I know your hump day is pretty much over, but that’s even better!!

Last night I planned on making salmon for dinner, but it had gone bad so instead I heated up some leftover pasta that my mom had brought home last week.  This pasta came from Fazolis.  Fazolis is basically Italian fast food, and I wasn’t too excited about going last week because my last experience there wasn’t great.  They’ve revamped their menu, though, and have some fancier dishes.  I was very pleased with what I got the Tortellini and Sun Dried Tomato Rustico.  It had tortellini, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and pesto in a cream sauce.

What you see below (which my mom ordered) was the Tortellini Robusto, which is one of their oven baked pastas.  This was about half the portion left and I bulked it up with steamed broccoli.  Very tasty!!

This morning for breakfast I filled a whole wheat pita with two eggs, some cheddar cheese, and some hot sauce.

This kept me full for a good 3 hours or so.  For a snack I had a Fiberful fruit strip.

Around noon I broke into my lunch, which was a packet of Madras Lentils, a bag of Food Should Taste Good tortilla chips, and an apple.  I REALLY like these lentils.  Check out your local Costco if you’re interested in trying them.

My afternoon snack was a pumpkin nut muffin (I REALLY need to stock up on Libby’s pumpkin bread mix!) and a Diet Coke for the caffeine.

I know the diet soda isn’t the healthiest thing so I need to get some tea with caffeine.  I prefer fruit teas, and they often don’t have caffeine.  ANY SUGGESTIONS?

When I got home a friend, Brian, had brought his Chiweenie, (chihuahua-dachsund mix), Romo, to play with our dog.  Here’s a video of them playing.

Brian invited us to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays so the salmon and polenta thathad planned for dinner will be on tap for tomorrow.

Ruby Tuesdays was SUPER dim inside so I couldn’t get pictures of the salad I got at the salad bar (romaine, spring mix, spinach, edamame, broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, ham, 1000 Island dressing ) or the wine (Estancia Pinot Grigio).

For my entree I ordered the sirloin with lobster mac & cheese.  I substituted the mashed potatoes for mashed cauliflower.  I ate about half of everything.  I took a picture of the half I brought home where the lighting was better.

This was VERY good!  I can’t wait to have it again tomorrow at lunch.

For dessert we went to Dairy Queen and I got the small dipped ice cream cone.  I took a picture, but my phone ate it.  It was HUGE, I don’t think it was a small.  I ate all the chocolate coating, about half the ice cream and the cone.  I scooped about half the ice cream into Josh’s blizzard cup.   I didn’t really like it very much.  Too sweet.  I prefer McDonald’s ice cream cones.

Look at these:

or these:

Decisions, decisions.  Yeah, right.

I’d choose the purple babies hands down.   At least,  I’d know they come in my size.

I have to thank Em over at her totally charming http://eminpursuit.blogspot.com/ for turning me on to to the purple clogs available at Hanna Andersson.

I totally relate to Em’s conundrum of tossing out your favorite, albeit not Manolo sexy, but totally comfy shoes, as she says “to reinvent (our) style into streamlined and hip.  I recently spent an hour looking for a now too cool Doc Martens I forgot that I tossed out during a frenzied shoe-makeover. ‘No more comfy shoes!  “I want ‘em pointy and high!” I wailed.

Isn’t funny how we all start with the shoes?

If my shoes are funky, nothing is right in the universe.  I could be wearing a Dior blouse, a Ralph Lauren (Black Label, thank you) alpaca skirt, a mink-trimmed sweater, and my ubiquitous pearls and feel as if I should be squatting by the nearest subway entrance with a chipped plastic cup and a sign with “Help me get to Bloomingdales” scrawled in lipstick.

I have almost called in sick at work if I couldn’t find the right shoes to go with that day’s ensemble. Such is their importance.

At one time, my categories for shoe beauty were as narrow as the shoes on that list.  They had to be pointy things with skinny heels.  They needed to show toe cleavage….oooh yeah!   And if there was a strap, it had to be as thin as a piece of bucatini…I once had a pair of 4 inch heels that consisted of:  the heel, the very thin–I feel-every-pebble-sole and one narrow strip of gold eel skin that went across the vamp.  How something so narrow could be responsible for blisters the size of Montana was a true mystery.  Blisters is notoriously in the plural, so enamored was I with these beauties, that I would suck it up, and slip these on and teeter through the day.  These were my go to shoes for work.  I became an expert in the different types of band aids.

One of the reasons I so loved these shoes is that they were my size.  I wear a size 4.  I have midget feet.  People oooh and awwww when they see my feet—Once on a very crowded city bus, a man kept gushing with his adoration for small feet…I kept politely nodding until he asked if  he might rub mine.  After I coaxed my eyebrows down from the top of my bangs,  I quickly squeezed me and my tiny feet to the front of the bus.

In my next life, I swear, I will have size 10 feet.  Yea, I want to have to back up to ring the doorbell!   I am so jealous of you ladies who have larger feet.  I can’t imagine how it must feel to walk into a shoe store for grown ups, choose a pair, and hit the jackpot! They have your size!

I can’t fathom purchasing a pair of shoes, getting them home and not needing to figure out how to pull the ears off.  Even though children sized shoes can be cheaper I am now haunted.  Every time I see Mickey or Minnie, I feel an urge to apologize profusely.

So when I found a source for grown up shoes that fit, I’d rebel at being constrained by maryjanes and aimed for the highest heels and the scantiest form of support available.

Before we moved to the Bay Area, I lived in a town were nobody walked.  It was amazing.  GM probably underwrote the city coffers.  While the town consisted of strip malls upon strip malls and its system of public transportation nothing more than an urban myth, my feet never touched the outside ground.  I only had to teeter from car to my desk to my car to the restaurant and back home.  It was easy to live in high heels.

When we moved to the Bay Area, my life totally changed.

Our neighborhood is noted for hills…no, I mean real hills; hills that have staircases carved into the sidewalk.  The squirrels, I swear, shop at REI and wear hiking boots.   From up here, our views are breathtaking.  From our balcony, if I lean far to the left, I can see the ocean and the Bay Bridge, if I lean further over the rail, I can see the San Francisco skyline at night.  Most of the time though, if I look straight down, I can watch people pause, clutch their chest, pant like a dog for a few seconds as they come to the top of our hill.

One morning, coffee cup in hand, I stood on the balcony, thrilled to be nose to nose with the squirrel scampering from treetop to treetop, I looked down at my feet…they were all dressed up in their baby pink maribou’d 3 inch slides that I found in a Barbie Dress Up kit–hey, they fit!

In a bolt of lightening, it hit me.  I had suddenly turned into Rapunzel trapped in her tower.  I couldn’t walk down the hill to catch the bus.  I’d have to have groceries shipped in.  I’d have to wait for weekly mail drops for news from the outside world.   I ran, ok, I minced, to the closet, I had nothing that that would keep me from tumbling down the hill and sliding into the bay.

I quickly logged into Zappos!  In a matter of days I have transformed from Rapunzel to Indiana Jones, my quest was to find a pair of walking shoes that don’t scream solid and sturdy.  Solid and sturdy are merely a hop, skip and jump from bucolic.  Some walking shoes bring images of potato farms…I like potatoes. I respect potato farmers, I just don’t think combining the two make for fashionable shoes.

So far, the quest never ends…Em, I am intrigued by the clogs…thanks for the link!

Guess what?  I started cooking again.  DH is a happy camper.  Thanksgiving is still lingering like that poltergeist that won’t leave.  I froze a hunk of turkey the size of our Prius.  I figure, come February, the poltergeist will rise again transformed into some sort of casserole.  For now, we had beef and cheese tortellini vegetable soup…perfect for these cool winter nights.

