Notes from Rome: September 2012

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Foto del Giorno

Summer Afternoon in Bologna

Taken June 2012, Bologna, Italy

Summer Gardening Retrospective

This past Spring, we decided to do some container gardening. We'd plant a bit of this and that on our balconies, we decided, and see what happened. Growing your own food is a concept I love. Everything fresh, no pesticides, and the satisfaction of preparing and eating something you'd lovingly nurtured from the ground (from the pot?). While I was intrigued and eager to give gardening a try for the first time in my life, I quickly learned that mine were not the greenest thumbs in our household.

After we'd gone out and purchased a bunch of pots, dirt, and all the other necessary goodies, I watched in amusement as Roland transformed into opportunistic squirrel. Eating became less about sustenance and more about unearthing seeds from any possible source. No produce item crossed out kitchen without being inspected for seeds which were promptly then buried in one of many pots. In a short span of time, our many labeled pots scattered across our balconies, soaking up the early summer sunshine under their Master's watchful eye. Green beans, strawberries, tomatoes, green peppers, hot chilies, avocado, several types of grapes, raspberries, basil, apples, oranges...technically, we should have feasted - and feasted well - through the summer months.

Alas, the gardening Gods were not on our side this year. Spider mites, too much water, not enough water, pot too big, pot too small, sun too hot...the problems were numerous but the fruits and vegetables, not so much. We had one meal's worth of green beans before spider mites took over, and who ever knew tomatoes won't grow in heat warmer than the mid 80's? The rest of our pots have collectively produced tons of pretty green leaves, and not much else.

With one exception.

Fragolini! Or, tiny little baby strawberries. I suppose that if only one of our plant children could successfully produce fruit all summer, I'm glad it was the fragolini plant. This little guy grew quickly and has been giving us bowls full of sweet little berries for months. They are delicious on their own straight off of the plant (which is about as far as they ever make it) or particularly lovely floating in a glass of Prosecco.

So, the end of summer gardening retrospective leaves us with a big win, a few losses, and lots of lessons learned for next year. Until then!

Fragolini in Prosecco, overlooking the lake in Nemi

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Banana Yogurt Muffins

Fall is here in Rome. Our days are still sunny and warm, but our evenings are cool and the weather is, in my opinion, at its finest for the year. Gone are the strings of endless summer weeks where we see nothing but glaring sunshine. Not that I am complaining about sunshine! But after several months of it, I welcome the days when grey clouds roll in and cover a dry and dusty Rome with rain and the occasional thunderstorm. It's refreshing, and that time has arrived! Which can mean only one thing. It's officially cooking and baking season. There's nothing like cranking up the oven on a chilly afternoon and filling the house with the smell of baked goods, or slow simmering a big pot of homemade soup all day long.

We have a visitor arriving this afternoon for a few days, so this morning I decided to make a batch of muffins to have on hand for breakfasts. Our slightly bare cupboards provided a bit of a challenge, but after scraping together a few ingredients and combining a couple different recipe ideas (thank you Google!) I came up with these little beauties. I am trying to cut down on cooking with butter and oil, so this recipe uses Greek yogurt and a reduced amount of oil. They still turned out moist and delicious and the house still smells fantastic!

Banana Yogurt Muffins

Dry Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
2 cups wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Wet Ingredients

1 cup greek yogurt (I used plain. Vanilla would work well too.)
1 egg
2 tablespoons low fat milk
2 tablespoons oil (I used lemon olive oil, which I had on hand, and it was a nice touch. Vegetable or canola, or plain olive oil would do.)
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Directions

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients except the walnuts and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients except the banana and mix until smooth.

Stir wet mixture into dry mixture to combine. Do not over mix.

Stir in mashed banana and chopped walnuts.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full (If you are like me, you'll use silicone baking cups. I have seen the light and will never go back to muffin tins!)

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

A Weekend in Lisbon

Last weekend, we took an impromptu trip to Lisbon. It was my first time in Portugal, and I found it to be a very interesting city. Built over seven hills, Lisbon is a city of steep inclines. It felt as it we were walking either straight up or straight down its cobbled streets the majority of the time. It was a charming place, alike Rome with its large piazzas and laundry swaying in the breeze from clothespins outside of windows. It was colorful and warm, and the people were generally friendly and eager to talk to us about their city, and to offer us their traditional Portuguese food. Note: Traditional food in Lisbon = fried! But deliciously so. After spending two days wandering around the city in the sunshine, and one laying on the beach and dipping our toes in the Atlantic, we returned back to Rome refreshed and relaxed. Here are some shots from our weekend.