Italy’s craft beer week is just 8 days away! From February 13-19, the Settimana della Birra Artigianale will celebrate domestic and foreign brews with special events and promotions all over Italy. The website (in Italian) lists all the events, including brewery visits, tastings, and brewing workshops. There will also be beer premiers and a photography competition. For up to the minute news on the Settimana della Birra, check out the initiative’s website or Cronache di Birra.

The screenwriter Frederic Raphael once said, “Great restaurants are, of course, nothing but mouth-brothels. There is no point in going to them if one intends to keep one’s belt buckled.” It is in the spirit of wholehearted agreement with this notion (and a compulsion to engage in even more social networking) that I began the Mouthbrothel Tumblr.

I try to be as disciplined as possible with posting here on Parla Food, but inevitably half of my drafts never make it to print. It is my hope that a photo-based Tumblr will help me record all those meals I never finish writing about, while featuring dishes at some of the world’s best restaurants. Above all, I hope Mouthbrothel will help me improve my food photography, which I have not had time to focus on. Enjoy! And if you have a tumblr, leave the address in the comments so I can follow.

Yesterday Rome’s mayor Gianni Alemanno held a press conference to officially launch the food charity “Il pane a chi serve”, a sort of breadbased City Harvest that will see products that otherwise would have been tossed in the trash distributed to local charities. At the moment, the initiative is at work in the 4th and 11th municipality, but there are plans to expand across the city. “Il pane a chi serve” will be put to work in Garbatella, San Paolo, Ostiense, Appio Latino, Monte Sacro, Valmelaina, Castel Giubileo and Casal Boccone. Twenty-five charities will be served by 15 bakeries (9 in the 4th municipality and 6 in the 11th).

An estimated 200kg of baked goods will be collected and distributed to churches and other organizations that feed the hungry. The project stands to make a real difference. Around 200,000kg of bread and other baked goods are produced daily in Rome and 10& 10% of it gets binned.

“Il pane a chi serve” is supported by Unione Panificatori Confcommercio, Acli, and the Comune di Roma. You can check out photos from today’s press conference here.

I Porchettoni, the popular fraschetta in Pigneto will soon add another location at Via dei Marrucini 18C in San Lorenzo. Like the other venue, the San Lorenzo branch will be a simple tavern modeled on the rustic eateries of the Castelli Romani where food is served on plastic plates, there is paper on the large communal picnic tables, and

there is just a single glass for water and wine. Expect to find all the fraschetta classics: mozzarella, cured olives, salami, porchetta, and huge portions of hearty pasta dishes. Stay up to date on the I Porchettoni a San Lorenzo Facebook page.

Update: the proprietor of I Porchettoni sent me an email today to fill me in on his aspirations for his brand, stating that he wishes to grow into a chain providing genuine food. He also stated that the San Lorenzo branch is much larger than that in Pigneto and covers two stories. On a troubling note, he is interested in hosting toga parties to attract a young America pub crawling clientele. A small part of me died when I read that bit.

The dollar to euro rate could be better, but it is enjoying a relatively favorable exchange recently, so why not book a trip to Rome? There are thousands of accommodations to choose from, ranging from dingy hostels to overblown 5-star luxury hotels. Narrowing down the options can seem daunting, so here are some recommendations, from self catering apartments to five-star digs.

The Beehive: Americans Steve and Linda offer friendly, eco-conscious accommodations of varying types in the Esquilino neighborhood. Private rooms (from €70), dorm beds (from €20), and self-catering apartments (from €180 per apartment).

Palazzo Olivia: Seven self-catering apartments in a beautifully restored 17th century building near Piazza Navona.

Albergo Santa Chiara: A labyrinthine three-star just one block from the Pantheon. If you want to be in the heart of the historic center with restaurants, wine bars, and shops at your fingertips, this is the place.

Hotel Ponte Sisto: A four-star hotel near the pedestrian bridge leading to Trastevere with friendly staff, well appointed rooms, and lovely internal courtyard. Ask for a room with a view.