This is so easy:

2 large leeks cleaned and chopped

2 large carrots cleaned and chopped

1 8oz package of cheese tortellini – I find these near the dairy aisle in my grocery store

3 8 oz cartons of beef broth

½ head of cabbage shredded

2 large russet potatoes peeled and diced
1 lb chuck roast cut into 2 inch pieces

1 tbl of thyme, and oregano

¼ cup sherry

salt & pepper to taste

• In a large Dutch oven, pour enough olive oil to coat the bottom, heat until it shimmers.
• Sauté the leeks until soft
• Add the meat, continue to brown lightly
• Add the cabbage and toss with the meat and leeks, cook until the cabbage start to wilt.
• Pour in the broth, tomatoes, bring to light boil
• Add the potatoes and the oregano & thyme
• Boil until the potatoes are soft
• At this point, you’ll need more liquid, so add about 2 cups of water, bring back up to a light boil
• Add the tortellini and cook for 7 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.
• Stir in the sherry and serve!

Enjoy!

For our potluck Thanksgiving dinner, my friend Kelly Gallagher made mushroom ravioli with a balsamic butter sauce. I have no idea how she made it but I figured I’d make up my own version of it. This meal took about 5 minutes to make, so I’ll try to write a post that takes only 5 minutes to read. Ready? Set? Go!!

You’ll need:
Frozen tortellini
Butter
Balsamic Vinegar
Walnuts (if you like them, they’re not necessary)
Salt and Pepper

First start a pot of water boiling. Salt the water and when it boils, throw the tortellini it it. The tortellini should only take a few minutes to cook. 5 minutes should be plenty of time.

While waiting for the water to boil, toss some walnuts in a pan and put them on the stove over medium heat. Toast them for a few minutes (stirring or flipping occasionally). When they’re done, toss them in a bowl for later.

You should be able to put the tortellini in the water by now. It should’ve boiled.

Then throw some butter in the pan (for a meal to feed just me, I used maybe 3 tablespoons). Keep the pan over medium heat and the butter should brown. Once browned, throw in some balsamic vinegar (I used maybe 2-3 tablespoons) the amount depends on how much balsamic flavor you want in the sauce. Add salt and pepper.

By now, the pasta should be done cooking, strain it and toss it in the pan with the sauce. Throw the toasted walnuts in the pan as well. Toss the whole thing together. The tortellini will continue cooking in the hot sauce for 1-2 minutes over medium heat. Then pour the entire contents of the pan into a bowl and enjoy!

You could also absolutely use this sauce over any kind of pasta. I bet it’d be great on angel hair!

Currently Cooking To:

The New Pornographers – Myriad Harbor
The New Pornographers – The Bleeding Heart Show

Despite the band’s slightly off-putting name, The New Pornographers have an upbeat and catchy thing going for them. The super indie sound of a bunch of people singing makes me just want to throw my hands over my head and wave them back and forth while doing the pony. Don’t understand what I’m talking about? Listen to the end of “The Bleeding Heart Show.” I won’t lie, I played it on repeat for the last 20 minutes of my bus ride back to Boston at the end of Thanksgiving break. The girls sitting next to me probably didn’t understand why I kept bouncing my head from side to side.

Ingredientes
(serve de 4 a 6 pessoas)
400 g de ricota, de preferência de búfalo
Raspa de casca e suco de 2 limões (maduros)
1 bom punhado de queijo pecorino ralado
1 bom punhado de queijo parmesão ralado
Sal e pimenta-do-reino moída na hora
1 medida de receita de massa fresca
2 pedaços grandes de manteiga
1 bom punhado de sálvia, folhas aparadas

Modo de preparo
Com um garfo, misture a ricota, as raspas de limão, o pecorino e a maior parte do parmesão. Em seguida, tempere cuidadosamente. Recheie o tortellini com uma colherada (chá) dessa mistura e cozinhe em água fervente salgada por 3, 4 minutos. Aqueça uma frigideira larga, adicione a manteiga e a sálvia e cozinhe até que as folhinhas fiquem retorcidas e a manteiga espumando, mas sem escurecer. Despeje o tortellini escorrido e esprema um pouco do suco de limão a gosto. Sirva imediatamente e polvilhe generosamente com o restante do parmesão.

fonte: http://gnt.globo.com/Gourmet/Materias/Massas-do-Jamie-Oliver–Anote-as-receitas.html

The first of what will be a few easy/quick supper ideas.

I’ve had in mind to make something along these lines for a while, mostly because there is a picture of a similar dish on the wall at work (I sometimes work in the Olive/Good Food offices) and it catches my eye every time I walk past it. It’s something to do with the pasta and tomatoey niceness with peas floating in it (don’t ask me why, peas in things just makes me feel happy, and they have a similar effect on my good lady strawb too I happen to know! Too much information?).

It’s kind of a twist on minestrone so I tried to chop the veg into pleasing, minestrone-sized cubes (peas and mini cubed veg, it doesn’t take much to please me).

Sorry about the dodgy food photo, which really doesn’t do it justice. Steam kept getting in the lens, but couldn’t wait until it had subsided as, well, I couldn’t wait to eat it!

Tortellini in tomato and veg broth

Serves 2 with enough left for a couple of lunches the next day (so probably enough for 4 with medium sized portions)

1 red onion, finely chopped
oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 carrot, diced
celery, couple of sticks, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
tomato paste, a squeezing
veg stock, 500mls
frozen peas, a few handfuls
Pack of spinach and ricotta tortellini (or whatever flavour tortellini you prefer, something meaty would work just as well).

Fry the onion, garlic, carrot and celery in a splash of oil until everything starts to soften and the onion turns translucent (5 mins or so). Add the pepper and fry for a minute or two. Add the chopped toms, a squeeze of tomato paste and the stock. Simmer for 15-20 mins until you have a juicy broth (you don’t want it to be as thick as a sauce, it should still be soupy).

A few mins before your soup is ready get your pasta on and cook according to pack instructions. Chuck your frozen peas into the soup for a few mins while this cooks. Then drain the pasta and throw that in too.

Serve with a bit of cheese if you like (which I do) and some bread for mopping.

Here’s a link to what I think is the original recipe, found on the BBC Good Food website if you want to check it out.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5592/hearty-pasta-soup

Note: I wanted to use courgette in here but did my usual trick of thinking I had some in the fridge but finding out once I started cooking that I didn’t. Add it when you add the pepper if you fancy it, remember to chop it into nice cubes (that’s compulsory!).

What’s next?
More easy supper ideas and some restaurant reviews – we’ve had special visits to La Gavroche (swanky lady strawb) and Peterhsam Nurseries (me).

Another Trader Joe’s dinner. I am back to working on all of the days that there are farmers markets available, and the stores that sell local, organic veggies are out of my current price range. However, I am not ungrateful that I have any somewhat healthy, cheap food options. I’d rather make everything from scratch, but the frozen meatballs and canned pasta sauce were pretty tasty, nonetheless.

Wanted to share this yummy easy soup with the Foodie Friday Crowd. Visit Gollum at Designs by Gollum to see more great recipes and food.

When I saw this soup on Connie’s blog Practicing Theology I knew it was going to taste good. I made it tonight and umm umm good it is! Thank you to Connie for sharing the recipe here.

Ingredients: 2 quarts of chicken broth, 1 jar spaghetti sauce, 1 package frozen meatballs, 1 package frozen spinach, 1 package frozen tortellini, 1 can chopped tomatoes.

Bring broth and spaghetti sauce to a boil and then add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.

I used fresh chicken rosemary tortellini so I put them in 15 minutes into the simmer stage. I used a can of chopped tomatoes with green chilis and it added a nice kick. I bought some nice fresh bread to go with the soup and really enjoyed it to the last drop!!

• package (19 ounces) frozen cheese tortellini or 1 package dry pasta cheese filled tortellini 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 cup half and half cream
• 3 tablespoons Miracle Whip Salad Dressing
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Romano cheese
• 12 ounces baked ham cubed (and heated through)
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen peas, cooked
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

• Cook tortellini according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, combine flour and cream until smooth. Stir in the miracle whip and the cheeses. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat.
• Drain tortellini; add to the cheese sauce. Stir in the cooked ham, cooked peas and white pepper. Cook for an additional 5 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 4 servings

I boiled the pasta, peas, and ham all together.  Makes it simple.

