Category Archives: Italian Cuisine

Eggplant Lasagne

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Eggplant lasagne topped with pistachios and basil

Eggplant lasagne topped with pistachios and basil

This dish came about by accident. Originally I wanted to make Green Kitchen Stories’ Involtini di Melanzane, or rolled stuffed eggplant, because I had tomato sauce left over from a couple of nights before. But it turns out I am awful at slicing eggplant. You have to slice the eggplant very thinly, but mine were uneven and all but a few weren’t the entire length of the eggplant. Because the eggplant needs to be grilled in the oven before rolling, I had an idea for making lasagne after seeing the slices laid out in a casserole dish. So instead of pasta, I used the eggplant slices! Mmm…it turned out very well!

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Düsseldorf, Germany Day Two

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Frank Gehry's Neuer Zollhof

Frank Gehry’s Neuer Zollhof

 

For our second day in Düsseldorf, we went for a cruise along the Rhine River. If you do an image search of Düsseldorf, Germany you can’t help but find photos of Frank Gehry’s Neuer Zollhof, comprised of three buildings that curve and lean made of white plaster, stainless steel, and brick, and the Rheinturm, Düsseldorf’s landmark and the world’s largest digital clock. I didn’t want to leave the city without seeing both! Luckily they’re located along the Rhine River and we were able see them on our cruise. After our hour boat ride, we went to one last brewery, Im Füchschen, for altbier and schnitzel. A perfect, relaxing way to end our weekend trip!

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Cannelloni al Forno – Casalinga Style

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Cannelloni al Forno

Cannelloni al Forno – Casalinga Style

Sometimes when I’m looking for inspiration for dinner, I first have a look to see what I have at home. When I searched my kitchen I found cannelloni tubes. I have tried different recipes, but Mario Batali’s Cannelloni al Forno (Casalinga Style) is my favorite. Casalinga is Italian for “housewife”, so you know that this is a comfort food recipe. The only change I make is not adding the bechamel sauce on top. I don’t love dishes that are too creamy or too cheesy (which is weird because I love cheese), so I just grate parmesan on top of the tomato sauce before baking. This recipe was again a success and made enough dinner for 2 evenings!

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New York City: Revisiting our favorite spots

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One last Bahn Mì from Saigon in Chinatown

One last Banh Mì from Saigon in Chinatown

Day 13 was our last full day in NYC because we needed to head to the airport after lunch the next day. So we spent our last real day eating my favorite lunch again from the trip – Banh Mì from Saigon in Chinatown, and then heading back to Midtown to buy presents. I also wanted to visit the Ralph Lauren stores on Madison Avenue as well as his daughter’s candy store, Dylan’s Candy Bar. As a thank you to Christina for letting us stay with her so long, we spent our last evening seeing Mamma Mia on Broadway! The next morning we needed to pack and get our things together. For our last lunch we decided to go back to San Gennaro’s for steak and mozzarella sandwiches. Luckily we planned a lot of time between leaving Christina’s apartment and our flight. It turns out the exact time we wanted to head to the metro station was during the huge parade for San Gennaro! The crowds were gigantic and we were both with two suitcases trying to fight our way through. Then we had to talk to the police officers to try and convince them to let us cross through the parade because if we had would wait another hour it would be too late. So rather than taking 5 minutes to get to the metro station it took us 30 minutes – but we made it! At the airport we decided to have one last burger from the Shake Shack! Now we are both looking forward to going back to NYC in September!

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New York Day: My birthday, Natural History Museum, Zabar’s, and more cupcakes

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American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History, Theodore Roosevelt Equestrian Statue

I was lucky enough to celebrate my birthday during our trip to New York City! We decided to save the American Museum of Natural History for the occasion. I had no idea the museum is so big! Luckily you can leave the museum and come back, so we spent a couple of hours in the morning exploring before taking a break to have lunch in Central Park. After spending a few more hours at the museum, we went for a birthday cupcake in Soho followed by a delicious Italian dinner from Di Palo. To end the evening, Koen, Christina, and I went for cocktails at Apothéke, a speakeasy in Chinatown.

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New York City: Bryant Park, New York Public Library, Lombardi Pizzeria, Greenwich Village

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Breakfast in Bryant Park

Breakfast in Bryant Park

This was my parents’ last day in New York. We had to part after breakfast, because they had tickets for the afternoon matches at the US Open. So we grabbed breakfast sandwiches from a street vendor to eat in Bryant Park. Afterwards we visited the New York Public Library, then met up with Christine and had lunch at the first pizzeria in America. Day 4 is also the day we transitioned from staying in Midtown with my parents to Chinatown with Christina!

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New York City: MidTown, Rockefeller Plaza, Burger Joint, Times Square, Magnolia Bakery

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Warwick Hotel on 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) in Midtown, our home for the first 4 days!

Warwick Hotel on 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) in Midtown, our home for the first 4 days!

Koen and I are back from our 14 day vacation in New York City! Day One includes seeing my parents and Christina, the 29th Annual Brazilian Day Festival, that happened to take place right next to our hotel, Rockefeller Plaza, Times Square, burgers, and cupcakes!

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Pesto

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Pesto

Pesto Process

After using the pestle and mortar for the Gado Gado dressing, I realized I don’t use it enough! When I think of the cooking tool, the first dish that comes to mind is  pesto – and I’d never tried it before. Surprisingly, maybe just to me, pesto is easy to make. Really. I served Jamie Oliver‘s basic pesto recipe with white fish and pasta. Delcious and simple flavors!

I love tomatoes!

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There are so many ways to serve tomatoes, with so many varieties and means of preparation.  With such a versatile vegetable, Koen and I are able to incorporate tomatoes in some form into our meals at least a few times a week.  This week especially I’ve been enjoying them with the warm weather.

Oven baked tomatoes over linguine, tomate aux crevettes

 

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