Rome via Brooklyn

530 words.

A student asked me what I was cooking. Cooking is a strong word for what I muster at dinner. I added two “three ingredient” dishes to my day two post. So my featured image is tonight’s salad from the fridge concoction. The base is the rest of a bag of mixed greens with mostly songino (lamb’s lettuce) which might be the world’s most delicious micro green that seems completely absent from most American markets. It is topped with the last of the pre-cooked chicory, with extra salt and the last of the cherry tomatoes from the basket on my table. I added a 1/3 of a can of chickpeas, some mozzarella (to die for!), and a dollop of the fresh pesto I had open in the fridge for ‘dressing’. It worked. Shopping for fresh and interesting ingredients still beats eating out for taste, energy, and budget. And I’m so exhausted (again), I cannot even think about boiling water for pasta.

The run down on today. Morning at the Tiber temples (hot!) and then lunch with Dan Diffendale (stunning colleague, so generous). After that I had a few hours to kill before meeting the students again at Villa Guilia so I slowly walked there. Maybe not best from a rest and revive perspective, but I wanted to be in the city and see familiar sites and new ones. Similarly in the morning I forewent public transit to walk the Tiber down to the temples. I guess my legs are tired for a reason.

NOTE: In the bonus post I said to pack the grounds in the mocha pot, Dan let me know that many recommend looser grounds for a less bitter coffee. I’ll try tomorrow am.

Whatever is going on at Mausoleum of Augustus is going to be spectacular. The fountain in front of the Ara Pacis museum has seen better days. Maybe they should replace with a manicured grove of cyprus or olives or laurels or all three? I find the via Ripettera on of my favorite thoroughfares. Stopped a used book store and acquired a catalogue of the Bardo. Lovely experience. Browsed jewelry and bags but nothing called my name. An old favorite restaurant that I used to dine at alone but then shuttered has reopened under the same name and new interior. Didn’t call to me either. I remember eating the fixed menu at Trattoria der Pallaro with past students and wonder if they do the same thing and if I would like it 20 years on or if it would spoil the memory. Eating in the remains of the theatre of Pompey was such a thrill then. I wondered if this mosaic shop offers tours and/or demos to student groups. As always, I love the street art.

Students all seem to have made the same bad choice I did to explore the city between the morning temples and the afternoon museum. Nevertheless they enjoyed the large architectural terracottas of the Villa Guilia and loved on the elephant art I adore. They are so robust, yet I need to go easier on them. We all need a weekend already.

Also Antoninus Pius looks great in glasses.