Posted in black beans, breakfast, cheap meal, chipotle, Chorizo, hearty, language, Mexican, Mexico, onions, pork, sausage, spicy, tacos, tortilla, tortillas, tradition, travel on Jun 28th, 2014
“Waiter! What is this?” “Um, it’s bean soup, sir.” “I don’t care what it’s been. What is it now?” – bad English joke Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, has the highest proportion of native peoples in the country, and traditional culture is alive to such an extent that an estimated 50% of indigenous people are unable […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Canada, culture, dining, Food Commentary, French, french fries, holiday, language, Montreal, podcast, touriism, tourism, travel, unhealthy, winter on Jan 22nd, 2014
As Montreal braces for its annual mid-winter festival, a lot of which takes place au plein air as they might say, much of the US East Coast braces itself for the kind of frigid, snowy conditions that Montrealers witness 6 months of the year, illustrating just one of the ways they and their city distinguish […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in basil, cauliflower, crispy, culture, Fall, fish, Iceland, language, lemon, nuts, salmon, shark, travel on Oct 12th, 2012
My guidebook assured me that 3 out of 5 Icelanders believe that faeries, mischievous sprites and trolls are real. Many, it continues, actively take precautions against them, refusing to set foot in the spots they are thought to inhabit. My first introduction to the country, the drive from the airport into Reykjavik, past a giant […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in anchovies, Argentina, Buenos Aires, chick peas, crispy, Easter, eating, Food Commentary, Genoa, Genovese, history, Italian, Italy, language, Liguria, onions, Piemonte, Pizza, restaurant, Restaurant Review, South America, tourism, tradition, travel on Apr 24th, 2009
It’s fairly safe to say that no group, with the exception of the enigmatic gaucho, played as significant a role in defining Argentine national character as the Italians. Primarily (and principally, numerically-speaking) from Liguria (particularly Genoa), Piemonte and Tuscany, but latterly also from Naples and other areas of southern Italy, these Italian immigrants, literally by […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in alcohol, alcoholic drink, Beach, beverage, brandy, Brazil, Brazilian, cachaça, culture, drink, Food Commentary, language, lime, Portuguese, soccer, sugar on Oct 7th, 2008
When you think of Brazil what do you think of? Is it the lazy sway of coconut palms, golden beaches, beautiful, bronzed people, a back-drop of Sugar Loaf Mountain, and soundtrack of relaxing bossa nova? Is it a throbbing samba rhythm, huge, garish paper-mache heads, and crowds of people dancing at carnival? Is it the magnificent […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in butter, Cacio e Pepe, cheap meal, cheese, culture, easy, Europe, Food Commentary, Italian, Italy, language, meal, noodles, Olive Oil, Pasta, pepper, quick meal, Rachel Ray, Recipe, Recipes, restaurant, Roman, Rome, savory, spicy, tourism, tradition, travel, vegetarian on Apr 29th, 2008
I think the title of this post says it all about my feelings (and others) about this famous Roman dish of pasta, traditionally spaghetti, with pecorino cheese and a good amount of freshly ground pepper. The name says is all – cacio, meaning cheese, and pepe meaning pepper. We’re not breaking any new ground here […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in beef, cheap meal, culture, eating, ground meat, hearty, holiday, Italian, Italy, language, Meat, milk, Naples, Napoli, pancetta, Pasta, pork, Recipe, Recipes, sauce, Saveur, slow cooking, tomato, tourism, tradition, travel, wine on Apr 22nd, 2008
Click here for more of our photos of Bologna Warning! You are about to read a lot about a dish that many would think could be discussed in one paragraph – Bolognese Ragu. After two trips to Bologna, I really began to understand how seriously the people there take their food. Because we are always […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in barbecue, beef, cabbage, cheap meal, chile, chili, cilantro, culture, easy, language, lime, meal, Mexican, oregano, peppers, Recipe, Recipes, serrano, spicy, Steak, technique, tomatillos, tortilla, tortillas, tradition on Apr 10th, 2008