My fail at the sauce came from using a little too much flour and making it a bit too thick.  I thinned it out with some milk… it was still a little on the thick side.  Plus it’s a cheese sauce, so the cheese obviously made it thicker.  I was weirded out at first by this recipe having Miracle Whip in it but it really works and gives it just a little…zippiness.

I also made a little more sauce than what I needed, that was mostly due to me trying to think it all.  Mix it all together with the pasta, peas and ham and voila.  Yummy goodness.

What? There’s a turkey?

A week till it’s that time of year again….the big Italian Tangza-giva, a.k.a. Lasagna Day; the day when the Italians eat lasagna and melanzane alla parmigiana till there’s no room left for the obligatory bird.  And the table is covered in a red & white checkered table cloth, while la tarantella plays in the background. É su.

Um…. it wasn’t exactly like that in my family-we definitely had lasagna as a starter some years, and usually are too full before la tacchina arrives, but when I think of the holiday I think of two things: tortellini soup and stuffed olives.

The olives as an antipasto are just….freaking perfect. A perfect food. Why? You eat ’em with your hands & every food group is represented, sort of. I recently attempted to make them for a dinner party (they were kinda weak, but it was my first try) and a friend described them perfectly, as only an actor could: “these are…epic”, he said. That’s exactly what they are. Epic. I could easily pop 16 of them in one sitting, and plan to as long as I have a mouth.

The olives are huge, stuffed with three kinds of meat plus parmigiano & herbs, breaded and then fried. I know, try not to cacy. Here’s the thing: they are a PAIN IN THE CULIE to make. So start two days before. Here’s the recipe:

                                                                                                Stuffed Olives

Ingredients for about 80 olives:

Medium sized plain Green olives in brine with pit

1/2 lb each of Beef, pork & chicken: No bones, nothing ground, nothing lean.

1/2 cup good reggiano parmesan, grated

2 eggs

1 garlic clove, whole

1 carrot

1 celery stalk

1 onion

1/2 red bell pepper

handful of chopped thyme

handful of finely chopped parsley

pinch of nutmeg

couple splashs of dry white wine

salt & pepper

couple more eggs for breading process

plain bread crumbs (unseasoned)

all purpose flour

olive oil

peanut oil

a day and a half-2 days before frying: soak olives in a bath of lukewarm water with a couple tbsps of salt, to draw out some of the salt. Change water every few hours.

day before: Stuffing

(all ingredients will be put through food processor, so don’t need to chop so evenly)

lightly brown the meats whole in a pan with a little salt, in olive oil & garlic. Then remove, set aside.

Add chopped onion, pepper, carrot, celery, bay leaf, thyme, nutmeg, a little salt & pepper to pan. When softened, cut meat into chunks and add. Add white wine and turn heat low. When evaporated, transfer mixture to food processsor. Grind till all combined, not to a mushy paste, but pretty fine.

transfer mixture to a big bowl. Add eggs, parmesan, finely chopped parsley. Mix together with hands. cover with cellophane and refrigerate.

Day of cooking, leave bowl out of fridge to bring back to room temp. Then strain olives. Begin tedious but theraputic ritual of corkscrew-cutting each olive & removing pit.  With a very small but sharp knife, begin at top of olive and turn olive with fingers while moving knife in a gentle downward spiral, which will echo the state of your mind as you approach olive number 70 and carpal tunnel rears its ugly head. Then you will ask: “why, God, why?” Because they are delicious and your tummy needs them. “Che te puzza raia…why not use pitted frigging olives? This is bananas!” First of all, don’t say bananas. Second of all, because all the good olive meat and flavor is washed out of them. No one said this would be easy. Don’t give up, little chicken. Take a break, crack your knuckles and screw on.

When olives are corkscrewed, give yourself some love, in an appropriate & kitchen sanitary way. Then with fingers, stuff mixture in olives, generously, as much as can fit without too much spillage. Olives won’t close, you should see stuffing on surface of olive.

Start big pan on low heat with an inch of peanut oil. Roll olives in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. When all crumbed up and pan is hot enough, start to fry. Use tongs. DONT CROWD THE PAN, or they won’t brown. When golden brown on one side, turn over. Transfer with tongs to large platter lined wth paper towel. when all done, put paper towel on top to absorbe excess oil. Serve warm not hot, in bowl with lemon wedges. Eat ALL IN ONE MOUTHFUL, for heaven’s sake.  None of that 2 bite merda.

Tortellini in brodo as a starter was & is just the perfect thing to prepare a tummy for action, once you’ve sat down at the table. The meaty little bundles are satisfying but the soup is soothing. My mom makes the tortellini from scratch. Yeah….not gonna try and explain that in writing. I’m sure you can find some instructional video on how to do that…maybe Lidia Bastianich has an episode on it. If you’re gonna go for it, bravo. They are truly better when hand made. They are meat tortellini, & the stuffing is basically the same as the olive stuffing, but then my mom makes the dough and uses the pasta contraption on her kitchenaid (she used to use that old silver hand-cranked machine but she’s rolling with the times now:)) to roll out big strips. Anyway, I’m gonna start assuming the tortellini are made, cause I’m shtupt and don’t know how to make videos & put them up on my blog. You can buy fresh meat tortellini at a whole foods type place. My mom uses the brand Stella, which she says is “ok” when she’s not making it by hand. 

                                                                                             Tortellini in Brodo

Use home made chicken stock if possible, makes ALL the difference. (It’s easy I just braise a bunch of chicken on the bone in a big pot with olive oil and when both sides are browned I add lots of water and let it boil. When the chicken is cooked I remove it and take the bones out and put all bones back in the pot, using the chicken meat for other cooking, then I add whole celery, carrot ,big onion chunks, bay leaf &  let sit in there with the chicken bones & essence on low heat for like, ever, depending on how condensed you want it.  Then I remove the veggies, freeze it in batches and use for a month. You could even reduce it down to almost a paste form and pour into ice cube trays to freeze, then reconstitute in water). Whatever you do, it’s better than the Swanson broth, even though the commercial makes it look like the lady impresses her mother in law so much, but who’s the bitch kidding?

Ingredients: Big bunch of escarole, garlic, onion, plum tomatoes, olive oil, salt & pepper, Parmesan, tortellini.

start pot of broth on high heat with enough salt to flavor the broth to your pref. & a little olive oil.

saute in a pan with olive oil & garlic: chopped onion, chopped plum tomatoes a little salt. Add escarole, a little salt, cover and lower heat. Cook till softened. Turn off heat & leave in pan.

When broth is boiling, add tortellini. Cook for only a flash-if they’re fresh they’re basically cooked already, & if they get mushy it’s all over.

serve in shallow bowls with a blop of greens on top & lots of parmesan.

Ok, I was a lot lazier about explaining this recipe, but it’s just so simple. 

I really do love Thanksgiving, especially since it gets me all psyched for Christmas, the time of year when I become 7 years old all over again, repeatedly. I’m serious. This is very fun for my husband.

When you grow up a girl in an Italian family with one sibling who is also a girl, you wind up in a household with an Italian dad who has two daughters. Daughters are girls. Girls have everything done for them and are spoiled. I suppose I shouldn’t generalize. I’m sure there are Italian dads who say to their daughters “get up and get a job” or “you can fix it yourself”, but they are not traditional. This means that every Christmas, even though I am a grown woman and too old for this merda, I think about all the things I want santa to bring me.

My sister and I weren’t spoiled rotten, we didn’t get everything we always wanted, (one year I wanted a doll house in the worst way, with doors and cabinets that opened and a little family in there, and I got Sylvanian Families, which is a doll house of sorts, but with animal families instead of people. Little bunnies or bears. I was bummed. POOR ME.) but we were definitely indulged.

So, naturally, as much as i love to shop for & give gifts (i really do) I also am plagued by the things i WANT. Just call me Veruca Saltini.

booties

girly dress with…

sexy cropped leather jacket

these oxfords...

and these

and these booties

and this skirt

What? I know there is oppression and starvation and treachery in the world way more important than my childish greed; it’s not that I feel i deserve all this stuff (and stuff I’ve not mentioned here). But I can fantasize, right? I mean, who reads this blog, anyway, Santa?

