Christmas Shopping at Costco last year included a gift card for ourselves for either Via Vite / Nicola's. $75 cost for $100 card. I had heard that Nicola's was really good and seemed like a chance to branch out a little from our dining-out rut. And $100 would certainly cover an extravagant meal for two? Right on the 'really good'. Extravagant was actually over $100.
We were Saturday choring most of the day, actually digging up a bunch of dirt to make a stone patio. The stones came with the house and there is a small space in the yard that seems perfect for a stone patio, so we'll see how it works out in the long run. Anyway, it was dusty work but the day was beautiful, and I realized that it was probably one of the last patio-dining opportunities of the season. So we opentabled a reservation for 8:30 pm and made our way downtown.
Patio-dining must be formally over; they weren't seating anyone on the patio but the tables were still set up. The hostess said sure why not? so it was just us and about eight empty tables. Cool! Very Lady and the Tramp feeling, with the diners all visible through the windows and us by our lonesome.
We've been to Italy just once, and what I recall most vividly is ordering at restaurants. Invariably, the waiter would look at us quizzically after we place our order with an "And?"....... Antipasti, pasta, first plate, second plate - three or four courses were expected. The last night we were there, we starved all day, then went to a restaurant and told them we would like to eat a full Italian meal. I fizzled out about halfway, but the waiter and the cook were enjoying our effort. One table over, a father and son duo were eating their way through the menu. At one point, the waiter wheeled out a cart with a gigantic crown roast of pork. The father thereupon stood up, stripped down to his tee shirt, returned to his seat with knife and fork in hand, and dug in. Eating is hard labor in Italy, and I could not compete.
So we tag-teamed the menu. Ralph had an appetizer, Mushroom soup with roasted chicken breast, puffed semolina and Porcini oil, which he loved. I ordered a salad - Belgian endive and pears with walnuts and shallot sherry vinaigrette, delicious, very crisp and light - little matchsticks with just a smattering of walnuts. Next, I ordered a pasta, Crispy potato gnocchi with four cheese fondue and truffle shavings. The gnocchi was toasted, crispy on the outside and potato goodness within. Ralph had the Arctic Char, with sautéed rapini and olive oil whipped potatoes for a main course. I bypassed the main course and went straight to dessert: tiramisu with coffee
creme Anglaise and zabaione gelato. really good stuff.
All of this, along with a bottle of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, was well over $100 once the tip was included. It was a great evening. Was it worth the cost? My meals fall into about four categories: bad, acceptable, good and really good. and this was really good. But I also think Mio's pizza is really good. Point being, I'm not enough of an aficionado to catch the finer points of the meal. I can buy acceptable gnocchi in a plastic bag from Trader Joe's for $1.99. Was Nicola's 12 X better? Probably. But I'm as happy with something 3 X as good, ignoramus that I am.
However, my daughter lives right across the street, so maybe we'll come back when they are in town and we'll have some more of that delicious gnocchi! wonder if lunch menu is cheaper....
Sunday, October 17, 2010
caramel sauce with apple pie and ice cream
no pictures because we immediately ate it.
aglamesis vanilla ice cream
apples from Findlay Market apple guy: Northern Spy & Johnathon combination.
directions
make the pie.
put warm pie slice on plate.
add a scoop of ice cream.
douse it with caramel sauce.
HOT CARAMEL sauce
1/2 stick of. butter
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1/4 c. half and half
Pinch salt
Vanilla extract
Put butter and brown sugar in heavy saucepan. Stir on low heat until
butter melts and mixture is smooth. Add half and half and salt. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Sauce takes approximately 5 minutes start to finish.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Is Obama biased?
I was just reading an article about Obama's decision to retire the notion of a 'Car Czar' and go instead with a group of advisors to determine the government response to the auto-maker's meltdown in Detroit. The two names mentioned are Geithner and Summers, the current brains behind the Wall Street bailout. The bailout seems to be headed nowhere fast, basically because they can't seem to get past the bankrupt (ha - pun) mindset that got us into this mess in the first place. For gosh sake's, Lindsay Graham is on the TV talking bank nationalization and Geithner and Summers are still behaving as if the whole idea is some crazy wacked out hippie delusion..
It just seems that Obama is leaning over backwards to keep the right happy. What I see happening is that he tends to listen and adopt ideas fom the right but he is scared of ideas from the left. Case in point: Health and Human Services, best man for the job, Howard Dean. He's a doctor, he engineered a state health care program in Vermont, he's an excellent speaker. But word is the Obama administration considers him too partisan. Hmmmmm. So, Judd Gregg, not partisan. Howard Dean, partisan. Got it.
Now we have this whole economic problem here, and the people who have been right for the last decade are still just voices in the wilderness. Krugman, too partisan? Roubini, too partisan? Geithner and Summers, corporate apologists, just what we need? Got it.
