Boxing Day

Today is a day of recovery, whether its from the nonsense of family gatherings, overwhelming amounts of gifts, stuffing your face with rich over indulgent food, or even an eggnog hangover, you should all be inside watching that glorious snow fall.  I know Frankie and I are in fat pants at our respective homes, most likely watching Food Network...atleast I definitely am.  I think Ive seen one episode of Iron Chef 8 times in one week...you know the one where Morimoto make a smoker out of ICE! Lets not forget the one where Robert Irvine and Butter Queen Paula Dean join the fun in a holiday sugar battle.  Currently airing from 2008, Jamie Oliver (a fellow Brit) is battling Iron Chef Mario Batali.  In Olivers into, his accomplishments were mentioned many of which revolving around organic foods, from the farm to the table, or rather from your backyard to your table, he also, apparently, has started movements both home and abroad to limit "junk food" in schools and promote more healthy eating.  Whats wrong with good, clean, FRESH food?! Not a damn thing.  I am personally in favor of "clean" eating.  More people should cook at home, thats really what this Blog promotes  ADVENTURES IN COOKING!  Don't you want to know what you and your family is consuming? Control your own portions? Your budget?!  For the New Year 2011, Frankie, our friends, and myself invite you to join us and cook what ever your little hearts desire, try new foods, wander through your supermarkets! Stop and smell the aromas of garlic, onions and steak emanating from your kitchens... Make it feel like home. Be well, stay warm.


P.s dont get me wrong, going out is wicked fun too...Especially really nice food.

Merry Effing Christmass

mini brie en croute

So as we hope most of you have seen Christmas Vacation, featuring the Griswald Family.  My nightmare is to make a turkey that looks beautiful, then when the moment of truth comes and its finally being cut into it...its nothing but a dry puff of steam that results in turkey jerky.  So what do we decided to do.. make 8 Cornish Hens for our friends at Christmas.

Ladies and Gents we've grown in our culinary skills! Brie en Croute, Sticky Toffee Puddings, Broccoli Rabe and Pimms Cups will be in store! Any one know of a good "nut flavored Liqueur"?

On a side note...Frankie and I feel it is important to get out there and support our local, and not so local restaurants here are our recommendations for places while youre out holiday shopping...

1 Tulas in New Brunswick on Easton Ave
2. White Rose, best for quick awesome burger, Main St/Woodbridge Ave in Highland Park
3. Pithari for great BYOB Greek, also Main St. in Highland Park
4. China House for "homey" chinese take out in Metuchen
5. Planet Chicken in Dunellen
6. L'Ecoles the restaurant for FCI in Soho
7. De Lorenzos Tomato Pie in Robbinsville...Pizza and Salad only Folks
8. Sushi King on Princeton/Hightstown Rd, East Windsor...Try something New! Sushi means RICE!
9. I Spice for reasonably prices Indian... ( trust us, it wont up set your tummy!)
10. Dusals on Ryders Lane in Milltown...white pizza that will definitely end up all over your face....(thats what she said..)


Try them out, let us know what you think or add to our list!

Happy Holidays!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Sorry for our very long absence, we apologize for leaving you without a word.  However the season of over indulging, over spending, and of course over eating is upon us.  I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving, we most certainly did!  Frankie and I created a meal to be envied by those of you who had to pre order from Boston Market and listen to your moms and aunts bicker over whos pie came out the best.  Though we had the small usual group, we only had to make a turkey breast basted and seasoned to perfection with sides including mashed potatos from Giada comprised of mozzarella and parmasean cheese and pancetta, green beans with almonds.  For starters we had to go back to the seasonal favorite curried sweet potato soup, and a homemade spinach and artichoke dip also including bacon.  Sorry Robin, we will always need to add bacon.  P.s look forward to a Bacon only post.
This was the one time we did not make dessert, but it was provided by Frankies mom and Robins homemade pumpkin pie. 

