Overdue Update! 9.22.10

Not really an interesting picture -- from my Digital Photography class' depth of field assignment

I've been meaning to update for a while now, but haven't been able to find the time to sit down and do it.  I'll have a lot more to talk about after this weekend's trip to Venice, but I'll sum up the past week here.  Since I've spent most of my time so far blogging about the amazing food we eat here, I'll start off with this week's food highlights.  On Sunday, family dinner was at a restaurant called Da I 2 Ciccioni (which translates to "from the two fat guys").  It's basically just the owners' personal kitchen, with rickety tables and chairs set up on the sloping street-side.  There was no need for a menu, because they serve you whatever it is that they've prepared for the night, and, although I have a tendency to make hyperbolic statements, this really was some of the best food I've had in Italy.  We had simple tomato Bruschetta, mashed orange squash, a bean dish, 3 different pastas (pepper and cheese, my favorite Carbonara, and a tomato/meat sauce) and finally delicious rosemary and white wine sautéed chicken on a bed of salad.  The house wine was also very decent.  Here's a link to the NYTimes review: http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/europe/italy/rome/74649/da-i-2-ciccioni/restaurant-detail.html

On Monday, Jacob, William, Kate and I had dinner with our two Interns, Justin and Jessie (both Kenyon grads), at their apartment across the courtyard.  They had promised to teach us how to make their favorite vegetable pasta sauce, which is a good, cheap dinner option.  On Tuesday night (last night), the Pantheon Institute treated us to a pizza dinner at our favorite pizza place, Dar Poeta.  I guess they felt badly that all the architecture students had a huge welcome soirée when they arrived.  But we got our nutella/ricotta calzone, which is becoming a weekly necessity, so that's all I care about.  Otherwise, this week hasn't been too eventful...I'm reading a book I really like so far by Muriel Barbery called The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  I bought it at La Feltrinelli, which is the Italian equivalent of Border's or Barnes & Noble.  We've been working out Venice travel plans, which will involve a 6.5 hour train ride (half the cost of the express train) this Friday morning, and a hostel called "The Museum"....to be continued.