Hotel Raphael: A five-star hotel and veritable art museum located just steps from Piazza Navona. The roof-top bar and restaurant has amazing views and is a lovely place to grab a drink whether you are a guest or not.

Grand Hotel de la Minerve: Just 100 yards from the Pantheon, this hotel may lack the sleek modernity of the Hotel de Russie or the impecable design of the Ferragamo Portrait Suites, but the location in the heart of the centro storico is far superior to its 5-star counterparts.

Babuino 181: Situated between Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps, this relative newcomer consists exclusively of luxury suites. More in the NYT here.

Fortyseven Hotel: This stylish contemporary hotel in the former cattle market is has a fabulous roof terrace and well appointed rooms.

Villa Spalletti Trivelli: Elegantly decorated rooms and suites, a spa and a private garden make this luxurious villa on the slopes of the Quirinal Hill a unique destination. Proximity to Monti is a bonus.

Here are a few other budget accommodations that I inspected and wrote about for Budget Travel and have excellent guest feedback on travel forums: Hotel Grifo in Monti, La Casa di Amy in the Esquiline district, Hotel Paba in Monti and Hotel Santa Maria in Trastevere.

I have also had great stays with Airbnb in other cities (though have never used the service in Rome) and several properties in town have great guest feedback.

Guy’s Po Boys is a friendly little cash only sandwich joint on Magazine Street in New Orleans’s Uptown district. I visited a few weeks back with my friend Nat who lives nearby. I trust Nat’s food judgement completely so when he suggested a visit to Guy’s over all the other shops in town, I was already certain of its greatness.

When we walked in, Nat was greeted by name. We grabbed drinks from the fridge and picked our po boy off the board near the register–a pastrami for him and “The Bomb” for me.

The contents of the pastrami po boy are pretty straightforward but “The Bomb” needs some explanation. It is a combination of grilled shrimp and catfish amalgamated with melted cheese and garnished with tomato, lettuce and pickles.

I doused it with some hot sauce and took a bite. There is no logical reason that melted cheddar should taste good with shrimp and catfish and the cheese and fish combo goes against basic Italian food dogma, but I promise you it was a match made in fatass heaven. Guy’s Po Boys is located at 5257 Magazine St. It is open Mon-Sat 11am-4pm.

Today’s post comes from Carson, my cousin’s eight-year-old son. He loves food, especially pizza, and was struck by this photo of Forno Colapicchioni‘s pizza rossa picante when going through my iPhoto. I hope someday I have the chance to take him to this Roman bakery, but for now, we can just talk about it here in Jacksonville, Florida. Here’s what this young critic has to say: “It looks so good I wish it was less than 1 mile away right now. My mouth is watering it looks so good but it’s so far away. I would do anything just to have that pizza but instead of cayenne pepper, I want spicy pepperoni. And Katie told me the bakery is 5036.89 miles away to be exact. No wonder it’s famous. But for now I’ll fill up on Aunt Jojo’s spaghetti and meatballs. They’re delicious!”

Check out Carson’s previous guest posts on pasta and cheeseburgers.

A lot of people ask me how I keep my slim figure BMI from breaching 30. Well, considering that some days I down 4,000 calories in food and drink, keeping my weight in check is a balancing act and exercise sure does help. My whole family is pretty active and when we get together we like to do outdoorsy stuff. Since the winter has been insanely warm, we were able to do lots of fun outings like our recent trip to the Walkway Over the Hudson.

The Walkway is now a Historic Park and mile-long pedestrian bridge, but it started life out as a railroad bridge linking Poughkeepsie, NY to the opposite side of the Hudson. The bridge stands 212 feet above the river and is 6,678 feet (1.3 miles) long, making it the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world. The 19th century structure once served as an important trade link between New York and New England but it was completely abandoned after a fire in 1974. It was refurbished, pedestrianized, and inaugurated as a public park in 2009.