Coming up, yet another evening of free food for our friends and family.  A "CHARLES" DICKENS CHRISTMAS.  This will hopefully be complete with cornish hens. and sticky toffee pudding. 

To everyone, we hope you realize the importance of family and friends.  Take the opportunity to spend time with your families and Try to enjoy their company.  Eat Drink and Merry.

Turkey...

SlapsGiving....It's on! Happy Thanksgiving!


All the best,

Sami and Frankie

Crab Cakes and Scene It

Recently, to celebrate Halloween like grown ups and Frankies return, we made dinner and had multiple drinks!  However it was one of those nights when we definetly should have prepped the main course before guests actually showed up.  We had planned to make Crab Cakes with a slightly spicy roumalade, a London Broil panini with Camembert cheese, horseradish and garlic aoli with spinach, then for dessert an Irish Car Bomb Cupcake with Baileys Irish Cream icing.  The meal got as far as the Crab Cakes.  It would have been a sadder evening if the Crab cakes did not turn out so Effing amazing!  The sauce was a hit and really complimented the cakes.  Not only were they fantastic, but thier essembly was astonishing.  We did not argue, physically or mentally hurt the other person, and didnt run out of ingredients and it did not end up with tears in the frying oil.  It went over without a hitch and so we celebrated the rare moment with a cool beer. All in all a good night of Crab cakes, avoiding Trick or Treaters and Scene It.

So much food, so little time

Ladies and Gentleman, sorry for the delay (almost a month...we know) since we've written.  But our time as been filled with food, chaos, more food..and the pair being separated by a trip to Hawaii (hope you're on a beach)!  In September, like we had mentioned earlier, we did get to cook for a shift of the New Brunswick Fire Department, not without its laughs and spills..and near fires, but HEY we were in the right place!  We tried some oldies but goodies for them as well as some new sides, like a spicy cole slaw ( that they did attempt to remake)  as well as some sweet potato fries which unfortunately turned into sweet potato mash.  It was a great night, that earned us some sweet NBFD T-shirts.

THEN! came the event of embarrassment and catering experience of the year....Frank and I were hired/volunteered to help do a catering job for a nice chunk of change.  However, there was a catch...we had to wear traditional German dress, yes, we were working an Oktoberfest!!! It was great, a lot of hard work and running around looking like fools and offering up traditional German appetizers like kielbasa, sauerkraut balls with crab meat and pretzels with a variety of mustards.  There was a massive amount of food, including desserts of German descent, that we all took trays and trays of food home.

We are looking for our next dinner party idea or suggestion for something to make, feel free to share!


Again, sorry for the delay, and thanks for hanging out if youve been waiting!  And a special thank you to all the guys at New Brunswick Fire Department and my big brother Sean for helping us out.

x

Events of the Week

This past weekend was an eventful one.  We concluded the weekend with a dinner consisting of cheesey goodness, Brie and Carmelized Onions Fondue, savory Filet Mignon wrapped in Bacon with sauteed spinach and parmasean cheese (more cheesey goodness), then finished it off with a Caramel Apple Cake.

This night much like any other could have easily made us stop talking to eachother and ended in tears. HOWEVER we pulled it through and learned another valuable lesson...SPLENDA IS NOT REAL SUGAR. Splenda does not make caramel, INFACT it make rock hard candy while still in a skillet. Unbelievable.  Thank you Robin for trying but splenda is just crap.  Sweet, crap.  It refused to dissolve or even brown!  Frank was close to giving up, but i was determined! I drove, though probably not the best idea, down to the local Shop Rite for the real thing.  All in all the meal was a success, (even though Robin refused to try our delicate spinach) it turned out well...

HOWEVER! Tomorrow, Friday the 24th Frank and I have the opportunity to cook for the Brave Firefighters of New Brunswick!  My oldest brother is a member of the New Brunswick Fire Co. and got approval from the Chief to let us cook for him and the rest of his crew.  This is an honor for us, and a chance for us to show appreciation to theses brave guys.  And a chance for me to show my Big Bro what I can really do...assuming it all turns out right. 

