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By J.Ho, August 17, 2010 6:08 pm

Mozzarella Stuffed Garlic Bread … Or is it a wicked awesome Italian cheese sandwich?  Call it what you want, but this just oozes with flavor and texture.  I recently saw this recipe for Garlic Bread Revisited online and thought I would try it, with a few twists of course.

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Mix the butter, garlic, basil, parsley, paprika, lemon juice, salt and pepper together in a small bowl.  Make 1-inch thick slices into the bread, but do not go all the way through, just to the bottom crust. Put a teaspoon or two of the butter mixture between each slice along with a few slices of the fresh mozzarella.

Wrap the bread in aluminum foil and heat for 20 minutes in the oven.  Remove from the foil and place under the broiler for 2-4 minutes.  Just until it starts to brown and crisp.  Let cool for about five minutes and cut up and serve immediately.  Wicked, wicked, wicked good.  You can add any kind of seasoning you want.  Next time I’ll add a pinch or two of hot red pepper flakes to the butter mixture to spice things up a bit. Caio bella!!! Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, August 16, 2010 11:19 am

So yesterday I needed some comfort food in a wicked bad way. I did a cursory Google search and immediately came up with an awesome simple beef stroganoff recipe from Simply Recipes.  This is an outstanding site with outstanding recipes. I’ve been following this site for a long, long time.

As usual, I added my on twists to the ingredient lineup and changed things up a bit.  This is my ingredient lineup:

See the original recipe here and follow the instructions.  I made a few changes … First off I chopped a slice of bacon and browned it in the pan before adding the butter. Instead of cutting the beef into thin slices I diced the it into ¾-inch cubes.  Mix the flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper and onion powder then dredge the steak in the seasoned flour and brown quickly in the butter.  Other than that and switching out the tarragon for thyme, my version is relatively the same.  I definitely needed to thin everything out after adding the sour cream.  I figure mine was too thick since I added flour to the beef.  Flour always makes things thicker.  I also added some fresh chopped Italian parsley.  Love that stuff.

Thank you Simply Recipes and never forget, Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, July 20, 2010 1:07 pm

Sometimes something totally awesome runs you over like a freight train and you never saw it coming. That’s what happened to me at Trattoria Bella Mia in Beverly, MA.  I went there to wait for a friend, have a beer and some quiet time to go over some work … what I got was so much more.

I moved to the area about five years ago from California.  I lived for a few years in Hamilton and now I’m in Beverly Farms.  I’d say about 50% of my bar hopping and restaurant outings occur in Beverly. And even then, I frequent very few places.  I go to the places I like and know will serve me well.  I’ve probably driven past Bella Mia a few thousand times and never really thought to try it out.  A while ago someone kept telling me to give this place a try.  Well, this person is a maniac, so I never really paid the recommendation much mind.

So like a week or two ago I decide to walk in and see what this place is all about.  It was pretty much dead.  I slid up to the bar, ordered a beer and watched some sports for a while and then scrammed.  A couple days later I do the same thing.  While I was there a friend called and asked me where I was.  I say, “Bella Mia on Cabot!” … They had no idea where this place was even through they lived about 100 yards away.  So I go meet them at another place and I head back to Bella Mia a few days later.  Same thing, kind slow.  I drink a few beers, watch some sports and leave.

This was going to be my new hide out. It’s perfect. It’s right in the middle of everything in Beverly, but no one knows it’s there. I could go there, chill out in peace and be left alone. No one is going to find me!  Life is grand.

So I was invited by a new friend to a Pan-Massachusetts Challenge cancer fundraiser cocktail party last week at Bella Mia.  Since this is my new hide-out I figured I better get to know the locals there. They put out some fried chicken tenders, pizza, stuffed mushrooms and shrimp cocktail as appetizers. All of it awesome!  I knew no one at the cocktail party and wasn’t really in the mood to mingle, but I had some beers and chilled out in the peripheral.  The crowd seemed pretty cool and I knew I would get to know this place very well in the future.  What really struck me is that at the restaurant I briefly met what has to be one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  Seriously. Not kidding.

Well, back to the lecture at hand. Last night I went back to my hide-out to sip some brews in peace.  I decided to take a look at the menu and order up something since I was wicked, wicked staaahvin.  I decided on the Veal Florentina.  I love my vitello.  Some people don’t eat veal cuz they hear of all the inhumane treatment a baby cow goes through before it becomes a grilled veal chop.  I love animals. Really.  However, baby cow is just soooooo good.

The food comes … tender veal sautéed in wine with mushrooms and spinach covered in perfectly melted fresh mozzarella cheese.  Wow.  Amazing!  Oh, lets not forget the side of fresh house-made fusilli pasta smothered in a very fresh tasting robust marinara sauce.  I was in heaven.  I mean HEAVEN.  The food tasted so fresh and delicious I just couldn’t get over it.

I believe the key to my enjoyment of this meal was it’s simplicity.  I could vividly taste every ingredient in the dish.  Simple satisfaction is always a worthy goal.  Simple, delicious and amazing meal.  The veal was tender, the wine sauce was savory, the mushrooms were cooked perfectly and the spinach was just divine!  It seemed as if every ingredient amplified the pure, natural, intense flavors of all the others.

