Sweet 16....

My daughter turns 16 next week.  It is a bit painful for me.  Aging....not only her aging, but mine.  It is moving so fast.  Too fast.  It hurts that she is going to be in college in two years.  She is a handful, but is still a hilarious, brilliant, clever, beautiful pain in the ass that I really like to be around.  I am just trying to ride it through the bumpy parts.  She is a teenager.  Need I say  more?  She is the first up in "Birthday Alley."  9 days later her brother turns 14,  11 days later John, then Sev and last up...me.

Our birthday celebrations are quiet family affairs.  They choose dinner, no limits, and I execute.  For years Michaela chose matzoh ball soup, doritos, root beer and a chocolate cake.  After our trip to the UK last summer, she moved to chicken and ham pie, mashed potatoes, mushy peas, sparking cider served in ugly crystal glasses and a red velvet cake adorned with Fez's pic.  Manny changes each year.  Fish and chips, tacos, polpettone, or pasta....and a themed chocolate cake (FIFA, Italian Flag, Russian flag...)  Sev was gnocchi for years and years and a "donut" cake (bundt with sprinkles).  Last year it was linguine alla vongole.  John is gnocchi or osso buco and a red velvet cake.  Me?  I want to go out for Vietnamese food and lychee martinis.  I don't want to cook or do dishes on my birthday.  Oh, I want two Brown Betty's cupcakes.  1 red velvet, 1 coconut.

The kids think about their birthday dinners all year round.  We will be in a restaurant in February and one will ask (usually Sev), "Can you make this, mom?  For my birthday dinner."  I can.  You bet your ass I can.  I love cooking for my family.  Michaela's birthday is next week.  Chicken and ham pie menu for our quiet family dinner.  Sev immediately chimed in, "Can you do a boston cream donut cake?"  The kid likes donuts.

16 is a big deal.  In addition to her family birthday, she will go out with some friends.  They will don their sundresses and wear uncomfortable high heels.  She would like sushi at Umai, but it is so tiny.  Maybe Han Dynasty, but she wants something a bit fancy.  John is torturing her and telling her that as long as her brothers attend, she can pick absolutely any restaurant.  She fumes.  John is kidding, but he will not say so.  Her anger is too funny.  She is running out of time.  She needs to decide.


Sixteen...I only have a few more precious years of her daily laughter and eye rolling.

Mad Men Mourning

I am truly sad this morning.  Rest in peace, Lane.  I have very little time to watch television.  In fact, I only watch sporting events.  The Flyers are out.  Sixers are out.  Serie A is done.  Champions League..over.  I enjoy watching the French Open, but am not drawn to the television.  Around Thanksgiving my brother in law, who is a brilliant guy, asked if I watched Mad Men.  I told him that I did not and aside from Downton Abbey and sports, I have no interest in television.  He told me that I would love Mad Men.  He does not own a television.  He knows my taste in books and told me that I should watch it.  I pulled up Netflix, and there it was.  All four seasons.  I watched the first episode.  DAMN YOU JAMES!!!  That was it.  I was hooked after one episode.


So here I am.  A Mad Men addict.  I rarely am able to watch the episodes when they air.  I watched myrecorded Mad Men episode after cleaning up from dinner and waiting for John and Manny's train to arrive.  This morning I found myself overwhelmed with the thought of Lane's suicide.  I am unbelievably sad.  I found fellow mourners on our Facebook page today.  Thank you.  Thank you.  My irrational grief hurts.  So much so, that I have watched this video of my son three times.   If you find yourself in a similar situation, I hope this helps....

Strawberries..... Need I say more?

Ahhh.... Spring.  I think it is safe to say we are in spring and verging on summer.  I love summer flavors.  We just received our first batch of rhubarb.  Strange, so late for us.

This weekend my brother and his beautiful wife and two hilarious kids came to visit.  Only for one day, but it was fantastic.  I had an entire flat of strawberries.  We make so many varieties of gelato and sorbetto with these berries.  I served them strawberry gelato, sorbetto and even made a tiramisu with the strawberries.  It was a bust.  I have to try that again.  We had strawberry pancakes, strawberries with lunch.  It was glorious.

Anywho, these berries will be gone in a hot minute.  Better get yourself a scoop.  I live for these berries.  I eat them until I have a rash.  

