A Day of Tuscan Food

Many times we (hubby & I) like to re-live certain times/memories from our previous vacations by re-creating a dish, and this time around we were feeling a bit nostalgic about Tuscany.

The Tuscan region is known for its deep rooted history of wine & food, and one of our most memorable dishes was at a small organic farm and vineyard called Fattoria Poggio Alloro whilst overlooking the wonderful vines and San Gimignano in the distance. We had an amazing freshly made Tagliatelle with a Rabbit Ragu (yes Rabbit) and an organic Chianti which I proceeded to buy large quantities to bring home of. I truly recommend you stay here at least for a night, it is quite the experience!

 Click Here for Fattoria Poggio Alloro Site

So, here we are with our last bottle of the Vin Santo Chianti, and the idea of re-creating the dish came to life. Now, I wish I could say I had anything else to do besides running the dough by our pasta maker lol but we all know this is the hubby forte while mine is eating it all.

We did not have Rabbit, but made our version with a few lovely pieces of short ribs we had a day prior. Wait, does helping shred the beef for the ragu counts as creating the dish? If so I guess I did!

It as an amazing cold Sunday afternoon meal which reminded us of the wonderful adventure we lived under the Tuscan sun - even if only for a few days.

Here's a simple yet delicious homemade Parppadelle & Beef Ragu Recipe

 

So tell me, do you have any memorable dishes to share?

Until next time!

XO

My Brother's Milestone: The big 3-0!

Do I have a brother? If we go by the traditional standards I guess no, I do not have a blood (nor adopted) brother; however I do have what I call soul brother. He's has been one of my oldest and best friend; his name you ask? Oscar aka  "mi chicquito" (my little one) which is my nickname to him as his is "flaka" (skinny) for me. 

You see, our story began  when we were 12 yrs old, at 9am right on the 703 Classroom at I.S. 302. We had both just arrived to this new and fascinating country known as New York (back in the island the rest of the US does not really exist much) we have navigated H.S College and adulthood life and our story has not yet reached its final chapter; one I pray /wish /hope never reach us.

Like brothers and sisters, we have argued, stop talking (if only for a day) and done many an antic to keep count or talk about in our lives. However the one constant is that we can count on each other no matter the distance or the time.

So, on his special day his wife; (who's my cousin by the way) and the "crew" made sure we celebrated such an important day on the life of such an important friend, father, brother, & hubby.

Of course, no get together of ours can miss delicious food and wine (lots) oh yes and the infamous Karaoke Machine - Yes that's me and my cousin singing our hearts out on the bottom.

I cannot deny that in the friendship pool, I have been dealt a great hand; I hope you my friends were dealt the same if not better hand than mine!

Until we meet next time!
XO

Junot Is Back!

I love, really love reading and if I was asked what's my favorite topic I would say it has to be based somewhat on real facts of life; hence why I love Junot Diaz. His books have a way of capturing, and catapulting you into the time frame in which the stories are based, whether you speak Spanish /Spanglish/ or English.

On his latest book, "This is How You Lose Her" a book billed as a collection of love stories we see Yunior reappear. We first met him on Yunot's book "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" and now he's back detailing a few pieces of his life, that of his brother Rafa and even his mother.  

Although the book its cataloged as love stories,  in my opinion it is about the love we see in our youth and how that love shapes who we are and how it shapes how we love. This is about how we find love and how we can or cannot make love last.
It is about love, life, and also loss; all mixed in with a bit of humor that will make you not want to put the book down until you have gotten to know each person's life love story. So I recommend that you grab it (or any of his other books for that matter) and get to know all, Yunior, Rafa, Magdalena, Miss Lora, and Elvis (to mention a few) and you will not regret it, trust me!

Again Yunot Diaz does the trick and brings us another master piece! 

XO!

Sundays are Made for Dosa!

Dosa: according to Wikipedia is a fermented crepe or pancake made from rice batter and black lentils, and is a staple dish of Southern India.

Dosa according to me: A delicious thin crepe like pancake that can be stuffed with what your heart (and stomach) desires and eaten with yourhands (yes hands).