It just seems that Obama is leaning over backwards to keep the right happy. What I see happening is that he tends to listen and adopt ideas fom the right but he is scared of ideas from the left. Case in point: Health and Human Services, best man for the job, Howard Dean. He's a doctor, he engineered a state health care program in Vermont, he's an excellent speaker. But word is the Obama administration considers him too partisan. Hmmmmm. So, Judd Gregg, not partisan. Howard Dean, partisan. Got it.
Now we have this whole economic problem here, and the people who have been right for the last decade are still just voices in the wilderness. Krugman, too partisan? Roubini, too partisan? Geithner and Summers, corporate apologists, just what we need? Got it.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
List of Dreams
About a month ago, pre-inaugeration, I surveyed my family on their hopes for the Obama administration. I came up with the following list. I plan to come back in a year and ask for a grade on each item.
1. A special prosecutor gets appointed to investigate the crimes that have occurred in the last 8 years.
2. A big chunk of the stimulus package goes for non-car transportation purposes - especially high speed trains with a station in CIncinnati, and more bike paths.
3. He breaks up the media conglomerates that have a stranglehold on our airwaves and print media.
4.universal health care. the american health care industry is a huge engorged tick sucking the life blood out of the american economy, a sick old emaciatrd dog. The economy will never be strong again unless we stop paying tens of millions of dollars a year to people whose only job is to deny health care.(Virginia)
5.food policy reform. Our current policies support and promote the expansion of agri-business. This not only impacts small family farmers, but also has devastating consequences on public health, our dependence on foreign oil, and environmental degradation. It's a four-fer! (Andrea)
6. Improved corporate control - major corporations be expected to pay taxes and an end to trading with countries that do not have a minimum standard of workers' rights and environmental protections. I would like to see some logical revision of the legal doctrine of "corporate personhood" that allows corporations to have the rights accorded to citizens but cannot ever hold them to the same standard of ethical conduct. (Sam)
7.major reform in our nation's drug laws. On one hand, I would like to see an end to the so-called war on drugs (and all of its class- and race-selective enforcement) and a more rational attempt made to address the social ills of substance abuse and addiction. On the other hand, I would also really like to see more strenuous requirements before FDA approval is granted to new pharmaceutical drugs. I also think that the advertising of brand name drugs is a disgrace and that the system of perks and luxuries that pharmaceutical companies grant to select physicians is a deeply corrupting influence on our medical establishment. (Sam)
8.immigration law reform (Sam's friend Rachel)
9.Reformed banking and credit systems - predatory credit practices, corrupt student loan corporations, failing bank systems, and other bits of general mayhem among the personal finance sectors of our nation. I'm afraid that to significantly change the system of debt that we are all forced to participate in for such basics rights as a place to live, transportation and higher education (to name a few), would require an overhaul of such massive proportions that it may forever remain a utopian dream. (Elizabeth)
10.increased access to higher education by several means: Create restrictions on student lending companies that will cap interest rates and loan periods. Diverting funds away from million-dollar basketball coach salaries and back into the pockets of teachers and struggling students. Return standard consumer protections to student loans (Elizabeth)
1. A special prosecutor gets appointed to investigate the crimes that have occurred in the last 8 years.
2. A big chunk of the stimulus package goes for non-car transportation purposes - especially high speed trains with a station in CIncinnati, and more bike paths.
3. He breaks up the media conglomerates that have a stranglehold on our airwaves and print media.
4.universal health care. the american health care industry is a huge engorged tick sucking the life blood out of the american economy, a sick old emaciatrd dog. The economy will never be strong again unless we stop paying tens of millions of dollars a year to people whose only job is to deny health care.(Virginia)
5.food policy reform. Our current policies support and promote the expansion of agri-business. This not only impacts small family farmers, but also has devastating consequences on public health, our dependence on foreign oil, and environmental degradation. It's a four-fer! (Andrea)
6. Improved corporate control - major corporations be expected to pay taxes and an end to trading with countries that do not have a minimum standard of workers' rights and environmental protections. I would like to see some logical revision of the legal doctrine of "corporate personhood" that allows corporations to have the rights accorded to citizens but cannot ever hold them to the same standard of ethical conduct. (Sam)
7.major reform in our nation's drug laws. On one hand, I would like to see an end to the so-called war on drugs (and all of its class- and race-selective enforcement) and a more rational attempt made to address the social ills of substance abuse and addiction. On the other hand, I would also really like to see more strenuous requirements before FDA approval is granted to new pharmaceutical drugs. I also think that the advertising of brand name drugs is a disgrace and that the system of perks and luxuries that pharmaceutical companies grant to select physicians is a deeply corrupting influence on our medical establishment. (Sam)
8.immigration law reform (Sam's friend Rachel)
9.Reformed banking and credit systems - predatory credit practices, corrupt student loan corporations, failing bank systems, and other bits of general mayhem among the personal finance sectors of our nation. I'm afraid that to significantly change the system of debt that we are all forced to participate in for such basics rights as a place to live, transportation and higher education (to name a few), would require an overhaul of such massive proportions that it may forever remain a utopian dream. (Elizabeth)
10.increased access to higher education by several means: Create restrictions on student lending companies that will cap interest rates and loan periods. Diverting funds away from million-dollar basketball coach salaries and back into the pockets of teachers and struggling students. Return standard consumer protections to student loans (Elizabeth)
We'll see what unfolds......