No, I’m serious. Santa? Do you?…

attire from Anthropologie website, Nanette lepore, Marc Jacobs.

As I mentioned in my earlier post on homemade pasta, I have been aspired to reattempt this ancient art due to the poetic inspiration of Bill Buford, author of Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany. The title alone makes you want to cook, but the section of the book dedicating to pasta-making is sheer genius.

Heat

Tortellini haunts the section. At one point, Buford is discussing the ancient ways of pasta making with his teacher Betta (also Mario Batali’s former pasta-making teacher). He writes,

“One day, she said she’s like to show me how to make tortellini—the region’s most famous pasta—but stopped herself. “you will tell Mario. Mario did not learn how to make tortellini when he was here.”

“No, no, no,” I said, with a hearty butter-couldn’t possibly-melt-in-my-mouth irony. “of course I won’t tell Mario. Why would I do that?”

“You will tell him. I know you will.”

Tortellini, as Buford explains, is Italy’s most complicated pasta, and one of the most traditional:

Making the tortellini, Betta said, was always social (she had been unprepared for the loneliness of a restaurant kitchen), and, as a child, she felt privileged when these older, cultivated women asked her to join their circle. She was twelve years old, and the tortellini she made were her first handmade pasta—no small feat. They are complex, tightly layered pieces of food sculpture, an achievement associated in Betta’s mind with bigger stings: the city (Bologna), the region (her zona, the food like a flag of statehood), and becoming an adult. “My learning how to make pasta was learning how to be a grown-up and a woman.

The rolled pasta, thin as I could make it

To make tortellini, you first need a filling. Betta’s includes four meats: pork, chicken, prosciutto, and mortadella, slowly cooked in butter, and then turned into a pasty-filling by the addition of egg, pamigiano, and nutmeg. I had only pork sausage (from Balance Rock Farm), chicken, and bacon to make my filling. Pace Betta, it was a delicious filling.

Preparing the complex tortellini shapes is another story all together. Buford writes,

If you’re a boy, your principal difficulty in making tortellini, I discovered, is your fingers, which, alas, really need to be a girl’s and not just any girl’s, but an elfin girl’s. Your fingers need to be small because all the action occurs on the top of the smallest one, the pinky, where you place the puniest square of pasta. You then pack the puny square with the largest amount of filling possible and fold it, corner to corner, to form a miniature but bulging triangle. You next tip the top part of the triangle forward, as though it were bowing in an expression of gratitude, and then (the crucial step) pull the other two corners forward, as though securing the bowing head in a headlock. You then press it all together to form a ring. When you turn the pasta over, you’ll be astonished by what you created: a belly button. (What can I say? It’s wildly erotic.)

Cutting out the tortellini circles

The complicated task of forming the tiny tortellini.

My own tortellini I first formed into circles, meticulously cutting them out of my thin-as-possible sheet of homemade dough. I stuffed my sausage filling into each one, folded the dough over, forming in bulging crescent moon (which I always felt was in danger of bursting), then took the two points of the crescent moon and brought them together, like joining hands. And indeed, I discovered the erotic bellybutton shape!

Little bellybuttons

I boiled my tortellini in the same water in which I boiled my tagliatelle. Meanwhile, I sautéed some thinly sliced garlic in a pretty fair amount of butter. Once the tortellini were done, I threw them in my sauté pan with a little pasta water and a whole lot of parmigiano. I garnished with some green onions.

The final dish

I made the tortellini in my studio apartment kitchen with the Hub to keep me company, but I think next time I will try and foster that social environment that goes in the making of tortellini which Buford so beautifully describes. The end of the tortellini section of the book is just beautiful as he describes his own subsequent tortellini-making:

I [often] wonder what Betta would think, and, like that, I’m back in that valley with its broken-combed mountain tops and the wolves at night and the very-present feeling that the world is so much bigger than you, and my mind becomes a jumble of associations, of aunts and a round table and laughter you can’t hear anymore, and I am overcome by a feeling of loss. It is, I concluded, a side effect of this kind of food, one that’s handed down from one generation to another, often in conditions of adversity, and you end up thinking of the dead, that the very stuff that sustains you tastes somehow of mortality.

Tortellini in Porrettta is traditionally made in December around a kitchen table in a small room filled with noisy convocation: “Banter, gossip, high hilarity, storytelling, the smells of food, a fire burning, everyone’s fingers busy.” What do you say friends? December is only weeks away. Anyone up for making tortellini?

Nona — Italian for ninth — is a modest enoteca/osteria/ristorante in Granville (home to our rival school, Denison University).  Located right on the “main drag” of the town, Nona offers a small portal back to Toscana with an Italian/English menu, the feel of an authentic Italian enoteca and a wine list that includes the famous Brunello di Montalcino and other DOCG wines.

The service was excellent and friendly, the atmosphere muted but warm and bustling and the food was life-saving.  To start my roommate ordered the vegetable soup which made her eyes roll back in her head and for me the braised fennel with blood orange vinegar infused onions.  Ummm ok so that all rocked pretty hard but then came our primi: for my roommate, the Sundried Tomato and Asiago Ravioli with Arugula pesto and Toasted Almond Butter and for me, the spinach and ricotta tortellini with ragu — TO DIE FOR.  All the pasta is done in-house so the freshness can’t really be beat.

For the dolci, we split a gorgeous flaky pastry nest of roasted apples and balsamic gelato.  Whatever, we basically had a roommate date but we had so much fun and you could not have slapped the grins off our face.  I think our waitress thought we were slightly insane because we gushed at every special she told us about but whatever.

Ok, I admit.  I am a bit of soup junkie.  One of the many reasons I love when the weather turns colder is because I can start breaking out the cookbooks and making a different soup each week.  How can you not love it?  It’s filling and healthy, you usually only have to dirty one pot and it feeds you for days.  It’s comforting, like an old friend or a warm blanket.  There’s just something about soup. 

I also am currently obsessing over brussel sprouts (reference Eat Your Veggies) and find myself trying every recipe I find that features them.  I have had the Sprouts and Sausage Soup recipe tucked into my recipe binder for years and finally just tried it out on the family this weekend.  It was a raving success and so, so easy!  Few ingredients, quick prep and cooking time and very satisfying.  This would definitely make a good Monday night football soup served with some hearty bread and beers all around. 

Sausage & Sprouts Winter Soup  – Serves 8

1 lb. Brussels sprouts

1 lb. sausage link (turkey kielbasa, andouille, etc)

2 tsp. olive oil

6 large red potatoes

2 bay leaves

2 tsp caraway seeds

8 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

Trim ends off Brussels sprouts and cut in half lengthwise.  Set aside.  Cut sausage into 1/4-inch thick slices.  Put olive oil and sausage into large dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until sausage is well-browned, about 7 minutes.  Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut into 1/2 –inch pieces. 

When sausage is browned, add bay leaves and caraway seeds.  Cook, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add potatoes, broth and 1 cup water.  Bring to a boil.  Add Brussels sprouts.  Partially cover pot and reduce heat to low to maintain a steady simmer.  Cook soup until sprouts and potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.  Remove bay leaves and serve soup hot with crusty bread and a green salad. 

My good friend from college, Denise (one of the D’s in the recipe title) and I are into emailing and texting each other what we’re making for dinner.  We also sometimes do the “ok, I have these five ingredients on  hand, what can I do with them?” challenge.  It’s been so fun to get to know each other as fellow  foodies and share our passion for cooking since our friendship in college was based much more on  knowing each other as fellow Coors Light drinkers  and sharing our passion for 2 am Jack-in-the-box runs.  We both love the magazine Everyday Food and we tend to lean towards Mediterranean influences like kalmata olives, capers, feta cheese — all the really good stuff.    We also like to take other people’s recipes and “doctor” them up a bit.  Put our own twist on them if you will.  So D & D’s (Daphne and Denise’s) Winter Vegetable Soup is just that, a doctored (and better if I do say so myself) version of an Everyday Food recipe Denise and I both decided to make.

