Celebrating the 4th of July in Italy

Well Happy Belated 4th of July everyone!!

I meant to post this last night, but sadly in the middle of writing I fell asleep! Actually, I hadn't even started writing, I only successfully opened the page.  I guess that just means I'm exhausted from work and the heat... or quite possibly that I should sleep more!

But I hope everyone had a great day yesterday and that the fireworks didn't get too delayed thanks to the rain I heard about.

Here in Rome, it was beautifully sunny and quite hot all day, but it definitely didn't quite feel like a holiday because I left for work at 7:45 am and then stuck around until 5:30 doing various planning and projects for next week.  And there were definitely no real fireworks for me! :(

Homemade Strawberry Jam Tart

That being said I had a wonderful day because although I started early, I got to work with four great
kids (2 Americans and 2 Italians) for a 4th of July themed English lesson (the 2 Americans were my assistents). We had fun talking about the 4th and playing games. And one of the girls brought in a homemade strawberry tart that she had helped her mother make!
But the most fun for me was all the crafting.  We made Statue of Liberty Crowns and FIREWORKS!! That's right, but don't worry, they weren't the exploding kind.

My firework! I wish I had photographed the kids' projects!
Theirs were amazing!

Although, we also went outside and exploded coca cola and mentos!  They had a lot of fun and so did I!

My beautiful 4th of July grilled dinner

Then after work I took a trip to the super market and got the workings of a non-traditional Italianized
4th of July meal.  When I think 4th of July, I think of hot dogs and hamburgers, pasta salad, potato salad and corn on the cob.  So I made a regular salad, a couple of mini hotdogs (I have no idea why they're so small but they taste like real hot dogs), and veal hamburgers with Asiago cheese.  I originally wanted to make turkey burgers or regular burgers, but I didn't find either at my grocery store, instead I found ground veal and thought it would be a fun

I even found sesame seed buns

experiment.
Let me tell you, it was a delicious experiment that worked out quite well!! I think I'll definitely be making veal burgers again so I'll have a separate post up with the recipe soon.  I made them quite simply and found sesame seed buns in the store as well.  I took out my indoor grill pan and grilled up my burgers and hot dogs and served it up beautifully with ketchup, mustard and mayo on the side.  And I had half a beer, delicious for only 87cents.  I wanted to drink the whole beer but I fell asleep before I could. It was definitely a long day!!
And then I had a plate of cold cherries and peaches all while watching Doctor Who in Italian and then in English (on my computer).  All in all, it was a good 4th of July!

Such gorgeous color

Craving: Watermelon

So I had my first watermelon this year a couple of weeks ago. I bought a little one at the market and it was delicious... and I want another one!!
I don't know why, but today I'm just craving watermelon.
Juicy, refreshing, cold watermelon... Preferably seedless, but I would deal with the seeds for the thirst quenching fruit...
Hopefully, I'll get to the market!! The baby ones were only a Euro a couple of weeks ago!

Prague Adventures Part II

The beautiful clock tower

Delays, delays... I'm always delayed! But I'm working on it!

entertaining music

Here's Part II of my Prague fun.
On our first morning we went on an awesome free walking tour through the center of Prague. I saw so many amazing eateries while we were walking but there just wasn't enough time to stop, not if I wanted to learn about Prague's history too... I chose to satiate my brain and ignore my stomach for a while (which was silly since I hadn't eaten breakfast). On our one break, Endira did get Mulled Wine which was delicious. I could have gotten food but I was having way too much fun relaxing in the sun listening to this older man play saxophone and singing. He even sang in Italian for the crowd.
When the tour ended we went back into the market and got chicken skewers with onions and red

Chicken Skewers and beers on the street

peppers. They were well seasoned, smoky, and juicy, fresh off the grill.  The skewers were served in a long toasted bun. They were delicious but slightly difficult to eat unless you removed the chicken and vegetables from the stick which was quite difficult to do with no plates while sitting on the ground. That being said, I managed it and it was totally worth it.  Removing the skewers made it a lot easier to eat and we were very happy. We also had some beers with our meal while sitting in the shade of the gorgeous clock tower.