Shane Confectionery

The weather was so gorgeous yesterday, I found myself thinking of the beach. I grew up by the beach and I am extremely fair. As I have aged, I found myself to be increasingly intolerant of the sun's rays. It is quite unfortunate, as my husband is of the mediterranean variety, he lives to bakes in the sun. The mere threat of a sunny day causes a darkening of his skin. It is wonderful. When we holiday at the beach, I sit under a large umbrella wearing large glasses, a floppy hat and a gauzy coverup. Clearly I am happy. My kids are not. They want me in the water. I do not love going in the water. I just want to sit and read and listen to my kids laughter and the sound of the waves and seagulls. Beaches are surrounded by wonderful handmade confectionery stores. Think salt water taffy, chocolate, ice cream....

Back on point; I found myself longing for the beach. I was in Old City for a lunch and realized I was a block from Shane's Confectionery. I was a block away from the beach. Shane Confectionery is the sister store to the Franklin Fountain, the genius child of the Berley Brothers. Their commitment is incredibly admirable, as well as delicious. I love their ice cream and their fantastic soda fountain. The employees are dressed in period costumes. I adore it. They took over Shane's and did not abandon tried and true methods of traditional American confection. Bravo, men! I stopped in and bought an enormous box of chocolates. They were excellent. The creamy centers, crisp centers, filled with peanut butter and coconut. This was artistic and childish. What a wonderful combination. You must go. The storefront is exquisitely restored with attention to every detail. What a wonderful experience.

I am so happy to live in a city that this type of commitment exists and thrives. Capogiro is often mentioned in the same sentence as Franklin Fountain and that makes me very proud. If I can make this about me.....

Cali, Cali, Cali....I think so.

During the holidays we took a family trip to our usual New Orleans. This year we decided to start in San Francisco, on to Tahoe, then to Nawlins. It was a quick trip, just to eat in San Fran. We walked and ate, visited with some friends and then were gone. Being that the trip was so condensed, I had to choose wisely. Where to go?

We arrived in San Francisco late. I hate arriving in the dark. My first impression of color and bustle of a city are extremely important. I remember the first time I arrived in Venice. It was extremely late and dark and deserted and cold and well, meh.... When John and I emerged early the next morning, I was hit with the chill of the November air and the colors! It was amazing. I like arriving in daylight.

The kids were exhausted, it was late and they were starving. We quickly jumped into a cab and made our way to Delfina in the Mission. Being exhausted, we did not notice that the pizza place and the restaurant were adjoined, but with separate entrances. Once seated, we realized that pizza did not appear on the menu. When we asked, they directed us next door. We felt like asses, but they assured us they were not annoyed. We walked through the door at 11:01pm to be informed that they stopped serving at 11. Even though we explained that we were sitting next door, nope, no dice. It was okay. We ran back and were served a most delicious dinner. I am happy we did not miss out. I would have been sad. Our waiter was amazing and the food superb. We would return for spectacular pizza in two days time.

The weekend was filled with the Ferry Building, the farmers market, trips to Bi-Rite (excellent) and burritos in the Mission. We had one of the best meals ever at La Ciccia. Spaghetti with bottarga, lamb, clams, it was divine! We spent our day walking around the city and eating. Chinatown was fantastic and a trip to City Lights was mandatory. I purchased some poetry by Bukowski and the kids each purchased a book, while John checked out the cigar stores on the block.

I have the Tartine cookbook. I use it often. We were about to leave the city to drive to Tahoe and I realized that I had not been able to get to Tartine. I told John that this was important to me. It was closed when we went to Delfina for pasta and I was not sure that I could miss Tartine. He agreed and we jumped in a cab. $28 dollars later (he was not pleased) we arrived at the famous bakery. The line snaked around the block. John looked over at a pizza that was just placed on an outdoor table at Delfina. Pizzatime!!! Why not? So what if we had just had lunch with friends in the Barcadero? As we waited outside for our table, Hilary Swank appeared at the door. I leaned over to my 15 year old daughter, "Bean (we call her bean), Hilary Swank is inside."

Bean, "What? Million Dollar Baby Hillary Swank?"

Me, "Yup. She's inside eating carbs."

Bean, "Cool. Do you think I can ask her about acting?"

Me, "No. Please ignore her. Let her eat."

Bean, "But...she's a million dollar baby."

Me, "Everyone deserves to eat pizza unmolested. It should be a law."

Bean, "You're right."

Our table was set and we walked inside. Our backs were to Ms. Swank and we happily ate our arancini, our salads and of course, our amazing, perfect crust pizza. I snapped pics of the kids laughing and our pizza. Suddenly, Ms. Swank appeared before our table and while looking in another direction, announced that she did not like people taking pictures of her without her consent. Amen, sister. Wait...was that directed at me?!! NO. I was not taking pictures of you. Want to go through my film? I could not have. What was going on? She then rushed behind me to a table and happily posed with them for some authorized pictures. Whew. Not directed at me. Honestly, you may be a million dollar baby, but I would not take a pic of you eating pizza. Not only is it not nice, but I do not worship celebrities. I worship food, architecture, books, travel and most important are my family's faces. Never fear Ms. Swank.

