Posted in America, chops, gravy, Italian, Italian-American, Meat, New Jersey, offal, Pasta, Philadelphia, pigs, Recipe, Recipes, sauce, sausage, slow cooking, trotter, unhealthy on Jan 19th, 2009
They (we) call it a Sunday Gravy because it really suits a Sunday best. The long simmering, the wine drinking, the letting-it-sit-on-the-stove-till-the-family-arrives kind of gravy. Thanks to the Sopranos, people all over the world have heard of Sunday Gravy. Some scratch their heads in wonder as to why some call it sauce and others call […]
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Posted in America, appetizer, baking, butter, cheese, comte, delicacy, fish, French, herbs, Olive Oil, parsley, souffle on Jan 12th, 2009
Perhaps the day that both our teams (Manchester United & Philadelphia Eagles) won unlikely decisive victories in the realm of competitive sports, is the best day to dwell on the recent personal glory of our seafood soufflés staying up. However – even if (quite sensibly) you don’t give a rat’s ass about sports – anyone […]
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Posted in America, appetizer, British, Christmas, embarrassment, family, hazelnuts, manwich, top five, tradition, winter on Dec 7th, 2008
Not your average Christmas meal… We couldn’t let this month go by without doing some sort of “holiday themed” post. We were scratching our head trying to come up with this months “Top 5” contest thinking of such winners as, “Top 5 Most Friggin’ Annoying Christmas Tunes” and “Top 5 Christmas Sweaters Your Mom Owns” […]
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Those better be organic lunch meats, Mr. President One of the best things about a good meal is that people of all kinds: ages, genders, races, and (yes) political philosophies can sit down and enjoy it together – savoring and appreciating it and, for a while, forgetting their differences. A meal is the ultimate kind […]
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Posted in America, Atlantic City, breadcrumbs, egg, escarole, Garlic, ground meat, history, Italian, Italian-American, meatballs, Naples, Olive Oil, onions, Pasta, soup, tradition, vegetables on Oct 27th, 2008
I’ve talked about my sweet ‘ole grandmom, Anna, a few times on this blog. This was a woman who waited tables at the Golden Nugget (now Bally’s Grand) casino (R.I.P.) in Atlantic City until she retired at 76. This is the same woman who would wear winter gloves in the summer because her tiny hands […]
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Recently, Amy and I had a lovely vacation in northern California, spending the latter portion of it in the charming and constantly hilarious company of the Garing/Combs family – Amy’s aunt/uncle/cousins on her mother’s side (in case you care for that level of detail). On our penultimate day with them, we visited the “world-famous” Mystery Spot, […]
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Posted in America, Brooklyn, Caribbean, culture, curry, diversity, festival, fish, Food Commentary, fried, fritters, goat, New York City, Roti, summer on Sep 1st, 2008
We literally just walked in after spending our Labor Day afternoon at the annual WIADP (West Indian American Day Parade) on Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, but to describe what we just witnessed as simply a parade would be akin to saying that scotch bonnet peppers are sometimes a little spicy, i.e. an enormous underestimation. The parade […]
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Posted in alligator, America, blood, boudin, braised, Cajun, Canada, corn, eating, Food Commentary, French, grilled, hominy, lentils, Louisiana, offal, pigs, Recipe, Recipes, sausage, shrimp, tradition, unhealthy on Aug 28th, 2008
A few months ago I was contacted by a representative of a site called cajungrocer.com. He offered to send us some Cajun treats if we would do a bit of a write-up on their products. Well, what else could I say but “Hell YEAH!”. We had our choice to sample crayfish, turducken or boudin. It […]
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Posted in aglio e olio, America, Beach, butter, crab, crispy, culture, delicacy, dining, easy, eating, fish, Garlic, grilling, holiday, Italian-American, New Jersey, Olive Oil, podcast, Recipe, saute, savory, seafood, shore, soft-shell, summer, tourism, tradition, travel on Jun 25th, 2008
Nothing says summer to this Philly girl more than ‘going down the shore’ (translation: heading to southern New Jersey to go to the beach), grilling, horseshoes, and soft shell crabs. The first time I was asked to taste a soft shell crab I had to ask my dad what the f it meant. “You mean […]
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Posted in America, holiday, Recipe, Recipes on May 25th, 2008
It’s one of the biggest grilling weekends of the year here in the good ‘ole US of A, so why not buck the BBQ Chicken/Burgers/Hot Dog trend and give one of these grillable beauties a try instead? HAPPY MEMORIAL WEEKEND! See recipe here: AUTHENTIC CARNE ASADA TACOS See recipe here: GRILLED STEAK WITH TARRAGON […]
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Posted in alcohol, America, batter, bone-marrow, Bourdain, butter, celebrity, chefs, cornichons, delicacy, dining, diversity, eating, England, Fergus Henderson, Food Commentary, Gabrielle Hamilton, game, gherkins, indulgent meal, London, Mark Bittman, offal, philosophy, podcast, Prune, quail, rabbit, restaurant, Restaurant Review, squab, sweetbreads on Apr 24th, 2008