I guess I’m giving up my new hiding place by telling everyone I know about it’s total awesomeness.  I cannot in good conscience keep my mouth shut about Bella Mia.  I also can’t imagine not eating here at least once a week for next ten years or more.  This is a charming neighborhood restaurant that should be a lot busier than it is.

Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, June 23, 2010 8:39 am

Why use canned clams if you live in clam country, people ask me all the time.  Cause it’s cheap and easy!  This is a perfect mid-week, inexpensive, simple and amazingly delicious meal.

1 pound dried linguine
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 (6-ounce) cans of chopped or minced clams with their juice
½ cup dry white wine
¼ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
¼ cup freshly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
Juice of ½ a lemon
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large sauté pan heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and slowly cook, stirring, until slightly golden, about 5 minutes. Or sweat the garlic in the olive oil for about ten minutes.  Add the clams with their juice, wine, red pepper flakes, butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper (keep in mind that the clams are quite salty on their own). Stir, reduce the heat to a simmer, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Sometimes I like it a tad thicker than usual and I take about level tablespoon of flour and mix it in a small amount of wine.  Add a small amount of the flour/wine mixture to the sauce and stir. till you get your desired thickness.

Now, when you add the wine, make sure you use a good quality dry wine such as a nice Chardonnay. Use something that you would actually drink. Don’t be stupid and use one of those “cooking wines” that you’ll find at the grocery store. They suck.  they suck bad. If you wouldn’t drink the wine out of a glass, why the hell would you cook with it?

Cook the linguine while reserving about ½ cup cooking water. Tip for cooking linguine: add 4-6 quarts of cold water to a large pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Add about ½ tablespoon of salt. Always wait till the water is boiling before adding the salt. If you add the salt before the water boils, the salt crystals will not dissolve immediately and can damage your pot. Stirring occasionally, cook for 8-10 minutes or so, no longer than 12 minutes.  I like my pasta sub-al dente, so 8 minutes is good for me.  Drain the pasta and immediately add it to the sauce along with the chopped parsley to the sauce and mix well, adding a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water if needed to coat the pasta evenly. Cover and cook for about a minute. Serve immediately. This dish is pairs perfectly with a bottle of Spanish Albariño.

I measured out the ingredients to have a little more sauce than most people would use. I like my pasta swimming in sauce. If you would like to regulate it better, add drained pasta to your serving dishes and spoon sauce over the top to get the volume you like.  I could eat this three or four times a week.

Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, March 23, 2010 1:02 pm

I haven’t posted in forever, but had to share this experience …

Emma’s Pizza – Kendall Square – Cambridge

Hell, I even Yelped it. Check out the mirror post HERE.

WOW. I’ve been all over the world and have never been treated this rudely by a restaurant staff. I checked out this place today on the recommendation of a friend. I was by myself and wanted a good thin crust pizza and a peaceful place to read my paper as I ate.

Good pizza, not outstanding, but simple thin crust pizza. Wonderful, right? Well, the place only had one other seated party other than myself. And maybe a couple at the counter getting slices. I get a call on my cel phone and talk for a couple minutes with a friend of mine. the music in the place was so freakin loud I could barely hear the caller.

What I did hear, because he practically screamed at me was some guy in a red shirt yelling … “TAKE THAT PHONE CALL OUTSIDE NOW!!! WE DON’T ALLOW CEL PHONE CALLS IN HERE. GO OUTSIDE!!!”

Not kidding. My waitress had walked by my table a few times while I was on the call and said nothing. Then all of a sudden I feel like I’m being oppressed by the Taliban. I simply hung up and finished the rest of my pizza. I wasn’t all that mad, I just thought the guy was a miserable clown. Gotta feel sorry for people like that. Then he kept giving me dirty looks over the next few moments. I was going to say something, but I wasn’t in the mood for an argument.

Then I thought of leaving a light tip. Then again, why should this clown make the waitress suffer. I asked for my check and the waitress said, “Yeah, sure!” in a totally snotty voice. That did it.

I have to say, today was the first time in my ENTIRE life I didn’t leave a tip for table service. First time EVER! Actually, I did leave behind a well worn copy of today’s herald if anyone wanted to read it.

As I left I looked for any sign or notice of any sort prohibiting cel phone calls in the restaurant. Nada. I guess they figure you must be a mind reader. I’m all about manners and such and I rarely use cel phones in restaurants. But this is not a restaurant. It’s a pizza shop. Nothing more. Just a pizza shop with a cute paint job. They have a walk up counter and they are acting like they are L’Espalier.

The pizza was pretty good, but an absolutely miserable staff. It was a simple phone call. No need to yell at me. All they had to was ask kindly. I guess they are above all that. Might be a good idea if they turned the music down a bit so people can hear themselves think.

I haven’t been on Yelp in a while, but a clown show like Emma’s is what it takes sometimes to get motivated. I’m working on a new project in the area and will be visiting many Kendall Square eateries for the foreseeable future. I’m making sure I tell everyone of my experience at Emma’s.