Sunday, January 25, 2009
We tried that already, didn't we?
It's really not worth watching the Sunday morning news shows. Invariably, it's the same people saying the same things to the same other people. None of them are especially interesting things to say, either.
Well, this morning Matthew Yglesias was on C-Span along with a Heritage Foundation person, and interested in the rare opportunity to see a liberal on the tv, I turned it on. Two things I noticed.
One, liberals are way too polite. The Heritage guy would say some jackassy thing and Matthew Yglesias would politely state an opposing viewpoint, but never really go after the other guy's viewpoint - which left one with the opinion that these were two equally valid points of view, when one was just jackassy. Which brings me to point number
Two, can't we start telling these people that their ideas have already been given a chance in the real world and that the results really sucked? Do they not know that? Heritage guy: not enough tax cuts in the stimulus package. John Boehner: not enough tax cuts in the stimulus package. John McCain: Not enough tax cuts in the stimulus package. OMG shutup. Tax cuts were the big magic wand you people have been wielding for the last eight years, along with deregulation and off-budget expenses. If they had been good ideas, I guess the Republican permanent majority would now be here. Somebody needs to point this out.
Well, this morning Matthew Yglesias was on C-Span along with a Heritage Foundation person, and interested in the rare opportunity to see a liberal on the tv, I turned it on. Two things I noticed.
One, liberals are way too polite. The Heritage guy would say some jackassy thing and Matthew Yglesias would politely state an opposing viewpoint, but never really go after the other guy's viewpoint - which left one with the opinion that these were two equally valid points of view, when one was just jackassy. Which brings me to point number
Two, can't we start telling these people that their ideas have already been given a chance in the real world and that the results really sucked? Do they not know that? Heritage guy: not enough tax cuts in the stimulus package. John Boehner: not enough tax cuts in the stimulus package. John McCain: Not enough tax cuts in the stimulus package. OMG shutup. Tax cuts were the big magic wand you people have been wielding for the last eight years, along with deregulation and off-budget expenses. If they had been good ideas, I guess the Republican permanent majority would now be here. Somebody needs to point this out.
Happy Birthday Jackie!
I'm also a little out of sorts because Obama has been in office for 5 days now and we still have no high-speed train service from here to New York. So the disappointment begins.
This weekend has been pretty quiet. I'm on a diet program at work and Friday was my third weigh-in. After three weeks, I'm pretty much where I started. So I decided to get more serious. Unfortunately, it was Jackie's birthday this weekend, which meant another carrot cake. It's hard to get serious with that around.
Besides the carrot cake, my non-beer-drinking resolve flew out the window a little bit on Friday when Ralph and I went to Arthur's for dinner. For about a month now, I've wanted to sit on the patio at Arthur's and drink beer. The whole winter/season/frigid temperature thing kind of got in the way of this, but the slightly warm weather made sitting inside at Arthur's even sound okay. So off we went.
The crowd was enormous. It makes me wonder if that 50 degree weather on Friday had lots of people out and about. There was nothing of consequence going on this weekend and with the holiday season just over, it seemed like a small crowd would be the likely scenario. We've gone to Arthur's other Friday nights and the place was half-empty. Just makes me wonder why so many people show up all at once or stay home all at once. Is there no free will? Are we slaves to a 20 degree hike in temperature? My guess is yes. Any way, the crowd was large and the wait was long. Made me thirsty. Beer with french fries and cole slaw. Not very healthy, but still veggie.
I'm also a little out of sorts because Obama has been in office for 5 days now and we still have no high-speed train service from here to New York. So the disappointment begins.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Get back on that bandwagon!
New Year's Resolutions took a hit this week. Hamburgers one night, hot wings on another (with beer, managing to fall off both wagons in one meal). And Ralph's birthday was Thursday, which required some homemade spaghetti sauce.
Real Tomato Sauce
1 onion, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, quartered
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps olive oil
2 28-ounce cans of crushed tomato or tomato puree
bay leaves
oregano
basil
pepper
salt
fresh parsley, chopped
1 lb Italian (Yane) sausage
1. Saute onion, mushrooms and garlic in oil in a large pot.
2. Add the crushed tomatoes, then bay leaves, oregano, basil, pepper and salt. Use fresh herbs if available, otherwise go with the dried. Let simmer for an hour or so.