Little Italy/Soho/San Gennaro

Last night we ventured into Soho for a night out.  Being excited about the impending Zeppolis we would be enjoying (and inevitably covered in powdered sugar) on the train ride from New Brunswick, we were debating on where to eat.  After deciding that a massive sausage and pepper sandwich would just be too difficult to eat on a crowded street, I came up with Carmines, almost drooling thinking of the HUGE Antipast appetizer, Zezhi said the most fantastic word ever..."L'ecoles",  The French Culinary Institutes restaurant.  A place of sentimental value for me, it was the perfect place to go.  Frankie had never been and I was more than excited to have my best friend share the experience I had almost a year ago.  After making our way to Soho we found out that L'ecoles was completely booked, with 3 remaining seats at the bar, we jumped at the chance.  "L'ecole", french for "school", had the perfect simple ambiance, soft music and the beautiful surroundings of sophisticated, trendy Soho apartments.  We dove into ordering our 5 course meals of appetizers, fish, meal, digestive salad, and dessert.  Artic Char Tartar with a yorkshire pudding, Scallops with a curried cauliflower puree and green apple buerre blanc, Papardelle with mushrooms and pancetta, Salmon with pureed sweet potato, Venison with red wine sauce and cheddar polenta, goat cheese sorbet with pickled plums and arugula, then a german chocolate cake with cherries, a passion fruit baked alaska, and a fig tart all that was absolutely to die for.  It was an experience that was summed up in "Wow...".
 We made our way down to Mulbury St. where the Italians met for their yearly meeting of Zeppolis, sausage and peppers, and "Ah Yo!"'s echoing through multiple wine and powdered sugar covered streets of New York.  The streets were adorned with the symbolic Italian colors of red, white and green with sparkling lights just to literally cap off the atmosphere of the night.

Very, very good weekend.

Rainy Days = Cooking Adventures

Although sunny days can bring on the desire to cook and try new things, rainy days off from work emphasize these feelings even more. With a cup of coffee and a cookbook, ideas start churning. After going through pages and pages of recipes, a menu was created: Linguine with Butter, Pecorino and Spinach followed by Chicken with Mozzarella and Prosciutto in a Sage White Wine sauce. Today, we get to cook for Frankie's brother and his friend. We always look forward to cooking for new people, and sharing our passion with as many people as we can.

Tuesday brings another night of cooking. I, Frankie, get to cook for and catch up with a friend after six long years. He has been supportive of my foodie adventures so we will turn him into one of our guinea pigs for the night. On the menu: Spaghetti with Asparagus, Smoked Mozzarella and Proscuitto. Hopefully, the food will be fantastic. It will be another night of good food and good friends.

Short and sweet

This posting is a prelude to another that I would like to write when Ive got more time... I recently started an Anthropology class, and of course in my mind I find ways to connect food and anthropology.  The sharing of cultures through food...sounds delicious! Kibbeh is an example of this.  For those of who do not know, Kibbeh is a Lebanese dish, consisting of raw lamb, wheat germ, and possibly onions and other seasonings...and it was actually very good, just dont think that youre eating raw meat!
I would like to write more about the experiences we have had with trying new foods and cultures and if any of you have good stories to tell we invite you to share them as well!

This is what happens when Frankie is allowed to write

Hello All,

It has been a busy few days for us so it may seem like we are slipping but we're still here, still thinking about our next menu! While looking through Mario Batali's cookbook, I came across some recipes that I very much want to try out. Although I am intrigued by almost every recipe in that book, his assortment of appetizers really caught my eye. I know that we shouldn't reaalllyy make a whole meal out of appetizers, I think we are going to tweak one of the recipes and change it into a main course. As of right now, the menu consists of:

• Appetizer: Stuffed rice balls, Roman Style
• Main: Egglplant Caponata, with a Toasted Baguette 
• Dessert: Chocolate Hazelnut Fritters

As usual, this meal will be shared with good friends. It will be a great night of eating, drinking and good times.

