Instant Strawberries, Greek Yogurt & Brownie Breakfast Trifle and The Town of Calcata

Posted by Rowena Dumlao - Giardina 4/25/2013

Instant Strawberries, Greek Yogurt & Brownie Breakfast Trifle and The Town of Calcata

There was something about the half-finished block of shop-bought brownies, tub of Greek yogurt and fresh strawberries staring back at me whenever I open the fridge. I knew that I was missing the point the first few times I was sneaking looks at them. Those three can actually create a quick and delicious breakfast without putting any effort at all. So here it is, a five-minute sprint breakfast, all for you to enjoy.

Greek yogurt versus regular yogurt. I am not a lover of yogurt but I have tasted the grand difference between regular white yogurt against Greek yogurt. "Greek yogurt is incredibly good!" (words of my husband) and "I can barely taste the milk!" (my words). It is really that special because when we were in Greece once, my husband practically lived on their yogurt for breakfasts, snacks and more snacks.

Calcata. This town I am showing you is another one of those small ancient ones in Italy, built on tuffaceous rock, abandoned at some point in history then inhabited again. But this particular one has an interesting edge because it's different from the rest. It was ordered by the government to be abandoned in the 1930's because of fear that it will collapse. At the beginning of 1960, foreign hippies and artists started to squat in the town's empty buildings. When the state lifted the ban and declared it to be habitable again, the squatters eventually bought the houses that they were occupying. Because of the artistically-inclined residents, the town thrived into a special place of artistic community with English as one of the common languages. Information taken from Wikipedia.

It was described in New York Times once as "what may be the grooviest village in Italy, home to a wacky community of about 100 artists, bohemians, aging hippies and New Age types.

The town is alive only on weekends - Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays. The restaurants and shops only open during those days as we found out with big disappointment. When we went there a couple of weeks ago, which was the second time we visited the place, we made sure it was a weekday so we can eat in one of the restaurants and enjoy the place. The town was completely empty and all the restaurant doors are completely shut. This is in pure contrast to the first time we visited the place when there was virtually no parking, all the restaurants were completely booked and the place was full of people, mostly Romans enjoying a Sunday stroll and lunch because of its proximity to Rome (about 50 km. north).