D&D’s Winter Vegetable Soup (adapted from Everyday Food)  – Serves 4-5

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 medium onion, cut into fine dice

2 garlic cloves, minced

coarse salt and ground pepper

1 lb. acorn squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks

1 bunch kale or escarole (for kale, ribs cut away and discarded), leaves torn

5 ½ cups low sodium chicken broth

1 can canellini beans, rinsed

1 small package cheese tortellini

½ package diced prosciutto

3 sprigs fresh thyme (if available)

grated fresh Parmesan, for serving

In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium.  Cook onion, garlic and prosciutto until fragrant, about three minutes; season with salt and pepper.  Add squash and kale or escarole and cook until greens are wilted, about three minutes.  Add broth, beans and thyme.  Bring to a simmer and cook until squash and greens are tender, about 12 minutes.  Add the tortellini in when you have about 5 minutes remaining of cooking.  Season soup with salt and pepper and serve with Parmesan, if desired.                                                                    

Every one knows chicken soup is good for the body and soul.  Whenever I stayed home sick from school as a kid, my mom would give me some form of Campbell’s chicken soup, saltine crackers and 7-up and for the most part, the world would be right again.  What I love about this Greek Chicken Soup recipe is that it’s easy and so delicious, it makes my mouth kind of pucker to think of it’s savory, tart flavor.  It’s very forgiving so feel free to add more/less chicken.  You can also use a different pasta noodle but I love it with the orzo.  It’s a great soup to take to a sick or down in the dumps friend. 

Greek Chicken Lemon Soup (Avgolemono)

8 cups (64 oz) chicken stock/broth

¾ cup orzo

1 lb. cooked boneless, skinless diced chicken breast

3 eggs

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

1 tbsp. grated lemon zest (1 lemon)

salt and fresh pepper

2 tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley

Hungarian paprika, for garnish

In a large saucepan, bring the stock to a boil over medium heat.  Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the orzo and cook until tender, 15-20 minutes.  About 5 minutes before the pasta is done, add the diced chicken. 

Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl.  Whisk the eggs while pouring in the lemon juice.  Add the zest.  Whisking continuously, slowly pour a ladleful of the hot stock into the egg mixture.  Reduce the heat to low.  Then, while whisking the soup in the pan, slowly pour in the egg/lemon mixture.  This will thicken the soup slightly.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and serve garnished with the parsley and paprika, if desired.

Last night we had a few friends over dinner and I made spaghetti with meatballs. Paige wanted the meatballs for lunch today, so I packed some in a thermal container to keep warm. I also packed cheese tortellini with a few fruits and veggies.

Yesterday, I also worked on making potato croquettes using various rice molds. I thought it would be fun to make the croquettes into different shapes by utilizing the different rice molds that I have. I made a simple potato base of a mashed potato, cooked bacon, onion, salt, and pepper. Then I let the mixture cool and molded them with the different shaped rice molds. I used really simple shapes so that it would be easy to mold and bread.

I’ve been getting some comments from people about how jealous they are of our travels, which leaves me with mixed feelings. On one hand, I know that we are truly, truly fortunate to be able to visit so many amazing places, and to go so often to Europe thanks to hubby’s work. There is no way we could afford to travel like this if his expenses weren’t already being comped, and I am thankful that the toddler and I have opportunities to tag along with him as often as we do. But before you start gagging, let me mention a few of the harsher realities of these trips.

For starters, I hate to fly. Planning any trip that involves air travel immediately instills in me a slight-to-moderate sense of panic. Hubby says if he had a choice, he’d rather fly solo with the toddler than with me any day. I’m ok once we get to where we’re going, but in the days and weeks beforehand, a certain level of anxiety is always in the background.

Throw in the fact that traveling with a toddler is, at best, a little tricky. At worst, it can be a complete nightmare. Depending on what country you’re in, people may or may not be helpful. This is the first big trip we’ve taken with our little guy since he’s started walking, and trying to convince him to sit on our laps for a eight- or nine-hour flight or train ride doesn’t always go over well. Plus, he’s not been spending any time in the stroller back home, so I’m sure he can’t really understand why he has to once again tolerate being strapped back in for hours at a time. It must feel like a demotion.

When it boils down to it, the whole reason we’re here is for hubby’s work. And he works HARD. Long hours are involved. When he’s doing a trade show like this, he takes off early in the morning and we don’t see him again until dinner. Maybe. If there’s a mix-and-mingle business function he needs to attend, he may not get back to the hotel until after we’re already in bed. We’re not a happy tourist family on vacation, strolling down cobbled streets hand-in-hand. Although we do get lucky and spend an occasional free day together, and we go to bed and wake up in the same room, the toddler and I are pretty much left to our own devices. When the weather’s bad, we may end up spending an entire day stuck in a small hotel room, trying to keep ourselves entertained with music videos and German or Italian-dubbed episodes of “Happy Days” and “Spongebob Squarepants.” If that doesn’t quickly make a person stir-crazy, I don’t know what will.

For better or for worse, we’ve been totally reliant on/at the mercy of public transportation in the European cities where we’ve been. While I really like the focus on pedestrian accessibility here, it is a little bit limiting. There are buses and trams and the like, but it can be a problem at times trying to maneuver a stroller on and off the things. Many require stairs; not a possibility with a stroller.

Out of all the cities in Italy, Milan is not somewhere I would choose to go of my own accord when there are other options like Rome, Florence and Venice so nearby. I would love, love, love to take the toddler on a daytrip or even an overnight to another city, but between taking along his carseat for the cab ride to the train station, the stroller, a suitcase, a diaper bag, my purse, and the little man himself, I just don’t see how I can pull it off. There’s no way I can juggle that amount of schwack on my own.

And just because we are away from home, we’re still slave to the toddler’s schedule. This can quickly f-up your intentions of spending an entire afternoon strolling through the Louvre, taking a day-long bus tour through the Tuscan countryside, or whiling away an evening getting looped on the local wines at a charming little enoteca. When we’re figuring out what to do or see for the day, consistent meal times and a nap have to be factored in. So if we’ve taken the tram into the inner city here in Milan, for instance, I have to make sure that I’ve packed snacks, milk and a lunch, and that we get back to the hotel in time for a nap. Otherwise, the kid turns into a complete terror and will sit in his stroller screaming while hubby and I try to “enjoy” our own dinners later in the day.

Which brings me to food. Although hubby and I are fairly good at adapting to the local cuisines wherever we are, the toddler is something of a picky eater. Buying baby/toddler food in a foreign language can be a guessing game, although the photos on the packaging are pretty helpful when it comes to figuring out the contents. Some of the offerings are things you never see on U.S. shelves, though. I can’t imagine feeding a baby pureed lamb, trout, rabbit or horsemeat (I kid you not), but apparently, they do here. I kinda follow the guideline that I don’t serve anything to the toddler that I wouldn’t want to eat myself, and I definitely am crossing those jars off the list.

There are tons of fruit options and sweets, but I can’t locate any toddler-appropriate vegetables to save my life. Old American fave standbys like mac and cheese are nowhere to be found. Instead, we’re left to try blends like ham with pasta and hope for the best. We’ve also tried to expand the toddler’s culinary horizons by offering him tastes of items from our own plates. This usually does not go well. He has decidedly refused many of these yummy offerings with a grimace, and pretty much subsisted on breadsticks, crackers and cheese since we’ve been in Italy. Thank goodness you can find yogurt, applesauce and bananas everywhere, otherwise we’d really be screwed. Also, we must request hotels to empty the minibar fridge so we can use it for milk, and we’ve become really adept at washing bottles and spoons in hotel sinks.