3. Brown sausage in a skillet. If sausage links, cut into bite-size pieces - or shape into meatballs. Don't have to be cooked through because they will simmer along with the tomatos in a minute.
4. Add sausage and fresh parsley (and some water if getting too thick) to tomato sauce and let cook for another 20 or 30 minutes.
5. Eat.
Also on the birthday menu was carrot cake. I can make a delicious carrot cake, given the time, but time was lacking. Most bakery carrot cakes are not very good - they taste more like Betty Crocker spice cake with some weird specks of neon orange added. So I did some internet sleuthing and found recommendations for Bluebird Bakery. Ah ha! Right around the corner from work - easy to pick up the cake at lunchtime. I called to order the cake and was shocked - $15 for a 6-inch carrot cake and $30 for an 8 inch cake. Imagining something the size of a large muffin, I went ahead and ordered the 6-inch (we're on a purported diet anyway). I am happy to report that the cake was really really good, and it wasn't as tiny as I imagined - it was very pretty, with cream cheese frosting and lots of crushed walnuts as decoration. Bluebird Bakery has a new patron.
Now I'm back on the bandwagon - and plan to make this veggie stew for dinner tomorrow. We'll see how it turns out. It's supposed to have eggplant, yuck, but one of the commentors suggested the substitution of cauliflower and carrots. Sounds like a plan. From allrecipes.com, the description recommended serving over polenta, rice or pasta. It so happens that residing in our refrigerator right now is some polenta, just waiting to be served under.
Mediterranean Vegetable Stew
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 cup chopped red onion
2 cups coarsely chopped green pepper
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup sliced mushrooms
A cup or 2 of cauliflower & carrots, cut in 1- to 2-inch chunks
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas or white beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 cup coarsely chopped parsley
In a large skillet, heat 1 Tb. oil. Saute onion and pepper until soft, about 10 minutes. Add 1 Tb. oil, garlic, mushrooms, cauliflower and carrots. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until veggies are softened but not mushy, about 15 minutes. Add tomatoes, olives, chickpeas and rosemary. Simmer until heated through, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley. Sprinkle feta cheese over stew if desired.
Real Tomato Sauce
1 onion, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, quartered
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps olive oil
2 28-ounce cans of crushed tomato or tomato puree
bay leaves
oregano
basil
pepper
salt
fresh parsley, chopped
1 lb Italian (Yane) sausage
1. Saute onion, mushrooms and garlic in oil in a large pot.
2. Add the crushed tomatoes, then bay leaves, oregano, basil, pepper and salt. Use fresh herbs if available, otherwise go with the dried. Let simmer for an hour or so.
3. Brown sausage in a skillet. If sausage links, cut into bite-size pieces - or shape into meatballs. Don't have to be cooked through because they will simmer along with the tomatos in a minute.
4. Add sausage and fresh parsley (and some water if getting too thick) to tomato sauce and let cook for another 20 or 30 minutes.
5. Eat.
Also on the birthday menu was carrot cake. I can make a delicious carrot cake, given the time, but time was lacking. Most bakery carrot cakes are not very good - they taste more like Betty Crocker spice cake with some weird specks of neon orange added. So I did some internet sleuthing and found recommendations for Bluebird Bakery. Ah ha! Right around the corner from work - easy to pick up the cake at lunchtime. I called to order the cake and was shocked - $15 for a 6-inch carrot cake and $30 for an 8 inch cake. Imagining something the size of a large muffin, I went ahead and ordered the 6-inch (we're on a purported diet anyway). I am happy to report that the cake was really really good, and it wasn't as tiny as I imagined - it was very pretty, with cream cheese frosting and lots of crushed walnuts as decoration. Bluebird Bakery has a new patron.Now I'm back on the bandwagon - and plan to make this veggie stew for dinner tomorrow. We'll see how it turns out. It's supposed to have eggplant, yuck, but one of the commentors suggested the substitution of cauliflower and carrots. Sounds like a plan. From allrecipes.com, the description recommended serving over polenta, rice or pasta. It so happens that residing in our refrigerator right now is some polenta, just waiting to be served under.
Mediterranean Vegetable Stew
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 cup chopped red onion
2 cups coarsely chopped green pepper
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup sliced mushrooms
A cup or 2 of cauliflower & carrots, cut in 1- to 2-inch chunks
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas or white beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 cup coarsely chopped parsley
In a large skillet, heat 1 Tb. oil. Saute onion and pepper until soft, about 10 minutes. Add 1 Tb. oil, garlic, mushrooms, cauliflower and carrots. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until veggies are softened but not mushy, about 15 minutes. Add tomatoes, olives, chickpeas and rosemary. Simmer until heated through, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley. Sprinkle feta cheese over stew if desired.
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