Ciao Lissa and Dave!

 

Wow! So it's been nearly 5 years since I've seen Lissa, and here we are! Lissa and Dave came through this weekend and we met up on Saturday. First we went to the wine bar Cul de Sac, which is "Rome's first wine bar" (how do you measure that, anyway?) in the Piazza Pasquino, home of Rome's famous "talking statue" Pasquino (these days covered with bad poetry and socialist manifestos). A bottle of chianti classico and a cheese/meat plate later, we went to dinner at Grotto del Teatro di Pompeo with Dave's parents, a restaurant built in Pompey's theater (which no longer exists, but all the buildings are built in a semi-circle over the original plan). Our meal was fabulous - we started with antipasti, sun dried tomatoes, eggplant about three different ways (grilled, marinated, and breaded), fritatta, zucchini, red peppers, and giant balls of fresh mozzerella di buffala. By the time our pasta dishes came, we were pretty much stuffed. Lissa really got the best thing, which was risotto di fiori di zucca... very tasty. My tortellini con crema was better last summer, and Matt's pasta and beans was ... pasta and beans. Eh. :) We were so full that we couldn't bear to order any secondi. We were going to split a few desserts, but the waitress wasn't content that a party of six should only order 3, so she brought six. ;) millefoglie, two types of custard, two plates of creme brulee, and tiramisu. Half of our group barely made it past the pantheon to see it all lit up.

I had wanted to meet up with them again yesterday but I have this bad cold right now and I haven't left the house. boo...! But I hope you had a great time Lissa! See you soon, maybe! (Not another 5 years!)