#GoesToItalyOnce is a series about the European trip i took in November 2022 with my mom and my guy Corey. we spent four days in Rome (Italy), two days in London (UK), four days in Paris (France), two days in Florence (Italy), then one more night in Rome before we flew back to Los Angeles. the week that my dad passed away in 2021 i wanted to give my mom something to look forward to besides all the grief. i told her i’d take her to Europe so she can see it for the first time. exactly a year after dad’s death, we made it happen. after this trip my mom and i will never be the same again.
on the last day of my big Europe trip, i clicked PURCHASE on an outdoor pizza oven. after eating pizza twice from this spot in Rome, pizza was all i can think about. the idea of making wood-fired pizzas soothed me in the moments before and after sleep. it’s been deep in my search history. doughs. recipes. techniques. other home pizza obsessives. call this pizza life my new free-loading lover because she is living rent-free in my brain.
the first meal we had on our grand European tour, which i’ve been calling #OpulentMamaYangEuroTrip, was an early dinner our first night in Rome.
from trusted food sources we decided to try PICCOLO BUCO, a spot right next to the Trevi Fountain, and within walking distance from our hotel MOOD44 in the historic district. it was a risk. Trevi Fountain is a huge tourist trap and i hate tourist traps. i mean, this pizza spot was right across a sad fluorescent lit place called YUM YUM STYLE. ew. also i hate lines, even for delicious food but you know…when in Rome.
side note: have you ever thought about how many sayings we use in “The West” that reference Rome? “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” “All roads lead to Rome.” “Fiddling while Rome burns.” “Crossing the Rubicon.” “Rome if you want to. All around the world.” (ok not the last one)
while hanging out there i couldn’t stop thinking of these sayings then being like, “lol this is so literal right now.” i didn’t study enough ancient history but through the food tours i did in Italy (Eating Europe. love them so much i befriended the people who run it and they gave me a discount code to share JENNYANDFRIENDS for 15% off. i get nothing from this but good will hahah) i definitely realized dang, the Roman Empire was powerful and i am so ignorant about it.
even though it was 5pm on a weeknight, there was a line. but we only waited a half an hour. there were huge menu posters in English and Italian outside for us to overthink our order and tons of stickers on the windows showing they got bonafides from official Italian food authorities. this better be good.
we got sat down toward the back of the narrow restaurant. it bisected into two dining areas by a roaring wood-fired pizza oven (forno a legna). we ordered immediately, and almost as quickly, we got our food. a green salad to keep the system flowing during vacation eating and two pizzas to share: a drippy bufala cheese Pizza Margherita, and a meaty “nduja” pizza, with “nduja” being a word that i completely butchered with my clunky American tongue, nuh-doo-jah? the waitress kindly corrected me. “en-DOO-yah.”
side note: this will become the Villain Origin Story™ of how i became an Italian Culture Vulture / Pizza Fetishist / Obnoxious Italian Pronouncer. from that moment on i decided to double check my Italian pronunciations with the audio function on Google Translate for as many words as i had questions about. so many language questions! how do i stop my brain from saying SPANISH when it clearly is not the same language as ITALIAN? when does a “C” get said with a “ch" and not a “ss” or a “k” sound? don’t even get me started on a “CC” pronunciation!
i was the first to take a bite of the margherita. i didn’t care if it was wood oven hot. i went in. three chews into the tangy sauce, gooey cheese, and tender crust it hit me. this is it. the goodness built as i kept taking bites. the table was quiet until i said to Corey, “okay. this is VERY good.”
how was this food scientifically possible? the crust was so so tender and squishy but still light. and yet the bottom of the pizza still maintained a lot of its integrity and stayed dry. my first immediate thought was, “Where will I be able to recreate this experience back home?? This cannot be the only time I get to have this!” i had this thought that first night, but didn’t say it out loud.
fast forward to the final night of our trip. we are back in Rome and the only logical “final meal” we have before our morning flight had to be PICCOLO BUCO.
the second time was just as great as the first. hoh man. this was the night i said to my mom and Corey, “ima try to make this. we have to.” in that moment i committed in my heart to forever to chase this high.
so there i was, after our dinner, unwinding by watching some old John Wayne westerns dubbed in italian on the hotel tv.
i was busy searching for pizza ovens. then, it caught my eye. the ooni pizza oven that i totally coveted a few years ago (back when i didn’t have a house with backyard space) was ON SALE. it was the end of november and there was a deeply discounted black friday deal! after loading on all the accessories it was still a pretty penny but i held my breath and pressed PURCHASE.
corey was laying in bed on his phone right next to me and he was completely unawares. poor innocent Corey.
you might be asking yourself, “why wouldn’t Jenny consult with her partner about such a significant purchase when he was right there!” number one: it’s my money. so hush.
“but Jenny! getting yourself a pizza oven is a whole ass infrastructure upgrade on the house! you’re going to need everyone bought into the new lifestyle of managing wood fires and dough-making or else why are you a mindless participant in capitalism?!”
okay. you are right in asking. but here’s the thing, one of the main parts that connected me and Corey very early on in our “courtship” (that’s my word for the early pandemic Zoom dates we had during all of June 2020) was our shared love for entertaining. by our second “Zoom drinks” date we discussed how having an outdoor pizza oven was a dream we both had (and we bonded over the fact that the idea of always welcoming friends over to eat and hang was something that frightened both of our recent exes). so lament not for Corey. he’s almost always down to clown.
after some silence, i broke the news. “hey. sooooo don’t be surprised if an outdoor pizza oven shows up at our doorstep like soon.” he was a little shocked. “really? is that what just happened?” and then we both started laughing. i was like, “get ready, baby! this is about to be our entire lives! muahahahahaha!”
when i told mom the next day she shrugged. just another thing her very independent daughter gets into. whatareyagonnado? mom’s 80. nothing really fazes her these days. she’s just happy to eat sugar, rice and breads even though she’s diabetic.
stay tuned for my next post: “i got an outdoor pizza oven so now it’s my entire personality.”
***
AS PROMISED: UP TOP IS A PREVIEW INSTA VIDEO FOR ALL MY LOVELY SUBSTACK BUDS. my substack is where the Europe Trip videos will show up FIRST before IG. hope you like this! let me know if you’re into seeing more about the Europe trip! next post next week will be ALL ABOUT THIS PIZZA OVEN, TRUST.
COMMENT BELOW if you have had sublime PIZZA EXPERIENCES (like describe EVERYTHING) or if you own a pizza oven how you life this pizza oven life. or if you have a great tip on how to pronounce italian! i need to know ALL the details.
***
P.S. i’m doing a few big shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco this month! Los Angeles, come see me do my half hour Friday, January 20th, 8pm at The Elysian Theater (LA TICKETS HERE). then i’ll be featured at San Francisco Sketch Festival with two half hour shows, Saturday, January 28th, 7:30pm (SF EARLY SHOW TICKETS HERE) and 9:45pm (SF LATE SHOW TICKETS HERE). and if you can’t make it please tell a buddy! and if you actually read this far down (LOVE YOU SO MUCH) and see this comment below and tell me what city you live in and that you’re MY buddy. k thx byeeee.
this pizza changed my life #GoesToItalyOnce