Posted in Blogroll, butter, culture, egg, embarrassment, indulgent meal, Italian, Italy, Olive Oil, other regions, Pasta, radicchio, Recipe, Recipes, sauce, tourism, travel, tuscany, vegetarian, watercress on Mar 15th, 2008
Ever since we bought our Kitchen Aid Mixer (kneel down, bow your head in a moment of silence, please), I have only used it for one thing – making pasta. I am not a baker. I can not even pretend to be one. In fact, the other day, I thought I’d be cute and also [...]
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Posted in alcohol, alcoholic drink, appetizer, Asturias, beans, beverage, blood, chops, Chorizo, embarrassment, Europe, fabada, Food Commentary, indulgent meal, lunch, Madrid, morcilla, offal, pigs, pork, sausage, Spain, tapas, tourism, tradition, travel, unhealthy on Mar 7th, 2008
“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” – William Blake Have you ever thought, as you sit red-faced, breathing shallowly, “just… one… more… bite”? Have you ever then taken that extra bite and thought to yourself — in your blood-starved brain — “maybe, after all, I could manage another one”? And, finally, [...]
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Posted in Arezzo, Blogroll, Europe, Florence, Italian, Italy, photographs, photography, tourism, tradition, travel, tuscany on Mar 5th, 2008
I’m in need of a pick-me-up. Maybe it’s the winter blues? Maybe it’s because I’ve been packing on more than my normal winter-weather pounds and I’m feeling like a cow? I could possibly need a pick-me-up because my skin hasn’t seen sun in so long it’s beginning to turn blue. I NEED SPRING TO COME [...]
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Posted in ban, cafe, culture, drink, Europe, Food Commentary, France, French, French-ness, healthy, news, restaurant, safety, smoking, tourism, tradition, travel on Feb 6th, 2008
You may have heard that France, like much of the rest of western Europe and the United States, has recently banned indoor smoking in public places – restaurants and the like. Clearly, for the bon sante of the French this is a good thing, but for us, the occasional tourists, seeking the most exquisite and [...]
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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 [...]
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Posted in Europe, Food Commentary, grilled, indulgent meal, Madrid, offal, pigs, pinchos, pintxos, pork, Spain, spicy, tapas, tourism, tradition, travel, tripe, unhealthy on Jan 26th, 2008
As my wife accurately put it in her post of the other day, we ate a lot of interesting tapas during our time in Madrid. Several of these are specialities of the city and cannot be found elsewhere. We felt it our duty then, to give at least some of them a try. Long-term readers [...]
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Posted in cheap meal, Chorizo, culture, egg, Europe, Food Commentary, fried, grilled, history, leek, Madrid, meatballs, Olive Oil, paprika, Potato, Recipe, Recipes, sauce, sausage, seafood, Spain, Squid, tapas, tourism, tradition, travel, vegetarian, wine on Jan 24th, 2008
In a later post, the husband will write about all the, shall we say, interesting tapas we ate while in Madrid. When I use the word interesting, I mean that many may find some of these tapas to be gross and/or bizarre. Personally, I am always willing to try something new. Only then can I [...]
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Posted in alcohol, alcoholic drink, beverage, Castillano, castille, culture, drink, entertainment, Europe, holiday, Madrid, Spain, tapas, tourism, tradition, travel, vermouth, vermut on Jan 17th, 2008
As regular readers will know, we recently visited Madrid and gorged ourselves at its myriad restaurants, tascas, bars and any other hostelry we could find. Because of this excessive consumption, we’re currently going through what can only be described as a traumatic process of catharsis, in which we’re avoiding all meat and all booze for [...]
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Posted in England, Europe, Food Commentary, indulgent meal, Manchester, Pub, restaurant, Restaurant Review, tourism, tradition, travel, unhealthy on Nov 27th, 2007
We’re back from our quick, 5-day trip to Northern England to visit Jonny’s family and I may just go to bed at 9PM like I did last night! The problem with these quick trips home (I feel like it’s kind of my home these days) is that by the time you’re over the jet lag, [...]
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Posted in Asturias, cheap meal, chick peas, chickpeas, Chorizo, culture, easy, Food Commentary, ham, healthy, hearty, kale, meal, Potato, quick meal, Recipe, Recipes, sausage, soup, Spain, tourism, travel on Oct 11th, 2007
Several years ago, on a trip to northern Spain I found myself in the small town of Santillana del Mar in the region of Cantabria on a cold and rainy night. Outside the hotel, a herd of dismal-looking goats shivered together in the lee of a thorn bush as it got dark, and all I [...]
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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 [...]
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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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