me and my dark beer

Then more beer. I tried dark beer for the first time and it was delicious. It wasn't as dark or as thick as Guiness nor was it a meal unto itself. It was a little heavier than the blonde beers I've tried before but it was not overly rich and really tasty. I liked it even better than the Pillsner.

my beautiful berries

We walked around center and found another market to explore as well. It was mostly witches (I'm still not quite sure what they were doing there), beautiful paintings and other artisan made things.  It was quaint and adorable and I wanted to buy everything. I especially wanted to buy the fruit. It was beautiful and fresh and the colors were vividly bright. It was awesome.
Then we went back to touring. We went to the Jewish quarter

from the window of the
museum

and saw the museums and WWII memorials there and we also saw one of the oldest standing Jewish cemeteries. It was absolutely stunning and a little eerie. The oldest grave that I saw dates back to the 1400's. I would actually really like to learn more about that cemetery because it was so crowded with graves spanning back centuries. They are literally one on top of the other, no space, no plan. It is hauntingly beautiful.
Afterwards we wandered around the city some more and grabbed another snack before heading over to the Ice Bar (more on that in a moment). We went back to the market

I was super hungry so I forgot to take a before shot.

again and I got a grilled cheese on toast. But it wasn't like the grilled cheese that you think of in the states. it was quite literally a hunk of cheese placed directly on the burner until melted, creamy on the inside and crisp on the outside.  It was served on a piece of bread and had a wonderful flavor and texture. I'm not sure what kind of cheese it was but it was quite delicious.  Endira instead opted to try some goulash soup.  It was quite tasty and considerably lighter than the goulash main

course that I'd tried the evening before.  It had a kick of spice but it wasn't overwhelming. the soup had a full and heart flavor.
Next we headed over to the the Ice Bar by Charles Bridge.  I insisted on going. I could not resist, a bar made of ice where drinks are served in glasses made of ice, yeahhh, it was necessary.

I'm such a goofball 

We found discount flyers at our hostel and so got an extra shot each which was lovely.  We got to go into a bar made of ice for 20 minutes (they have timed sessions to make sure no one gets too cold) and it was absolutely hilarious.  They decked us out in big silver jackets and black gloves and then we got to do 2 shots each. We danced a bit and goofed around taking pictures, but we weren't even really that cold. However, there was an Italian family with us and well, they were definitely feeling the cold. Italians are freddolosi, aka they're always cold. They had me cracking up because they were shivering and jumping about while we were sitting on the ice chairs and having a ball. There's an ice bar in Rome and I would absolutely love to go to that one too. It would be especially nice in the summer since it gets so hot here.

Selfies

After we got done being silly in the Ice bar we walked along the river and took some selfies before
heading back to the market for another snack. We decided to do a snack and then a late dinner (another snack really) since we were signed up for a 9pm ghost tour. Endira got another sausage while I decided to go for something sweet. I decided to try something called "fried curd". Really, it was fried dough with a sweet filling inside. I, of course, chose chocolate. It was so good. The dough was crisp and not too sweet and the chocolate wasn't overwhelming.
And then we went to our ghost tour.  It was interesting but not particularly scary (the stories had potential but you could absolutely tell that our tour guide didn't believe a word she was saying).
Afterwards we grabbed some dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Las Adelitas. It was quite good with large portions. The strawberry margarita was also great. But I'll write more about that in another blog.

And then we headed back to our hostel to rest because we had big plans for the next morning.

Prague Adventures Part I
Prague Adventures Part III

Shopping at the Open Air Market

I seriously love going to the open air market in Acilia by work. It really does have the most fantastic collection of fresh fruits and vegetables at the best prices.
I got all of that fruit and vegetables for €4.00! It's crazy.
I bought 5 tomatoes on a vine, 5 plums, 2 bananas, 1 gigantic eggplant and a very large bushel of chicory (which I still need to write a separate post about).
For lunch, I had some of the tomatoes and they were really delicious. I cooked the eggplant in a red sauce and it was filled with flavor as well. I also prepared some of the chicory last night and that was delicious too.
Nothing is bland here!
Now, as I run to my next lesson, I'm going to eat one of the bananas and I'm sure it's going to be delicious as well!!

Such beautiful colors!!