Categories: Life
Tagged: a walk around the block, autumn, home, Saint Paul, transition
Cannoli Pepperoni
Est. 2013
Posts by Junita Bognanni
“Perhaps things are most beautiful when they are not quite real; when you look upon a scene as an outsider, and come to possess it in its entirety and forever; when you live the present with the lucidity and feeling of memory; when, for want of connection, the world deepens and becomes art”.
— Mark Helprin, Ellis Island
Tagged: fleeting pleasures, nostalgia, Rome, sunset, Tiber
Day Eleven of my internship with the Rome Sustainable Food Project was a very good day. I know this, because I kept a diary. There were many days I came home exhausted, the kind of fatigue that makes you forget hunger ironically enough, but still I managed to type out something to mark each shift. Sometimes it was just a sentence, sometimes it was several paragraphs. It’s amusing to me now to go back and see which days made the biggest impact. This one was one of them, the day I made my first pasta. I loved eating Amatriciana before I ever cooked it, but now I adore it. It’s part of the holy trinity of Roman pastas (in my opinion) that includes Carbonara and…
Today is Pentecost Sunday. Fifty days after Easter, the holiday commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the Apostles. Step inside the Pantheon around noon and you will witness what I just did. Religious allegory transformed into art. After a traditional mass, firefighters stationed above toss thousands of rose petals into the oculus. This “Pioggia di Rose”, or rain of roses, represents the flames of the Holy Spirit that showered down upon the believers below. Oh, Rome. Sometimes you’re so beautiful I could cry.
Tagged: Domenica delle Rose, Pantheon, Pentecost Sunday, Piogga di Rose, Rome, rose petals
Categories: Italy
Before I started interning for the Rome Sustainable Food Project, I spent a saturday in the kitchen as a volunteer. I remember it was a crisp fall morning. Curious and ready, I reported for my shift at 8am, prepared to be swept up into a busy day. But first it was time for the Menu Meeting. A twice-daily ritual (held once before the start of the morning shift and once in the afternoon), the meeting is a sit-down exchange between the Chef and the interns on duty. Like a captain before an armada prepared to set sail, the Chef lays forth a plan of action for his ships. The waters may be rough (i.e. the head count may be high), but together we’ll make…
I have so much to say that I have nothing to say. Do you know that feeling when you’re with a friend who you haven’t seen for a long time, and you just don’t know where to start? You want to perform a feat of magic– bundle up three months into something articulate. Meaningful, but not boring. Inclusive, but not exhaustive. You want to give a real sense of what has gone on in your life. But sometimes it’s best to skip ahead and just order another round of drinks. There are plenty of things happening right now worth sharing. I want to tell you more about my experience with the Rome Sustainable Food Project. The internship seriously altered my ideas about cooking and eating, as…
We have a lot to catch up on.
{Image courtesy of the brilliant Hamlett Dobbins}
Categories: Life
Tagged: Italy, Rome, Year Abroad
I learned the secret to the Best Roasted Potatoes on day three of my internship. Believe me, a chorus of angels sang from on high when this secret was revealed. Over the last few months of living at the Academy I’ve noticed that if roasted potatoes are a component of dinner, it doesn’t matter how delicious the braised pork cheeks were. People will fight to the death for the last potato. They are that good. As promised, here is the recipe: Clean and peel potatoes. If you’re not using them immediately, store in cold water so they don’t discolor. Cut potatoes into wedges. [The secret part!!!] Blanch potatoes in boiling water for a few minutes. Drop them in the water and let them sit…
Categories: Food
Tagged: recipe, roasted potatoes, Rome Sustainable Food Project, RSFP
Shortly after Peter’s magical letter came in the mail, I discovered the Rome Sustainable Food Project. It is exactly what it sounds like. A sincere, passionate mission to source the best seasonal food within a small radius of Rome and transform it into a week’s worth of delicious meals for the Fellows of the American Academy. This excellent video will fill you in on the rest: The RSFP is a teaching kitchen, staffed by three chefs and a crop of rotating interns. Yes, interns. Can you guess where there is going? There’s a reason you haven’t heard much from me. I’m living in two worlds right now– I’m an RSFP intern and a “fellow traveler”– and somewhere there’s regular old Junita, too. My internship…
Cannoli Pepperoni 