A Brand New Adventure: Rome Part I

So a little less than a month ago I decided to move back to Italy.  I decided to move to Rome, a city where I've never lived before. It should be an incredible journey and I'm going to try to document some of it for you through the food I eat and try along the way.
Forgive me for the next few weeks because I'm also going to be trying to finish updating about the food I experienced in Canada plus I still have a couple of posts to get up about food in the states.
That being said, I'm really looking forward to blogging about my experiences here in Rome.

So far so good! I've been here just about a day!! :D

I had a pretty epic time travelling, and there was some good and some bad food along the way.  I

flew out of JFK and decided to sit down for the hour before my flight and get a drink and a snack before leaving US territory. A farewell of sorts to the food in the US.
I was flying AirBerlin (exit 8) so had terminal 24. I automatically spotted this little retaurant with its bright colors and appealing name "Drink" (obviously my goal was the drink more than the food, as travelling can be stressful lol).  I decided to try their Crème Brulée Cheesecake and their mixed drink "Raspberry Dream" which was made with prosecco, pineapple juice, and Chambord black raspberry liquor except that I asked for pear juice instead of pineapple (I

wasn't in the mood for the sweetness of pineapple).  I have to say that I really loved my drink. It was just sweet enough with a lovely tang of raspberry. Plus the prosecco bubbles were a lot of fun, and very fitting considering it's an Italian alcohol.  It was on the expensive side for a cocktail... but I was in an airport and didn't really expect anything different.  The dessert on the other hand was quite reasonably priced. It wasn't my favorite cheesecake but it was pretty damn good.  The sugar on top was crisp with a nice smoky bite and the cream cheese center was creamy and delicious and it was drizzled with a soft caramel sauce.  The only thing I didn't love was the crust. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't the way I like my crust.  It may have needed more butter or it needed a different base. I'm not sure what kind of cookie or graham cracker they use, but something was just a tad off for me.  In any case, I ate it all, so it was pretty good. :) The wait stuff was nice and friendly. Plus it was a nice quiet getaway from the hectic atmosphere of the boarding gates.  It was just what I needed to help me relax before boarding my plane!

When I boarded, I promptly fell asleep and missed take off. I think my dessert and cocktail put me in the perfect mode to do that! I was a happy camper and then got out my headphones to start watching movies on board.  I really liked their film selection and by the time I was halfway through Freedom Writers (AMAZING AMAZING MOVIE) they were serving dinner and drinks.
I didn't take any pictures of my dinner because it really wasn't all that photogenic.  It was decent airplane food but I've had better. I chose to get the chicken dish because it was either chicken or pasta. Since I was going to the land of pasta on a German flight I figured chicken would be the better option.  The chicken was served over rice that was highly overcooked.  The chicken itself was good and I ate it with my bread and cheese rather than with the rice. It was also served with a potato salad  but I don't love potato salad with mayo so I only nibbled at that.  Next time I think I'll try the pasta (and then I'll let you know how that goes!). I did get two glasses of white wine with dinner. So I was quite pleased. Then I also had a wonderful berry crumble coffee cake to go with my coffee. That was actually quite delicious.  The coffee was good, not too strong and the cake was just sweet enough to make me happy (meaning it wasn't super sweet). The cake was also perfectly baked and therefore, much appreciated.
For breakfast they served bread with cheese, salami and ham. There was butter and jam, too.  They also had fresh strawberry yogurt which was quite tasty. It wasn't much but it was a nice snack and good way to bring my flight to a close so I wasn't hungry in the Dusseldorf airport.
On my connecting flight they offered a pretzel like bread that was utterly delicious. It was a quick and easy snack and broke up the monotony of my sleeping.

When I finally got to Rome I was hungry but not hungry. I was too tired and jetlagged to be actually hungry.  I had a espresso at the caffe below work and a new candy that I've never tried before. It was cherry and yum but I've forgotten what it's called proving that I was utterly out of it yesterday. After my awesome coffee Endira shared her homemade salad with me too. So yummy with chickpeas, fresh tomatoes, spring mix, cheese, and sauteed pork with mushrooms.  It was a really nice combo and great of her to share.  And the tomatoes were so fresh and delicious. I forgot how much I love Italian tomatoes because they have bursts of amazing flavor.

After teaching a few hours, we traveled to Rome proper (work is a little out of the city) and got

The sausage, mushroom and mozzarella pizza

amazing pizza right by Endira's house.  I didn't catch the name of the place but it's right in the San Lorenzo area of the city. We got two pizzas to share. Both were white pizzas so no tomato sauce. One had sausage, mushrooms and mozzarella while the other had fior di zucca or zucchini flowers on it.  We got the pizza to go and it was utterly delicious. I think one night I may sit down and eat there, so I can do a whole blog about it too!  The crust was thin but not too, too crunchy. The toppings were fresh  and very flavorful. Everything was well balanced, so nothing was too salty and they definitely weren't too greasy either.

Pizza with zucchini flowers