Australian Sophie Brown, a 2013 SVA Masters Workshop participant keeps her own fascinating blog, “A Hop, Skip & Jump,” full of words and photos. From time to time over the next two weeks we will excerpt an item or two. Otherwise, check out the site for yourself.

By Sophie Brown

Today I found out that it’s almost impossible to find a fresh salad in Rome. Everywhere is all about the pizza, pasta and paninis. I don’t know how any Italian manages to stay thin considering how carb-heavy their diets seem to be!

After just a couple of days of bread and pizza, I really, really wanted something leafy and green. I was craving fresh vegetables. I looked everywhere, but there were none to be found. There weas lots of dessert to be found, however. You could barely move without tripping over a gelato store, an exquisite chocolate shop, or a cafe full of sweets.

So, after my failed attempt to find salad, I settled for not exactly the next-best-thing; dessert. Gino, my Italian classmate, took Reham, Amy, Vasudha, Sandy and I on a bit of an adventure to find what is well-known as Rome’s best tiramisu. We had to walk several kilometers to the Metro station, take a train several stops across town, and walk a bit further (so by this stage we’d already worked off the copious calories we were about to consume, right?) to find Pompi. And it’s reputation is well-deserved. Their tiramisu is absolutely beautiful! I couldn’t go past the pistachio flavoured one. Mouth-watering.