Posted in America, Argentina, Autumn, baking, barbecue, bread, Buenos Aires, cheap meal, chick peas, chickpeas, culture, Fall, Genoa, Genovese, Italian, Italian-American, Italy, Liguria, New York City, Pizza, Provencal, Provence, rosemary, sage, South America, tradition, travel, Uruguay on Sep 17th, 2014
“There are more pizzerias in Buenos Aires than in Naples and Rome combined.” – Ernesto Sabato, Heroés y Tumbas In his book “I’m a Stranger Here Myself” travel-writer Bill Bryson, in an attempt to defeat insomnia, describes making a lonely evening among the anodyne IKEA fittings of a Stockholm hotel even more excruciating by tallying […]
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Posted in breadcrumbs, Christmas, culture, Easter, history, Italian, Meat, Pasta, Pizza, sauce, Sicilian, Sicily, summer, tradition, travel, winter on May 29th, 2014
“To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all,for Sicily is the clue to everything.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Sicily sits apart from mainland Italy, like a rock ready to receive a swift kick from the instep of the Italian boot. Indeed, many Italians would tell you […]
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Posted in Brazil, Brazilian, British, cake, Christmas, cream, custard, delicacy, dessert, Italian, tradition on Jan 5th, 2013
Like the ghost of Christmas past, leftovers from rich holiday meals have a habit of malingering in the fridge awaiting an inspiration that is progressively less likely to arrive as the holiday season fades into memory, especially in the broadening context of one’s waistline, try as one might to conceal it beneath this year’s hideous […]
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Posted in America, Brooklyn, butter, egg, gnocchi, Italian, pumpkin, ricotta, sage, sausage, squash on Dec 20th, 2012
We have a confession to make. After eight enjoyable but increasingly long years in Brooklyn we jumped ship over the summer to the suburbs. We didn’t deliberately hide it, we just didn’t make a big deal of it on our blog. Okay, so there is definitely some weird foodie cachet to living in a big […]
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I almost can’t believe it myself! Not only is We Are Never Full updating twice in a week, I am the author of the two posts. I told you I would try and hold on to my promise from the last post. To celebrate our attempt to get back in the blog game we are […]
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Posted in bread, grapes, Italian, Italian-American, nuts, sugar, sweet, Tuscan, tuscany, walnuts on Sep 1st, 2011
Roll out the red carpet, blow the shiny, loud horns, wear your fanciest dress (you too, men) – guess who’s back? Yes, I am still alive. Yes, Jonny has been keeping this blog afloat for a year now. And yes, I am ready to try to blog again. After a year of figuring out how […]
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I remember reading, though I forget where exactly, another food blogger had written words to the effect that any time you start getting a big head about how great your blog is, take a look back at your earliest posts and it will bring you back to earth with a bump. Great advice, though it […]
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Posted in almond, anchovies, anise, bucatini, culture, fennel, Garlic, history, Italian, Italy, Olive Oil, Pasta, saffron, Sicilian, tradition, wine on Apr 5th, 2011
Greeks, Romans, Moors, Normans, Spaniards, Garibaldi and his thousand, and finally hordes of tourists have visited Sicily over the milennia. Some stayed for centuries, some only for generations, but even those whose sojourn was comparatively brief played a role in the island’s blending of cultures and traditions. If this human concoction can be distilled into […]
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Posted in balsamico, butter, dining, France, Garlic, Italian, liver, mushrooms, Pasta, ravioli, vinegar on Jan 17th, 2011
There’s a show on public television here in America called “Moment of Luxury” in which the host very generously enjoys all manner of fine things on our behalf and then shares his collected pensees about the experience. Traveling around the food blogosphere lately has felt like a surprisingly similar experience for us since our three […]
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With the summer over (sad face) but the warm days of Indian Summer lingering on (happy face), this dish will be relavant for a few more weeks (for those who are super traditional about eating warm weather dishes only in warm weather). For me, this will be an excellent dish to eat after months of […]
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I daresay there is a traditional dish from somewhere on the Italian peninsula that resembles this dish in some way, but in a radical, free-form departure from our blogging norms, we didn’t follow any kind of recipe here nor do the slightest bit of research in preparation. By way of an excuse, we didn’t really […]
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Posted in Arezzo, bolognese, carrots, celery, chicken stock, duck, Florence, flour, game, Garlic, guanciale, hearty, herbs, indulgent meal, Italian, Italy, Meat, Montalcino, Montepulciano, mushroom, mushrooms, noodles, Olive Oil, Pasta, philosophy, porcini, Recipes, sauce, tomato, tradition, travel, Tuscan, tuscany, wine on Jan 23rd, 2010
It might be generational, or, perhaps, philosophical, but there are, on the one hand, those who enjoy and appreciate handmade things, and the art and craft they require to make, and, on the other, those who prefer their things machine-made, reliable, and standard. The ‘things’ here could be quite literally anything. My father, who, to […]
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Posted in Alba, butter, cream, easy, French, indulgent meal, Italian, Italy, nuts, Pasta, Recipe, vegetarian, walnuts on Dec 1st, 2009
As with a few other fellow bloggers, we were lucky to receive one of my favorite “blog freebies” to try recently – truffle products by La Boutique de la Truffe. Cha-ching! As some know, for most of us, blogging will barely help us buy a cup of coffee at a year’s end – that is […]
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Posted in balsamico, Bologna, cream, Emilia Romagna, ground meat, Italian, Italy, Meat, Modena, Pasta, pork, ravioli, sandwiches, sausage, travel on Sep 16th, 2009
At Via Clavature 18, hidden in the back streets of Bologna, is the comparatively charmless little Ristorante da Gianni. It’s dimly lit, almost to the point of stumbling darkness — especially if you enter, as we did, from the sharp rays of a late midsummers’ afternoon nursing a fierce hangover brought on by a handful of Negronis the night […]
