Creamy Gnochetti

As I may have mentioned somewhere, when I’m stressed, like many people, I like to eat… but I also like to cook.  Not just because I can then eat, but because a lot of my stress comes from my inner control freak… losing control.  Yeah… in many ways, not just the obvious and bad ones, but you know, a lot of life just isn’t in your control.  Cooking soothes that because not only do you get to control the seasonings, and how things taste, but much like a math equation, you know exactly what the result will be.  You know [...]

Product Review: Cream Puffs!

The background: A little over a week ago, or rather, Sunday, January 20th, to be exact, I was over at my friends’ house in PA to watch the NY Giants (GO BIG BLUE!!!) surge to victory over the Green Bay Packers.  As we all got geared up- the hostess and her son are HUGE Cowboy fans, so they were pretty much up in arms over the whole game- she offered us a drink, and we wound up drinking Bailey’s Irish Cream over ice.  And wow, chilled over ice, this is some good stuff.  (I can’t wait, however, to try Coole Swan, [...]

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

StB – no, she didn’t get to eat with me this time! – sent me a link yesterday telling me that today is the International Day of Italian Cuisines!  According to the link, this is celebrated by making a “traditional” Italian dish (in quotes because as that page tells you in no uncertain terms, it’s not really Italian), spaghetti alla carbonara.  So to celebrate my BF’s return from a long business trip, I made him eat more stuff he’d never eaten before and probably wouldn’t want to eat if he saw me cooking it.  (In fact, he did walk in [...]

Enoteca Maria

StB – by now, you should recognize her as my partner-in-eating-crime – read about this place recently on NYCNosh and decided we should try it.  Nothing new, except the restaurant… is in Staten Island.  Like many other New Yorkers, I’ve only driven through it before, never stopping… so on Saturday night, we both gamely headed out to celebrate her recent promotion (congrats again dear, you deserve it!!!).  NYCNosh’s post assured us that Enoteca Maria was a 5 minute walk from the ferry.  We weren’t sure because when we exited the ferry station, it felt like we were in another world, [...]

Soba Totto

StB and I were wandering around considering our options for dinner the other night when I blurted out “Oh did you read this week’s TONY?  Soba Totto!” and she finished with, “I want to try!  Let’s go!” and off we went.  We’re both fans of soba… her a little more so than I.  Despite the fact that I’ve had soba only a handful of times, I do like it and enjoy it a lot… We walked in pretty early for a Saturday evening, but sadly, the place never filled up.  We sat at the bar… and I delightedly noted the [...]