More Of Rome

Small cars are de rigueur in Europe and especially in Italy. After Europe, I am thinking of down-sizing my car.


Mr Bean was here.


This car fits one person only! Now if only everybody drives such cars in the cities, there'll be no parking problems and maybe even road fatalities. It's like driving a go-kart.

A walk in Trastevere is absolutely necessary, if you visit Rome. This is the old Roman district, where families still live and the corner stores are still operated by moms and pops.


Look at what bougainvillas can look like.


Whenever I saw them, I'd buy them, the large oval cherry tomatoes that are so sweet and bursting with tomato flavor. 


A coffee and an Italian pastry--heaven.


There are lots of buskers in the streets of Trastevere, such as this artist who could do a painting in 10 minutes, using spray cans and stencils.


Night life in Trastevere is fun, romantic, charming and totally what I imagined Italy would be.


This simple spaghetti with ragu (bolognese) sauce was excellent. What made it better than my ragu sauce was 1) there was less meat 2) fresh tomatoes and puree were used instead of paste, giving a fresher, lighter taste and 3) the pasta was very al dente.

Alla Scala Gelateria, Rome

I mentioned in my earlier posts that the best gelati we ate was in Italy Europe. This is it, Alla Scala Gelateria.

I read in Rick Steves' Best Of Europe (yes, it's the travel bible for Europe) that Florence has the best gelati in Italy but some authorities (cookbooks) rated Rome's gelati higher than Florence's. I think it's hard to get a bad gelati in Italy, especially the ones made with natural ingredients and fresh, quality fruits instead of concentrates or whatever it is they use. You can tell by the duller colors and the tin canisters that the gelati will be good. The less delicious gelati come in bright colors and plastic tubs.

Alla Scala Gelateria (also recommended by Rick; I got to meet this guy!) is a very small gelateria, with standing room for about 4 people only and no place to sit. When writing this post, I googled Scala and found that it makes the list in the top gelateria in Rome. The best gelateria that leads the pack  in Rome, however, is San Crispino (especially after "Eat, Pray, Love"), which I had written down on my notebook but didn't search for because by the time we got to Trevi Fountain, we were too tired.

I don't read Italian but I see the mention of Giolitti, Rome's famous gelati and believe me, Giolitti is to Rome as Ben & Jerry's is to the US--famous because they are long established--and personally, Ben & Jerry's ice cream is about the worst you can eat although Giolitti is very good.

A one-man show: the owner makes the gelati and the brioches and is the only staff in the shop. 

There weren't many flavors to choose from, unlike most gelateria, but the lack in quantity is made up by the quality. Scala's gelati is made daily in small batches to manitain quality and freshness and if a flavor runs out, too bad for you. Scala's top flavor is canella (cinnamon) which unfortunately we didn't know about and so didn't try.

Scala's suggestive brioches (and purposefully placed backdrop).

 I keep a little notebook when I travel, scribbled with names and addresses of restaurants. The brioche was dry eaten on its own but this is how the Italians eat it:

As a gelati sandwich.

Our favorite flavor was pistachio.

Gelati so pure with real flavors that you know straightaway. The difference is so obvious that your tongue will tell you that it's the smoothest, creamiest, finest, tastiest, purest gelati it has ever tasted for you.  Scala's gelati were also the least sweet of all the gelati I ate. The only snag is, they melt faster than other gelati so you have to eat them very quickly or they just stream down your hand, even in cool weather. I like to think that it is because they are so unadulterated with additives like stabilizers. And ladies and gentlemen, for gelati so beyond comparison, Scala's gelato cone is only 1.50 euros!

Yippee! It's free!

We kept trying all the different flavors, eating the gelati standing outside the shop, oohing and aahing as we ate. On the 7th time going into the shop Yi came out with a freebie (super sized), thrilled as a little girl should be in an ice cream shop, as you can see. In fact, when I looked at our photos, I have one of each of us coming out of the shop grinning triumphantly, gelato in hand.

Alla Scala Gelateria is at Via della Scala, 51, Trastevere, Rome. In the photo above, it is in the middle with a bush of  creeping jasmine at the door. Just opposite is a small church (the Santa Maria?) where we passed by and saw the owner, finally resting on the steps. He recognized us, waved, and we restrained ourselves from rushing over to get his autograph.

Osteria da Lucia, Rome

 Outside of Italy, Italian food tends to be heavy and robust and most first-time visitors to Italy find authentic Italian food too simple and light in terms of flavor. I think you have to re-set your palate and expectations to savor the freshness and simplicity of the cuisine. This was my second dinner in Italy and I was slightly disappointed because I wasn't used to the lack of meat even in meat dishes. Remember this was my first time to Italy. When I returned to Italy a month later, I loved the lightness and simplicity of the dishes made with fresh ingredients and without much condiments.

This restaurant was highly recommended by Rick Steves in his book, Best Of Europe. I think it was Osteria da Lucia in Trastevere, the old district of Rome. Osteria is a trattoria, family-run restaurant. We ordered the Roman dishes that Rick had recommended. The portions were rather stingy.


This was one of the best bread we ate in Italy and for me, it was a welcome change from baguettes.


I can't remember the name but it was a beef dish.


Trippa alla romano is a Roman dish of braised beef tripe. Tangy and good, full of tripe flavor.


Another famous Roman dish, alla amatriciana, which hardly had any guanciale or pig cheeks bacon.


Again, memory fails me but I do remember that this was a tasty pasta. The strong al dente-ness of the pasta surprised me. Back home, the pasta would've been considered too hard. It was a revelation to me what al dente should be.

We wanted to try another recommended restaurant just a few steps up from Osteria so we went there for dessert. They weren't happy that we weren't ordering dinner and said we had to order at least one main dish. We thought that was quite bossy and it was unnecessary to eat more than what we wanted so we left. There were plenty of places to eat and we didn't need to bow to any stupid rules.