So there you go. Does that mean I would rather stay home and forego these adventurous excursions? Of course not. Does that mean you should be jealous? Eh, that’s your call.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, here’s the food report for the past few days. We’re quickly becoming regulars at Il Pavone. With the exception of the site of the tuna/Caprese salad fiasco, we’ve eaten there every night since we’ve been here. As hubby says, when he’s coming off a long day of work and he’s tired and starving, he doesn’t want to guess whether a restaurant will be good or not. He wants to go somewhere he can count on getting a large beer and a solid dinner. I don’t disagree at all, and Il Pavone’s menu is big enough to offer plenty of options. I’m going to try to make it through the whole week without ordering the same thing twice. So far, so good.

Two nights ago, I had a simple and delicious risotto with asparagus and topped it off with a ramekin of tiramisu for dessert (which the toddler decided he liked and ate half of). I also realized that I have unintentionally ordered vegetarian dishes every night since we’ve been here. Not that I have anything against the meat, and I will probably order some at some point; the veggie pastas have just appealed to me the most.

Last night, hubby had the delicious fusilli della casa I ordered on our first visit (which may be my favorite so far); I ordered a tortellini pomodoro with a side of steamed spinach. Hubby’s work pal got an insanely good-looking lobster linguine concoction and a huge calzone. That guy can EAT. Everything went down very well. I’ve taken to all but drenching my food with the olive oil they serve on each table as a condiment. I swear, the stuff is so good, I could just stick a straw in the bottle and drink it.

Il Pavone fusilli della casa

tortellini pomodoro

lobster linguini

Online, I found an Americans in Milan club, similar to the one I’d latched onto in Cologne, and yesterday was the group’s monthly coffee get-together. I got directions and the toddler and I navigated our way there without too much problem. I’m sorry to say, it wasn’t a good experience. It wasn’t really an American group, but more of a welcome-newcomers-to-Milan thing for women of all nationalities. Which was fine. However, the women there were a much older, ladies-who-lunch-type crowd, all dressed up in their finery (thank goodness I’d worn a skirt), many wearing hats and scarves. Not really my scene. The toddler, ready to burst out of his stroller after a 45-minute tram ride/walk, ran riot through the whole gathering, effectively curtailing any plans I had of relaxing over a coffee and a chat with the ex-pats. I was lucky to get a few words in edgewise with anyone before I was off and chasing him again.

At one point, I was simultaneously trying to talk with a very kind Asian woman; hold my purse, a sippy cup and the diaper bag; and bounce the squirming toddler in my arms. Whining and wanting to get down, the strong little bugger suddenly bucked hard. I lost my grip on him and barely caught him by the leg before he plunged to the hardwood. It completely scared the shit out of both of us.

So there I am, weighed down with bags and a screaming toddler hanging upside down from my hand about six inches above the floor. In front of an entire room of snooty women, who immediately started gasping and disapprovingly clicking their tongues in a judgmental manner. The wonderful Asian lady was the only one who even attempted to help me. I lowered the toddler to the floor as gingerly as I could, picked him up firmly and hauled ass out of there. I was hyperventilating and sobbing by the time I got onto the street and, with shaking hands, had to call hubby at the show to talk me down from the ledge. For the rest of the day, I was freaked out about how close I came to breaking his poor little neck. I can’t even think about it now without wanting to vomit.

All’s well that ends well, I suppose. I don’t imagine any of those ladies will be emailing to invite me out for coffee again anytime soon, though.

Being here in my roots, Illinois, I had to visit my most favorite restaurant. It resides in the little spit of a town called Toluca, which has around 1500 residents. Half of which live in the surrounding area on farmland. But in this little town is the best Italian food probably in two counties! Thats how they measure distances out there in the corn fields.

So in this little town are two restaurants; Mona’s and Capponi’s. Mona’s was open first around 50 years ago or so. It is owned by a local family and has spaghetti, lasagna, garlic bread, the list of typical Italian foods goes on, but what they are known for throughout middle america is their fried chicken. It’s hysterical. Here we go to Mona’s to get fried chicken and a side of spaghetti or tortellini.

But anyways back to the story, so this family owns this restaurant and decides to open another one. A building becomes available and they name it Capponi’s. Of course when opening a second location it will have the same menu, the same ambiance, the same everything. The only weird thing is that this second restaurant is two buildings down from the original! It cracks me up. They are never open on the same night and their menu’s are exactly the same. And it gets even better, people in the area swear the Mona’s is better than Capponi’s!

Well these two restaurants (because they are exactly the same people!) have my most favorite Italian food in the world. I love the cheese tortellini. Going to these restaurants is the highlight of every trip to the mid west, for me anyways.

I was so excited to get there on Tuesday night. We ate a Capponi’s because of course Mona’s wasnt open. I wanted to take a picture of the plate of ravioli but I was so excited to start eating it that I forgot until after my plate was half demolished the other half boxed and put in a doggy bag. I would swear the place hasnt changed a bit in my 22 years of eating there. They even still have the same water glasses.

Its places like these that keep the world simple and people content with the little things in life.

Item 19: fennel and pork tortellini with a fennel cream sauce

The last time I made pasta from scratch was a good 10 years ago, in my junior high home ec class. It’s a miracle that I turned out to be a foodie consider how bad of a gong show that class—and by extension, my first exposure to cooking—was. I was partnered with a girl who was allergic to peppers, onions, dairy, shellfish, strawberries and more. While my classmates were making tacos, my partner and I essentially threw some unseasoned ground beef into a taco shell and called it a day. I also remember a boy mixing his apple crisp ingredients by hand (because … he’s a 13-year-old boy) and he and his partner ended up with a major case of food poisoning. From what I heard, he ALSO put too much cinnamon in his apple crisp. What a disastrous class.

Aside from the trauma, I also remember pasta dough being one of those messy, but easy to make things. You start with a well in the flour and crack an egg into it. Blend the egg in, add more flour if the dough was too sticky, and eventually you’ll get it right. The best part was to crank that dough through the pasta machine and roll it into thin sheets. That was fun.

I don’t have a pasta machine. I’m also not keen on getting one until my pasta consumption goes up significantly. So I just rolled it out with a rolling pin. I know the dough is not as thin as it can be had I used a pasta machine. But the end result was still very delicious.

The recipe is adapted from Anna Olsen. I scaled it back because her original recipe serves 4-6  and I don’t want to eat tortellinis for a week.

Difficulty: Generally easy. As I mentioned, it’d be easier to roll out the dough with a pasta maker. I’ve also had plenty of experience wrapping Chinese wontons (I used to help my mom out when I was a kid), so the wrapping part wasn’t hard either. Because of the way the tortellini is folded, it actually holds far less filling than you expected. I ended up with bout 1/2 a teaspoon of filling per tortellini.

Room for Improvement: The recipe is fine the way it is. I added in a tiny pinch of cumin because I like it. But that’s just me. I also toasted the fennel seeds right before I mixed it into the meat and the sauce.

Tastiness: Love it! The fennel cream sauce is pretty rich, but it mirrors the fennel in the tortellini perfectly. It’s actually a dish that I would serve to dinner guests. It’s a little complicated, but the tortellini can be prepared ahead of time.

Items I purchased specifically for this recipe: Fennel seeds. I’ve never cooked with fennel seeds before.

I’d spotted a recipe for hearty pasta soup on the BBC Good Food website and decided to give it a go as it had a lot of very high ratings and we had a pack of tortellini in fridge for which we had no plans. This is a really simple recipe that takes minimal preparation (chopping an onion and a couple of carrots). I used kidney beans instead of the green beans because we’ve had a bit of a green bean overload recently! The kidney beans were microwaved for a couple of minutes beforehand to ensure they’d be soft.

It was nice enough, but definitely seemed to be lacking something – perhaps some chilli. I think this is probably something that would appeal to kids whilst getting some vegetables into them. I doubt we’d make this again as it is, but I’d definitely try some kind of tortellini soup again.

You’ve added 20-inch dubs and a 12-inch lift to your 1991 Chevrolet Caprice, why not trick out your tortellini? Using a weekday staple of Buitoni’s pre-made tortellini, trick it out with just a few simple ingredients. It’s like adding rims and hydraulics to your old Buick, baby. Or, like T Pain app-ing your tortellini. There’s an app for that.