Finally, we walked over to Tartine. The line had not abated. 45 minutes later, we sat outside with a lemon tart, a slice of coconut cake with passionfruit cream, a banana cream tart (I think) and a few bags of cookies and some macaroonie thingies. It was delicious. The lemon tart was my favorite. Perfectly balanced, crisp buttery crust, not so sweet cream...lovely. I am glad we waited, although the service in San Francisco seems to be more about the servers than the product. There was no sense of urgency and absolutely no reason that I should have waited 45 minutes for ready made items. The people behind the counter were having conversations and laughing with each other. I thought, "HEY! GET TO WORK! PRONTO!" I have been told that this is an east coast vs. west coast thing. Cali is laid back and waiting is fine. It was worth the wait. Stay on the east coast! I am told. We waited 35 minutes for a cappuccino at Blue Bottle. It was delicious, but I am an addict. Addicts don't like to wait that long. I counted 14 people ahead of me. Maybe I am being unreasonable. It was very good coffee.

I think I may need more Cali in my life. I should not be so impatient.

Tudor Eating

I am obsessed with Tudor history. I am on my 6th book. I have read one book about Henry VIII, two about his wives, 1 about Anne Boleyn, and 1 about his mistresses. I am currently reading Food & Feast in Tudor Englan by Alison Sim. It is fantastic. I highly recommend it if you have any interest in being as nerdy as me. I went through a Roman history phase and read everything I could get my hands on that was written about on in the first century BCE to 4 century CE. Funny how I moved into English history.

This past summer we vacationed in England and Scotland. It was fantastic. There we are in front of Westminster Abbey. After a week in London, we left for Cambridge. I could not justify paying to enter to just lay eyes on the badge that has Hank and Anne's initials. Funny enough, in Italy they charge you for museums and the churches are free. In England, they charge you for churches and the museums are free. I cannot decide how I feel about that. It seems wrong on so many levels. I saw the queen's jewels, saw where Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard had their heads lopped off and visited a bunch of famous dead people (of which no photography was allowed. How lame is that?)

On to Liverpool...we visited the official Liverpool FC store. People, you have no idea. Beatles tour, which was awesome, curry dinner and off to York. York is lovely. We had a proper tea at Betty's. It was spectacular. I know that British food is not Henry VII style, but we loved our English breakfast of eggs, beans, sausage and toast. The kids had tea and Sev stuck his pinkie out with style. We were so close to Hadrian's Wall that I forced John to travel 30 minutes out of his way to see it. Please people! I cannot travel here and not lay eyes on Hadrian's wall. That would be shameful. Just as John was losing his patience, he pull down some road and bam! there it was. So gorgeous, no?

Off to Scotland. Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aryshire, just to name a few. That is another post. England and Scotland are lovely. I am eager to go back. English food is delicious. Don't say it is because I am half English. Times have changed. Yet, what I would give to go back in time to the 16th century. Henry VIII survived on a diet that consisted of 80% protein, 15% alcohol, 5% fruit. Just to witness that kitchen and to taste that bread. I have always said that I would do almost anything to be deposited back to Rome in the 1st century. It is close. My next book is a beast. Elizabeth I by Alison Plowden. I love to stroll through history. We need to get on that time machine technology. Stat.

It's the little things that matter.

I made pizza dough for the Super Bowl. We had some dough left over and after an extremely hectic day with work, soccer, basketball and one sick kid, I did not have time to cook dinner last night. I was in no mood for take out or a restaurant. I was tired and just wanted a glass of wine. John suggested the pizza. Minimal work, maximum pleasure. I gladly obliged. The pizza was delicious, if I do say so. I asked John to open a bottle of wine and what did he do? He opened our last bottle of Giovanni Almondo Roero. We have a case of 2009, but this is the last bottle of 2008. The 2008 is better than its younger sister. So delicious. I did not want to eat it with pizza. Even if it is homemade pizza. We have pizza wine. We have bottles Ca La Bionda Valpolicella for that. No matter. We had our pizza and our last bottle of 2008 Roero. The men at Moore Brothers always seem to find me the best fit for my tastes, but they cannot seem to magically find cases that are no longer available. WHY? Don't they know how much I love this wine? Ahhhh, life. If I could have an endless supply would it be as good? Probably. It is that good. I must just continue to try new wines to replace our favorite. We did have one that we liked even more. It was the same bottle, but 2007. Imagine that.

I have come to the conclusion that it is okay to drink expensive elusive wine with pizza. Worthy pizza. It was a delicious evening.