“Eataly” A place I could eat out of house and home

Last week I went to Rome to see my wonderful Gabrielle (he of devoted Knight in Shining Armour fame in “Letters”), who I hadn’t seen for ages, and it was just bliss to see him again!  How I’d missed him and his beautiful mother Barbara. As always I was warmly greeted like one of the family and then we chatted, catching up on news. Meanwhile Gabrielle was thinking about where to take me for lunch.  
“Have you been to Italy?” he asked suddenly. 

I thought he was joking. “Of course, I live here!” 

He shook his head. “It’s spelt E-A-T-A-L-Y” 

“Oh.  No, I haven’t”. 

“Then we’ll go there for lunch”. 

Which we did, and it was delicious. On leaving Eataly later I said to Gabrielle, “I have to bring Vito here. He will LOVE it!”

I’m probably the last person in Rome to have heard of Eataly, but I reckon some of you “out there” haven’t heard of it yet, and so if you come to Rome, or are nearby New York or Chicago, (or even in Japan), you may like to know of it. 

Part of the outside of the EATALY building in Rome

The Rome building reputed to be the company's largest megastore, was opened in 2012 in a old abandoned air terminal building near Ostiense. Vito commented a couple of days later when we went there together, “I am so glad someone finally made good use of one of the “Cathedrals to Waste” as he calls the various half built, unused, money wasted buildings that litter Italy.  So they have. The building is beautiful.  A vast, modern streamlined four-storey building devoted to specialist Italian foods.  Built of glass and chrome it is light, airy, spacious,

The entrance hall

easy to move around, and filled from floor to ceiling with delicious things.  I would be happy to stay there.  As in forever! 

The entire building is divided into sections; so you can find all cheeses

Cheese!

in one place, or wander round looking at fresh pasta in another

Fresh pasta

There are some corners where they make the products

Making Mozzarella

(here they are making mozzarella), and each part also has its own restaurant.  So for example you can eat at the meat restaurant

The most tender and delicious hamburger EVER!  Topped with grilled aubergine

(where Gabrielle and I had lunch),

or spend hours looking at the sauces and different kinds of oils,

Sauces, preserves and oils

fresh fish, fresh meat, bread … you name it, or even just think of it,

Just one of the fresh fish counters

Part of the wine hall

and I reckon you could probably find it.  Vito and I agreed many of the prices are a little on the steep side, but of course you are buying top-notch specialist foods that you won’t be able to find in ordinary supermarkets, and the quality is of the best here.




There is a very atmospheric coffee bar,

Coffee bar

complete with a beautiful reproduction

Coffee machine

of an old espresso maker which is beautiful.

 On the top floor there is there is a very swish restaurant, where they have Modigliani on display and where you really DO need a full wallet to buy lunch or dinner.   Nearby is the cooking school, where cookery classes are held.  Also just outside the top floor restaurant is an area where there is the table for the “10 Fortunati”, or “10 fortunates (people)”. 

Table for the 10 "fortunati".  You can see the ovens the top chefs will use in the background. Seats look a bit uncomfortable though! 

From September for a whole year, every month a world famous chef will cook for 10 people who bid for a place at the table.  Bidding will begin at 300 Euro per person, and all the money raised will go to charity, which I think is an absolutely lovely idea, and would love to join in but we'll have to wait until Vito wins the lottery ....   or maybe in another life L

If you want to know more about Eataly, here is a link for those of you in Italy.  Here is the link for those in the USA and other English speakers. Here’s the link to Wiki if you want to know a bit about the background.

Italian parking

An example of ....

Not mine I hasten to add!  

Not the only pebble on the beach

Going to the beach late Saturday afternoon has become a “must do”, affording us a rare opportunity to relax totally for a couple of hours in each other’s company.  Yesterday was very windy by the sea though and within minutes of sun tan lotion being applied, Vito made me giggle by remarking as he looked down at his finely sanded body “I feel like a schnitzel ready to be fried!”   Going to the beach every weekend is still something I haven’t got used to, even after living near the sea all these years.  The beach to me as a child was always synonymous with a two-week holiday somewhere on the Mediterranean, and that memory lingers on.  So too do memories of lovely snacks available to be eaten, the nicest of all I remember from a seller who used to call out “canditi” on the beach at Riccione.  Canditi were large green grape “kebabs” coated with caramelised sugar. I can still feel the caramel splintering into little pieces, the "pop" of a juicy grape against my teeth and the burst of sweetness in my mouth almost half a century later.  I’d never seen them before or since now I come to think of it.  L  I also remember coconut sellers, ice-cream sellers, cold drink sellers.  But things like this? 

Nowadays it seems the shops have arrived at the beach!  And people buy, or at least go to have a good look, and who can blame them?  Some of these stalls are so colourful they almost hurt your eyes but you certainly can’t help noticing them.

As for food on the beach these days.  Vito sitting up said to me “I can smell smoke, can you?”  I sniffed the air taking in plenty of sand into my lungs but nothing else “No”.  “Smells like BBQ” he insisted, “ah look!” he jerked his chin in the direction of a seller with fresh BBQ-ed corn on the cob for sale.  “Do you want one?”  More power to their elbows of the guys who sell corn on the beach, (this vendor was not the only one we’ve seen).

Good luck to them.  I’m sure the little girl who sat happily munching a cob nearby will have just as lovely memories as I do when she grows up of the taste of beach food.  But to be honest I’d have much preferred canditi. Do any of you have any memories of particular beach food you liked?

Comfortable as an old shoe

I just went out to hang up some towels to dry and looked round for my flip-flops.  Remembering I’d left them behind the back door to dry after I washed the terrace this morning, I made my way to the place I'd left them, and then just seeing one shoe on the mat, my heart sank. 

He was back to his old tricks again. The moment I turn my back, or as in this case, simply forgot, a shoe disappears.  Does anyone else have a dog with a shoe fetish?  The hunt was on.  I have a wardrobe full of “one” shoe.  I don’t need another for my collection.   

Ever since he was a small pup on the streets with his mother and brother when I first met him, and brought him home to join the menagerie he has had a “thing” about my shoes.  Rarely two (although I never did find a pair of black moccasins) even one missing is of course enough to be a nuisance as I’m sure you can imagine.  I love him to bits – who wouldn’t?  Just look at this picture of him as a babe. Have you ever seen anything so dopey looking?  Who could resist? 

I found the flip-flop buried in the front garden.  He didn’t even try to look guilty which is unusual for him.  Like I said, I love him to bits.  All 35Kg (that’s 5.5 stone in English – he’s a big boy!)  But he drives me nuts!!!   

Wouldn’t be without him though. J