Just a reminder, each week I will be posting the Mediterranean Recipe Of The Week on my new website, The Leftover Queen. This week, in honor of Cugine’s will be Pomegranate Granita - An adult version of a snow cone! I hope you will join me there!
Nestled away in a tiny shopping center, lies a hidden gem. If refreshing summer flavors or a piece of New York City are what you are craving, then you cannot miss a visit to Cugine’s Italian Ice, in Ocala, Florida. Owners, Jason and Kimberly, opened this shop full of New York delicacies about nine months ago. Everything in their shop from Italian Ice to Cannoli and New York Style Hot Pretzels are all imported from the Big Apple. Nothing reproduced here; it is all the real deal.
Continue Reading »
In the spirit of getting to know my new home state better and write about it for all to enjoy, we were forced yet again to go off exploring. I know such a hardship. We decided this time to go for a coastal jaunt to Cedar Key, Florida as it is less than two hours drive and because this past weekend they were having an Art Festival, the 41st Annual Old Florida Celebration of the Arts. Cedar Key is the perfect place for a day trip. From the Ocala area, it is an easy drive west, through beautiful country roads. However once you arrive, the country feeling leaves and you are greeted with pure island ambiance.
Continue Reading »
I have a great announcement!
The food segments on this blog have become so popular and people have been making recipes I have posted on this site with such frequency that I have decided to start another blog that is entirely food related!
As everyone can see from this blog, I am very passionate about cooking, as much as traveling. So in order to not over run TravelCloseup with recipes and food related posts, I have decided to branch out. I have been working on the new site for about a month, posting recipes and getting it all ready for everyone to use.
The new site The Leftover Queen focuses on my passion for creative cooking. Basically looking at your fridge and pantry full of leftovers and deciding how you can put them together to make beautiful food fast, inexpensively and with an ethnic flair.
My hope is that it will become an interactive website where people will post comments about the recipes they tried on the site and how they liked them or changed ingredients so that other people can be inspired to try something different with ingredients they have.
I also share ingredients I feel are essential to have in your fridge and pantry so you are always prepared to make a delicious meal!
So starting now the Mediterranean Recipe of the Week will be on my New Website
But all restaurant reviews and food I come across in my travels will continue to be posted here.
The recipe this week is Pita Pizzas . Hope you enjoy it and enjoy what the Leftover Queen has to offer!
YUM YUM!
This week is restaurant week, so in the spirit of that we will be talking about restaurants in Italian. Namely, how to get to one when you
Ha fame (ah fah-meh) — Are Hungry….
Continue Reading »
Last week we didn’t feel like cooking. I know unbelievable, right? But it is true. Some days, just like everyone else in America, I feel like going out for a slice of pizza. We (Roberto especially) have been on a quest for a good slice since we moved to Florida.
We heard that there was another Famous Pronto Pizza opening soon in the Heathbrook Shopping Center (off route 200, Ocala, FL for the Florida locals), so we decided to check it out.
It feels like restaurant week on this blog! But lately, I guess I have been trying to get out more, and talk to more people in the restaurant business. I suppose this is the second phase of trying to get my name out there as a Professional Foodie.
I try to stay away from doing reviews of chain restaurants. I much more enjoy the flavor and creativity of local places that are doing their own thing with food. However, we do enjoy going to Hops Grill & Brewery (route 200, Ocala, FL), and since we are not originally from Florida, we didn’t know until this past week that it is a chain!
Continue Reading »
My girl Rachael Ray has been getting a lot of flack lately, and I may get a lot of flack for writing this, but o’well, I am going to say it anyway! Seems that yet another talented, tough, hard working girl just got too famous for where some say she is supposed to be – she’s in the top of the cooking industry and she’s not even a real trained chef at that – blasphemy! Well I can admit that sometimes she is too hyper for my taste and perhaps she is a bit gruff and speaks her own language of abbreviations and short cuts which can annoy and confuse, but honestly, when I think about it, those personality quirks are outweighed by the many things I like about her.
