Our Eating Habits…

have changed in a huge way! I don’t know if it’s the heat, or lack of normal sleeping patterns, but our dietary habits are ghosts of their former selves. We’ve been waking each other up, pulling ourselves together to go out to dinner each night (it’s been way too hot to cook!), but other than that – a yogurt here, a cracker there.

The typical Italian supermercato in our neighborhood carries a few recognizable American items – General Mills and Kelloggs cereals (very small selection), dried Barilla pasta (in completely different shapes than we’re accustomed to seeing), Tabasco sauce and Lipton tea. That’s pretty much it.

We also went to a well-known international market, Castroni. At Castroni, we found Skippy peanut butter, Kikkoman’s soy sauce, Rice Dream rice milk, Colman’s yellow mustard and Jack Daniels barbeque sauce (my daughter cannot live without her barbeque sauce!) We now know where to go for basmati rice, coconut milk, curry sauce and other international items. It’s definitely a store I’ll spend some quality time in - ALONE – no one, and I mean no one, likes to go to a store with me when I’m taking my quality time.

The majority of people who know us, know at home in America, we are an organic household. We buy everything organic that we are able – have for years. Living in the Pacific Northwest is a blessing in that regard. Meat, fruit, veggies, dairy products, staples, snackies – all organic.

I can tell already, it’s going to be a lot of fun exploring the outer reaches of Rome to buy whatever organic items we can find. We were smart enough to do our research before we moved, on a website called Wanted In Rome. There was a great article about all of the organic resources in Rome. We have a list of a dozen different locations where organic items can be found. None of the locations are in our neighborhood, which is perfect – additional sightseeing opportunities! However, because so many shops are closed for the August vacation, we won’t undertake this adventure until September, which is next week – can you believe it?!

It’ll be interesting to find out which market carries which items and to narrow down which store(s) we frequent. We’ve already purchased one of those sweet, old lady rolling carts you pull behind you for grocery shopping. The coolest one I could find is a heavy duty white patent, so our groceries won’t get soaked when the rains come.

We also knew before we came, that our organic standards would probably go by the wayside, which will be fine for 10 months. I’m looking forward to the temperatures dropping below 90 so we can start cooking our own meals. I’ll be sure to post the details of our first home-cooked meal and the many that follow.