Posted in appetizer, bacon, brains, bread, breadcrumbs, Castilla-La Mancha, Castillano, castille, cheap meal, Chorizo, cumin, easy, Garlic, hearty, manchego, offal, peppers, pigs, racione, Restaurant Review, Spain, Spanish, tourism, tradition, travel, trotter, unhealthy on Feb 16th, 2016
“The pen is the tongue of the mind.” – Don Quixote de La Mancha I have been told that the Inuit have more than 30 words for snow and a similar number of descriptors for the myriad tones of white, blue and grey that color their environment. If desert-dwelling Arabs had a similarly nuanced vocabulary […]
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Posted in agriculture, boiled, Brooklyn, capers, fish, hearty, London, New York City, octopus, olives, Park Slope, peppers, Peru, Potato, restaurant, sauce, South America, tradition, vegetables on Oct 9th, 2014
Of all the miracles of modern science that we have witnessed over recent years, few have received as little attention as the 2009 announcement by the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru, that it had successfully sequenced the potato genome. It is a sad reflection on the state of our priorities as a species that […]
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Posted in America, appetizer, cheap meal, chives, easy, lower fat, peppers, Philadelphia, pistachios, restaurant, shrimp, soup, Spain, tomato, vegetables, vinegar on Aug 13th, 2014
The longer we live, the more we understand that our lives, especially now that we have two children, are about compromises. These are often in the form of compromising what we want to do, more or less completely, because our children are either unwilling or unable to do it. Recently though, a new kind of […]
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Posted in almond, Barcelona, broiled, calamari, Chorizo, cuttlefish, fish, Garlic, Madrid, Murcia, noodles, nuts, Olive Oil, Pasta, pepper, peppers, pulpo, Spain, Squid, tradition, travel, Valencia, wine on Nov 14th, 2012
For centuries, mankind and cuttlefish have had something of a difficult relationship, certainly from the latter’s perspective. Even prior to the development of the photographic tint known as sepia – a brownish hue that makes the late 19th century appear to have been an unusually dusty period – the ink of the cuttlefish was prized […]
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Posted in African, appetizer, castille, chile, Garlic, herbs, history, Meat, Mexican, Olive Oil, pepper, peppers, pimenton, pinchos, pork, racione, Spain, tapas, thyme, tradition, travel on Jun 6th, 2012
St. George, the patron saint of England, whose plucky, dragon-slaying derring-do is taken as emblematic of the English spirit, far from being a native of the British Isles, or for that matter, far from ever having come close to visiting them, was actually an adventurous squire of the modern-day country of Georgia who lived around […]
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Posted in African, allspice, bacon, braised, brown sugar, cabbage, carrots, diversity, fried, Garlic, gravy, Haitian, Meat, parsley, peppers, pork, Recipes, spicy, tradition on Oct 15th, 2010
“Griyo is madd good. If you have neva tasted it, you are missing a lot.” So much of what we think we know of Haiti is bad – from the massive human suffering and destruction caused by January’s earthquake, to decades of political and social unrest, to blood-curdling tales of voodoo curses and zombies – […]
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In our humble opinion, there is a serious and shameful lack of sodas made with real sugar available in America today. When we were in Argentina last year, among the most (of many) pleasurable experiences was drinking a Coke out of a small bottle and having it taste like it used to. The fact that […]
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Posted in adobo, braised, chicken, chile, chili, chilli, chipotle, cilantro, cinnamon, Mexican, nuts, peanut, peppers, Recipe, sauce, tradition on Jan 15th, 2010
Ever have one of those days where the only thing that gets you through is knowing you are going to have a good meal later on? I have no idea where I read about this dish, but one day, trying to unwind after a long, frustrating and tiring day of putting out the fires that […]
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Posted in calamari, cuttlefish, fish, Garlic, healthy, Murcia, Olive Oil, peppers, pimenton, piquillo peppers, Recipe, saffron, seafood, shrimp, Spain, Squid, squid ink, tomato, travel on Mar 4th, 2009
Those readers who’ve been following us for a while know (and, we hope, appreciate) that we frequently put our bodies and constitutions on the line for your benefit. Indeed, some of you may remember, that during our stay in Madrid last year, one of us, quite literally, pushed himself to breaking point in this endeavor. It was […]
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Posted in Madrid, pepper, peppers, Potato, Recipe, Recipes, restaurant, Spain, vegetables, vegetarian on Feb 19th, 2009