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Posted in cornichons, game, gherkins, grilled, grilling, Italian, Italy, pine nuts, Sicilian, sour, sweet, vinegar on Jul 30th, 2009
One of the most familiar (and enjoyable) flavor combinations to many cultures – sour and sweet or, as the Italians call it, agrodolce. There is something about tartness and sweetness that just makes you want more. Think Sour Patch Kids, Pisco or Whiskey Sours or your favorite Chinese take-out order. Yes, sweet and sour is […]
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Posted in America, Argentina, Atlantic City, beef, bread, breadcrumbs, Buenos Aires, fried, hearty, history, Italian, Italian-American, Italy, Meat, Napoli, obesity on Jul 24th, 2009
“In Argentina, a vegetarian is someone who orders a salad with their steak…” –Unknown Those with even a basic understanding of food history probably know that the hamburger as we know it today is an American adaptation of the “Hamburger-style steak” which originated in the now-German city of Hamburg, and was brought to this country […]
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Originally, I was going to simply write a one paragraph post helping people understand that they should not be afraid to use butter when necessary. Unfortunately, I realized how much emotional turmoil I have when it comes to this subject and others. A nice recipe for a Buttered Pea and Potato Salad had somehow turned […]
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Posted in butter, fava beans, gnocchi, herbs, mint, parmigiano reggiano, Pasta, Potato, Recipe, vegetables on Jun 20th, 2009
As you may be able to tell, if you are a regular reader of this blog, we love mint. We use it often in the summer because it grows like a freaking weed. Because we live in Brooklyn, we barely have any outdoor space (but are very fortunate to have any). Yet, in that small […]
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Posted in butter, crimini, easy, egg, Europe, French, Italian, Jacques Pepin, Jeffrey Steingarten, mushroom, mushrooms, quick meal, Recipe, Recipes, truffles on May 3rd, 2009
In several of his well-known paeans to Provence, Peter Mayle describes, both lyrically and at great length, his love affair with the black truffles of that region. Sometimes couched as a cloak-and-dagger chase involving bizarre and nervy rendez-vous’ along dimly-lit back roads, or illicit dealings with “men with dirt under their fingernails and yesterday’s garlic […]
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Posted in blogging, butter, cheese, food TV, Italian, mushroom, mushrooms, Pasta, porcini, ravioli, Recipe, sage, shallots, tortellini, tortelloni on Apr 29th, 2009
“When the world turns its back on you, you turn your back on the world…” Recently, I’ve been noticing many, many food blogs posting recipes utilizing a certain brand of pre-made “fresh” pastas: nothing like a Foodbuzz promo to bring the best out of the food bloggers. Many came up with very creative recipes using […]
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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 […]
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Posted in fennel, Italian, Italy, Pasta, peas, product review, Recipe, Recipes, sauce, sausage, tomato, wine on Feb 28th, 2009
Awesome dried pappardelle and delicious ragu
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Posted in Alba, celery, culture, Garlic, Italian, Italy, lemon, octopus, Olive Oil, Puglia, Pugliese, salad, seafood, tourism, travel, winter on Feb 25th, 2009
Looking for a ray of sunshine in your diet?
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Posted in Italian on Jan 29th, 2009
So, class, welcome to your first day of Cooking 101. Today’s lesson is sauces. First sauce, velouté. What is a velouté you ask? Well, don’t ask a Frenchman because they’re likely to laugh in your face, spit on you for your ignorance and then leave you without any pride or dignity (or answers either). Velouté […]
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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 Bologna, bolognese, Bon Appetit, bread, easy, egg, Florence, food magazines, ground meat, hearty, Italian, Italy, magazine, Meat, New York City, Recipe, Recipes, sauce on Jan 7th, 2009
It’s a truism of my life that some of the more sickening feelings of depression are experienced immediately after the most smugly satisfying. But, I think this maxim applies almost universally when that wonderful sensation of happiness in having discovered the perfectly authentic tapas bar turns to acrid bitterness and choking rancor as a bloated family in sweatsuits and fanny-packs strolls […]
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Posted in anchovies, appetizer, butter, condiments, easy, Fall, fondue, Garlic, grilled, Italian, Italy, Liguria, Olive Oil, Piemonte, Potato, Recipe, tradition, travel, vegetables, winter on Nov 29th, 2008
And, while you’re at it, good fellow, I’ll have a warm bath with virtually anything you’ve got on the menu: pasta, potatoes, fish, chicken, soup, bread… Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… A man goes to the doctor complaining of neck ache. The doctor gives him some painkillers telling him to take two […]
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Posted in acorns, balsamico, delicacy, Emilia Romagna, indulgent meal, Italian, Italy, lard, lardo, Modena, pigs, Pizza, Recipe, rosemary, salami, tourism, travel, Tuscan, unhealthy, vinegar on Nov 7th, 2008
Have you ever eaten something so fabulous, so lucious, so decadent that you almost felt the need to run to confession (to confess your indulgent food “sins”), say three Hail Mary’s (that’s for you Catholics out there) and pray really hard that you can zip your jeans up again? Ok, a bit exaggerated, but looking […]
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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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Posted in butter, cheese, cream, crispy, egg, gnocchi, history, Italian, Italy, parmigiano reggiano, polenta, Recipe, Roman, Rome, semolina, vegetarian on Sep 4th, 2008
As I wrote in the title of this post, the Romans do it again… and again… and again. Roman cuisine is one of our favorites and Rome is one of our favorite cities to visit and eat in. This dish, gnocchi alla romana, is a dish that reminds me how versatile, creative and (I’ve said […]
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