Tricked Out Tortellini

Serves 8 (The Hoover, see below, counts as five)

• ½ chopped yellow onion
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1 package of sliced portabellas
• 1 pound of shrimp
• 1 package of family-size Buitoni tortellini
• 1 package of Buitoni pesto
• ¼ cup of sour cream (makes it creamy)
• ¼ cup of pine nuts
• 1 bundle of fresh basil
• Salt N’ Pepa

Saute chopped onion and minced garlic cloves in olive oil on medium-high heat. Add portabellas after two minutes. Saute for about 5-6 minutes. Add shrimp. You’re such a gangsta.

Boil a big pot of water. Add the tortellini and boil for about 7-9 minutes. Strain the tortellini. That tortellini is tight, yo.

Add the onion, mushroom and shrimp mixture to the big pot. Throw in the tortellini. Fold in the pesto and sour cream. Add the pine nuts and chopped fresh basil. Sprinkle Salt N’ Pepa. Ohhh baby, baby, ohhh baby, baby. Push it real good.

it's tricky

The Hoover is tricking out his bowels after this much tortellini.

too legit, too legit to quit

Twenty years ago when I left for Italy to study a year at the University of Bologna, my mother snuck a copy of Marcella Hazan’s “The Classic Italian Cookbook” into my suitcase. While it would seem strange to give a kid flying off to Italy a cookbook in English, it was a lifesaver.

I have found cookbooks that are just as fun to read, and others that are pleasure to browse through, gawking at enticing images of food and Italy. The book, the size of a thick paperback crime novel, was a perfect guidebook for a young american college student as he plunged into a year in city of tortellini and lasagna. She had (and has) a way of translating recipes and cooking philosophy that made them accessible to American supermarkets and minds. So even though her instructions for Spaghetti alla Carbonara call for pancetta or, if that is not accessible, bacon, whereas purists central Italy say only guanciale will do, if you have her books as a guide, you will eat well, which is what really counts in the end.

It is better with guanciale, an unsmoked version of pancetta made from pork jowls (guancia means cheeks in Italian), but even in Abruzzo and bordering regions where it is common it is not easy to find and keep on hand.

She helped me understand that Italian cooking does not have to be complicated. Recipe Zaar publishes her instructions for “the simplest tomato sauce ever” (www.recipezaar.com). The ingredients are canned tomatoes, butter (yes, sometimes butter is better than olive oil in Italian food) and a medium sized yellow onion, cooked slowly for about 45 minutes (the onion is thrown out at the end).

In the end the key is attention to detail, and thinking about what you are doing, that matter most. In the US it was groundbreaking decades ago to build your meals around the vegetables that were in season nearest to you. But when you think about it, it just makes good sense. The huge varieties of foods and dishes and creative variations that make Italy the place the world wants to visit for its food. And in Italy, food is built from the ground up.

(For those of you reading this on Facebook, it was first published on carbonara.wordpress.com)

Ingrediente:
- 2 pungi de tortellini (o punga cu sunca, una cu branza);
- 400 g de sunca York;
- 3 oua;
- 300 g de cascaval;
- 200 g parmezan;
- 1/4 pachet unt;
- busuioc maruntit;
- sare si piper.

Preparare:

Pastele se fierb cu sare si putin ulei 25 de minute. Sunca se taie marunt si se prajeste. Cand se rumeneste, se ia de pe foc si se scurge de ulei.

Ouale se amesteca cu parmezanul si cascavalul ras. Se condimenteaza cu sare, piper si busuioc.

Cand pastele sunt fierte, se scurg de apa si se pun inapoi in oala. Se pune peste ele un sfert de pachet de unt, sunca si amestecul de oua, parmezan si branza. Se mesteca pana cand se incheaga ouale.

Enjoy!

Inaspettati e inattesi in sala d’attesa scoppi di scena hanno movimentato le vicende scandalose come Antonella Clerici e i suoi vestiti..

Lacrimogena ha scoperto che finalmente smetterà di piangere sempre sull’orzo versato…

La vita di Mascarpona continua a vomitare sorprese e nuovi arrivi con il corriere espresso…

Crisantema è ancora a caccia della verità…tutto vero come i programmi di Alda D’Eusanio…

Ed ora la settesima puntata…RESTATE SPOSATI!!!

Piazza della Misericordia Amen aveva la sua super hashish, dopo il periodo blu appena trascorso con la misteriosa morte di Mascarpona, la fuga di Crisantema, la Piazza aveva davvero bisogno di un raggio laser di luce che potesse rischiarare il cielo.
Lacrimogena Wonder Bra sorvolava i grattacieli della Piazza ancora incredula per i ritrovati super poteri.
Il vento le scompisciava i capelli ma a lei non importava, era una sensazione magnifica di ritrovata libertà.
Quella sensazione però scomparve in una botta sola quando con la sua vista a raggi W intravide qualcosa di brutto armeggiare presso il Vicolo della Vergogna altrui!
“Vai Wonder Bra…salva la contrada!” E in un tuono raggiunse ciò che da metri e metri e metri e metri e metri e metri e basta! Di distanza aveva visto.
Due tipi all’oscuro stavano strattonando una vecchietta nelle vicinanze dell’ufficio letterario tentando di toglierle la borsetta.
La vecchietta vide Lacrimogena arrivare e subito espose la sua dentiera che scintillò ai primi giovani raggi di sole.
“Wonder Bra…pensaci tu!” E lacrimogena subito intervenne, armeggiò con la sua tasca iper segreta nascosta nei suoi mutandoni a stelle e pianeti, ne estrasse lo spray STIRAMI E AMMIRAMI inondando i due loschi figurini che svennero all’unisono, la vecchietta andò via di corsa, era salva lei e la sua pensione.

Filiberta, Ubaldo e Mayonesa erano imprigionati nella sala riunioni dell’avvocato delle cause perse di Mascarpona che era pronto per la lettura del testamento.
Filiberta era nervosa e irrequieta continuava a guardare la sveglia sul polso e pensava a come mai Lacrimogena faceva tanto ritardo, Ubaldo la vide nervosa e continuò a giocare a tris con Mayonesa.
Ma ecco che Lacrimogena fece capitombolo dalla porta di ingresso tutta trafilata e con il respiro affumicato.
Subito Ubaldo la osservò e mai come in quell’istante vide Lacrimogena con occhi diversi, forse perché lei era diversa, i due si lanciarono un’occhiata maliziosa.
“Ma si può sapere che fine hai fatto? Sono 24 ore che aspettiamo…ma che è successo?”
“Ma niente Fili…niente…mi si è bloccata la lavatrice non smetteva più di fare la centrifuga! La devo cambiare, eppure non ce l’ho da molto…solo 47 anni…bò!”
“Allora miei cari fedeli…aspettiamo ancora un’altra persona e poi potremo cominciare la lettura.”
Al suono di quelle parole i presenti si guardarono di sottecchi, fecero spallucce, si scambiarono un occhiolino, si strinsero le mani, si abbracciarono increduli.
“Scusi avvocato…ma chi sarebbe quest’altra persona?” Intervenne Mayonesa fresca di vittoria al tris con Ubaldo.
“Eccomi qua…scusate il ritardo!” Una donna imponente di 2 metri per quindici fece il suo ingresso trionfale avvolta in una lunghissima pelliccia di Stambecco del Trentino Basso Adige.

