Italy - Rome part 2

Exploring Rome in 1 day definitely not enough. Well, it depends on your stamina, and how tired you are willing to be at the end of the trip. I have to be back at work on Monday, so I can't go all out. 

The second day was started with spaghetti carbonara, a dish classic to Rome. 

It's definitely very different from any pasta carbonara I have ever tried in the United States and in Asia. The pasta is definitely more dry; no cream was used. It was delicious.

We then headed to the Scalinata della Trinita dei Monti or the Spanish Steps using the Metro, stopping at Spagna. It was worth the hike up the flights of stairs. According to Wikipedia, the Scalinata is the widest staircase in Europe.

When you reached the top, you could enter the Trinita dei Monti church. The church was not very big, but it doesn't hurt to feel the serenity of the interior.

The Pantheon is located not too far from the Spanish Steps. It's also very close to Trevi Fountain, although we did not go there on the first day because it was closed by the time we were done taking pictures of Trevi Fountain after sunset.

The exterior of Pantheon does not really tell that it is a church. At least to me, it doesn't look like a church.

It actually is a church. More accurately, it is also called the Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs. Ho
 

However, what I found very interesting was not the fact that it is a church. The circular shape of the church is already unique enough. Well, I'd say the most striking feature of this church is the dome.

They look LAN ports in circular arrangements directly from below. Well, of course that's not the first thing I noticed. The hole in the middle of the dome allows sunlight to enter the church, acting like a natural spotlight shining on the heart of the building (you can also imagine Mr. Bean falling from there - if you have watched the original Mr. Bean series before). It was a really interesting design. For one time, I was curious if the hole is covered by a glass. Logically, it would be (otherwise, it's gonna be fun when it rains).

Rome is really beautiful. It's a shame that I know some people would visit Rome just to take picture of the Colosseum and not even knowing what it is called. No, they're not fifth graders. They're proper, rich adults.

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Fettucini Craze

My mum doesn't like Western food in general, but she likes anything with fettucini. So do I.

Wegmans sells a huge variety of imported international goods, and I found this pasta brand that is really awesome: De Cecco. I thought Barilla was like the best pasta ever, but I guess not.

I tried the spaghetti. It's awesome too! The texture is just so... different. Really. I'm not the craziest pasta fan out there but I love this brand a lot.

I made fettucini alfredo with ham (read: SPAM), cayenne pepper and McCormick dried Italian seasoning (marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano and basil). It's a really good blend that is easy to use, even for seasoning spaghetti aglio-oglio (garlic and olive oil based). The alfredo is topped with roasted bell peppers (my recent new craze):

Fettucini is also good with tomato-based sauce. I used store-bought creamy vodka sauce and meatballs.

Delicious!

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Pasta? Pasta!

I haven't been posting any of the dishes I made for dinner because they have been boring for quite some time. Whenever I go back from work, I crave something homey (in simpler sense, I crave for instant noodle LOL).

And I have quite a variety of pasta sauces, which I cannot post here just because I don't want to get in trouble for making "a dirty attempt to advertise my company's products". I think not being able to post anything related to your company's product is another downside of working in a food company. Whether you're being critical or biased about the products, there are always people who would think that the posts are part of the company's propaganda.

Nevertheless, in case anyone doesn't know, pasta is one of my favorite food since I was in elementary school. At that time, spaghetti was considered a luxury food. Every time my mother cooked me pasta for my lunch I would get very excited. Although I had a love-hate relationship with the tartness of pasta sauce.

My father, raised at Italian fraternity because he lost his father when he was very young and his mother was not able to raise him, grew a liking for spaghetti bolognaise. I don't even know what we Indonesians consider as "bolognaise" is the real bolognaise, but jarred commercial pasta sauce + ground beef + spaghetti would make a spaghetti bolognaise.

And whenever we go to a western food restaurant, he would try to find spaghetti bolognaise. No matter how scrumptious sounding other pasta can be, he would always stick to bolognaise.

As for me, I love it when my mother adds canned button mushroom to the sauce in addition to the ground meat.

It definitely look like some cheap, unauthentic pasta dish.Yes, I've had wonderful pasta from many authentic Italian restaurants. They're awesome, rich in flavor, perfectly cook. There's nothing I would complain about them. But this simple bolognaise will always stay in my heart. It's a dish that connects me with my parents.

Buon appetitto!

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