Mamma Mia!

Just a warning to all three of you readers out there: if you ever tell me that your mother, your aunt, someone in your family, a friend, anyone, basically, is a good cook, trust me- I will tell you to put your money where your mouth is and have me over for a meal. This is what I did to Peter this weekend. For months he has been boasting his mother's Calabrian cooking expertise and telling me I should experience it for myself. So on Saturday morning, I met Peter bright and early to catch the Metro North to South Norwalk for an Italian extravaganza. Mrs. Greco needed some time in the kitchen before we attacked, so I asked to pore over old pictures of Peter as a young man. There was no resemblance whatsoever between the studly man he is now and the awkward chap he was during his formative years. We ran some errands, chatted, and sat down to a lovely lunch comprised of arancini, eggplant parmagiana, roast chicken and mashed potatoes with cheese and bread crust. Carb-hevay, but did I care?! The arancini were out of this world. Oily, yes, but fried heaven. They were rolled in cheese and ground meat and melted in your mouth. Peter stole one off the tray before lunch was ready and split it in half for me and piping hot, they were perfect. I could have died right then and there. The eggplant parm was awesome- apparently it's her specialty and I should consider myself very lucky for having sampled it. The chicken was one of the best roast chickens I have ever had the pleasure to have. It was moist and succulent and just superb. And though I am not really a potato fan, I scarfed those down without a moment's hesitation. We drank the Dolcetto d'Alba that I had brought for them along with it and then I ran for the train, head slightly reeling and with a goody bag in hand. Thank you, Mamma Mia!

Comfort Pigging Out

This post is not about gourmet food. It is not about foie gras or fine wine or even about cooking. It is about the comfort of good food and good friends. It is about the wonderful weekend I spent with my best friend Susan at her country home in Minocqua, Wisconsin for four marvelous days and the loafing, knitting, snowmobiling and EATING we did.

Sometimes it's so refreshing NOT to think about "good food," or at least what Food and Wine or Gael Greene considers "good food." Sometimes it's just nice to kick back with Sloppy Joes, brownies from a box, homemade cookies (three different kinds!), blocks of cheddar, wheels of Brie, cream cheese spread with cranbery chutney and crushed nuts, grilled cheese, vegetarian chili, chocolate popcorn, leftover Valentine chocolate, baby carrots and apples (just to make us feel better), hot chocolate with butterscotch schnapps, some incredible concoction that Susan made from the ingredients of the liquor cabinet, hamburgers with blue cheese and bacon, taco salads and chimichangas with chicken, ice cream straight out the carton with Magic Shell drizzled on top...I could go on and on. And boy, did we eat. It seems for large portions of the weekend that's all we did and it was lovely. Comforting junk food. Not so comforting that my tummy hung over my jeans en route home. But I don't regret any of it for a moment. Our prime activities included snowmobiling to lunch at The Watering Hole, checking out an ice fishing shed, where a kindly fisherman showed us his haul, checking out the action at the bars in town, where we met some genuinely NICE boys (what a change from the jerks we meet back East), learning to knit, which was a nice occupation for my hands so that I didn't eat quite as much, and watching movie after movie after movie (eight to be exact) was just fantastic. Susan's parents are lovely, gracious hosts and her cousin Lauren was a blast to have around. I might have to invite myself back. But next time, with a little more self restraint!

Pink and Red

To all you ladies out there who are single, who have boyfriends, who are married, who are in the midst of being married, there is a special evening out there for you. In fact, the requirements of this evening are simply that you are a woman, vivacious, talkative, and who lives to eat rather than eats to live. My friend Rupa constructed a Valentine's Party last year (this year being the second annual Pink and Red Party) where she cooked an absolute feast for about 10 of us greedy gourmets who chowed down buffet style at her place while cooking, getting our hands floury and minty smelling and just had a grand old time.
I was dressed down until I spilled my pomegranate mojito on myself and had to change into my reserve (RED) shirt in my bag.
The spread was phenomenal: The flirtinis were delicious, in line with Rupa's desire to have sweet cocktails. The attempt at making pomegranate mojitos didn't go over very well, but they were strong enough to take care of business.
Beet-goat cheese tart, more like souffle- SO light and flaky and airy and moist at the same time, pink shrimp ceviche with avocadoes, proscuitto with fig jelly and cheddar cheese (Like, WOW), a salad with (hand pounded!) beef carpaccio, arugula and parmesan reggiano...and that was just the first course. The second course was pork with sour cherry sauce, the potatoes from Alta (SO SO SO good...)- baby red potatoes with roast garlic and rosemary, creme fraiche - so crispy on the outside but melted in your mouth, and sweet potato gnocchi, which I personally hand rolled out after learning the artform at Sebastian's. What a lovely, lovely evening. I went home feeling incredibly fat and happy, could barely fit into my new jeans that Rupa bought me at Diesel and passed out like I hadn't slept in years. What a lovely tradition. I can't wait until next year.

Krispy Kreme This Ain't

Lunch at Jovia. Calamari Salad. Hand torn pasta with eggplant, tomatoes and mozarella. But the piece de resistance? The Bellisimi Fritti. Hands down, one of my top five desserts IN THE CITY. Now that's saying something. Small, fried doughnuts filled with mascarpone date custard, fresh and hot out of the over lightly dusted with large granules of sugar. Accompanied by a chocolate dipping sauce, coconut ice cream with granola crust and my personal favorite, passionfruit dipping sauce. Heavenly. I would return simply for this alone.

Josh DeChellis was in the kitchen, we smiled at him on our way in, but alas, I must admit that I think he did better at Sumile. He should stick to Japanese-style.