--- title: Author Crystal King's Blog - Tasting Life Twice | italy description: italy | Author Crystal King muses on life, history, writing and food. --- # Tasting Life Twice Author Crystal King muses on life, history, writing and food. Browse by All Blog Books italy ancient rome Italian History Recipe Writing When in Rome food Feast of Sorrow fun historical fiction Bartolomeo Scappi Viva Italia! The Chef's Secret reading history Apicius Italian Language Renaissance 52 books Boston Cinquecento Publishing italian recipes grub street renaissance recipe roman video Ancient Roman Food Colosseum Culinary Delights books set in italy renaissance italy Ancient history YouTube authors cooking fiction music 52 books in a year Author Book Christmas Language Learning Maine Poetry Pope Roman Forum Scappi The Renaissance Venice Writer Writers Resources fantasy learning Italian travel writers Anne Rice Art Book Clubs Christmas carol Christopher Castellani Circus Maximus Florence Gillian Flynn Greek Harry Potter Honey Italiano Italo Calvino Latin Literary agent Marcus Aurelius Marcus Gavius Apicius Muse and the Marketplace Pantheon Papal conclave Pope Benedict XVI Research Roman Empire Sardinia Sistine Chapel Turkey Ursula K- Le Guin Vestal Virgin Wine ancient recipes architecture baking beauty blogging book recommendation book review christmas gift cibo cookies crystal king gelato giveaway holiday ice cream interview italian cooking literary literature middle ages new year's resolution rejection renaissance Italian food recipe roma rome sci-fi shopping social media special event summer television xmas 100 favorite books 1950s 1960s 1970s 2016 2017 320 AD 3D Achilles Aelia Agostino Chigi Alice Alina Reyes All This Talk of Love Amanda Palmer Amaryah Orenstein Anais Nin Ancient Greece Ancient Roman architecture Andrea Bocelli Anita Shreve Anjali Mitter Duva Anne Carson Anne Rampling Antonio Latini Arch of Constantine Arts Artusi Astrology Augustus Author Life BBC BDSM Baldassare Peruzzi Baroque Bell-ringer Bells Benvenuto Cellini Black tea BlogHer Bloggers Bologna Boodles Byki Cake Catholic Church Cellini Charles Dicken Chuck Palahniuk Clark Frasier Colleen McCullough Cologne Colum McCann Concord Cook Cookbook Corsica Cosimo de Medici Critical & Creative Thinking Dante Dante Alighieri David Bowie David Wishart De Re Coquinaria Doge's Palace Dormouse Durham Cathedral E-L- James Earth Egypt Eleonora Galasso Emily Browning England English language Ernest Hemingway Erotic literature Etsy Faint Promise of Rain Fifty Shades of Grey Fight Club Flamingo tongue snail Forum Forvo France Francesa Michielin GO Literary George Orwell Germany Gone Girl Gone Girl (novel) Google Translate Got Milk Grasso Grub Grub Street Muse Gunter Grass Hairstyle Harvard Harvard University Henry David Thoreau Henry VII of England Hunger Games Independence Day International Space Station Isabella Dalla Ragione Italian American Italian food J-R-R- Tolkien James Wood Jane Austen Janet Fitch Julius III July Justin Rowe Karl Lagerfeld Katie Caldesi Kennebunkport Maine Kessler Twins Keurig Kindle Deal Kit Harington Kurt Vonnegut L'Amore Esiste La Cucina Leicester Leonardo Da Vinci Linguistics Livia Lucca ## Posts about italy: ![Eight Tools for the Language Learner](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/langs.jpg) [italian](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian) [Italian Language](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian-language) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [language learning](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/language-learning) [languages](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/languages) [Learning](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/learning) [learning Italian](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/learning-italian) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [Byki](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/byki) [fluency](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/fluency) [Forvo](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/forvo) [Italiano](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italiano) [Pronunciation](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/pronunciation) [Rosetta Stone](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/rosetta-stone) [tutor](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/tutor) I've been learning Italian for the better part of the last fifteen years. It's a lot of work and not so easy doing it as an adult. But when I'm in Italy I can converse without switching to English, and that comes with a whole bunch of perks when I travel. But I have to keep it up in between visits, or all my conversation quickly goes by the wayside.  If you are serious about learning another language, perhaps you too might benefit from some of these tools that have helped me to study, memorize and move further along the path toward fluency (and yes, it's a long path). Note that all these services offer the ability to learn languages other than Italian. ![The Season of the Soul](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/cocoa%20fall.gif) [Writing](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/writing) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [crystal king](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/crystal-king) [fall](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/fall) > **“Notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.” – Friedrich Nietzsche** Autumn is, to me, more than pumpkin spice, falling leaves and shelves of... ![Scappi's Braised Beef - An Interpretation of a Renaissance Recipe](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Chefs%20Secret/market%20beasts.jpg) [Recipe](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/recipe) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Scappi](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/scappi) [Bartolomeo Scappi](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/bartolomeo-scappi) [beef](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/beef) [Cinquecento](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/cinquecento) [Culinary Delights](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/culinary-delights) [food](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/food) [Italian History](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian-history) [Renaissance](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/renaissance) Renaissance chef (and character in my second novel), [Bartolomeo Scappi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeo_Scappi), wrote a cookbook that was released in 1570 and was one of the most reprinted cookbooks over the next two hundred years. One of the most wonderful things about his cookbook, [The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi](http://amzn.to/NAee5j), is that it is still very accessible today. There are exceptions, for example, modern audiences would not be interested in some of the meats (hedgehog or blackbird anyone?), and many of the items are not readily available or, like his feathered peacock, are too elaborate too make. Fortunately, many of his recipes are are still pretty easy to figure out. Like this one for braised beef: ![Crystal King's July Ponderings, Tastings, Travels, Readings and General Updates](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Scappibanquet.jpg) [Ancient Roman Food](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ancient-roman-food) [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [ancient rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ancient-rome) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [recipes](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/recipes) It's the sticky part of July, nearly the dog days of summer. My mind has been jam-packed with planning for both the fall, and the winter launch of my next novel, THE CHEF'S SECRET. In the midst of that, I've had my mind in a swirl with a variety of other projects, books and ideas--many of which I think might be of interest to my readers and potential readers, so let's unpack it all: ![Learning from Leonardo Da Vinci](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/leos%20cats.jpg) [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Art](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/art) [inspiration](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/inspiration) [Leonardo Da Vinci](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/leonardo-da-vinci) I just finished reading the incredible biography of the Renaissance's favorite son,  [Leonardo by Walter Isaacson](https://amzn.to/2J6Bxrs) . What an inspiration this man was (and remains)! In the conclusion of the book, Isaacson sets forth several lessons from Leonardo's life that I think are interesting, particular for those of us who love learning.  ![All Things Italy Spring Roundup 2018](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Renaissance%20Italy/IMG_1991.jpg) [Italian Language](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian-language) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [travel](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/travel) [books set in italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books-set-in-italy) [Italian food](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian-food) [Italian History](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian-history) ###### **Emilia Romagna** I've been planning a trip to Bologna, where part of my third novel is set. I've been researching the heck out of that area. I already knew it has the oldest university in the world, but one of the things I was most intrigued to find was  [Bologna was a city of towers](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/towers-of-bologna). There were at least 100 towers, many of them upwards of 32 or more stories. Here's an artist's rendering of what it might have looked like in its heyday: ![Fit for Royalty - Flamingo Tongue, an Ancient Roman Food](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/lachlan-gowen-583342-unsplash.jpg) [ancient rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ancient-rome) [Apicius](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/apicius) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Martial](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/martial) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [flamingo](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/flamingo) [flamingo tongue](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/flamingo-tongue) [Flamingo tongue snail](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/flamingo-tongue-snail) [Italian History](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian-history) [pliny the elder](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/pliny-the-elder) [Sardinia](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/sardinia) [William Dampier](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/william-dampier)  According to the ancient Roman historian, [Pliny the Elder](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Elder), "Apicius, the most gluttonous gorger of all spendthrifts, established the view that the flamingo's tongue has a specially fine flavor."  The poet [Martial](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial), who was born a few years before [Apicius](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apicius) died, agreed, saying: “My red wing gives me my name, but epicures regard my tongue as tasty. But what if my tongue could sing?”  They don't actually sing, however. They tend to [honk and squawk.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLGI_z4zyRc) ![My Favorite 2017 Books Set in Italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/pexels-photo-688017%20(1).jpeg) [ancient rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ancient-rome) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [literary](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/literary) [rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/rome) [books set in italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books-set-in-italy) [Christmas](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/christmas) [historical fiction](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/historical-fiction) [gift card](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/gift-card) [christmas gift](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/christmas-gift) 2017 was such a wonderful year for books set in my favorite country, Italia. My own novel, FEAST OF SORROW,  about the ancient Roman gourmand, Apicius, hit bookshelves in April and it's been a crazy, fun, whirlwind year talking to readers and promoting my book. But the best thing about the year, for me, was meeting many of these authors and talking to them about Italy and getting a chance to read their books. ![An Italian Roundup for September](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/img-11.jpg) [amatrice](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/amatrice) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Katie Caldesi](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/katie-caldesi) [Viva Italia!](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/viva-italia) [cookbooks](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/cookbooks) [earthquake](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/earthquake) [Eleonora Galasso](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/eleonora-galasso) [food](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/food) [fun](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/fun) [Isabella Dalla Ragione](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/isabella-dalla-ragione) [Trajan's Market](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/trajans-market) [Via Dei Coronari](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/via-dei-coronari) I'm a voracious consumer of information, especially about *il **mio* *posto* *preferito** sulla terra *(my favorite place on earth), Italia. Why not share all those fun tidbits with my readers? I'm going to start doing these roundups more often. We can dream about *la **bella** vita* together.  ![52 in 52: January Books Read](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Jan-Books-1.jpg) [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [La Cucina](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/la-cucina) [Taste of Molecules](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/taste-of-molecules) [Tearling](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/tearling) [The Flounder](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/the-flounder) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [food](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/food) [food book](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/food-book) [Gunter Grass](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/gunter-grass) [Italo Calvino](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italo-calvino) [Oddfits](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/oddfits) [Pulitzer Prize](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/pulitzer-prize) [White Truffles in Winter](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/white-truffles-in-winter) Like last year, I'm embarking on the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. I'm actually going to aim for 75 books this year as the big goal, but I'll be happy if I can average a book a week. For the most part, this month's themes were food and fantasy. ![Buon Natale!](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/img-69.jpg) [Andrea Bocelli](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/andrea-bocelli) [italian](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [music](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/music) [Natale](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/natale) [Viva Italia!](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/viva-italia) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [boun natale](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/boun-natale) [buone feste](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/buone-feste) [Christmas](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/christmas) [Christmas carol](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/christmas-carol) [fun](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/fun) [merry christmas](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/merry-christmas) [video](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/video) [xmas](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/xmas) One of the most well-known Italian Christmas carols outside of the US is *Caro Gesu Bambino* which means "Dear Baby Jesus." It's a newer carol, dating to about 1960 and one of the earliest American-known singers to cover it was Frankie Avalon. The [lyrics are here ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caro_Ges%C3%B9_Bambino) (Italian and English) if you are interested, and below, Italian treasure Andrea Bocelli does a beautiful version of the song. Buon Natale my friends! And Buone Feste to those of you who are celebrating other holidays. I wish the best for you and yours this season.  ![The Fabulous Kessler Twins](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Alberto_Lupo_with_Kessler_Twins.jpg) [1950s](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/1950s) [awesome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/awesome) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Kessler Twins](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/kessler-twins) [music](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/music) [musica](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/musica) [Viva Italia!](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/viva-italia) [1960s](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/1960s) [1970s](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/1970s) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [dance](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/dance) [Germany](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/germany) [spetacolo](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/spetacolo) I was watching the Italian station [RAI Interational](http://www.raitalia.it/) the other day and one of the things that I love about the station is that they have little segments with snippets from variety and music shows over the last 40 years or so. It's a fascinating look at the wacky, beautiful, funny and talented side of Italian performers. One of the things they showed last night was a bit from a show that the [Kessler Twins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_Twins) did. The Kesslers hail from Munich and were well known in Europe back in the day, particularly in Germany and Italy. Here's a sample of their awesomeness:  ![52 books in 2015: A reading list for Jul-Oct](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/offscreen-magazine-260704.jpg) [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [foodie](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/foodie) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Pope Alexander VI](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/pope-alexander-vi) [Venice](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/venice) [52 books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/52-books) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [books set in italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books-set-in-italy) [Dante](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/dante) [Dante Alighieri](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/dante-alighieri) [fantasy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/fantasy) [food](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/food) [gourmand](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/gourmand) [historical fiction](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/historical-fiction) [Italian History](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian-history) [Italo Calvino](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italo-calvino) [reading](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/reading) [When in Rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/when-in-rome) I have been rather remiss, I fear, in keeping my book list updated here on my blog. I've been reading far more than I had hoped, but certainly not as much as I would like. I am happy to have passed the 50 book barrier with more than a month to spare! Let's see if I can get close to 60 books this year. I'm confident I'll finish at least 2-3 more this month, and hopefully another 3-4 in December. **October** ![Incredible Infographic on the Impact of Ancient Rome, a City of Firsts](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/rome.png) [ancient rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ancient-rome) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Ancient Roman architecture](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ancient-roman-architecture) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [Circus Maximus](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/circus-maximus) [Colosseum](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/colosseum) [insulae](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/insulae) [Italian History](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian-history) [Pantheon](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/pantheon) [When in Rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/when-in-rome) As a result of my research a knew a lot of this great information already but it's great to see how [History.com ](http://www.history.com/)and the design firm [Column 5](http://www.columnfivemedia.com/) put it all into such an easily digestible visual. Allow me a tiny bit of commentary before you dig in below. [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [travel](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/travel) [Venice](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/venice) [Viva Italia!](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/viva-italia) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [Colosseum](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/colosseum) [Doge's Palace](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/doges-palace) [drone](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/drone) [video](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/video) [When in Rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/when-in-rome) I'm not entirely sure what I think about drone technology. It has incredible possibilities and on the flip side, terrifying possibilities. On the incredible side of things, I love that you can be an armchair traveler and have a birdseye view of beautiful places in the world. One of my favorite videos of this sort is this wonderful view of Rome by drone. It makes me feel desperate to be there again, walking the streets where my novel's characters once walked.  httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTw-kvXS9Sk ![A Look at the New Pompeii Movie](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Italy-March-2010-854.jpg) [ancient rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ancient-rome) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Kit Harington](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/kit-harington) [Paul W-S- Anderson](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/paul-w-s-anderson) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [Emily Browning](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/emily-browning) [fun](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/fun) [Italian History](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian-history) [Mount Vesuvius](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/mount-vesuvius) [movie](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/movie) [Pompeii](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/pompeii) The movie [Pompeii](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii), directed by [Paul W.S. Anderson](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/paul_ws_anderson), is coming out in February and I have to say I've not really been this excited about a movie in a long time. The film has the eye candy of incredible special effects and also [Jon Snow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Snow) himself (*Kit Harrington*) but what has me most intrigued is that Anderson apparently cares a lot about authenticity when it comes to the story and the era. The film comes out on February 28. I can't wait to find out for myself if that's true! httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoVNF1Zus7Q ![My Favorite Books of 2013 So Far](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Celli.jpg) [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [Ancient Greece](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ancient-greece) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Madeline Miller](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/madeline-miller) [Achilles](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/achilles) [Anne Carson](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/anne-carson) [Benvenuto Cellini](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/benvenuto-cellini) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [Cellini](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/cellini) [Christopher Castellani](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/christopher-castellani) [fiction](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/fiction) [Florence](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/florence) [historical fiction](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/historical-fiction) [Murderer's Daughters](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/murderers-daughters) [novel](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/novel) [Patroclus](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/patroclus) [Randy Susan Meyers](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/randy-susan-meyers) [reading](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/reading) This weekend,  at my fave cocktail bar, Clio, while sipping on Manhattans and rummy drinks called The Sanchez, I got into a conversation with some friends about books. I promised some of my all around historical fiction recommends to them, but I realized that I've read a lot of great books this year that I want to tell others about. And I have a book pile a mile long after the recent Grub Street Muse and the Marketplace conference. I'd love opinions on which one to read first! This list of 2013 is in no particular order...it would be too hard to do! ![Rome Aerial Views Are Breathtaking](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/157404246_80_80.jpg) [ancient rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ancient-rome) [italia](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italia) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Viva Italia!](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/viva-italia) [aerial view](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/aerial-view) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [Colosseum](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/colosseum) [roma](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/roma) [When in Rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/when-in-rome) ![Adorable Italian Ad: Armando's Dream](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ArmandoDream.jpg) [advertising](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/advertising) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Viva Italia!](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/viva-italia) [amando's dream](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/amandos-dream) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [cibo](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/cibo) [food](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/food) [fun](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/fun) [pasta](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/pasta) [Short film](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/short-film) [When in Rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/when-in-rome) I stumbled across this fantastic advertisement for [Grano Armando](http://www.granoarmando.it/en/) pasta and I had to share. It's an adorable, beautiful mini-film of sorts, about a young Italian boy with a special dream. The cinematography is wonderful and I love the characters in the film. I think it does the trick--if I saw Grano Armando pasta, I think I'd be pretty inclined to think about buying it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfLzvxnazsA ![Mustard Beets](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/DSCF3282.jpg) [Recipe](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/recipe) [ancient rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ancient-rome) [Apicius](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/apicius) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [roman](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/roman) [beets](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/beets) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [cooking](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/cooking) [Culinary Delights](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/culinary-delights) [food](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/food) [When in Rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/when-in-rome) This is a very good and easy ancient recipe, included in [Apicius](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apicius)' cookbook. We make this often as a side dish. It goes particularly well with the recipe for[ Parthian Chicken](https://blog.crystalking.com/crystal-king/blog/2013/02/11/parthian-chicken-delish)! You may have been making [beets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beet) this way and not even known that the recipe was at least 2,000 years old! The original recipe: ![](https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1481231558851356&ev=PageView&noscript=1)