Sette Oche (Seven Geese or The Basement Place)

Last night we found Sette Oche (no link!) again. It's an amazing restaurant on a sleepy street in Trastevere. For those not familiar with Trastevere, a "sleepy street" in Trastevere is kinda hard to find. Most streets in Trastevere are narrow and packed with people and hawkers trying to sell you stuff. It can be very fun, but sometimes you want something a little more low key. Sette Oche is on a wide and quiet street and the outside seating was perfect. We found the restaurant on one of our first ventures into Trastevere and had always wanted to go back because the food was great and priced reasonably and we had that good vibe that comes when you know you're at a restaurant that could become one of your favorites. We dubbed it "The Basement Place" and made plans to return.

When some of our friends came to visit last fall (Hi M&K!) we tried to find the basement place again. We failed miserably. We ended up eating at a place where they wouldn't give us wine glasses and the waiter suggested that we all get the same dish so it would be easier on his chef. It was awful. And of course, since we were playing host we felt so bad about it. Especially since we knew Sette Oche was somewhere nearby and how good their food and service had been.

Last night, after the meal, we wandered back into the lively part of Trastevere and in the process found the place that we ate at with M&K when they came. So sad!! It was 2 1/2 blocks away from Sette Oche! Arrrrgghhh!

quizlet: a plug

I use flickr, doggdotus, and boing boing daily... ney... hourly. In fact, they are bookmarked in a folder named 'Hourly'. And to that list I am excited to add Quizlet.

If you haven't already used Quizlet, I strongly suggest you do. I don't want to pin you down and pry your eyes open ala clockwork orange, but I will if I need to. It's that good.

What is it? It's a flashcard application; plain, simple, powerful and fun! You can see my sets here.

For the last 5 days, I've been making sets of 5 vocab words. My new rule is that I will make one set a day and study in those little "down times" I have. I've learned 25 words in 5 days and already have a bunch more words that I want to add queued up.

Who knows, maybe I'll branch out and finally memorize the definition of f-stop. Or maybe I'll memorize some Java API. Or wouldn't it be crazy to be learning two languages at once?! I'm in love with learning again!

festa del lavoro

Today is festa del lavoro in Italy, which I am guessing is similar to Labor Day back in the states. Everything was closed. It took a five minute walk just to find an open bar for a cup of coffee.

I woke with a start at 9:30 A.M. (early for me) and knew something was wrong. I couldn't place it and rolled over for another hour of snoozing. And it was really nice snoozing, not the late morning bothered-by-honking-yelling-and-slamming snoozing that I am used to.

When I finally did get up I was surprised to be able to hear conversations outside my window. Not just words here or there, but entire conversations. Entire conversations held in a normal speaking voice. It was quiet in Rome. For once, it was actually quite quiet.

By late afternoon my curiosity had got the better of me so I headed out in search of a caffè and to see what was up. Lots of people were out, but there were hardly any cars. It was really odd to have almost all of the street noise be made up of conversation rather than traffic. It was like being in a crowded restaurant rather than out on one of the main streets in the neighborhood.

I was approached by a gypsy lady who got right up in my face and spewed lots of Italian at me. I put my hands in my pockets, took time to notice she really needed a tissue, and then told her in my best Italian that I did not understand. She switched to nearly perfect English and started explaining about needing to make a phone call and could she have a Euro. That's the first time I've been approached head-on by a beggar here. Most of them kneel with signs. There is one woman, who I see a lot, who's sign, roughly translated, reads, "Mario is dead and I am poor. Thank you." She always makes me feel sad.

It's officially summer now since the white pants are out in full force. Please, folks, if you're going to wear white pants, please, please, please cut the bright red tags out of them so that the rest of us are not stuck staring at your butt. I mean, yeah, your but is nice, but honestly do you want me AND the 90 year old man walking next to me to stare at your derrière because our brains are drawn to the bright red rectangle that shows right through your oh-so-Italian, impossibly-white jeans?

I saw a woman pull three different cell phones out of her pockets. Two of them were ringing, and they were both playing the same ring tone.

The immigrant sellers were out in droves. I assume they didn't have to be too careful because the police force had taken the day off too. It is amazing to see these guys pack up when the cops are coming. They'll sling two dozen knock-off purses over each arm and disappear. I keep looking to see if anybody has a belt similar to what I want, but they all sell the same ones. They're all adorned with giant D&G buckles. I want the belt, but not the let-me-pay-you-for-the-privilege-to-advertise-for-you buckle... If only these guys could diversify their suppliers they could actually make some serious sales.

