Hario Slim Mill, Clever Coffee Dripper, and Bodum Bistro Glass Mug: Three Ways to Improve Your Drip Style Coffee Having studied human cognition formally as a student and also worked as a human factors and usability expert some folks have claimed I have an understanding of what makes good product design.  My thinking on the aforementioned: I’m just a picky […]

When one thinks of meatballs there’s an immediate association with big, densely packed, mounds of beef swimming in a thick tomato sauce.  And while meatballs with tomato sauce have their place in both Italian American and Italian cuisine, the following recipe for delicately made and fried meatballs with provola will change your idea of the prototypical meatball. Ingredients: 1/2 pound of ground pork 1/2 […]

What We’re Reading – The Sad State of School Lunches, Drink More Coffee, Outdoor Pizza, Lost Italian Cheese, Wine Spritzer Grist  (Nine-year-old’s lunch blog shames school into making changes) – Maybe we all need to starting shaming schools throughout the world so they stop serving subsidized garbage to children or just create a blog showcasing what type of lunches are actually served, […]

The following rigatoni with diced zucchini, mushrooms, and anchovy recipe is a variation of a dish we prepared in the late Winter.  This dish makes use of high quality cured (in olive oil and red pepper flake) anchovies and finely diced vegetables and garlic.  The flavor of the pasta dish will knock your socks off and leave you befuddled and asking how such […]

Two news items caught our attention this week and we can’t help but offer our “two cents” on the following food related media events: Mario Batali’s food stamp challenge and HBO’s ‘Weight of the Nation’ Molto Forgets La Cucina Povera First, Mario Batali issued himself (and his family of four) a pragmatic food challenge; namely, “getting by” or feeding his family […]

Grilled calamari or squid is a great alternative to fried calamari and is ideal for the summer months.  My favorite way to prepare fresh squid is to marinate a few pounds of the well cleaned fish in lemon juice, parsley, et. al. and then quickly cook on an outdoor grill (the smokey flavor derived from a wood burning fire compliments […]

Steak, Italian Cooking, and Bistecca alla Fiorentina It used to be the case that when you asked any southern Italian (especially from Calabria) the last time he or she consumed steak you’d get an awkward stare in return, as beef consumption was rare in il Mezzogiorno (the southern half of Italy) and cattle were used to produce cheese and milk.  However, times […]

Eating Well Doesn’t Make You Fat, Greens, Sheep and Blossoms, Frittata Making, Parmesan New York Times Food & Wine – In the category of “duh, did you really need to write a book about this concept” category we nominate Peter Kaminsky for his book Culinary Intelligence where he argues folks in the US would be better off eating foods that maximize […]

At times, one can feel glutinous about consuming too much pasta especially if the portion size is large (even for a dyed-in-wool Italophile) .  So, when we crave pasta (in a slightly larger portion size) we turn to any number of leafy greens as a condiment.  The following Rigatoni with Spinach, Garlic, and Parsley recipe is hearty and packed full of good for you […]

Favorite Pizza Toppings Lately we’ve been making pizzas at home every weekend and we’ve been using our trusty homemade pizza dough recipe along with our standard pizza sauce (though we’ve been known to cheat and purchase prepared pizza dough from Trader Joe’s on occasion; hey, at about a dollar a pop you can’t go wrong).  Next to good dough and the appropriate pizza […]