Food Diary: Rome and Jordan

I've been so busy with work, job hunting, and travel that I've gotten behind on my blogging. This is my catch up weekend so expect lots of new posts! I felt like the luckiest girl in the world last month when I was whisked away for the vacation of a lifetime to celebrate my 30th birthday. Below are some of the food highlights.

First stop: Rome

I'd never been to Rome before and, due to our last minute planning, I didn't know until hours before we got on the plane that I was going to get to go here! It was amazing!!! I would have liked to eat more here but we had a limited amount of time, as we were only there for a day.

The pizza did not disappoint.

We got our pizza to go and ate it outside the Coliseum.

Next stop: Jordan, The Dead Sea

We stayed at the beautiful Marriott Resort on the Dead Sea which had a

great breakfast buffet. We tried a little of everything.

This is the view from our breakfast table:

One of my favorite things is pictured in this bowl on the plate below. It's muesli, which was dry oatmeal with bits of dried fruit mixed with yogurt and a little honey that is

soaked overnight. Also, don't miss the bacon on the right side of the plate. Since they don't eat pork in Jordan (I don't think you can even buy it there), they make bacon from beef instead.

Not quite the same, but it was actually really good.

The hummus was amazing!

Fool Mdammas is one of Jordan's oldest and important dishes. It's crushed fava beans topped with olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, tomatoes, chili pepper, and summac. It's served with pita bread for dipping.

Petra, Jordan

The ancient city of Petra was our next stop. It was amazing. The photos don't really do it justice, as they can't truly capture the huge size of these buildings carved in the stone. HUGE!

It was my 30th (!) birthday while we were here, and it was complete with a cake and everything! After cake and cocktails out the hotel for our first course, we went to dinner at a little place downtown to try some of the local dishes.

The salad course was my favorite - the baba ganoush was especially good.

Mansaf: lamb cooked with goat yogurt served with rice, pine nuts (I think mine actually was with peanuts), parsley, Bedouin bread, goat yogurt soup, and mixed salad. Delicious!

Chef Dish: Fresh lamb cooked with mixed vegetables and tomato sauce and served over rice.