What IS Pink Sauce?

I've been in a blog rut lately of only describing my weekend trips. Since I'm in Rome this entire weekend, I thought I'd take the opportunity to tell you some fun little anecdotes about one of the best parts of Italy--the food. Thank God there's an hour long walk to school every day, because Italy is basically made of carbs.
First, I shall describe the gelato. Gelato is the best thing in the world, and, dare I say it, even better than Handels ice cream. It's creamy, colorful, and delicious, especially at Old Bridge. Old Bridge is located right outside the Vatican Walls and frequented by the ND kids several times a week. What makes Old Bridge so good? Allow me to express this in a poem
Ode to Old Bridge
Oh, dearest Old Bridge
You're gelato is the best
Baccio, Fragola, Crema
All the flavors have some zest
You're staff, young and fun
Wear silly white hats
The flavors, creamy and bright
And numerous as Rome's cats
Right outside the Vatican
Your price cannot be beat
Una copetta di uno e cinquanta!
Now that is a great feat
Oh, dearest Old Bridge
Your loveliness I will miss
There's nothing like it in the states
But I can always wish...

So basically, the gelato is really good.

Next stop on our food tour is Medaglio d'Oro--my apartment complex. I won't be talking about the food inside my apartment, because it's not exactly the best and consists mainly of canned beans and corn. What is good around the Medag is the pizza place and the bakery downstairs. This is mainly due to the fact that the bakery man is as hot as his freshly baked pastries and the pizza man is as saucy as his pies. That was horrible, I should really stop making ridiculous similes. Anyway, they are both very attractive and to top it off, their food is excellent as well, not that I wouldn't buy it anyway.

I think I've mentioned Tony's coffee in a previous post, but it's worth mentioning again. There is a cafe right in the middle of the walk between Medag and JCU, so it serves as the perfect pick-me-up. The man who works there is Tony--he is old and very smiley. It seems that his one goal in life is to make delicious coffee concoctions. He LOVES making coffee. He also loves winking, snorting when he laughs, and waving at people who walk by the cafe. There are two older women who also work at the cafe. Tony is the only one who wears a name tag and smiles. My assumption is that these women are Tony's sisters and they abuse him, both verbally and physically, which is very sad, but also explains why Tony is ALWAYS at the cafe. This is probably not true, as Tony is always extremely happy. Caitlin and I go to Tony's every Monday and Wednesday and he has learned our names (except for the one time he called me Mila and Caitlin Kristina). He writes "ok" in our cappuccinos and says, "OK! Because you're ok!" Then he winks a few times (he may have an eye twitch) and talks to us about the weather. I don't think he realizes that we speak Italian, because whenever he tries to hold a conversation with us, he uses ridiculous hand gestures that probably wouldn't even help if we didn't know Italian. Oh, Tony. Such a goof ball. And he really does make the best cappuccino I have had hear, probably because it's made with love.

At JCU, the food hangout is Aristocampo. If you are ever in Rome and need a quick bite to eat but don't want to sacrifice quality, go here. It is inexpensive, delicious, and made right in front of you. Most days, students get their sandwiches, then take them back to the Lemonless Tree Courtyard to sit with their friends and eat them. Then this awkward and unnecessary conversation occurs:
"Oh...you've got a sandwich."
"Yup."
"Is that from Aristocampo?"
"Yup."
"What did you get, the Garibaldi?"
"No, this is, umm, I think I got the Trastevere."
"Oh, yeah, that's a good one."
"Yeah, so far it's pretty tasty."
"What does that have on it?"
"Umm, pork I think, and umm, eggplant and pink sauce."
"What IS pink sauce?"
"I dunno, it's like mayonnaise, but not."
"Yeah, but what exactly is it? It's so good, I just want to know what's IN IT."
"Yeah, pink sauce is weird. Don't know what it is."
"Well, it looks like a good sandwich. Did they give you the JCU discount?"

This goes on FOREVER and happens EVERY DAY. People really need to stop asking the pink sauce question. No one knows what pink sauce is and no one ever will. It is something we must live with and stop questioning.

One of the things Italy is best known for is its pizza. I was arguing with Alex the other night about what was better--Hungry Howie's or Italian pizza. He, of course, holds that Hungry Howie's is the best pizza ever, which makes sense since he gets it at least 3 times a week, but since I have had both Italian pizza and Hungry Howie's, I think I can give a more accurate opinion. Italian pizza is certainly better than Hungry Howie's. It's really thin and always freshly made. One of the best placess is Buffetto (Mustache) near Piazza Navona. There is always a line, but its worth it to get pizza with every topping, including a sunny-side-up egg. The staff is really gruff and will do the minimum to get you your pizza and might even make fun of you, but its all part of the experience.

For dessert in Italy, I've already mentioned gelato, which is my favorite, but there are also pastries. Honestly, pastires in Italy are not that good. They just don't get cookies. The pastries here are flaky and hard instead of soft and light. It's a little disappointing, but at least there's gelato.

Lastly, I shall discuss Diet Coke. Coke actually tastes different here. Coke has a different recipe for different countries, based on the culture's tastes. The Coke here is actually much better (I think it's a little sweeter). Diet Coke is the drink of choice at JCU, perhaps because the caffeine is needed to get you through the day of going to the worst university ever. It's a bad scene if someone can't get his/her Diet Coke. There is much wailing and nashing of teeth, until the student realizes that any nearby cafe will also sell Diet Coke. The JCU student can best be described as complacently depressed about his/her university experience, Diet Coke in one hand, Aristocampo sandwich with pink sauce in the other, wearing skinny jeans and a JCU t-shirt, standing in the Lemonless Tree Courtyard, second-hand smoking while dodging stray ping pong balls from the nearby table, waiting for a computer to open up in the computer lab so he/she can just print that stupid paper he/she wrote about an hour ago. That's JCU. Thankfully, the food in Italy makes up for the lack of educational value.