Over a year ago when we were in Madrid, Spain we had two dining experiences that were particularly memorable. They were memorable because these were the spots we ended up just doing an eenie-meenie-minee-moe way to pick it. Sometimes those restaurants, the type that involve zero research or reading of reviews, that end up being the best. The first experience […]
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Posted in beans, beef, cabbage, chicharron, Chorizo, cilantro, Colombian, cornmeal, crispy, diversity, egg, fried, grilled, indulgent meal, lunch, masa, morcilla, peppers, pinto beans, pork, Recipe, Recipes, red beans, spicy, Steak, tourism, tradition, yucca on Oct 1st, 2008
We are fortunate enough to live in a city with a ridiculous amount of diversity when it comes to restaurants, and one place we frequent often is a ‘hip’ Colombian restaurant (what the hell, it is Brooklyn). When we go there it’s because of two things: 1) We’re friggin starving and are ready to eat […]
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Posted in barbecue, culture, delicacy, Europe, festival, festivals, fish, Food Commentary, Garlic, grilled, Olive Oil, paprika, peppers, Recipe, Recipes, sauce, Spain, tradition, white bread, whole fish on Jul 22nd, 2008
As you know, we received a beautiful package from a fellow blogger in Spain and we have been slowly using all the contents in various meals. Another element of this package was a jar of Spanish Marcona almonds. These almonds are amazing on their own and taste incredibly different (sweeter and meatier) than the almonds […]
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Posted in butter, cabbage, capers, chipotle, crab, easy, lemon, New Jersey, Olive Oil, peppers, Recipe, Recipes, sandwiches, sauce, soft-shell on Jun 28th, 2008
So now you’ve searched high and low for soft-shell crabs, maybe to make Soft-Shell Crabs with Butter and Garlic and a side of Aglio e Olio? I can just see it – you finally find them and, in a panic, you decide to spend part of your life savings so you can put a bunch […]
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Posted in appetizer, beer, bread, capers, cheese, easy, eating, England, Food Commentary, healthy, Jose Andres, lemon, mackerel, manchego, morcilla, peppers, pinchos, pintxos, piquillo peppers, racione, sausage, savory, seafood, soccer, Spain, Squid, tapas on Jun 8th, 2008
In celebration of the start of Euro 2008 – the European soccer/football championships – yesterday, and in light of the fact that England failed to qualify because they were awful, I am in need of a team to follow, so have decided to become an honorary Spanish soccer fan for the next month, or however […]
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Posted in calamari, Clams, easy, fish, healthy, lemon, Madrid, meal, peppers, Recipe, Recipes, restaurant, rice, soup, Spain, spices, Squid, tomato, vegetarian on May 5th, 2008
On our final day in Madrid, it was pissing down with rain. We spent about 4 hours walking around the Reina Sofia drooling over Picasso’s Guernica (the size of a giant museum wall) and the large amount of Dali and Miro works. We’re not really artsy-fartsy folks, but that museum made me wet myself with […]
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Posted in Asian, broiled, chili, fish, Garlic, ginger, healthy, Japanese, Korean, mirin, miso, movies, noodles, peppers, quick meal, Recipe, Recipes, salmon, seafood, side dish, skin, udon, vegetables on Apr 26th, 2008
Lately, we’ve been making a lot of southern European dishes and we felt we needed a break, but we were also looking for a dish that wouldn’t take all night to make and require us to buy a load of ingredients we’d use for one dish and then sit and rot in our refrigerator. So, […]
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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 […]
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Posted in avocado, beans, black beans, cheap meal, chicken, chile, chili, Chorizo, cilantro, cornmeal, cream, lime, Los Pollitos, masa, Mexican, onions, peppers, pinto beans, Recipe, Recipes, red beans, serrano, sopes, spicy, tomatillos on Feb 14th, 2008
Almost every time we eat out at one of our favorite local Mexican cheap-eats, it is difficult for me to resist the crunchy and tasty sopes. These traditional Mexican dish involves fried masa cakes and can be topped with a variety of things – chorizo, beef, chicken, pork, veggies or beans. Some are made small […]
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We like spicy food, we do, and we eat it quite often – all kinds – thai, indian, korean, mexican, caribbean, colombian, and yes, it almost always does painful and weird things to our lower digestive tracts as well. We read that the active ingredient in hot peppers, capsaicin, (from the latin name for the […]
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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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