And finally, somebody has taken to playing taps around 11 P.M. Maybe the sound travels from the military base nearby, maybe it's some forlorn trumpet player or maybe it's just in my head. *salutes*

chicken soup recipe

I make chicken soup a lot when I'm alone because I like it, it's easy, and you can make a pot stretch for a while which reduces dinner prep time.

Here's the recipe:

Cooking time: about an hour and a half, but you're not standing in the kitchen all that time

Prep time: virtually none since most of the prep can be done while the soup is cooking

Ingredients:

• Olive oil, enough to cover the bottom of your stock pot
• Three or four carrots chopped into discs about 1/4 of an inch thick
• Three or four stalks of celery chopped into similarly wide crescent moons
• A medium onion diced
• A couple cloves of garlic, finely minced
• Water
• 2 bay leaves
• 3-5 black pepper corns
• Other spices to taste
• 2 breast & leg hunks of chicken, I don't know what these are called exactly, but it's basically all of a chicken without the rib cage chopped into two pieces which, conveniently, fit into a stock pot
• salt
• ground pepper
• A handful of parsley leaves, chopped finely
• pasta of some type

Process:

Put a large stock pot on the stove and add the olive oil. Set the heat on low. Chop up the carrots and throw them in. Turn the heat up to medium. Stir every now and again. Chop up the celery and throw it in. If you time it right, the carrots will start to brown right when you throw the celery in. This is awesome because the natural sugars of the carrots caramelize to create a great roasted and sweet flavor. After a few minutes, start chopping up the onion and throw that in. You may need to add more olive oil during the cooking process depending on the moisture levels of your veggies. Chop up the garlic very fine. When the onions have started to become translucent add the garlic. Be careful not burn the garlic, adding more oil if necessary. When the garlic starts to brown rush the pot to the faucet and fill it halfway with water. Throw in the bay leaves, pepper corns, and other spices that you like (I like tyme sometimes). Add the chicken and more water to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil covered and reduce the heat to a slight boil.

Let boil until the chicken meat falls off the bones, probably 20-30 minutes. With a pair of tongs and a fork, pull out the chicken and separate the meat from the rest of it. Don't be picky, chicken fat tastes good, so it will only help. I usually aim to get most of the skin off and to take out all of the bones & gristle. Using the fork, shred the chicken and then add it back into the soup.

Adjust the heat so that the soup is just barely boiling and let boil for a few minutes. Using a ladel, remove the fat that builds up on the surface, and set it aside in a bowl. I don't try to get all of it out as I add it back later. The point is to get most of it out so you can decide how much you want to be in there. Repeat the fat removal process for 20 minutes or so.

Add salt and some ground pepper. I usually use sea salt and start with a mound about the diameter of a quarter (or a 50 euro coin). Test the salt & pepper levels (you'll probably need to add some). Let boil for a few more minutes, remove more fat, test the salt & pepper. Repeat as necessary.

In a separate pot, add water and salt for pasta and bring to a boil. Cook the pasta as specified on the packaging, but take off the heat a little early as the soup will continue to cook the pasta. You don't want the pasta crunchy, but maybe a little bit firmer than you like.

When the pasta is almost ready, decide how much of the fat you want to return to the pot. In my mind, the more the merrier, but the choice is up to you. Add the fat, and the chopped up parsley. I like to turn up the heat at this point so I get a really good rolling boil to mix the fat back in.

When the pasta is ready serve it in bowls and cover with soup. Enjoy!

When I make this, I'm the only one eating it so it makes dinner for 4 or 5 nights. I usually add more water a few times as I heat it up.

Normally, I try to cool it off a little bit before I put it back in the fridge. I usually draw it a nice cold bath and let it soak for a while. Last night I forgot it was soaking and left it out over night. Doh! Well, I figured I could try to rescue it so today I added a lot of water and boiled it for a good 20 or 30 minutes on high. Everything seems ok in the digestion department, but I wonder what risks I just took.

You'll notice that I don't add the pasta to the soup itself. This allows you to keep eating the soup throughout the week without having to worry about the pasta getting soggy. It's really not that big of a deal to cook the pasta fresh each night since you have to heat the soup up anyway. Just throw the pasta water on first, then get the soup out and heat it up on medium and they should be ready together.

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The fault is with my blog. I have ripped it to shreds in order to bring you an improved blog reading experience.

Update: I've got posting working again, but it doesn't remember who you are. Also, the style is by no means final.