Good Friday Salad in a Jar

I made another salad in a jar on Good Friday for my day trip to Ostia Antica. I figured that it would be a great picnic lunch.
I'm not really a practicing Catholic although I usually do follow the traditions of Lent.  I usually give something up. One year it was the elevator in my building (which was great because I still don't use elevators unless I'm actually completely wiped out). Another year I gave up ice cream. That one didn't work out nearly as well.  I kept forgetting that I'd given up ice cream and wound up deciding to tack on days to my lent to make up for it.
This year, Lent seems to have flown by and I never actually got around to giving up anything. And since my awarness level wasn't particularly high, I'm sure that I also ate meat on Fridays as well. I've never been a stickler for these things, but I do try to follow along... This year I seem to have dropped the ball.
For Good Friday, however, I decided to follow tradition and have no meat all day.

So my salad was vegetarian.
My first layer was fresh olive oil, balsamic vinegar reduction and some oregano (grown and dried by one of my roomie's family).  Then I added white cannelloni beans with a little salt. Then came a layer of strawberries (I'm seriously starting to enjoy my roommates reaction when I put fruit into salads, it's utterly hilarious). Then a layer of delicious Asiago cheese because I really love its creaminess and how well it pairs with strawberries. Then I added a 1/4 of a small red onion diced coarsely because I adore the bite that the red onion adds to the salad. It adds a bit of kick and texture at the same time. Finally I filled the rest of the jar with mixed greens. I got an extra large package at the super market that has arugula, lettuce and some dark green and purple leaves that I don't know the name of. It's seriously one of my favorite mixes of salad.
Voila. My salad was amazing as I sat among the ruins of Ostia Antica. It was a truly memorable and delicious picnic lunch.

The Amphitheater and Temple

Restaurant Review Ostia: Ristorante Cipriani

Last week we had our Christmas for lunch and it was fantastic. Even though the trains were striking, we made our way to Ostia Antica (which I need to absolutely explore more thoroughly). The restaurant, Ristorante Cipriani was about 5 to 10 minutes from the station. It's a hidden gem, recommended by one of the students at our school. It's near a castle and ancient ruins down a small, quaint alleyway that wouldn't normally get a second glance.
I really enjoyed it because it was reasonably priced and absolutely delicious. I couldn't believe it! There was a fixed menu including a pasta first, a meat second, water and coffee all for €10.

 It had limited options but everything we ordered was fantastic.
The first dish options were cavatelli con sugo di spuntature, pasta e lenticchie, e tonnarelli cozze e pachino.  Cavatelli is a type of pasta while sugo di spuntature is a tomato based sauce made with ribs. Paste e lenticchie is pasta with lentils and it is almost like a thicker soup. Tonnarelli is a traditional Roman noodle that is similar to spaghetti but

considerably thicker and it was served with muscles and small tomatoes.  I had the cavatelli and it was rich but not heavy. The sauce had a lot of flavor and it was just the right portion size so I was able to eat my next course. I did cover it in cheese, but that's really only because I love cheese. It's cold out right now, so I would love to have some more. Laure and Ashley ordered the Tonnarelli and they really enjoyed the seafood because it was super fresh and had a lot of flavor. I didn't try it because I don't always love seafood. Sian tried the pasta with lentils which had a nice wintery feel to it. It was quite warm outside but I think it would be the perfect cold weather meal.
A little after, our seconds arrived promptly. There were also three choices and we tried them all.  I tried the

salsiccia e fagioli which is sausage and beans. It was utterly delicious, the sausage was a flattened patty and full of a ton of flavor while the beans brought me back to childhood. Grams prepared them so similarly. I really enjoyed the dish. I even used bread to sop up the extra sauce. So much good flavor.  Tanya, Laure, Ashley and Sian all tried the filetto di Orata which is a fillet of sea bream. It was served with a mini salad that Ashley was thrilled to have (she had a long weekend sadly lacking in vegetables). I didn't try it (I wish I liked seafood more) but everyone had good things to say about
it.  The only complaint I heard was about the small bones, but I find that fairly typical of dishes in Italy.  Endira on the other hand tried the Spezzatino. We had been expected a sliced cut of meat but it turned out to be chunks of meat cooked in a stew. Lots of flavor and warmth. It was quite good even if not quite what expected.
I really had a good time at our Christmas list. Good food, good company and good service as well. It was really quite lovely.
And then we ran off to work (literally for me... gotta love those mad dash sprints)!