man-gi-am-OH!

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Italy 2015 - Part 2 - "Breaking" in the Villa

Saturday, June 13, 2015

For our first full day in Lucca, we went into town and Max got to taste his first meringue.

We were told to have lunch at Trattoria da Leo and I got this delicious boiled tongue and beef with green (parsley, caper, garlic) sauce...

...Mom and Susan got vitello tonnato...

...and there were some rather flavorful eggplant pieces.

Max was just happy that he got to ride the carrousel before we headed back to the villa.

That evening, I made some stuffed zucchini flowers that were accompanied with zucchini, prosciutto and salad...

...and poor Max fell asleep a bit early while watching a program on the IPad.

During dinner, there was another unfortunate occurrence. When Susan headed to the kitchen to get something, she missed a step in the hallway and fell, hitting the top of her foot in the process.

Her foot swelled immediately and there was talk about going to the emergency room, but it was clear that she didn't want to.

We decided to wait and see how things were in the morning.

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Sunday, June 14, 2015

Max woke up early and needed some juice to function.

I, on the other hand, needed some eggs.

Susan got up and her foot was still swollen, causing pain each time she put pressure on it.

Finally, I convinced her and Julia to go to the Emergency Room...

...so off we went to get checked out by a doctor.

Now allow me to say here that the visit wasn't all that much fun (surprise!).

Possibly due to the fact that it was a Sunday afternoon, we were here for 6 hours in order to...

...see the doctor to order the X-rays

...get the X-rays

...see the doctor again for the results of the X-ray (only I was allowed in because they didn't speak English very well)

...get the bandages

...check out

But, even though it wasn't pleasant...

...we did end up learning that she had fractures in 3 metatarsals and needed to be bandaged (we also had to get her a boot)...

...and it only cost $124 in taxes for everything.

So not really a horrible experience.

I even got to help out a German couple by being the English/Italian translator.

When we got home around 9 pm or so, my mom cooked us some grub and we had a very restful sleep.

Italy 2015 - Part 1 - the Arrival

This year, we decided to get Max his passport...

...and set off to Italy with our moms.

We wanted Max to get some exposure to the Italian language while meeting Italian friends and family.

The plan was as such - fly into Milan, rent a car and drive down to Lucca where we rented a villa. After about 2 weeks, we would go back to Milan, send the moms back to the US and then continue on to Padua and Venice for a few nights before returning.

For these posts, I'll keep things pretty chronological, breaking the posts up and marking each date change. Even after only a few days, it's starting to get jumbled together in my head, so doing it this way will help me just as much as it will help you when reading it.

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Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Departure from Cleveland via Newark. Max fortunately fell asleep for 4 hours.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

This small amount of sleep was helpful since our hotel rooms for the first night weren't ready when we arrived.

He entertained us in the airport...

...and we all tried to distract ourselves with scattered artistic pieces.

When the room was ready, we slept for 2 hours and slowly woke ourselves up for the rest of the day.

Later that evening, cousins Nino and Rosalba stopped by the hotel to say hello.

We chatted with them a bit...

...before eating a picturesque (yet mediocre) meal at the hotel and going to bed.

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Friday, June 12, 2015

The kind people at Hertz gave me an Audi that fortunately had just enough room to fit our luggage.

We arrived at our villa in Lucca...

...where we could cook...

...lounge...

...sleep...

...and enjoy the outside.

Outside is where we met Bombay the cat...

...our house toad...

...and an occasional snail.

After a bit of settling in, we took off to the store...

...nabbing some zucchini flowers...

...and some interesting octopus slices...

...and prepared a nice picnic dinner for our first night in Lucca.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

told at Deagan's with the Ohio Blogging Association

Last night, OBA (Ohio Blogging Association) bloggers met at Deagan's in Lakewood, where I got to enjoy a magical dish of duck confit with root vegetables...

...and participate in our own private show of told CLE.

Operated by Dave Sobol, told is...

...a live storytelling event in Cleveland, Ohio. At each live show, featured storytellers and audience members take the stage to tell a story around the evening’s theme. (from told CLE website).

At the event, the following bloggers were present...

Jill Grunenwald - theyearofthephoenix.com

Holly Hammersmith - hollyhammersmith.com

Jessie Schoonover - blog.beessential.com

David Cunix - againreally.com

Julie and Stuart Smith - sosassociates.com

Alicia Hansen - poiseinparma.com

Michelle Bibb and Ulfet Ozyabagligil - cvilfoodlab.com and chefs-garden.com

Jen Rome - whycle.wordpress.com

...and many of us took turns telling interesting tales.

It was great seeing everyone, meeting new friends, eating some fan-tas-tic duck, and hearing some great tales!

If you've never been at a told event, I seriously recommend it.

Public speaking has never been so much fun!

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Memorable Food in the Past 12 Months

I have gotten so bad lately with documenting some of my many adventures, so I thought I would at least give you a "catch-up" in some of my more memorable dishes of the past 12 months (February 2014-February 2015).

Of course, there are some things not listed and sometimes this is due to previously written posts...so check the archives (there really aren't that many).

Here you go...

Escargots at Le Bistro du Beaujolais (Olmsted Falls, OH)

Such buttery deliciousness with flaky pastries. I could eat this every day!

*****

The "HULK" at SuperChef's (Columbus, OH)

This green waffle sandwich has eggs, American cheese, sausage, candied bacon, syrup and little sugar crystals. I tried to pick this up with my hands on the first bite. Big mistake. This is a fork and knife dish.

*****

Kristian's Combo at ZINC Brasserie (Sandusky, OH)

I ordered the Steak Tartar with capers, anchovy, and shallots...

...and it became truly memorable when I added it to the wood-fired pizza. I may have even added some sauteed spinach to it. Can't remember exactly, but it was sooooo good.

*****

Specialty Pizza from Samosky's (Valley City, OH)

This had sausage, dried cranberries, feta, spinach and cheese. It was a great pizza!

*****

Cincinnati Chili at Gold Star Chili (Georgetown, KY)

This was my first experience with Cincy chili and some of you may be disappointed that I didn't get it in Ohio, nor from Skyline, but I later remedied that. I personally can't tell a difference - I love them both.

*****

Hot Chicken from Hattie B's (Nashville, TN)

Sweet mother! Hot chicken is awesome, especially with some honey drizzled on it. I think I've had hot chicken once or twice outside of Nashville (because it's become a thing to do), and it has come nowhere close to this time at Hattie B's. I seriously recommend it!

*****

Cremestick from Kiedrowski's (Amherst, OH)

When it all comes down to it, I love cremesticks with the sweet cream. You can keep your no-filling or custard-filled long johns. You can even keep your bacon maple bars if you're not going to fill them.

This is the donut that brings it home. This is what makes the extra 2 miles on the treadmill worth it.

*****

Stuffed Avocado at Sushiko (Worthington, OH)