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A fictional unofficial document…
Dear Applicant,
As you might know, we’ve been holding your passport for 4 months as apart of your visa application process. We just really like the way it looks and since it’s brand new, we thought that maybe we’d take it out for a spin. A spin around the office, that is. No where in particular, just a small journey to sit on different desks of government workers. We thought it might be a nice treat for them to look at the clean pages and every once in a while try to crack the code. What’s the code? Funny you should ask. Because we actually don’t even know the code to cracking your visa application. The visa printing machine is firing and rearing to go, let me tell you. But there’s something special about your application. Something we can’t quite put our fingers on.
The more your passport stares back at us in disapproval, the more office moral seems to decline. So, I’m writing to you with some good and bad news. Do you want the good news or the bad news first? I’ll start with the bad. Good news following bad news always feels like the right move. Bad news is, we still can’t crack the code. Your visa application appears to be far too advanced. Your request for a 5.5 month work visa is overwhelming and although we’re doing our best, we can’t say when it will be finished. Good news is, your passport has asked if it can go out and see the world again. Believe it or not, it won’t shut up about it so we’re forced to give it back to you due to low productivity levels around the office. All it does is chit chat to anyone with a pulse and, to be honest, it’s making it hard to do our jobs. We decided that we’ll still try our best to unblock the visa, but please take your passport back. Like I said, office moral is low and I think it’s best that you take your passport for a long walk.
We will reach out when we figure out how to let you contribute and work in Italy.
Many thanks,
…
The pack mentality
We’re free. Me and my little blue book are sitting pretty in Rome. I write to you from blue skies and the crisp morning air. A breeze of jasmine shifts through the garden and onto the balcony of the flat. The moka gurgles with coffee as Gianluca spreads marmalade on warm toast. A marmalade that his mom made. Pumpkin, orange, and ginger. We take bites, crunching into the toast, sipping our coffees sweetened with just a touch of honey his parents brought back from their small flat in the countryside. We are lucky. Gianluca’s childhood home feels like home for me. It makes me tear up when I think about it. When home is 4,000 miles away, it’s a special thing to have a place and people that feel like home. Parents, siblings, friends, aunts, uncles, cousins…I’ve adopted them all - whether they know it or not.
Humans are creatures of habit in that way, aren’t we? We’re pack animals in one way or another. And over the past months in London, I’ve been really lucky to lean on my London pack. Pasta nights, wine nights, mid-week spa getaways, daily check-ins, tapas and tears, pints in the park, bagels mornings, cabin weekends…the list rattles on. This pack has quite literally lifted me up and pushed me to keep going - for that I am truly grateful. But like my passport said, it’s rearing to get out and see life outside of London town again. The Italian consulate is allowing me to have my passport while they sort out the issues that are blocking my work visa application. I picked up my passport, booked a flight for the following day, and packed my bags. Rome, it’s good to see you again.
Decades worth of pizza rossa
As the plane touched down, I had a single thought in my mind. Pizza rossa. And then, as if he could read my mind and my stomach, Gianluca arrived to pick me up at the Kiss&Go (read the Need a Happy moment section here to learn about ‘Kiss&Go’) with a snack. Pizza rossa. It’s unexplainable how delicious this pizza is. It’s not what you think of when you think of pizza. I know you’re picturing a slice of cheese pizza from a round pizza pie, but this is not that. This pizza is best devoured at room temp, topped with a slightly sweet tomato sauce. Either baked in long sheets and cut to the length of your choice or baked in small rounds which are easier for transportation and parties.
As I write this, I remember I grew up eating something very similar and I wonder where in Italy they make ‘pizza rossa’ similar the one I grew up eating. My dad is from Philadelphia and my family still lives there. Growing up we spent lots of time either visiting family in Philly or family visiting us in Jersey. Without fail there was always a Corropolese tomato pie on the table. The first bite of a slice of tomato pie is divine. A thick layer of sauce pools in the center pieces and the corner pieces offer a drier crunch to offset the thick and sweet tomato sauce. A dusting of parmesan blankets the top. You’re either a center cut kind of person or a crust kind of person. I’m not sure what the slice you reach for says about you, but I’m sure it says a lot. The memories surrounding this pizza offer so much nostalgia. My cousins coming to the beach for our annual summer reunion, retreating to my Nana and Pop’s kitchen to indulge in another center cut slice, my Aunt calling me up to ask if she should bring a tomato pie only to already know the answer. Looking back, I think it’s safe to say I’ve been eating pizza rossa for decades. This realizations offers me some real clarity. Pizza rossa runs in my blood.
Spring Pea & Prosciutto Pasta
Gianluca’s dad went to the market and picked up loads of fresh veggies, pizza rossa, and fruits for my arrival. They know I love to cook at home and so I thought, why not a simple spring pea pasta with prosciutto. So that’s exactly what we did. Use whatever kind of pasta you fancy or even go for risotto. The options are endless - play, snack, and enjoy.
Serves 4
Ingredients
200g of shelled peas, keep the shells of the peas to make stock
8 slices of prosciutto, roughly chopped
1 peperoncino
1 clove of garlic
Olive oil
50-100g of parmigiano or pecorino
Salt to taste
360g of trofie (we weighed for about 90g of pasta per person)
Method
Shell your peas and reserve the shells in a small stock pot. Cover the pea shells with water and simmer until you have a concentrated broth. Strain the liquid from the shells and reserve the broth. Roughly chop your prosciutto. In a pan over low heat, drizzle olive oil and add 1 clove of garlic and peperoncino. Cook until you smell the garlic. Add the chopped prosciutto and cook for about 5 minutes or until crispy. Remove the crispy prosciutto and set aside. Bring your pea shell broth to a boil and drop in your shelled peas and cook for about 5-10 minutes depending on the size of your peas, allowing for some bite.
With a slotted spoon, sieve the peas into the pan with the garlic and peperoncino. Season the peas with salt. In the same broth that you’ve cooked your peas in, drop the trofie pasta. Cook for the allotted time. Once al dente, ladle the pasta cooking water into the pan with the peas. Reserve the pasta water and strain your pasta, adding the pasta straight into your pan with the peas. Add about 2 ladles of pasta cooking water to your pan. Sprinkle over your parmigiano or pecorino. Stir and flip vigorously to incorporate. Plate and top with crispy prosciutto.
Until next time at a standing reservation…
With love & snacks,
Paige
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Need a happy moment?
Like father like son. Gianluca and his dad admiring the fruit and veg. When I arrived in Rome yesterday, the house was stocked with my favorites. Mozzarella, tomatoes, zucchine, pizza rossa, cherries, olives, strawberries…the list goes on. How lucky am I to call this home.