I woke up still in the food coma from last night!! Yes I am in Rome such a beautiful city and there is so much delicious food around me but I was so desperately craving the clean fresh cereal from the UK I mentioned in day 2 of my Quirky Adventure…  I sent the fiancé (Sean) on  a breakfast cereal mission and he came back with Special K and light milk. Sugar content was a tad high for my liking but I somehow think this is my best bet in Rome seeing I have no clue on the location of any supermarkets.

When I first started my quirky adventure 16 days ago, I required a belt for my shorts but alas my belt needing days are well and truly over.  I have desperately tried to make healthy food choices thoughout my adventure but today was the first day I felt the impact of my food choices. I am feeling sluggish and craving clean zucchini spaghetti and fresh salads. Although the food in Rome is delicious, well the lovely Italians are known for their tasty pizza and aldente home made pasta opposed to my raw zucchini substitute.

The fiance (Sean) loves pizza, in fact he is boarderline pizza-holic!!  He was excited after another search on “Trip Advisor” to find a pizzeria literally across the road from our apartment!!  The pizza’s were 6 euro’s each so we assumed they would be quite small, I ordered the vegetarian thinking it was a healthy option but I was WRONG on both accounts..  Firstly the pizza was MASSIVE and secondly, there were few vegetables on the pizza but LOTS of cheese..  It was a BARGAIN pizza but I was disappointed it was not the healthy choice as I envisioned.

Sean’s pizza on the other hand was AMAZING!!!  He ordered the calabrese pizza which had a much healthier topping than my vegetarian..  It was topped with yummy cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil and delicious cold pressed extra virgin olive oil!!  My mouth is watering just thinking about it, it was so light and tasty!!  Did you know that a serving of five cherry tomatoes contains only 20 calories of which 80% is made up of carbohydrates and the remaining 20% of protein!!! Best of all they contain zero fat!!!

Next it was time to see more of Rome..  We only had a few hours before we were due to meet friends for dinner so what better to do than to hop on yet another tour bus!! This was now tour bus number four… We hopped on and off tour buses in London, Paris, Barcelona and now Rome, it is a great way to see the city.

After our bus tour it was time to get dressed for dinner..  I put on my once comfortable jeans but they were now starting to feel quite snug.  We arrived to meet our friends who had booked a restaurant, we were now a group of six and yes I was still the most high maintenance eater!!

A variety of entrees were ordered for us to share that included cured meats, LARD, yes thats right I said lard, pure FAT..  I could not believe this was on the menu..  I had to try some, I mean I was in Rome right so I had to live up to the saying “when in Rome”.  I had the smallest piece and it wasn’t as bad as I imagined but I still couldnt bring myself to eat more..

The Italian cheese (name escapes me) on the other hand was absolutely delicious!!  It was light and actually tasted healthy..  I wonder if it was, damn I wish I had taken a picture of the menu so I could consult my trusty friend Google.

Our friends are crazy foodies and ordered SO MUCH FOOD!!  Sean loved it as he got to try so many different things whereas normally if it were just him and I, I stick to the healthy (what he calls boring) option so sharing is not as much fun for him. I am glad such a variety of food was ordered although I found myself getting full quite quickly..  The meatball entree was quite tasty but I could not finish the whole meatball on top of all the other entrees as during the course of dinner my snug jeans seemed desperate for a tighter relationship!

The main course was a matricianna dish, I was pretty full when it arrived but managed to devour it..  It had crunchy pig cheek pieces, I imagined pig cheek would be tender like slow cooked beef cheek and resemble a ragout but this was quite different with the pig cheek crispy and salty…  It was DELICIOUS but far from being approved on the Quirky Calorie scale of approval (QCA).  I would however definitely order it again..

Of course we had to try the tiramisu, I mean it was purely for comparison reasons right (keep on telling yourself that Danielle) as yesterday’s tiramisu was amazing!!  Tonights did come very close though.

After dinner it was time for a calorie burning stroll to view the Rome ruins and the exterior of the Colosseum, it amazes me how old Rome is and how large all of the buildings are, the Colosseum is massive, it is difficult to imagine how such buildings were constructed back in the day without technology!!

I shall conclude today’s entry with a picture of a random fruit stall that we passed at around 10.30ish pm near the ruins in Rome..  No matter how full I am, I am ALWAYS excited to see fresh produce..  I love how in the middle of an ancient city there is a random fruit stand plonked there!! Greece is relatively close to Italy with the Ionian Sea separating them, so maybe Hippocrates spread the word back in the day with his famous quote “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”.