Normally, when I think of prunes my first thought is the familiar TV commercial showing the side-by-side comparison of someone experiencing “bloating and discomfort” and someone enjoying the verve and gaiety brought on by just one bowlful of California prunes. However, since last Thursday, my first thought is now “when can I have some more?”. […]
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Posted in America, bay, braised, bunny, capers, chicken stock, delicacy, dining, diversity, Easter, eating, flour, game, healthy, hearty, lower fat, Meat, mustard, olives, onions, parsley, podcast, Provencal, rabbit, rosemary, savory, slow cooking, thyme on Mar 27th, 2008
It’s the Thursday after Easter and most people out there are still picking the candy and chocolate out of their teeth having just gorged themselves on all manner of Easter Bunny-shaped confectionery. Ever the destroyers of convention, we have been doing something altogether more real and, some may say, sinister. Yes, friends, cover your children’s […]
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Posted in America, cheap meal, cornmeal, culture, Food Commentary, ground meat, indulgent meal, offal, pigs, pork, quick meal, unhealthy on Mar 16th, 2008
Ok, so I’m a little bit gross this last Sunday of Lent asking you, dear readers, to not “pork this roll”. I’ll pray extra hard next weekend that I’m not damned to hell (even though I’m on my way anyways). I thought I’d spend a moment to introduce all our readers to a bit of […]
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Well, not exactly. Here’s what (A certain national celebrity mag) magazine’s daily news clips e-mail The Dirt reported today: “Insiders say Rachel Ray’s daytime show will be taken off the air at the end of her contract in 2010. Apparently, her ratings are sliding.” We are at pains to remind our readers that while we […]
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Posted in America, broccoli raab, cheap meal, chile, culture, healthy, Italian, Italy, lemon, Little Italy, New York City, Pasta, quick meal, Recipe, Recipes, sausage, side dish, spicy, vegetables, vegetarian on Mar 4th, 2008
How many of you out there in We Are Never Full-land have never heard of Broccoli di Rape? Anyone who has heard of it but never saw or ate it? I ask this only because, after researching this delectable, delicious and healthy green, I discovered that it’s U.S. roots (or that the vast majority of […]
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Did you hear? Mississippi introduced a bill this week to make it illegal for restaurants with a state license to feed obese people. I’m sure it won’t be passed but what do you think? If it was passed, what would they do? Have a scale in each restaurant that patrons would have to get weighed […]
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Posted in America, Atlantic City, Autumn, Beach, bread, calamari, Chorizo, Clams, eating, fish, Food Commentary, Garlic, grilled, healthy, hearty, parsley, pintxos, Potato, Recipe, Recipes, sausage, seafood, side dish, snapper, Spain, spicy, Squid, summer, tapas, tomato, vegetables, weather, whole fish, wine on Sep 27th, 2007
Last week we discovered that the 5-day forecast was calling for a week’s worth of blue skies and summer-like weather. Not bad considering this past Sunday marked the beginning of Fall. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do love fall. But, like many, there’s something about summer that just excites me like no other season. […]
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Posted in America, broccoli raab, commercial, festival, Food Commentary, Italian, Italian-American, Little Italy, Meat, meatballs, Naples, Napoli, New York City, peppers, safety, San Gennaro, sandwiches, sauce, sausage, savory, subs, tourism, tradition, travel on Sep 25th, 2007
Before I say anything more, I should make it clear that I had never been to the famous San Gennaro festival that is running through this weekend in Manhattan’s Little Italy before Wednesday night, and that during our visit, my cellphone was thieved, perhaps leaving an extra special bad taste in my mouth. I’ll also […]
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Posted in America, commercial, eating, festival, festivals, Food Commentary, Italian, Italian-American, Little Italy, meal, Meat, meatballs, Naples, Napoli, New York City, onions, peppers, safety, San Gennaro, sandwiches, sauce, sausage, savory, subs, tourism, tradition, travel on Sep 23rd, 2007
Being an Italian-American, I take pride in my heritage. I am also particular about how I like my sausage and pepper sandwiches made. If you are not from the north eastern part of the US, didn’t grow up around large groups of Italians or in an Italian household, you may not have every heard of […]
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Regular readers of this blog, and we still believe there are some, though we use the term regular advisedly, might be under the mistaken impression that we are firmly anti-sandwich after reading several of the “At the desk gourmet” posts in which we spoke somewhat derogatorily of “soggy, $8” sandwiches that had spent the day […]
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Lunch is a tricky time for me and, I’m sure, many Americans, who enjoy good food, in a way that it isn’t for most Europeans, or at least, most southern Europeans. There is no place in American life for the leisurely two-hour, weekday lunch that many French, Italians and Spanish enjoy several times a week. […]
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