Giugiara era emozionata come una pornostar al suo primo film, era arrivato il giorno tanto atteso quando finalmente la sua carriera avrebbe subito una svolta a sinistra, una a destra e poi dritto all’incrocio.
Aveva pensato ad un luogo strategico alla 007 per il suo incontro cross-over con Brooke Logan direttamente da Beautiful.
“Capello Pazzo” il coiffeur più in, out over is over della zona, cosi tra uno shampoo, una messinpiega, una tintura, una barba e un pizzetto avrebbero discusso sulla nuova linea di mutande sbagliate.
Finalmente l’attesa terminò, Brooke Logan scese dal risciò numero 5 in tutta la sua bellezza, i suoi folti capelli biondi svolazzavano alle intemperie.
Giugiara le andò incontro con un sorriso smagliato, le aprì le braccia e lo stesso fece Brooke, entrambe si schiaffeggiarono sonoramente.
“Sono cosi emozionata e felice per questo incontro…non sto più nelle ossa dall’emozione!” Giugiara era davvero invisibilmente emozionata.
“Sono contenta…anche a me fa molto piacere essere in questo posto paradisiaco…cambiare vento ogni tanto può fare solo bene.”
Entrambe sottomano entrarono da Furibondo che le accolse con la marcia funebre come faceva con tutte le clienti più prestigiose che subito si accomodarono sulle comodissime sedie di ferro sbattuto con due uova fresche appena colte.
“Mamma mia oggi è una giornata indimenticabile…due star della moda a livello interplanetario nel mio negozio…cosa…cosa ho fatto per meritarmi questo?” Anche Furibondo aveva le mani tremanti a tale bellezza e fascino.
“Oooooo lei si che è un adulatore nato caro il mio Furibondo…allora…ci faccia rinascere a nuova morte!” Brooke si lasciò subito andare al tocco spiritico di Furibondo.
“Allora cara Brooke…io voglio rovinare quella cessa malfamata di Sofia Bernoccola…non solo mi ha bombardato la sfilata…mi ha anche fatto recapitare direttamente alla mia roulotte un portadolori… capisci cosa vuol dire?”
Brooke spalancò la bocca come una balena scioccata a tale notizia.
“Mio dio…il portadolori no…è terrificante!”
“Appunti…per questo che studiando il tuo studio sulle mutande sbagliate ho bisogno del tuo contributo spese di spedizione per lanciare dalla finestra la linea anche qua con il tuo nome, cognome, indirizzo e codice fiscale. Che ne pensi?”
Brooke le sorrise odiosamente, la schiaffeggiò con affetto.
“Consideralo già fatto cara la mia Giugiara! Sarà un successo!”

Falloppia si addentrò nella villetta di Mascarpona nuovamente, appena sull’uscio dovette fare gli scontrinicon l’antifurto, la pianta carnivora DROSERA SPATULATA che nel frattempo si era rigenerata come un polipo.
DROSERA iniziò ad attaccare con le sue fauci Falloppia che cercò di scansarle, ogni volta che riusciva ad evitarle la colpiva al viso, alla bocca dello stomaco con mirate mosse di karate ma DROSERA non mollava il contatore finchè Falloppia non estrasse dal suo giubbotto ripieno il cannone laser e in un istante disintegrò DROSERA che le giurò vendetta prima di morire!
“Mamma mia…ma questa Piazza della Misericordia Amen è piena di vipere!”
Finalmente libera Falloppia ispezionò la cucina di Mascarpona ancora in disordine mentale.
Sul pavimento ancora macchie di sangue e ragù, Falloppia era convinta che l’assassino stesse cercando qualcosa di preciso, Mascarpona nascondeva sicuramente un segreto galoppante, pensò di dare una pupillata al salotto e in modo particolare dietro i pochi soqquadri impiccati alle pareti, ve ne erano infatti solo circa 250, iniziò quindi la sua ricerca sicura di trovare qualche domanda e risposta.

Nella sala riunioni dell’avvocato era scesa la calotta artica, l’apparizione come una Madonna che piange della nuova personaggia aveva terremotato tutti gli animi dei presenti e pure degli assenti che non ci azzeccavano nulla ma la battuta funziona lo stesso!
“No…non è possibile…non puoi essere tu…tu…tu…tu…sciacquami l’anima…sciacquami l’anima…no no no questa è la sigla ogni tanto mi ronza nel cervello come una zanzara col ciuffo!…Mamma…sei proprio tu…quasi non ti riconoscevo…sei sempre stata un cesso sporco e otturato pure…ora…ora…ora…12:35…sei stupenda…ma com’è possibile?”
“Ciao Mayonesa…salve a tutti…mi chiamo Punessa Van Der Vacc…la madre di Mascarpona e Mayonesa…sono tornata dopo essere stata ricoverata per 6 mesi dal ferramenta…ora voglio prendere possesso della mia vita e della mia casa.
Ebbene si…la casa di Mascarpona in realtà era mia…lei era solo abusiva.
Forza avvocato…ci legga il testamento!” Punessa prese posto sulla poltroncina girevole iniziando a girare intorno come su una giostra mentre Ubaldo e Lacrimogena continuavano a lanciarsi occhiate sessuali.

Continua…nonostante lo sciopero degli autori…

I saw this idea a few years ago in the blogosphere, and I sort of snubbed it. But I had a craving for fresh pasta (meaning, more than anything, I wanted to make a tasty filling), and I had some wonton wrappers (I usually find them in the refrigerated section at my store) around for making dumplings earlier in the week, so I gave it a shot. It was tasty and easy. It’s no replacement for fresh, homemade egg pasta BUT it’s a lot easier and a great solution for those without a pasta machine. Best of all, you can get creative with your fillings and get amazing results – fast.

And since this filling was delightfully pink, I wanted to take this opportunity to ask anyone and everyone out there to take some time to donate to a great cause. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and it’s a great time to support a great cause that’s very close to my heart. Even if all you do is make this delicious ravioli for someone you love in your life!

Last weekend I had a visitor! I know…it’s been a week now, but I have been so busy this past week…what with things to do, and all the other stuff, that I have barely had time to get down to writing a blog post.

So on to the visitor:

Last Friday (actually Saturday morning, at 2am!) saw me waiting at Marble Arch…for the bus from Luton airport…to deliver John to London…woohooo! He had been saying he wants to come for a while, and finally he made it! He was staying the first night over at our place (really my place, cos Michael was away for the weekend), hence the meeting at such an unsocial hour…but I don’t mind …before I could drive he had driven me home loads of times, so I could be up late for once to see him home!

Saturday morning was my Styles in Paintings course, so John joined me on a visit to the National Gallery. Every day there are guided tours which coincided with the times of my course, so John went off for that. (He seemed to really like tour, so today I sent Michael off for one as I was in my second lecture in the Styles in Paintings course…hope to have the notes for that up sometime soon).

From the National Gallery we went back home as John needed to pick up his stuff, where we cooked some tortellini with white sauce (which ended as a tortellini soup, but delicious anyways, and I learnt how to make white sauce, which I tried out on Michael on Tuesday ) before running off to Westminster.

We had planned to meet Audrey, another Maltese girl at Westminster at 5pm for a walk on the Southbank. 45mins late we arrived O:). By now it was getting dark, but we still made our way off on the walk. We ended up walking to the Tower of London and back! It was good to meet up with other Maltese people here and talk, particularly as although Audrey has only been here a month, she already agrees with me about lots of stuff which is different here!

The first night was the only night I hosted John, but Monday we met up again…to go see Les Miserables! John’s cousin (see his blog here) is in the show, so we got great seats for a great show…WOW! I was impressed! From the mechanics of the revolving stage, to the sound, the set, the singing and the classic songs! WOW! Yes…I really liked it . And I was so glad Michael decided to come with us to be able to see it himself as well.

All in all a great time with John here. Now I’ll see him when I’m back in Malta, and then who knows when? He’s going off to Kenya for a year!

Macchina per crêpes con capacità produttiva oraria di n° pezzi 400 c. a produzione continua, possibilità di sostituire i rulli formatori (tondo o quadro) con un rullo in dotazione formato tondo o quadro ad altissimo rendimento per minore alimentazione di corrente e stabilità di cottura, regolazione elettronica della temperatura tramite termostato digitale temporizzatore regolabile per ottenere il formato quadro con lunghezza da mm 35 a sfoglia continua e larghezza massima mm 180. Macchina costruita in acciaio inox ed alluminio anodizzato. Conforme alle normative CE

dimensioni bxpxh mm 510 x 260 + 520 (nastro trasportatore) x 370 h peso kg 35 c.
prod/h n° pezzi 400 c. larghezza crêpes formato quadro mm 180
diametro crêpes formato tondo mm 180 potenza KW 2,6
alimentazione volt 230-1F