Amazing Sweet And Sour Brisket

Growing up on BBQ, there were times that I just couldn’t find a good place for brisket. In fact more and more, you can’t find it anywhere. This is when I started to just make it at home. The only problem was that I didn’t always like to fire up the smoker. One day, a good friend of mine told me about a brisket that he makes in his oven and how amazing it was. I asked what his secret was and he said it was the sweet and sour that made it so good.

Here is the recipe that he turned me onto. The secret ingredient is the cola. It has just the right amount of fizz to help break down the fat tissue and make this brisket melt into your mouth.

Recipe:

1 medium onion, peeled and quartered Continue reading “Amazing Sweet And Sour Brisket”

How to Make Authentic ‘Pasta Asciutta,’ (Italian Tomato Sauce) to Eat With Pasta

In the South of Italy, there are variations on the recipe for making the tomato sauce that goes with Pasta. Here is a recipe, given to me by my Italian Mother in Law, who comes from Messina in Sicily. The tomato sauce can be eaten on its own with spaghetti, or used as a base for many of the other Pasta dishes that are eaten by Italian families. This recipe has been passed down through the generations from daughter to daughter, (Italian men rarely cook) and is as good today as it has always been.

Step one. Take one large onion. Cover the bottom of a pan with virgin olive oil. Peel and chop the onion and place in the olive oil, adding one teaspoon of salt. Fry the onion gently until it begins to go brown, then add a cup of water and continue to boil, stirring from time to time. As the mixture in the pan reduces, add more water until the onion is colourless and almost dissolved.

Step two. While you are reducing the onion, you can either peel about fifteen medium tomatoes, or open a tin of ready peeled Italian tomatoes. The difference to me is minimal between real or tinned tomatoes, and my Mother in Law uses both, depending on the season. Peel one medium carrot, and slice a piece of braising or frying Beef into several medium cubes. Continue reading “How to Make Authentic ‘Pasta Asciutta,’ (Italian Tomato Sauce) to Eat With Pasta”

My Experience Paying a Bill in an Italian Village During the Corona Virus / COVID-19 Crisis

It was February 21 when I unknowingly relocated to the Italian countryside to hideout from the Corona Virus. At the time, this hadn’t been my plan because I was engaged in other activities. I had spoken with some friends and students about the likelihood that the Corona Virus would slowly travel across Italy. Although I had questioned whether the virus could impact Italian exportation of cheese and comestibles negatively, it was clear that I and others didn’t really believe the virus would leave much of a mark.

That same day, I heard there had been an outbreak in the Lombardy region, sixteen confirmed cases! Yet, most people thought it could be contained. There was no way that the Corona Virus would reach the Piedmont region, I thought. Most people dismissed this possibility, and many even went both to work and to school with cold and flu-like symptoms that resembled COVID-19. I was suspicious, telling myself that it must have been all in my head. Continue reading “My Experience Paying a Bill in an Italian Village During the Corona Virus / COVID-19 Crisis”

Top 9 Anti-Aging Herbs To Help You Look and Feel Younger

Did you know that the spices that you put in your food can help fight disease and slow down the natural aging process? If your like me and have a spice rack, half of the spices in the rack have hardly been used and in some cases never opened at all! After doing some research the following 9 herbs can help you look and feel younger.

Here are the top 9 Anti-Aging Herbs that we recommend:

Italian Spice – Italian Spice is a blend of powerful herbs that have potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This spice can help you with problems that are triggered by inflammation (like arthritis or asthma).
Thyme – Thyme is a spice that has anti-microbial properties. In fact, many mouthwash companies add thyme to their mouthwash and antiseptic products. Thyme has powerful antioxidant properties that can neutralize free radicals.
Sage – If you suffer from arthritis, atherosclerosis, or asthma, sage is a spice that will help you. Sage is a powerful anti-inflammatory and can help give you relief from diseases that thrive off of inflammation.
Marjoram – Do you have digestive problems? Adding marjoram spice to your meals can help to stimulate digestion. If you suffer from cramping and other digestive ailment, marjoram may be able to give you some relief.
Oregano – The Oregano spice is often used to fight fungal infections. Oregano is used in many Italian dishes. I’m Italian so this is one of his favorite spices to recommend.
Apple Pie Spice – A spice blend that contains ginger. Ginger has many anti-aging properties. It is helpful in treating nausea. Not only that, ginger is a powerful anti-inflammatory and is even helpful in stimulating the liver.
Jamaican Allspice – This is a spice that is used in many countries as a remedy for gas and digestive problems.
Cinnamon – Cinnamon doesn’t just taste delicious, it helps to regulate your blood sugar and has anti-cancer properties.
Tumeric – This was the #1 spice that I recommended on the top ten anti-aging herbs. It has been shown to be a powerful anti-inflammatory spice. It also helps fight nearly every type of cancer!

