A few years back, I was talking to the then Principal at my school, sort of complaining (in a joking way)that there were no festivities for Italians here in CA, and yet many many Mexican festivities. I told him that I was protesting and that we need to have an Italian celebration (he was half Italian).

So....We officially celebrated Columbus Day at school. There were four Italians in the office. We all bought food for everyone on Columbus Day. I made canoli and the other ladies and I went to the Italian Deli and purchased snacks. We even bought "proud to be Italain" shirts for all of us and took a picture of the four of us. None of us knew Italian fluently, but he managaged to start the morning announcments on the PA in Italian. It was fun.

TIS

Here.... take this to school with ya today:

Just had home baked bacon,cheese and leek quiche with rice!
Tasty!

My brother use to be a Mgr. at a Friendly's. Started out as a bus boy and worked his way up to be the Mgr.

I have a Friendly's across the main street from me. If I go in and mention your brother's name will I get a free meal??

Meet you there! I am so hot today, I could go for one of their Watermelon Sherbet Slammers!!

Doesn't this look good???

I love it when you talk dirty.

Beef stew tonight.

Thank you paisan! And a Happy Cristoforo Colombo Day to you too!

Sorry! I meant for that to be in a PM to you.

LMAO I'm cracking up here. There's just gotta be a great line to use at this point, but I'm clueless. That was a great exchange!!!!


TIS

Veal Sorrentino w/ a house salad tonight... and plenty of leftovers for tomorrow

Not if I get there before you wake up.

Damn, I did give you directions, didn't I? But no key, tho!

I had a can of San Marzano tomatoes opened up from what i used on friday for pizza, so I decided to make fresh marinara sauce, garlic, shallots (i had onion but half a large shallot left) and some basil I stole from my old neighbor's garden.. came out great, and i used the Buitoni brand fresh cheese tortellini... i will use the rest later in the week to try it with a cream sauce... good stuff!


PS - Happy Columbus Day to ALL! I can remember when it actually was a holiday years ago...

A couple of hours ago, I was watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations I had taped earlier, when I began to feel inspired by what I saw.

This happens often when I watch culinary shows.

In this episode, he went to Malaysia. He had a "breakfast" that sounded like it could taste quite interesting. Before I get into the details, I think I should mention:

(a) I usually eat only one "meal" a day - though I may nibble a little at other times.

(b) I am a night person, so "what" one is expected to eat, and "when" one is expected to eat it have little or no effect on me.

(c) I had just counted all my dry spices, and found that (including salt and peppercorns) I have 50 of them - so I can get creative if and when the urge takes hold.

(d) Most important of all: Cooking is therapy. (Besides, over the years, I've realized that few things compare with the looks on friends' faces when they're served something they really like by folks who actually give a damn. In other words, few things beat home cooking.)

But, tonight, it was just me and the cat. And I am reasonably certain he would not have liked what I made.

I used some flat Asian rice noodles (almost like fettucine), cooked them in boiling water, then transferred them to a bowl. There was about one cup of cooked noodles altogether.

Then I heated 2/3 cup of beef broth (I probably should have used vegetable stock; hindsight is always 20/20 - but it was quite nice, regardless.), added 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of Asian fish sauce, 1 teaspoon of mild curry powder, 1/4 teaspoon of powdered coriander and 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder. When it was all quite hot, I dumped in seven nice-sized shrimp I had previously shelled and deveined. When the shrimp were just cooked through, I added them (and the broth) to the bowl with the rice noodles. Stirred everything together, then broke out a pair of chopsticks - something I hardly ever do.

Quite spicy - the inside of my mouth is still tingling - but very enjoyable.

I think the beers helped, though.

Signor V.

I saw a show with this Mr. Bourdain in it the other day! He was in New Orleans sampling the local delights!
Everything looked very tasty.

Stuffed peppers from the garden (the last of the crop, I believe) and some sausage on the grill, fresh Italian bread, and Rice Pilaf.

Great minds think alike!

My wife is making stuffed peppers and I'll be grilling some skinny parsley and cheese sausage on the grill.

Tony Bourdain Rocks... he knows great food, but knows what foods endangered peoples eat... so he knows the whole range... He even did a show focusing on his home state of jersey (mario batali appeared in cameo)... its best to divorce yourself from all dislikes to become most happy a french artist (yes, french but very GOOD man) told me... and its true... enjoy everything, you dont have to love everything but dont cancel anything out...

That being said... i went for the aspargus that was on sale... made some great risotto and then saved the leftover risotto, perhaps I will make my famous lobster in pink cream cognac sauce over risotto cakes, or just make riceballs, let me see how the day pans out...

I haven't had a dinner to brag about in too long

Tonight I think i'll make some angel hair pasta and fresh marinara sauce with some fried zucchini.

It finally cooled off, so I'm gonna make nice Pasta e Ceci. I picked up a nice prosciutto "hock" the other day, which gives soup an unbelievable depth.

Boring, boring, boring tonight. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and fresh asparagus.

I really don't mind meatloaf. I haven't made it in a while though. And...it's not something I'd ever order in a restaurant. Does anyone order meatloaf at a restaurant?

TIS

Was a poor man's dinner tonight.... whatever was in the cupboard was the ingredients. A can of chopped clams and some angel hair pasta.

Voila, I had some pasta and clam sauce.

TIS - I'd usually shy away from ordering meatloaf out, but there's an all-you-can-eat buffet a few blocks away from me that actually has decent meatloaf. Between that and their mashed potatoes I'll make a meal that'll last me two days.

Meatloaf is one of my fave comfort foods, italian meatloaf is best, but there is a great place on 5th Ave & 21st street in Manhattan called "Eisenbergs" - it was there a few months ago when i passed by, its been there for a very long time, the better part of a century, a good old fashioned coffee shop selling great food... in any case, I have a recipe if anyone wants...

Tonite, I made the other half of the package of tortellini, i was going to make a cream sauce, but instead of shallots i just used some chopped onions/garlic/fresh basic and san marzano tomatoes... still tasted great... tomorrow nite i hope to attempt Aranciana -- which means "Orange" in italian because they look like oranges, but what they are is the leftover risotto formed in a ball with either veal, chop meat or even prosciutto and peas in the middle and deep fried... let's see how my day goes and how much time i have...

Penne vodka w/ skewered shrimp.... very nice (I didn't make it lol)

I bet that tastes good microwaved.

The next day.