Yihu Restaurant, Shanghai, Part 2

These were the 11 delicious hot dishes we ate at Yihu, after the 10 cold ones:


Steamed fish fillets--very tender and delicate fish but sauce was bland.


Crystal prawns, loved for their tenderness and el dente bite.


The photo says it all. Delicious beyond words.


Baby eels in a rich soy sauce.


Fish maw hot pot, very yum.


Squid in a bean sauce.


Sprouts with 3 kinds of eggs (fresh egg, salted egg and century egg) in superior stock.


Crunchy dish of stir-fried chicken giblets, bamboo shoots and peppers.


Soft and silky fried tofu balls with assorted veg.


Steamed razor clams in a hot chili sauce.


Beancurd strips and Chinese ham, a Shanghainese favorite.

Four types of desserts:


Mini egg tarts. I didn't eat these because I can tell by the color that the custard's not worth eating.


Deep fried flaky radish puffs.


Jiu niang (newly fermented rice) with tang yuen (glutinous balls) and peaches soup.


An excellent dish of baked flaky soft buns with a meat and spring onions filling. One of those things to crave for if you're on death row.

That was a meal of 25 dishes!

Roasted Garlic Chicken & Pumpkin

Roasted chicken with garlic and pumpkin. A very health-conscious Vero has removed a large piece of the skin.

I was at Lido market this afternoon and heard two ladies talking about one of the ladies' daughter. "Oh, she's back and looks great, so slim? Nothing to eat in Australia??" Two things struck me about that. First, that being slim is so sought after. When I was young(er), everybody was thin and wanted curves. With this generation, everybody's struggling to loose weight. Second, the annual migration of kids who study in Australia back to KK has begun. I think, although I have no stats to back my claim, that Sabah has the highest number of students studying overseas, proportionate to the population. Sabah also has a long history of kids studying overseas due to the fact that there were no universities in the state until 15 years ago when Universiti Malaysia Sabah was established. While having ladies' tea at a friend's house a couple of years ago, 13 out of 14 ladies eating their finger sandwiches had children studying in Australia. Most of the children of my older friends have taken up Australian residence, making Sabah the state with the highest rate of brain drain, I think. While other states have been developed with the oil revenue from this state, the amount of money the federal government pumps back into Sabah is peanuts. Sabah was the richest state in Malaysia 40 years ago. Now it's the poorest state, according to a recent World Bank report. Of course, typically, the state's Economic Planning Unit came out to refute the report the next day. The EPU thinks that along with being poor, Sabahans are stupid too because they think we buy their reasoning that poverty rate being reduced to 16.4 % in 2007 (it's 2010, guys, and the rate has probably gone up) and gross monthly income having increased from RM2503 in 2004 to RM3102 in 2009 makes the state not the poorest in the country. Their statement makes them not only look like the part they are playing--the govenment's goon body--but also appear extremely incompetent because income and poverty rates are only meaningful when compared to the rates in other states. So what if income has gone up by 40% if it is the lowest among the states? How do es Sabah's gross monthly income compare with other states? What about the poverty rate? There are no big companies to work for, no new enterprises. That's why our educated young people aren't coming back. But I'm not getting into politics today; it's a nice rainy, cool evening and I want to enjoy it. Anyway, my point is, I love this time of the year when drinking places and restaurants fill up with the kids back from their studies. Homes are lively again. Like mine is, because Ming got home last night. We brought an excited Ming to the Lido night stalls for ikan bakar (grilled fish on banana leaves) and sotong kangkong (cuttlefish with water spinach) and it was just great, the four of us. The family is still not whole because jiejie is not back yet. We felt it, especially me.

I saw this recipe in Heather's blog and thought it was the classic French roasted chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. It wasn't exactly that, which was good because garlic has gone up to RM10/USD3.3 per kg.

I like my baked chickens well baked, with legs that shake loosely when you jerk them. If you like them less tender or if you don't have the time, bake at 220 C for 45 minutes as Heather had done. My chicken tonight wasn't exactly successful because I had set the oven temperature at 190 C (because we went out for a long walk) but got home earlier than expected because it started to rain. The bulb of garlic was not soft enough to be used as a spread, so next time I do this, I'll break the garlic up and scatter it around the pumpkin pieces. I saved the butter for the bread and used just a small cube of it to glaze the skin of the chicken halfway through cooking.

This is a great one-meal dish. Or do what I did and serve the chicken with a soup, some greens and crusty bread to mop up the juices.

Roasted Garlic Chicken & Pumpkin

1 chicken (about 2 kgs)

1 1/2 kg pumpkin*, in large chunks

2 bulbs garlic, chopped coarsely

3 T EVOO

1 full T butter, melted (optional)

1 full t salt

freshly ground black pepper

optional: your choice of herbs (thyme, tarragon, rosemary)

* choose the darkest orange pumpkin for intense flavor, texture and sweetness

1. Set oven at 200 C. Season the pumpkin with the EVOO, 1/2 the chopped garlic, a good pinch of salt and some pepper. Put on a roasting rack over a roasting pan. You can also put directing into the pan if you don't mind the oil from the chicken.

2. Rub the chicken with salt, pepper and herbs if using. Stuff the remaining garlic under the skin and in the cavity. Tie the legs if you like them tidy. Place chicken in the centre of the pan, add 1/2 cup of water or stock  (so that the juices won't dry up and burn) and put pan into centre of oven.

3. Baste chicken with the melted butter and juices once in a while. If the breast is browning too quickly, put a small piece of foil over it. Bake chicken one and a half hours. (note: If you put your chicken on a rack, you can't baste the chicken with the juices.) Check if the legs can easily be shaken. If so, chicken's done.