entry!
We're walking the Aurelian walls that surround Rome. 12.5 miles. Plenty of photo opps. And then tomorrow night we're going to go the Scholars Lounge to watch the Chargers Patriots game. I still have to root for my boys, even across the pond ;)

It'll be a busy week, I have to try to get ahead so I can go on my Barcelona trip feeling guilt free. We get back pretty early on Sunday, but it will be nice to be ahead of the game. I should also start researching Barcelona for my book, so I know what I absolutely -need- to do for photography's sake.

<3