Are you a Lena Dunham fan? I’ve been falling down the Dunham rabbit hole the past couple of days and I’m not even sure I realized how polarizing she is.
For my part, I’m a fan. I don’t always relate to her comedy but I think she’s incredibly talented and smart and even as I’m cringing, I’m usually laughing.
is coming out September 30! Are you going to read it?) and reading the New York TimesMagazinepiece about her (lots of comparisons to Woody Allen who, I thought it was odd was never referenced as equally polarizing for another reason) and I wanted more. It reminded me of the time Aron and I first watched Girls as a preview and quickly followed it by watching her film, Tiny Furniture.
One of the best things I stumbled upon this time was a 2013-interview (or, more accurately, conversation) Dunham conducted with fellow writer/comedian/future bff Mindy Kaling for a print offshoot of Rookie (a smart website for teen girls that is an equally notable piece of the interview equation) and which was republished in Rolling Stone. (I told you… Rabbit Hole.)
Whether or not it’s the best, the espresso at Sant’Eustachio Il Caffè is perhaps one of the most famous to be pulled in Rome. The classic experience involves standing at the bar, quickly sipping an espresso or caffé with a pastry. We opted for the fairly pricey table service, so that we could better enjoy the relative calm in the small piazza and better savor the rich, wonderful Nutella Aragosta (lobster-tail pastries) that Aron and I so fondly recalled from our last visit. The coffee is amazing, but these are honestly some of the best pastries we had on the trip (or ever).
We’re just back from what was a wonderful three weeks in Italy. And though we’re still paying some of the price in jet lag, I’m already feeling nostalgic as I look at these photos. Alas, it’s probably best to put some distance between us and the permission we gave ourselves to schmear Nutella on anything bread-like.
I hope to share travelogues—I’m thinking it might make sense to break the trip into three parts—later in the month.
In the meantime, I couldn’t help but share these photos from one particularly pleasant morning in Rome:
Aron and I alternated sips of caffé latte and Gran caffé (slightly larger and frothier than an espresso); Hudson had a cup of chocolate, which was thick and slightly bitter and which Aron spooned for him as if he were a baby bird until the temperature was just right. Oh, the life of a (lucky) three year old.
With most meals consisting of some combination of tomato sauce and Nutella or gelato, we realized we would be doing laundry every day unless we started having Hudson share Skyler’s bibs. (Eventually, he took to donning his “cape” and running very fast.)
Back when William Grimes of the New York Times found the espresso in New York to be lacking (many years ago), he famously wrote: “When the need for a real espresso becomes overpowering, buy a ticket to Rome, tell the taxi driver to head straight for the Sant’Eustachio cafe. The espresso will be perfect. A little expensive, but surely worth the trouble.” You could do worse than to follow that advice. Just be sure to try the Aragosta, too.
I think one of the things I miss most about living in New York is Indian Food. My friend Teryn and I would walk around the corner from our offices on Park Avenue to the row of (mostly) South Indian restaurants in the 30s along 3rd Avenue. Incredible Dosas at Saravanaa Bhavan, Roti Wraps at Roomali, and—probably our favorite—Bhel Puri and other renditions of Indian Street Food at Bhojan. I’d have some kind of Indian food for lunch at least once a week if not two or three times. There’s nothing like it here, really.
I was thrilled when Sunset Magazine, last April, had an article on Indian Street Food with a list of restaurants in the West where someone like me can indulge her craving. (There are lots of options in the Bay Area… the East Bay in particular.) They also furnished a list of resources for buying ingredients.
One day, we’re going to back to India and take a culinary tour consisting entirely of street snacks.
Do you like Indian Food? Do you have a good recipe for Bhel Puri to share?