Continue reading “Top 9 Anti-Aging Herbs To Help You Look and Feel Younger”

The Perks of Using Fresh Pasta

One of the reasons I enrolled myself in cooking lessons is my desire to serve authentic Italian cuisine to my family. We are all lovers of anything Italian, most of all Italian food and as you may expect, our favourite is pasta. However, I found that the best chefs do not use dried or store-bought pasta. So, I went on a mission to learn how to make fresh pasta from scratch. When I was finally cooking dishes with pasta I made with my own hands, I was able to note the benefits of using it fresh instead of dried.

Here are just some of the perks I discovered in using fresh pasta:

– If you wish for more delicious and lighter pasta, then you will be able to get this from the one you made yourself. Because you can immediately cook your pasta after making it, the effect is you will have lighter pasta that can be cooked in a relatively shorter amount of time compared to the dried one.

Continue reading “The Perks of Using Fresh Pasta”

Lasagna: Then and Now

Lasagna must be one of the most delectable dishes in the Italian repertoire. Lasagna, however, unlike most Italian dishes is not a simple preparation. Lasagna is a carefully planned assembly. While the individual ingredients of lasagna are rather straightforward, the assembly of those ingredients is very complex; and, depending it what you chose to include can be somewhat costly. In my childhood, lasagna was not something you saw at just any time. In my childhood, lasagna was a dish reserved for holidays. From some acquaintances of Italian extraction, lasagna was not known at any time of the year. In my family lasagna was always the first main course for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. It was a dense casserole of alternating layers of the lasagna noodles, ricotta cheese and what we called “gravy.”

Of course, since lasagna was served only on holidays, it was only a part of a many course holiday dinner. Such dinners usually began around 1pm and continued into the night. On holidays there was a complex arrangement of dishes. First came the fruit salad. This was a mixture of canned Dole fruit salad with the addition of select fresh fruits served in high glass cups chilled with ice. I don’t know the origin of this course. It was certainly not Italian. It may have been influenced by what restaurants were serving in the 1950’s. Continue reading “Lasagna: Then and Now”

The Most Lucrative Dissertation Defense

“Desperate University” is a college at the foot of a canyon in the Great Plains between Interstates 85 and 212 in South Dakota. The school includes undergraduate and graduate degrees for poor students with very little money. Founded in 1901 by an archeologist who got lost in the desert, apparently seeking old Spanish ruins. According to legend, only some of the Sioux Native tribe heard the voice of the archeologist who had run out of food and water. As he was dying, he yelled repeatedly “Help me! I’m desperate!”

The Sioux could only understand the word “desperate” or “desperado” because they had learned a little basic Spanish from their ancestors who fell to the Spanish conquistadors. Over the years, the native Americans talked about “Mr. Desperate”. Unfortunately, the man died when the tribe traced his voice. The tribe searched the man’s clothes and discovered the archeologist was carrying over $5,000 in cash. Continue reading “The Most Lucrative Dissertation Defense”

5 Tips to End Emotional Eating

If you are struggling with emotional eating, you’re not alone.

I still catch myself doing it – just the other day I sat down in front of my computer and opened up a bag of Terra chips and started shoveling them in. I stopped myself before I ate the entire bag because I became aware of what I was doing. Typically, when we eat due to emotions, it’s common to “check-out” and just not be present.

I stopped and asked myself “Am I really hungry?” And the answer was no- I realized that I was bored. So I put the chips away and went for a walk. Continue reading “5 Tips to End Emotional Eating”

World Pasta Day

I just can’t believe it!

A “World Pasta Day” actually exists!

A day when the entire world has reason to rejoice.

You can probably already tell that I like pasta. In fact, I’ve never met a pasta I didn’t enjoy.

Whether it’s served with tomato sauce that’s simmered for hours, or a sauce that’s thrown together in a matter of minutes, it matters not to me. Continue reading “World Pasta Day”

John’s Pizzeria, NYC – Not to Be Missed

Last night we discovered John’s. It first opened its doors in 1929 on Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village. After losing its lease, owner John Sasso dismantled the brick oven and moved it to it’s currant Bleecker Street address when it still turns out the renowned and legendary pizza.

In 1984 John’s opened a branch on 64th Street on the Upper East Side. Its continued success made the search for someplace as unique as the pizza a goal. As a result, the newest John’s in Times Square opened in 1997. Built in 1888, this site once was the Gospel Tabernacle Church. After reconstruction, John’s opened this location with more than 500 seats (I had guessed 450) and considered the largest pizzeria in the country. Believe me, it was huge and I was pleased we were seated in one of the smaller rooms. Continue reading “John’s Pizzeria, NYC – Not to Be Missed”