Peace out! Yankees suck!  Emma’s Pizza too.

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By J.Ho, December 3, 2009 4:43 pm

Last night Rachael Ray was texting me all upset still over Martha Stewart slamming her in a Nightline interview a week or so ago. I exported the text from my iPhone using a non-Apple approved app. Check it …

—————————————-

RaRay: hi JamieCakes!!!

J.Ho: hi SugarBum, wasup?

RaRay: I can’t believe this shit!!!

J.Ho: ???

RaRay: Did you see what that tw@ Martha Stewart said about me on Nightline?

J.Ho: Like I watch Nightline!?!?!

RaRay: Yeah, anyway, she went off on me saying how I admitted to her once that I don’t know how to bake. Is that news to anyone? Haaaarow?!?!?

J.Ho: LOL!! I know only a few things as fact. It will get dark tonight. Monday comes after Sunday. and you can’t bake! I’m not much or a baker either. Who actually bakes anyways?

RaRay: That’s not all … she said my new cookbook is just a compilation of old, re-editied recipes.

J.Ho: Get the fuck outta here

RaRay: Seriously

J.Ho: Ummm, aren’t all recipes pretty much re-edits of older recipes?

RaRay: TOTALLY!!! There hasn’t been an original cookbook published since like the 20s

J.Ho: The Giada De Laurentiis cookbook “Everyday Italian” was pretty original

RaRay: FUCK YOU!

J.Ho: …..

RaRay: I’m all wound up and you’re makin fuckin jokes

J.Ho: Sorry, you still love me though

RaRay: Anyway, then she goes on saying how she writes books that are lasting, unique things that everyone would want in their library. BULLSHIT!

J.Ho: I was just at Costco and saw a book of hers on the discount table titled, “Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home” … yeah, everything but your husband and daughter!!!

RaRay: Yeah, total family woman. Her ex-husband hopes she starts bleeding out of her eyes and her daughter wouldn’t have anything to do with her until she bought her a nice little private jet

J.Ho: d-bag!

RaRay: And she says I’m just an entertainer, not a “teacher” like her. Ummm, and her point is?

J.Ho: Where has she been?

RaRay: LOCK UP!!! THAT’S WHERE!!!

J.Ho: LOL, what makes her think you’re an entertainer? Was it your 52 TV shows? Or your Daytime Emmys?

RaRay: God I swear every time that old goat opens her mouth a cloud of dust puffs out.

J.Ho: Don’t worry about it. She’s just jealous. Total jelly! She needs some peanut butter cause she’s so jelly!

RaRay:

J.Ho: Look, she has no personal life, her own family hates her, she’s been in lock down, her company’s valuation is in the toilet and she has no idea how to relate to the public. She made a career on telling women how to be wonderful little homemakers. That shit doesn’t fly nowadays.

RaRay: No shit!

J.Ho: And if she’s gonna try to get noticed again, the only thing she can do is to talk shit and compare herself to the ruler of the universe, which is you, BubbleButt! It won’t work.

RaRay: You’re totally right. I just responded by saying, “Yeah, you cook better than me, Martha. C-ya!”

J.Ho: Smooth

RaRay: What are you doing tonight?

J.Ho: Daaaaahts!

RaRay: Where are you playing?

J.Ho: Lucky Dog, probably

RaRay: Sweet, I gotta run. I have nine more books I have to finish writing by tomorrow afternoon. Copy/Paste, Copy/Paste!!!! Oh, I saw Taylor Swift the other day. She couldn’t stop raving about the mix CD you made for her.

J.Ho: I put a lot of thought into that CD. Especially the order of the playlist.

RaRay: Does she know about us?

J.Ho: Clueless!

RaRay: Sweet! … bye!

J.Ho: Peace

RaRay: Hug hug, kiss kiss, hug hug, big kiss, little hug, kiss kiss, little kiss

J.Ho: Ok, Nacho!

RaRay: Yankees suck!

J.Ho: God, I love you!

RaRay:

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By J.Ho, November 24, 2009 8:08 am

‘Tis the season to be hammered … I can’t get enough Coquito during the holidays.  Actually, two glasses is enough for me at one sitting.  It packs a serious Latin punch.  J.Ho tested … J.Ho approved !!!

1 cup Coco Lopez cream of coconut
1 cup Carnation sweetened condensed milk
1 cup Carnation evaporated milk
1 cup white rum
1 cup water
3 cinnamon sticks
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg yolks, well beaten
ground cinnamon and nutmeg

Combine the coconut, condensed and evaporated milks and the rum in a blender or a food processor.  Set aside.  Boil the water with the cinnamon sticks for about five minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.  Discard the cinnamon sticks.

Combine all of the ingredients except the ground cinnamon and nutmeg and beat well in a blender or food processor in batches.  Pour eggnog into bottles and refrigerate until ready to use. Serve in your favorite glasses sprinkled with nutmeg and cinnamon … with a dash of Yankees Suck!