Excuse Me While I Blog About Mozzarella (& Tomatoes)

Let’s just be clear here: I’m really not a foodie. I mean, I like food, but I don’t live and die for a good meal. In fact, most days back in America, I got so into designing/coding that I would literally forget to eat. But, my god, has Italy changed all of this for me.

I’m convinced they are putting cocaine or ecstasy in the water and that’s why every single thing possible tastes like the best thing I’ve ever had in my entire life. BECAUSE THERE IS NO OTHER EXPLANATION. Every latte I drink is the best latte on the planet. The pizza I had the other night in which they put funghi (mushrooms) on the top AND in the middle of the slice was, no doubt, the most amazing pizza I’ve ever had. And, I’m glad I’m alone, because the sounds I make when I eat this goodness? Well, let’s just say they are NSFW.

Today, though, sealed the mother-fricking deal for me. I went to my little market and decided that I wanted a light lunch consisting of pomodori (tomatoes), mozzarella fresco (fresh mozzarella), and pane (bread). So, I grabbed my ingredients, some other food for later, and of course, una bottiglia di vino bianco (a bottle of white wine). I walked the couple of blocks back to my apartment (still can’t get over how this is totally my life and is now NORMAL for me, but I digress) and then I started preparing my caprese.

I used the tomatoes pictured above and the mozzarella pictured below. The tomatoes were about $2.50 and the mozzarella was about $1.20.

I’d like to stop for a second and talk about “fresh mozzarella” in the States. Whenever I ordered it, it always seemed like a good idea at the time. But, then, I would eat it and it had the consistency of fresh cheese, but not at all the taste. In fact, have you ever noticed that fresh mozzarella in the States DOESN’T TASTE LIKE ANYTHING!? Because, I HAVE. And, this is what I expected, but I was like, “Damn it, I want caprese with bread!”

And, people, that mozzarella was, excuse my language, THE BEST DAMN MOZZARELLA I’VE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. When I tasted it, I said, in my head, “Oh, so THIS is what mozzarella tastes like!? WELL, JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH THAT’S SO EFFING GOOD.” Along with the amazing tomatoes? And the soft, amazing bread? And the olive oil, Balasamic vinegar combination? IT WAS HEAVEN IN MY MOUTH.

It was so good, only CAPS lock can express its goodness.

Now, you can look at pictures all day long of Italy and convince yourself it’s not worth going to. You can YouTube the shit out of every panoramic, landscape view of the Colosseum or Vatican City and maybe that’s enough for you. But, you CANNOT YouTube, Flickr, Google THE TASTE OF ITALY.

If all you do is come to Italy for SISA fresh mozzarella and the tomatoes from my neighborhood market, then it will be worth the trip. Seriously, no wonder there are so many kids running around in Roma; this is babymakin’ food, people.