Normally we wouldn’t post a recipe for something as everyday as a steak taco. Most people know how to make them, right? But how many take the time to cook them really, really well? It actually doesn’t take much longer to make them more authentic. I’m not being a food snob here, I’m just talking […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in alcohol, alcoholic drink, beer, beverage, culture, drink, Food Commentary, history, Korean, language, Potato, rice, tradition on Apr 2nd, 2008
To us, and we’re sure to many who enjoy eating, the pairing of a meal with a complementary beverage is a beautiful thing, but one which often seems intimidating. After all, haute cuisine restaurants can either prosper or fail on the recommendations of their sommeliers. Just imagine you ordered a $500 bottle of vintage Burgundy […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in acorns, Castillano, castille, delicacy, ham, healthy, history, holiday, iberico, important details, jamon, language, Madrid, pigs, pork, racione, serrano, Spain, tapas, tourism, tradition, travel on Feb 5th, 2008
Penelope Cruz’s “break-out” film was a lusty, comedic tale called Jamon, Jamon in which one of her suitors tells her that her breasts taste like serrano ham. Throughout the film (in which Cruz frequently appears partially clothed) there are many shots of legs of jamon serrano and iberico hanging in store windows, and the film […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in asparagus, calamari, culture, Feast of 7 Fishes, fish, fried, holiday, Italian, Italy, language, lemon, mushrooms, Recipe, Recipes, seafood, shrimp, Squid on Dec 29th, 2007
Like I promised, a new day brings a new recipe from Christmas Eve. To pay homage to my Italian heritage, and also to tip our hat to the country we were married in, we wanted to try our hand at the 7 Fishes tradition. The Feast of the 7 Fishes (called La Vigilia in Italy […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in beef, cheese, culture, feta, Garlic, grilled, ground meat, lamb, language, Lebanese, lemon, lower fat, Meat, parsley, pita, pork, quick meal, Recipe, Recipes, sauce, skewers, tradition, yogurt on Dec 3rd, 2007
This is one of those meals we often make in the winter when we want something tasty, filling, but not high in fat. By cooking the ‘kabobs’ on the flat griddle pan, the fat drips off into the drip pan part of the griddle leaving us with a leaner kabob. I’ve been meaning to post […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in chick peas, cinnamon, Garlic, lamb, language, Lebanese, mint, pine nuts, pita, pomegranate, pressure-cooker, Recipe, Recipes, restaurant, yogurt on Nov 12th, 2007
After my best friend, Shannon, first moved back home after our fun ‘snowboard/ski bunny’ post-college years slacking off in Breckenridge, Colorado, I visited her and she took me to eat at a place with a cuisine I had never eaten before – Lebanese. We went to Lebanese Taverna in Arlington, VA, one of six locations […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in culture, language, rant on Oct 27th, 2007
I don’t know what it is about the word, I don’t know why it causes me to make a nasty face when I hear or read the word, but the word foodie irritates me. WHY!? I want to like it, it’s a pretty ok description. I know I can be very cynical sometimes, but I […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in bread, calamari, Clams, culture, easy, fish, Garlic, healthy, Italian, Italy, language, parsley, Recipe, Recipes, seafood, shrimp, soup, Squid, stew, tomato, tradition, tuscany, vegetarian, wine on Oct 23rd, 2007
I know, I know, another Tuscan recipe. Well, as I’m sure you know, when you visit a place, you often wish you were back there once you’re home. This feeling can last years. Besides looking through pictures, the way we attempt to return (mentally) to places we vacationed is through food. After receiving a $50-off […]
Read Full Post »
Posted in bread, Coco Lezzone, culture, Europe, Florence, Food Commentary, healthy, hearty, Italian, Italy, language, Olive Oil, Recipe, Recipes, restaurant, Restaurant Review, soup, tomato, tourism, tradition, travel, Tuscan, tuscany, vegetables, vegetarian on Oct 2nd, 2007
When we were in Florence this past July we had one of the most memorable meals of our life. The simplicity of the dishes, the gruff, “don’t ask too many questions cause everything is good here” service and the down-home ambiance (mama in the corner, the owner is the host, the server and one of […]
Read Full Post »
Upon returning home from our recent wedding in Italy, our guests, like us, probably felt the bump of landing in several places – the legs and spine (from airplane travel) and the wallet (from the careless assumption that a euro is only worth a little more than a dollar). We also felt that bump in […]
Read Full Post »