Pictures (and reviews..hint hint friends!) will follow.

Lesson Learned: Do Not Run Out of Confectioners Sugar

Last night was...a learning experience to say the least.  Between learning how to peel and clean shrimp and keeping food going out of the kitchen it, was an awesome night.   Frankie and I altered the menu, yet again, to feature a Chicken sandwich with pancetta, spinach, and a home made garlic aioli, which can be found in Gourmet Meals in Minutes (though it calls for arugula, we opted for something a little more subdued).   The Almost Famous "Bang Bang" Shrimp was fantastic, quite a crowd pleaser...Bonefish got it right...and so did we! And last but not horribly least we attempted to make the Molten Lava Cake.  I say attempted because it crashed and burned.  WORD OF ADVICE: DO NOT RUN OUT OF INGREDIENTS!! Frankie and I ran out of confectioners sugar. My bright idea was to just add more flour...this apparently does NOT work with a lava cake. You will have NO LAVA.  Not to mention the fact we over baked them because they didnt look done after the required 14 minutes of bake time.

But on the up side we think that everyone enjoyed themselves, playing poker, having a few drinks (& shots of cheap tequilla with a very yellow Lemon, thank you Robin it was very good!) and food food food!!!  Music blaring and laughter round the table that could be heard from the grill outside.

With that, Frankie and I will be hosting another dinner within the next few weeks!

From 5lbs, yes 5 lbs of shrimp, we peeled and prepped them,
with extra left over from the "Bang Bang" we made a cocktail
at the end, only 3 shrimp remained. 

Things to do:

• Plan a schedule for food service
• Make sure all ingredients are present and accounted for!
• maybe get some paper plates...
• Get atleast a six pack of  beer!

Thank you everyone that came.

Moroccan Lemon Chicken with Mango Chutney and Coconut Rice

This evening Frankie, Zezhi and I were searching through the Gourmet Meals in Minutes by the Culinary Institute of America and found Moroccan Lemon Chicken.  It was a collaboration of the three of us and it came out fantastic.  Mind you with some bickering on the part of Zezhi and I, arguing who will make the chutney and who is doing the chicken,he even got me to stomp my foot like a five year old, it eventually came  together.  Frankie elegantly swooped in and began making the dessert... Molten Lava Cake with cayenne which can be found on foodnetwork.com.  We tend to get excited over our productions, so the dancing and clapping while kneeling and staring hard into the oven is not uncommon...sad but true.

Don't be fooled, though we will reference cookbooks and foodnetwork.com frequently, we will feature our own recipes.  suggestions are greatly appreciated, tell us your favorite meals and we will attempt them (of course with the feedback to you).   

First Poker Night

This Friday Frankie and I are going to be hosting a small poker night for a friends birthday.  It works out perfectly, considering we don't know how to play poker we get to cook!  We've spent atleast 3 days trying to come up with a menu of  "pub grub" and so far this is what we've come up with:

• Almost Famous "Bang Bang" Shrimp
• Cordon Bleu "Chickie" Sliders
• Flank Steak with Roast Potatoes & Veggies
• Dessert.

Dessert will remain a surprise until Friday night! Photos will follow.  

Theres nothing more exciting to us than having the opportunity to create something exciting, tasty and memorable for our friends, and hopefully make it a special night of food and drink...and gambling.

The Intro

This is the very first posting of our very first blog.   We are Frankie and Sami, two foodies from the Central Jersey area looking to share our experiences with food, cooking and the chaos that comes with it.  The goal is to open a restaurant of our own, built from scratch and filled with food we love.  While working together on an almost daily basis, all we do is think of menus and food we want to make after work.   Cooking is our passion, our escape from the normal stresses of the post collegiate lifestyle.
We will share recipes we attempt (good or bad), the menus we create, and the missAdventures we will encounter along the way.  However! we would like your feedback just as much, share with us your favorite recipes and food stories.

Here we go...