Tag

Italian Food

Cooking, Food

An Italian Christmas Tradition – Calamari Tomato Sauce Recipe

If you’ve followed this blog long enough, you know I grew up in a rather large Italian-American family.  My grandparents lived two blocks from us and my great aunts and uncles lived within a five block radius.  All said, about fifty of us cuginos lived within a few miles of each other.  Christmas Eve was our night to all gather together, enjoy more than a few toasts and saluds, and feast on our…

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Pairing Challenge

Winner Winner Pesto Pasta Dinner + Recipe

The Gourmand household has been hashtag trending on eating seasonal.  Sure that’s easy to say in the middle of the summer when the tomatoes are plump, the peppers are ripe, and the peaches are juicy.  But with the recent addition of the Weeknight Fresh and Fast cookbook (you gotta buy this) to our library, we plan to keep the trend going year round.  You’d be surprised what the Farmers Market offers beyond…

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Pairing Challenge

Pesto Pasta Pairing Challenge – The Vote

Beer with Basil Pesto?  Who would have thunk?  I wouldn’t have, but Beer in my Belly sure thought it was a winning combination with this month’s first suggestion of Saison Renaud from Mystic Brewery.  So did KC Hop Talk with their nomination of Boulevard’s Tank 7, a farmhouse ale.  I was stymied.  I couldn’t believe the first two suggestions were beer!  I guess this further exemplifies the purpose of this challenge – to…

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Pairing Challenge

Beer Versus Wine – The Perfect Pesto Pasta Pairing

Congratulations to June’s Beer Versus Wine Challenge winner –HL from Wander and Wine!  Part of the honor includes coming up with July’s challenge.  Below is HL’s post and challenge food.  Participants have until next Tuesday, July 15 to turn in their suggestion before we take it to a vote.  Winner gets to present August’s challenge.  For more on the rules, click here. When I studied abroad in Rome, I fell in love with…

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Cooking, Food, Travel, United States

Santarpio’s Pizza in East Boston – Truly the Best in Town

I’m going to write this post in true Boston manner and focus only on what it’s about with no fluff.  If you want to read about the history of Santarpio’s Pizza in East Boston or the rival with Regina’s for best pizza in town, go find it elsewhere on the web.  If you want to read about the pizza, then keep reading, baby! I wasn’t planning to eat pizza on my overnight…

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Eating, Food, Travel, United States

Tastes from Home – Festival Cheese Puffs!

I was fortunate to grow up in a community that was predominantly Italian.  The influences were everywhere.  The Italian flag waved in most shops and restaurants.  Pizza parlors sat on almost every corner.  Five star restaurants served only Italian food (as they should).  Even the bars had better Italian food than I have found in the best Italian restaurants here in Charlotte.  Then there were the summer festivals.  Whether it was a…

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