This weekend I was in New York and was there long enough to try out a couple of new espresso bars. I'm obsessed, I know. Above is Ninth Street Espresso's Tompkins Square location. Very, very good. Except that they looked at me funny when I asked for "con panna".
Yes. CON PANNA, she said. Drop the arrogance, okay? You skinny, snobby barista. Adding a little whip cream to my doppio does not make the espresso unpure. It does not put me in the class of someone who drinks Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts. It's not going to ruin your magnificently pulled shots. It's just another form of adding a little milk and sugar.
And it case you don't know, they serve it this way in Italy, bitches. YES, THEY DO. At every espresso bar I ever went to while I was there. At the epitome of all espresso bars in the world, even: i.e., Sant'Eustachio, right next to the Pantheon in Rome. If it's good enough for them, it's damn well good enough for you, coffee boy. Remember, your little shop wouldn't even be in existence if it weren't for the Italians perfecting the art of espresso and making all those beautifully-designed machines.
So go start stocking whip cream in your hipster fridges and stop looking at me funny when I order mine con panna.
06 July 2009
25 September 2005
End o' Day at the Campo.
The Campo de' Fiori is a logistics wonder, I think. It's a bustling fresh food market in the mornings, with set up starting at 7:00a or so. At around 3:00p, after the vendors have cleared out, the place is an absolute mess. But the trash trucks and citte workers come in and tidy things up so the Campo is ready for dinner and its lively nightlife. Which ends...hmmm...4:00 in the morning, maybe? After which I assume they come in with the trucks for yet a second daily cleaning session. A lot of work goes into keeping this space relatively clean and lively.
Fiori.
So, my last two days in Rome were spent just basically bumming around my favorite spots, taking lots and lots of pictures; I didn't have the mental capacity for any more museums and would have loved to have gone to Richard Meier's Jubilee Church, but I didn't have any luck finding directions to it. Alora, I figure I've taken approximately 1,500 photos since I've been here, and am hoping to exhibit a few of them around Seattle at some point in the next year.
Anyway, this shot is of a woman carrying flowers near the Piazza Navona.
Anyway, this shot is of a woman carrying flowers near the Piazza Navona.
The Catholic Church.
Alora, va bene. The Swiss Guard, whom I saw when I went to St. Peter's Basilica yesterday. Unfortunately, because I had forgotten to bring a scarf to cover my shoulders with, I wasn't allowed in (although I did get through the section with all the papal tombs because this elderly woman lent me her sweater, but only until we parted ways after getting past the first set of guards, bouncers, whatever you want to call them). Now, I realize this was my own stupid fault; I should have brought a scarf. I knew they'd be strict at the Vatican. But, after I was turned away after waiting in line for about 40 minutes, the absurdity of it all really pissed me off. Here is a church that hardly holds itself or its clergy responsible for the defiling of untold numbers of altar boys, and yet, since they're wearing the right clothes with all the right body parts covered, they can still go into the "house of god." Whatever. It's such utter hypocrisy that I can't even believe it.
24 September 2005
Our balcony.
Is it dry yet? This is a shot from our apartment balcony – Via del Governo Vecchio 34. Anyway, the washing machine is in that little closet. It takes forever to wash clothes. Like two hours for one full cycle! Crazy.
Amicci Romano!
Me and Chang-Ling, all dressed up at the studio, with *lots* of places to go!
Gros bisous.
All dressed up for dinner in my French dress and Italian stockings. Alora!
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