Mamma Parla, Lauren Parla, and I walked the bridge before our epic dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, an hour’s journey from Poughkeepsie. But if you want to work up an appetite and eat locally, the Culinary Institute of America is just a few miles upriver, visible from the Walkway’s towering span.

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail kept partygoers from enjoying the Rome for Foodies app launch party, which was held at my dad’s restaurant in New Brunswick on Saturday. And those who braved the first slushy day of the year were rewarded with food and drink, including my mom’s famous manicotti.

It was such a treat to see friends and family. My mom made some of the food, dad provided the venue and chose the red, white, and green bouquets, bartender Jimmy Cronk invented a winter-themed drink called “The Dolomite” (averna, espresso, cream, liquor 43) and Chef John Durna served some great cured meats and eggplant rollatini.

The always entertaining Caldwell Banker crew was there–my mom’s real estate colleagues are a blast. It was a special treat to welcome clients Fiona and Harvey from NYC and Jake from PA. High school and college friends made the trip down from Manhattan and Brooklyn and some friends from the interweb like Nurse Meg, G.f. and Ayşegül were there, too finally allowing me to put a face to the avatar! To add a touch of romanità to the afternoon, Jessica, my first Roman friend was there in AS Roma gear to celebrate the team’s victory earlier that day. Forza Roma!

It was a joyous occasion and I am so grateful to have had everyone there! For those who couldn’t make it, we raised a glass to you and drank you share.

Today’s blog post is a collaboration between Mamma Parla and me and the story goes way back. When I was home in September, we met Linda of Ciao Chow Linda at the West Windsor Community Farmers’ Market where we hatched a plan of them going out to visit Cherry Grove Farm, the market’s main cheese vendor located a short distance away. I went back to Rome and they went off to the farm. Last week, Mamma Parla and I visited the farm together. These are our stories:

Mamma Parla: Late last fall I took a field trip with Linda to Cherry Grove Farm. We had a wonderful tour with Stacey Genitle, whose breadth of knowledge and enthusiasm was impressive. It was October, nearing the end of the dairy season, and they were making brie. We watched Kelly, the head cheese maker, stir the pre-brie liquid in a huge vat.

We also visited the caves, temperature controlled rooms where Cherry Grove’s cheeses are aged on racks. The caves were stacked floor to ceiling with cheeses of varying age and color. We also walked around the farm to the pen with the goats and checked out the milking facility where around 40 of the nearly 100 cows are milked daily at 4pm sharp.

On a subsequent trip to the farm with my father, we timed our visit to coincide with milking time. The cows marched in in an orderly fashion and took the same places they take every day, we were told. They were fed an afternoon snack while the machines are being prepared and they then the milking procedure began.

Between the milking facility and the cheese making room, there is a Farm Store where cheese, cured meats, and local artisanal food is sold. They also sell eggs from the free range chicken on the property. The pork sold in the shop comes from the pigs that live on the back of the farm property.

KP: On Wednesday, after the NJ Agriculture Convention, Mamma Parla and I finally visited Cherry Grove together. Stacey took us to visit the pregnant goats, many of which seemed wider than they were tall. Apparently goats gestate two kids at a time; cows have just one calf.

Sam, one of the cheese makers, gave me a tour of the caves, told me about the styles he makes and talked about the aging process and its various stages for each cheese.

Later, Stacey took me to take a peek at the cows, a mixture of shorthorns and jersey cattle. They were munching away on the grass–it hadn’t yet snowed–and lumbering through the field near the farm shop. They won’t be milked til the spring, nor will the goats, and I look forward to visiting then and pitching in with some cheese making. Mamma Parla is looking forward to getting her hands on some whey for making ricotta.

In the meantime, you can find Cherry Grove cheese at the Farm store, at farmer’s markets and shops across the Tri State Area and on their Online Store. From spring until November, you can visit the farm and watch cheese being made. Cherry Grove is lcoated at 3200 Lawrenceville Road (Rt. 206 N.) in Lawrenceville, NJ.