31 Tuesday Jul 2012
It is pouring rain here today.
It has been pouring rain here today since early this morning.
It is cold.
Cold as in…under 80 degrees, which is FUH-REEZING this time of year in these parts.
So, why not have a cozy dinner tonight? That’s certainly my plan!
31 Tuesday Jul 2012
Posted in Family, Food, Funny, Places We've Been, Restaurant Review
Tags
affordable italian restaurants in nyc, da andrea nyc, eating, food, greenwich village, italian food, italy, nyc, restaurant review, travel
In the spring, we went to NYC to do some a cappella work.
It was wonderful.
We love New York, and wish super duper hard that we could live there and eat at fabulous restaurants all the time.
In the meantime, though, we enjoy our yearly trips.
While we were there, we met some Greenville friends who live in New Jersey. Jay and Dan went to high school together, and once we had happy hour that involved many tales of drunken nudity (don’t ask), we went to this gem for dinner – Da Andrea Ristorante in Greenwich village.
This place. Glory. We loved it. The atmosphere is casual, but the food is AMAZING. We all tried different things, and everything was really wonderful! And, don’t mistake “casual” for “not nice.” The restaurant was beautifully decorated, but with a feeling of comfort – the food was the star of the show, not any pretentious extras.
Jay claims that he had the best food – pesto risotto with seafood. I’m obsessed with anything risotto related, as you can see here, here, and here, and I’ll give him this one – the risotto was INCREDIBLE.
In addition to that, we had sweetbreads, pasta with homemade sausage in marinara, and ravioli. I had the sausage pasta, and it was incredible. There is such a difference with homemade pasta and sausage, isn’t there?
The best thing about this place (after the perfect food, duh) was the affordability. All the entrees were under $20, and the house wine served in carafes was delicious minus a hefty bottle price! In big cities, it’s easy to pay $50/person for a great meal, and we came nowhere close to that and felt like we’d gotten a huge bargain. For the quality of the food, I’d have paid more any day!
The service was great, but this place filled up quickly! We were headed to a comedy show, so we arrived a little before 7 and our reservation was ready for us. 30 minutes later would have been a different story, so definitely plan to come off-peak hours!
Try this place out, guys. Off the beaten path, affordable, and in a great part of the city. You’ll adore it as much as we did.
We can’t wait to go back!
30 Monday Jul 2012
Tags
cooking, dinner, easy cooking, eating, food, olympic games 2012, olympics, recipes, sports, vegan, vegetarian
Happy Monday!
I hope you had a great weekend. We did! We watched way too much Olympics. Did you?
We have a few favorite things about the Olympics.
The first is that, all of a sudden, people are SUPER DUPER patriotic. People that usually aren’t. People that usually ARE, are even MORE SO, and it’s hilarious. Does someone winning gold in shot-put REALLY make you feel more patriotic, no matter where you’re from?
Really?
The second thing that we love about the Olympics is that, after listening carefully to 38 seconds of commentary, people are EXPERTS on whatever sport they’re watching. It’s amazing. I myself am completely guilty of this, especially in diving.
“Did you see that rotation? She was at least 1/97th of a second behind her partner. I totally get why they aren’t in first. Sheesh. How hard IS it?”
You know, smart stuff like that.
Anyway.
27 Friday Jul 2012
Tags
bbq, cookout, diet, eating, family, family reunion, food, fresh herbs, gardening, healthy, recipes, summer, tailgating, vegetarian
Happy Friday!
LOOK! It’s a no mayo potato salad!
Listen, I love super fatty, carby side dishes in the summer. Seriously. A lot. HOWEVER, there is this thing in which sometimes when I eat too many fatty, carby side dishes in the summer my pants don’t look quite as good as they did in the spring.
They look more like sausage casings.
So, I think it’s nice to sometimes supplement fatty, carby side dishes with …. carby side dishes that have slightly less fat.
Makes sense, right?
This one, though, is GOOD. It has nothing creamy, but the addition of the vinegar while the potatoes are still warm is just….good.
I’m making this tomorrow for a family reunion! I’m totally psyched.
26 Thursday Jul 2012
Tags
cheese, cooking, eating, food, food network, home cooking, mexican food, rachel ray, recipes, travel, vegetarian
Soup in the summer!
Weird, huh?
Not this one, though. It tastes like a dang taco. A GOOD dang taco.
This is another vegetarian meal, but you could certainly add shredded chicken or ground beef for an even heartier soup!
I love this and have been making it for years – it’s good to throw together at the last minute, or you can make it in advance and simmer it for awhile. I mix up the veggies all the time so it’s never exactly the same, but it’s ALWAYS delicious!
25 Wednesday Jul 2012
Posted in Family, Food, Funny, meal planning
Tags
cooking, eating, food, make ahead, salad, travel, vegan, vegetarian
Folks. Got any free time coming up?
Like…ten minutes?
It wouldn’t kill you to make a big batch of salad dressing now, would it?
My two favorite vinaigrette are this Asian-style one and this Dinon version. Both are SO good, and great to have around.
So.
24 Tuesday Jul 2012
Tags
broccoli cheddar soup, cheese, cooking, creative cooking, dinner, food, italian food, panera bread, recipes, soup, vegetarian
YES.
I made this.
I loved it.
I want to make it again.
This is rice, mixed with cheese and broccoli and a few other flavors that make the whole mess taste like broccoli-cheddar soup, preferably from Panera, with the addition of crunchy almonds to seal the deal.
I’m not joking.
You are going to LOVE this.
23 Monday Jul 2012
Tags
appetizers, BBQ meatballs, ground beef, meat, parties, party food, snacks
Happy Monday!
I’m tired.
This weekend we had our housewarming party, which involved at least 8 bottles of wine, one box of wine, and 4+ cases of beer.
It also involved 10 pounds of ground beef rolled nicely into meatballs which were DEVOURED almost as fast as the booze was drunk.
Drank.
Drinked.
Damn it.
20 Friday Jul 2012
Tags
appetizers, cooking, dip, easy cooking, eating, food, mexico, recipes, travel food, vegetarian
I’ve been making this for years.
Making it? I’m not really sure. More like….assembling some things that taste really good.
You’ve had this before, right? Refried beans, Mexican flavors, lots of cheese?
So easy, and there’s NOTHING special about mine.
Which, maybe, is what makes it SO special.
Think on that for a moment, eh?
20 Friday Jul 2012
Posted in Entertaining, Family, Food, Funny
Tags
eating, fish tacos, food, meal planning, recipes, street food, travel
Do you have great plans for the next few days? Are you heading out on a week-long vacation?
I’m jealous either way!
Tomorrow, we’re having a housewarming party. That means I get to cook all day and then drink all night.
I’m not MAD about it, per se.