Sunday, February 9, 2014

Stranger Alert: San Giovanni, Holy Stairs, The Keyhole

Ciao Stranger,

We shall begin today's adventure in the kitchen "insert woman in kitchen joke". But really, I felt guilty for just eating the food my roomies prepared everyday and wanted to reciprocate the kind gesture by poisoning them with my baking skills. What else would I be doing at 5 in the morning anyways? I won't bore you with the process of how they were made. There's tons of chocolate chip cookie recipes online for that already. Finding all the ingredients was way harder than I had expected. I scoured 3 different grocery stores to gather these goodies. I never found baking powder, baking soda or measuring utensils but I worked with what I had and...

 They seemed to have turned out just fine. I baked them in the tiny oven you see in the picture. "But Michelle, did you burn some of those cookies?" What? Don't be absurd. How could I have done such a thing. They're just slightly tanned; got a bit more sun than the others. They were equally as delicious, don't be racist. I wanted some brownie points and I think this may have got a +1 on the scale. Mission accomplished.
 As I left my roomies munching away on my masterpiece, I ventured out to another basilica: San Giovanni Church, the official church of Rome (since St.Peter's is the church of The Vatican).
 Never before have I stared at ceilings so much as I have in Rome. I don't think I'll ever get sick of this place. Why were the doors so massive? Did they have giants back in the days? Maybe elephants attended masses?
 The inside. Just take a moment to breathe and open your eyes as big as possible. Decades worth of work putting this together, I can't even imagine the hardship that went into this.
 Woah, what the heck is this? Where do I begin to look at?! I had to sit down to take it all in. Breathe in, breathe out. Honestly if you had told me this was wallpaper, I still would have been impressed, so knowing this was all done by hand just makes it that much more intense.
This was bound to happen sooner or later. Selfie time! I sat down to enjoy the artwork, and along the way took some pictures too. Can you blame me? (from my Instgram so yes, this is filtered)
 The Holy Stairs, moved from Jerusalem and said to have been the stairs Jesus climbed on the day he was sentenced to death. You can only SLOWLY climb these stairs on your knees praying as you go. If you're not a dedicated believer, I wouldn't suggest you climbing it. It's not a race, these 28 steps could take you an hour to climb.
 Came home for lunch. Ascenzo cooked his favourite dish, carbonara. You have cheese, eggs and bacon. Boil the pasta, pan fry the bacon, and on the side take your eggs and add cheese to it. When the pasta is done, drain, add in bacon and the egg/cheese mixture. The raw eggs will thicken and become the sauce. Add more cheese and pepper. Ascenzo told me the density of the liquid is crucial in making this dish. Sorry I don't know what it is, I just wanted to eat my food.
 Carbonara. One of my favourite pastas yet. He can make about 20-30 different types of pasta, so I'm in for a ride.
After chatting with my roomies for a few hours about Rome's culture, food and places I should visit, I felt like having a short evening walk so I grabbed my handy dandy map and off I went. By Circus Maximus there's a mountain (or what we call a hill) where you could see the Tiber River a good chunk of Rome. Notice how none of the building are too tall? There's a law enforced that no building can be taller than St.Peter's. Good thing too cause this is a stunning view, and just one skyscraper could ruin it.
 And near the viewpoint, there's a local secret, The Aventine Keyhole. Through this keyhole you are able to see 3 separate states, Rome, the Priory of the Knights of Malta, and the Vatican. Confused? Let me show you what I mean.
 Amazing right? Rome, you surprise me everyday.Whether this keyhole was planned or found by accident no one knows, but regardless, it's a view worthy of seeing.
I felt as though the night was still relatively young so I began wandering around aimlessly. That you see is when my night got interesting. I got to meet Carlo, a 50+ year old Italian gentleman who spoke English and had a lot of time to spare; A LOT. We ran into each other by accident, started chatting and when he asked me where I was headed, I told him the truth: I have no idea. He suggested that we walk together and I thought why not, spontaneous Michelle is up to the challenge. Fast track 3 hours later, we're still walking and he's still talking. I have to say that he is an incredible tour guide who knows his stuff and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him until his hand started squeezing my shoulder continuously. That's when my creeper alert went off. As he suggested taking me on a scooter ride, I sensed the timing was right for me to run. After telling him I HAD to go home, he waited for the bus with me like a gentleman would. That bus really took it's time. 30 minutes later, we're still standing there, waiting, whilst I'm swearing under my breath at how slow this bus was coming, if it ever would. During that time he got my number (I know what you're thinking but I was scared and giving him a fake didn't work) and asked to see me again for the next two days before he went on his one month vacation to Thailand. Lovely, the only person who have shown interest in me is a man older than my dad. Joy oh joy. I took a picture with Carlo to remember my night's adventure. I do not know what to do when he starts to call me but I'm just thankful that I live with my 4 bodyguards right now. (Update: Carlo have just texted me)
 When I did eventually make it back home after 9pm, I joined in on the guys football & pizza night (I literally ran back and felt safe the instant I got inside; home sweet home). No pepperoni or Hawaiian pizza here, just the real stuff. Look at Paulo intently cutting his potato and sausage pizza. If it weren't for him, I would not be living with them right now, grazie, you are THE best. Look at Ascenzo's disapproving look because his pizza's not crispy enough. If there are any German girls out there who knows how to make crispy pizza, you will win his heart.
 After the game we did what all Italians do on a Saturday night. You go to the local Piazza, grab a beer/shot and slowly drink, smoke and socialize the night away. You talk about the girls that walk by but rarely make a move on them. It's like watching art; you see, you comment, you move on. A picture of Romancouver, the first of many more to come. (Paulo, Me, Salvo, Mauro, Ascenzo)

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