Pimm's Good is GREAT — WILL WOOF FOR WINE

Trastevere, Rome: October 11, 2014

Buongiorno all! (or buona notte to the East Coast that just hit the 3 am mark…)

I feel like so much time has passed since the last time I posted, but really it's only been about a week (that has felt like a month). Every day I wake up and think there is so much to do, SO little time. And realize this is probably because four out of the five week nights Ellie and I decide best to spend exploring and meeting new people over vino e apertivos in picturesque piazzas…

Last Friday, Ellie and I visited a new bar in the heart of Trastevere called Pimm’s Good that we had walked by many times and were VERY interested to try. Not only for the wine list, but more so for the fancy cocktail list. Fancy cocktails aren't as easy to find as bottiglie di vino. The whole bar is basically covered with an extensive ‘bitters’ library that give many of PG's cocktails a delicious end result.

Five minutes in to our first bicchiere di vino bianco e rosso (Ellie loves a good red, but I have a tendency for the ‘rosso wine lip’), we made best friends AND acquired a new English client with Mirko, the bartender & cocktail connoisseur (not totally sure what his name is short for, but that IS what the crumpled bar napkin read). Ellie and I will now be teaching him Friday nights at 9 pm in exchange for food and booze! I also want in exchange for my English, a lesson in bar-tending. I have a feeling I can finagle into the contract. It has been on my bucket-list to get a certification in the School of Drink and now I have the opportunity to do so with Mirko! My infamous father, Sam, and my even cooler Uncle, Will Robinson, after college both moved down to Bolivia and opened up the “New Orleans Piano Bar,” where Sam bartended and my Uncle Will played the piano (the prequel to his successful country music songwriting career). So I think I’ve always had this wanderlust to own my OWN bar, get t-shirts made for the bar, have a cocktail I can call/name my own etc…Call it Pal’s? Malpal’s NOLA Piano Bar? Dad- I could take you out of bartender retirement and move you out to Italy…I’m certain there isn’t a New Orleans Piano Bar in existence over here in Roma yet…

Back to Mirko. He was VERY helpful in recommending a good piercing and tattoo parlor for Ellie’s nose ring she signed on for last weekend (sorry Mr. and Mrs. Schwing!) and my potential tattoo or let’s be honest, henna tattoo, endeavor (not sorry Sam and Marilu!). Anyway, it looks like we have found a neighborhood watering hole to call our own, in addition to a second classroom.

Friday turned to Saturday, Saturday turned into Sunday (where Roma’s futbol team played their arch rival Juventus and WON). Roma’s soccer fans make New Orleans Saints fans look sober compared to the way they celebrated and cheered on their city’s team, if that's any indication. This week I had a lesson with an eleven year old student who needed additional help with his homework, which required him to learn the American alphabet and then come up with his own words that started with the corresponding letters. There were other stipulations and criteria to be met, for example, 3 of the words had to be countries (I for Italy, U for the United States…). We got to the letter N, and I kid you not, what came out of his mouth was NEW ORLEANS. Swear. And even though that was not the right answer, I was fairly close to telling him it was the only answer that mattered. He also told me that his cousin was having a ‘teens only party’ on Saturday and he was not invited since he is only eleven (but soon to be twelve). I assured him that when I throw my NO TEEN only party, where this hole-in-the-wall crepe place in Trastevere would cater to every age in attendance tastebuds, he would be FIRST on the invite list.

But in all seriousness, I think I found the next BIG thing to bring back down to the states, SPECIFICALLY New Orleans. Booze and crepes on Bourbon Street? Gold Mine. I’d probably extend the list to include a Hurricane flavor, Mint Julep flavor, a Dirty Martini (Vodka or Gin depending on your preference).

I also want to give a shout out to another GREAT blog I use here in Roma and will be having the opportunity write for soon- Young in Rome. When I venture out my apartment in my red Vans, my old North Face backpack and my iPhone in hand as a compass/doubling as a iPod- I TOTALLY pass for someone studying abroad. And I would rather be mistaken for a stereotypical American studying abroad then I would being mistaken for an old person who is able to write for a blog called Young in Rome….

My new American friend in Roma, Lauren, has lived here for the past four years and is my GO TO person for different recs/questions/advice. She writes for Young in Rome (and if you young – or young at heart- people visit Rome or other parts of this beautiful country) give her write ups a read!

More random photos below of different interesting things I’ve come across while ‘Rome’-ing around this city (PUN INTENDED).

I want to note for my brother that I have come across a number of gluten free menus surprisingly, thus you can be gluten free AND live in Italy!

For a non-gluten free option, the paninos at PanePiu Bistrot on Via Florida are worth a try if you are in need of something on the go. Not to mention, the very handsome, all-male staff sport very attractive uniforms to serve their patrons…Next door to PanePiu Bistrot there is also a great dollar slice, or Euro slice rather, pizza place.

For a modern city, Rome certainly has its fair share of spray painted scrawls and not all of it is an eyesore. It seems that as long as people in general, and Romans in particular, have been around, we've had the urge to make our mark. That's as true of cave paintings thousands of years ago as it is of "Katie + Tom 4ever" today.

According to my tour guide on a recent walking tour I did through the Centro Storico, Roma is also known for its ENORMOUS cat population. Italian cats totally get the dolce vita lifestyle here.