Italian Dinner Party

Sorry no architecture in this post.  This one is all about the experience.  In my previous post, I mentioned that I was invited to a dinner party at an Italian friends place.  While we did not have a full Italian dinner, which is a ten course meal containing drinks, entrees, coffee, and dessert we did have portions of the full meal.  The venue for the dinner party was at an Italian Flat in Ponte Milvio, which is a northern district in central Rome.  The district is famous for the battle that took place on the Ponte (meaning bridge) Milvio, which is one of the oldest standing bridges in Rome.  Another important area near Ponte Milvio is the olympic stadium, which lies to west.  Since this was a more organized party compared to the previous, everyone attending brought an item to share with the other guests.  Attending the event were three Italians, one of which is of Croatian descent, two American girls and myself.  Together, we crammed into the flat and started the festivities.

Like my previous meals at this flat, the dinner started off with an apertivo.  I brought a Pinot Grigio for this.  Typically the apertivo is only a drink but can include small amounts of food.  I see the apertivo as an opportunity for guests to relax and get to know one another, getting the typical "who are you" questions out of the way.

Following the appertivo, the host decided to skip the antipasto and skip to the primo course.  The primo is the first course of the dinner.  It usually contains some sort of meat and is often the most important course of the meal.  For our primo, the host served pollo finto (see right), which translates to fake chicken.  While the meat in the dish was actually chicken, the dish gets its name because of the large amount of vegetables that is mixed with the small pieces of chicken.  This dish had pumpkin, which I found out is a common ingredient in Italy and friarielli, a vegetable that is not available in the states.

I would describe the next course as a combination of the secondo, antipasto and insalata courses.  Secondo typically features a meat that is heavier than the primo.  In this instance, the meat was tuna and olive oil.  Along with the secondo was a thin tortilla with olive oil and herbs, which represented the antipasto.  Finally, the insalata (or salad) of friarielli, which to me tastes like asparagus, that could be combined with either the tuna or tortillas.  With both the primo and secondo a heavy body red wine was served.  The wine went well with everything but the tuna, which together were a little too strong for my taste.

The final course of the dinner was the dolce or dessert.  Our dessert were, what I would describe as chunks of chocolate chip cookies.  To use as a dip for the cookies there was a chestnut dip, which tasted and looked similar to Nutella but is slightly more viscous than its hazelnut counterpart.  To compliment the cookies and dip, an Italian Lumbrusco was severed, which is a slightly sweet dessert wine.  One of the guests chose the Lambrusco because the cookies can be dipped in the wine, which tasted fantastic!

Dinner parties aren't all about eating.  Its also an opportunity to make friends, share stories and... read tarot cards.  I was quite surprised when the host pulled out a deck of tarot cards to read fortunes.  Only a quick reading was given but the opportunity for a full fledge reading was offered if I brought my host another bottle of Pinot Grigio.  Overall the evening was both fun and informative and I would definitely do it again.