Continue Reading »
In honor of Rachael Ray and her easy way of cooking, it is only natural that this week’s Product Of The Week is her very first cookbook,
30-Minute Meals
Since we are talking about food this week, I think it is important to know the basics when it comes to place settings in Italian. So here we have it:
Il Piatto (eel pee-ah-to)— The Plate
La Forchetta (la four-ket-ta)—The Fork
Il Cotello (eel kohl-tello) – The Knife
Il Cucchiaio (eel kook-kee-eye-oh)—The Spoon
Il Tovagliolo (eel toh-vahl-yoh-loh) –The Napkin
Now if only we could all eat our meals here, that would just be the icing on the cake as they say!
Since we have all been drooling over the delicious Clams Marinara I had at Sammy’s Restaurant in Ocala, I thought it would be appropriate to post a recipe for clams and tomato sauce so we can all try making it at home! Buon Divertimento!
Continue Reading »
We had some wonderful out of town guests visiting us this week, and so we decided to take them to a family favorite:
Sammy’s Italian Restaurant in Ocala, Florida .
It is in a strip mall and looks like a hole in the wall from the outside, but once you go inside, you are greeted with the Sicilian flag, painted murals on the walls and the wafting smells of good home-style Italian food cooking away in the kitchens.
Continue Reading »
I am addicted to my new caffettiera, an Italian made stovetop espresso machine.
The Bialetti Moka Express Stovetop Espresso Maker
It is just as easy to use as a coffee pot, even more simple. Just fill the lower compartment with water and the filter with coffee grinds, stick it on the stove, and let the heat do the magic.
Continue Reading »
These adorable, festive Easter breads have been a tradition in my family for as far back as anyone can remember. My great Aunt Sylvia, who was a Master Baker and originally from Abruzzi, is the one we remember as the inventor of these breads . My Aunt Carol (Her daughter) thinks it must have a connection to traditional Italian Easter Breads that were blessed at church. However the bunnies themselves were always intended for children and were never blessed at church. She is not sure where the recipe came from, but Aunt Sylvia and her sisters always made them, and now, so do we!
They are an event to make, so give yourself an afternoon to make them. They are cute and so memorable! Make them a tradition in your family too!
Continue Reading »
I am not even sure I know exactly what a Meme is - but Sognatrice asked all of her foodie buddies to join her in this. I guess I qualify, so here it goes!
1. Can you cook? If yes do you like to cook?
I can and I absolutely LOVE it!
2. When does your whole family come together to eat?
Well we live fairly close to our relatives, so we usually get together every month for a big ol’ family dinner. But immediate family, everyday, unless there is something special going on!
3. What do you have for breakfast?
Coffee! I just got a caffettiera, a little stovetop espresso machine and it is wonderful! To go with it I normally have something bready - like toast or an english muffin. On rare occassions I will have a smoothie. Hmm…maybe I should start thinking about an espresso smoothie!
Continue Reading »
Photos by Michelle DiPiazza and Luke Sawh
Check out this trip of a lifetime. Arrive in London, travel by motorcycle around London through the Midlands up to Newcastle, back to London. Then hop a plane to Naples and explore Southern Italy and the Islands by train, ferry and foot. This is the trip my cousin Michelle and her boyfriend Luke took this past summer and it was amazing! Luke is originally from England and our family finds its roots in Southern Italy and Sicily. So it was a “going home” adventure for both of them – one they will remember for a lifetime. Continue Reading »
Buona Pasqua! (Bwona Pas-kwa)
Happy Easter!
This cake recipe will make people think you bought it at a European Bakery. It is beautiful, fresh, festive and delicious. The best part is it is SIMPLE to make!
Continue Reading »
This is my favorite book on Italian cookery. It is a guide to all the classics of Italian food. From lasagna to risotto and tiramisu this guide features easy step-by-step directions with pictures for almost all the steps involved in the recipe. I have used this cookbook numerous times and everything always turns out the way it should. I haven’t made one recipe from this book that was not a hit! Continue Reading »
Due to the large amount of interest on this topic, I have posted the article I wrote for Brave New Traveler. Some of you have already read it, but at the bottom of the article I have posted some updates which were sent to me today from Black Mesa Indigenous Support Group - the group that helped me set up my trip to the Rez, as many of you requested ways you can help.
Thank you everyone for your support on this issue, and I impart everyone to do what you can to help! Continue Reading »
Jenn’s Travel Close Up
Subscribe in a reader
