rotonda…

More of EUR (see previous post) just for the hell of it…remember the square colosseum?

it is currently undergoing restoration…apparently it cost 15 million euros just to clean the marble on that one building…and by the way, it’s a nice thought but i don’t think revolution is coming…unfortunately…

Went back a second time with a friend and plucked up the courage to cross v scary road to get to the roundabout and THAT statue…

For a full set of EUR pics click here

 

 

foraging 2…

I know a bit about food but this has been a revelation, this foraging lark, not like growing/rearing your own food (which i know well, which i grew up with)…this is a new skill to learn, now you have to become a bit of a detective…but its easy here in the Italian countryside with someone who knows what he is talking about and in a relatively “safe” patch of land. Researching into foraging in Scotland, i keep finding scary stories of middle class dinner parties going awry with people ending up on dialysis machines due to eating the wrong kind of mushrooms (allegedly experienced foragers too!!!! click here for THAT full story) think i will steer clear of the fungi for now, but am definitely going to give the rest of it a go.

More stuff we found:

Garlic mustard, you eat the leaves in a salad, they taste mildly of garlic.

Dandelions (dente di leone – get their name from their leaves that are characterised by jaggy lions teeth shaped edges), along with nettles are probably the easiest thing to find, cos we all know what they look like. You can eat the flowers and the young tender leaves in salads, but the fields are full of similar faux yellow dandeliony looking plants. One of the ways to tell if its a real dandelion is the hollow stem.

THE HAUL…including, wild asparagus, pungitopo*, garlic mustard, silver beet (cultivated) wild garlic/chives, a kind of chicory…recipes to follow in the next day or two…

For a much more comprehensive and expert guide to foraging click here

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* pungitopo seems to have lots of common names in english like: Butcher’s Broom, Kneeholy, Knee Holly, Kneeholm, Jew’s Myrtle, Sweet Broom, Pettigree, none of which i had heard of before. Anyway its hardy, it thrives in shady situations and is found in the UK so look for it!

other food posts on this blog

chocolate con churros

pani puri sunday

cicchetti tea-break

baracca

empanada

further adventures in foraging

revelations in a milanese restaurant

further adventures in foraging

foraging

more foodie questions

foodie questions

nose to tail,

(s)light relief,

pulpo a la gallega

the matanza

morcilla and dying arts

jamòn serrano

after the storm…

…dawn in the countryside just outside Rome after a night of thunder and lightening – corrugated iron roof so the sound effects were spectacular…

another foraging post tomorrow…

mary…

one of the many mary’s of rome, not a believer myself but they really do good church over here (aesthetically that is…not anythng else…)

 

colomba…easter breakfast (it’s meant to be shaped like a dove…get it?)

more square colosseum…

more of the square colosseum just because…

…and also to mention its use as a backdrop to a film i love,  an adaptation of Titus Andronicus called Titus, i have not seen it since 1999 but that film really stayed with me (be warned it is pretty gory) and its the reason i first went to EUR…to seek out THAT building. If you can find it, watch it.