We always do the brunch thing; however our friends had sugested we switch it up a bit and eat Dosas instead. Now, I can honesly say I have never thought of this as a Sunday outing, but what a great idea it was. We went to their favorite spot near Journal Square (Jersey City, NJ) called Dosa Hut

http://dosahutnj.com/ And as the name says it; it does look like a hut or a hole in the wall kind of place.

We quickly sat down and started the ordering process.  We ordered Poori to start with, and let me tell you; I had poori before, but never with chole and raw onions. Poori is a fried bread, to be said simply, and the slight crunchiness of the bread, paired with the tenderness of the dough, with the flavor of the raw onions and the flavor-packed chickpeas was EXPLOSIVE!

 

 

We then moved on to our Dosas; we only ordered 3 because theyare so large and really stuffed that they fill you up quickly. Every single one from the Spianch and potato with cheese one to the curry vegetables one were to die! I cannot wait until our next trip to the Dosa Hut.

 

Oh before I forget, if you are still looking forthat last piece of something, such as dessert walk down 1.5 block and order a "Milk Ice Cream Pop" from the corner ice cream shop, you will not regreat it!

 

So are you ready & willing to get your hands dirty? I am!

 

XO 

Labor Day Delights!

Happy Labor Day to all!
Hope you all had a great long weekend, I know I did :o)

We celebrated early this year with an impromtu Lobster-Crab Bake all by the hubby. We invited only a handful of friends and embark to celebrate our hard worked year with lots of eating, drinking and laughing!

Saturday could not be more perfect of a day (after 4pm that is) and even thought I was eaten alive by moskitos during the evening, I can say it was all in fair trade to the delectable food produced.

As much as I love to eat lobster and crabs, I was very clear that we should not boil them inside as to not permiate the house with such aromatics which would have been impossible to remove. Thank god for such creative hubby and our friend sisco who brought what he calls his "outdoors kitchen" the propane gas stove on the picture below! this way, everything was cooked outside and there were no messes inside!

After such grand feast, the girls and I decidedto take a walk around the neighborhood, but made sure we brought the 1/2 of the French Macarons to keep us company lol

Let's Make Sauce!

Every spring, we (and by we I mean hubby) plant tomatoes, red and green peppers, jalapeños and onions along with our herb garden. He tends to these seeds as if they were his 1st born, all with the final purpose to make our yearly batch of delicious homemade sauce, and half a year worth of sun dried tomatoes.

Recipe is simple, we use all organic ingredients grown in our (or our dear neighbor Fred's) backyard; and a few well kept seasonings from my dear chef of a chef.

I will post the recipe as soon as I have a chance, in the mean time here are a few pictures.

We make enough to gift to our family (and a few lucky friends) but the rest all 12 bottles are kept close by for us.

Enjoy!

Our tomato garden

Cubanelle peppers

Herb garden


 

Sauce in the making



Final product

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fancy Fancy Ice Cream Sandwiches

As a kid, we all loved when mom made us ice cream sandwiches; specially on those hot summer days after having ran around like maniacs without a care. Even as an adult now and then we still have a craving for such childhood staple. So this weekend I was craving one, however I realized that good old chocolate cookies and vanilla ice cream were not going to cut it for my now adult palate. So I set out to my local bakery to find some freshly baked cookies and make my own cookie sandwich, with Caramel and sea salt vanilla ice cream I had at home. Alas, I could not find a cookie (can you believe that) and decided to create my own "semi-homemade" chocolate sugar cookie. Semi-homemade because I used Betty Crocker cookie mix, but added my own unsweetened Mexican cocoa powder.

Needless to say, they were delicious! and I end up eating 2. Unfortunately it was too late by the time I thought about taking a picture, but below are two pictures of recipes I will make soon, and one is from a lovely blogger who I follow in pinterest.

Enjoy!

Lemon & Blueberry ice cream sandwiches from www.gourmet.com
 

Strawberry & chocolate ice cream sandwiches from www.pureandyummy.com  

Cookie recipe here
Other favorite recipes here