Day Six in Rome

The day did not disappoint. That side of Rome we hadn’t seen yet (Trestevere). The restaurant, “Le Fate” (The Fairies) is run by Andrea Consoli/Sous Chef and his brother and he was a riot. Well traveled from Italy to the US (San Francisco & New Jersey) to Australia for a year. We arrived early and surprised him by our number (he expected 5 inc 2 children) but he was accommodating and we began with a short tour, donning our aprons and washing our hands. The menu included an appetizer (pumpkin flower stuffed with prosciutto & mozzeralla fried in batter/oil and served with a Southern Pesto Sauce), a first course (handmade/rolled spaghetti & linguini with mushroom sauce), a second course (saltimbocca – thin beef with a layer of cheese, sage & prosciutto pan fried in evoo) and finally, dessert (a chocolate soufflé).

The kids helped out with every part of the cooking from pulling pistils out of pumpkin flowers to layering saltimbocca for 10 people. They handrolled spaghetti and measured out butter & chocolate for the souffle. They were even careful enough that they sliced mushrooms thin enough for use in the sauce. They dove right in, enjoyed cooking & conversing with the other adults (there were the 2 chefs & 2 other attendees to the class from London & Thailand) and, in general, had a GREAT time. Not once did I need to speak to them about behaving, and after we were done, they actually enjoyed eating ALL that they made.

The event ended about 3:30 this afternoon & we journeyed home needing to be personally rolled up & down the hill. Rachel commented that “eating 4 meals for lunch was a lot” and she was SO RIGHT. :D It’s now suppertime & we opted for a chicken noodle soup/broth and not much else (although DS1 has just come out at 9pm asking for a piece of leftover pizza). Nobody else seems hungry, even 5 hours later. :D

The weather promises rain again tomorrow in Naples, so that has put a bit of a dampener on our trip to climb Vesuvius. We’ll still try to do it, but if not, we’ll certainly be able to see it from Pompeii on Friday. Instead we’ll be doing a little “general” sight-seeing around town & pick up our tickets for Wednesdays adventure at the Vatican. Off to bed.