Abbiamo cenato

On Saturday night, our friends Rosa and Paolo had us over for a fabulous dinner. They live in Portici ("Port", by the shipping port), and from the balcony of their apartment they have spectacular views of Naples, plus partial views of Capri and Sorrento--Bellisimo Venduta (means great view!). If you were in Napoli looking towards Portici, you would see the Portici homes clustered along part of the base of Vesuvio, and it only took us about 20 minutes to get to their apartment from Napoli.

When we got to their place, Rosa gave us a tour of their apartment--a great place with lots of unique design accents i.e neat accent lighting, a subfloor with glass top to display shells they had collected on various trips, cool tile work in the bathrooms etc, all ideas Rosa came up with on her own. Rosa had also taken time to create a great tablescape complete with printed menus and gifts for all of us ( A Napoli bib for Evan, and cool, 3 dimensional magnets for Josh and I of Napoli and Piazza Plebiscito. She had the gifts tied up in mesh bags w/ a 'horn' charm (animal horn, not instrumental horn)--horns being the symbol of good luck here, and many people keep horns mounted in their homes, or dangling from their car's rearview mirror). She has 6 month old Gabriel and 2.5 yr old Manuel, so where she found the time to cook us the feast she had prepared, plus do all the little extras I have no idea! I attached a picture of her tablescape and menu. You will see a picture on the front of the menu of a guy--Rosa explained that every city has a "mascot" type figure, and the one on the menu is the "Mascot" of Napoli. She told us his name (which I forget) and that he is described as being very lazy as well as some other things. She also printed a story/history of, I think, food in Naples, but she didn't translate it, instead, she gave me that as a homework assignment, to figure out what it says:) ha! We told Rosa that she was the "Martha Stewart" of Italy! She's never heard of Martha Stewart, but we explained who she is, and she understood and accepted the compliment:)

Rosa's menu for us consisted of:
"Stuzzichini della casa"--starters
-Tarallini--a type of cracker that reminds me of breadsticks and they are shaped like little donuts
-Sfogliata Rustica-a potato, cheese and bacon torte--Yum!
-Bruschette

Primi- 1st course
-Pasticcio di pasta al forno- wide ziti like noodles with lots of cheese and meatballs

Secondi-2nd course
-Involtini di pollo a modo mio--Rosa called this "Chicken her way!". Chicken rolled up with a delicious sauce.
-Trionfo Campano: Ovvero "Salsicce e Friarielli"--I think that means, a typical dish of Campania (the region Naples is in) which consists of spinach like veggie with sausages.
-Terrina de Patate-layers of potato and ham or bacon ( I forget now, but very delicious). It looked like if you were to cut a marble pound cake.

Dolce-Dessert
Cupola di Profiteroles-- french dish. Puff pastries filled w/ homemade whipped cream and then covered in melted dark chocolate candy bars--so good! I had 4 of them, and then before she started doing dishes, Rosa offered me the spoon to 'clean off'. Kind of like when I used to lick the beaters when my mother would make cakes:) You're never too old to lick the beaters!!

I had also brought over Chiachiare and chocolate--the dessert I had mentioned in a previous post that is typical during Carnevale--which continues up until 2/16.

Speaking of Carnevale--Rosa lent me a pumpkin outfit for Evan to wear on the weekends, since all the kids dress up and go out on the weekends of Carnivale. So, yesterday, we dressed him up and walked to the park to see all the other costumes--ranging from Minnie Mouse, to baby brides, Spiderman, Pirates, Band Majorettes etc. The piazzas and parks were covered in silly string and confetti!!

We look forward to spending more time w/ Rosa & her family, and they are looking forward to us getting an apartment so that they can come over for a Barbecue..a cooking technique they are not familiar with and definitely want to try!