| Wonders of Italian cooking | | Posted Thursday, January 26, 2006 9:40:49 PM by Kate Grant | if you don't like Italian cooking, leave now. I think one of the first images that come to mind when you think about Italian cooking, is of a big Italian mama, standing over a bowl of steamy pasta with tomato sauce.  But there's so much more to Italian cooking .
It's loved by so many, because of the fact that it is usually not very complicated, it's varied, rich in flavor and gives satisfactory results even to a beginner in the kitchen. (I mean, who can go wrong with boiling pasta? You must really not know what you're doing, if you manage to over cook it ...) The secret of Italian cooking lies with its simplicity and with the freshness of ingredients.
There are 20 regions in Italy, and it's usually easy to know if you're in the south, with it's red tomato sauces, onions, garlic and olive oil, or in the north with it's common use of cream. If you're looking for an Italian cooking class, and you have the money to spare, go to Italy.
There are many schools in different parts of the country, and you can combine your cooking classes with trips and hikes in the area. Some schools will offer room and board, some only classes. But the important thing to remember is, you'll never ruin your pasta again... In fact, you'll probably make your own!
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| | | Reliving Italian cuisine | | Posted Friday, January 26, 2007 2:52:49 PM by Blog57 Team | | Italy is a trendsetter in the fashion and food industry. From Julius Caesar, Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci to Giorgio Armani and Luciano Pavarotti, the Italians have carved a unique niche for their culture. For most Italians food is not just a necessity but a passion. They believe that the more time spent on preparing the food the better the taste. To global cuisine, Italy has contributed the pizza, pasta, sauces, scampi, cacciatore, ice creams, ministrone, tiramisu, biscotti and not forgetting the ever popular strong brew of Italian coffee. GRT Grand brings to Chennai the Sicilian food festival that coincides with the annual International Leather fair being held in Chennai.... | |
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| | | Italian Cuisine In Lookout Valley | | Posted Friday, January 05, 2007 12:51:18 PM by Blog57 Team | | Joe Fidelibus bought a farm on Sand Mountain after 20 years in the hospitality business in Atlanta. But retirement was not yet on the horizon. He is operating Alfredos Italian Restaurant in Lookout Valley on the Super Wal-Mart campus Alfredos Italian Restaurant. The restaurant offers authentic Italian cuisine in a family friendly Mediterranean atmosphere. Joe Fidelibus has been in the hospitality industry for 34 years. He was at the Fairyland Club on Lookout Mountain in the early 1980s. A graduate Diablo Valley Culinary School (San Francisco), he has also worked as a chef in San Francisco and Allentown, Pa. He spent the last 20 years with Little Gardens Restaurant, a fine dining/special event antebellum estate as vice president and executive chef.... | |
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| | | Survey Foiled by Fast Food Fraud | | Posted Wednesday, November 15, 2006 2:51:57 AM by Blog57 Team | | Roughly 2,000 students responded to a recent survey regarding the future of the Lobdell Food Court, showing strong support for Thai, Italian, and Chinese cuisine. However, according to Director of Campus Dining Richard Berlin, "Some hacker voted for Taco Bell about a thousand times." The survey, sponsored by Campus Dining with input by the UA and DormCon, will help decide the fate of one remaining space in Lobdell. "This was the first survey we've run in two years," Berlin said. "The last one we ran brought in Anna's Taqueria." Dining first had the idea of surveys when MIT gained more control over individual restaurant options. The old food court was run by Aramark, then by Sodexho, both of which left MIT little control over food choices. The new, operator-based format, allows Dining to choose individual restaurants.... | |
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| | | Exotic Cars: Lamborghini Murcielago | | Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006 6:51:57 PM by Blog57 Team | | Anyone who appreciates a good underdog story probably likes Lamborghini. The Italian carmaker that launched thousands of bedroom posters trailed rivals like Ferrari and Porsche in prestige and technological superiority for years. Along the way, ownership of the Sant' Agata Bolognese company has unraveled like a string of Hollywood marriages, complete with irreconcilable differences. It was even owned by Chrysler from 1987 to 1994 when the seven-year itch apparently set in and Lamborghini was kicked to the curb, rebounding into the arms of an Indonesian investment group. Then in 1998, Audi/Volkswagen wooed their way into ownership after initially being hooked up only for technical assistance. Since then, the story and the cars have steadily improved. Today, Lamborghini commands a strong impression on car culture; the scissor-action doors are copied on everything from custom show cars to your neighbor’s kid’s pimped-out Kia. So, it seems the underdog Lamborghini aims to be an overachiever.... | |
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| | | MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA: llwaco's Tuscany Cafe specializes in Old ... | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 12:57:05 PM by Blog57 Team | | ILWACO, Wash. - My generation of baby boomers was raised believing Italian food centered around minestrone soup, seafood fettuccine immersed in heavy cream and ravioli or spaghetti saturated with marinara sauce that we sopped up with hearty slices of crispy bread. Little did we know that good authentic Italian cooking involves the finest-quality local ingredients served in simple ways - say, a modest plate of hand-crafted pasta tossed with seasonal vegetables, olive oil and fresh herbs. By the late 1980s and much of the '90s, we boomers had cultivated sophisticated palates yearning for something new and daring, and we'd become a tad arrogant, to boot. To meet our whiny culinary whims, Italian cuisine in this country was remade. Nouveau Italian showcased duck-filled gnocchi, risotto infused with squid ink, brick-oven pizza topped with caviar and other fusion-confusing concoctions.... | |
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| | | Give turkey the bird | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 10:54:59 AM by Blog57 Team | | Pity the poor turkey. It gets frozen (then thawed), brined or massaged, tied up, stuffed, roasted (or deep-fried), basted, carved (poorly, most of the time) and then eaten (sometimes for days on end). And then, after eating all that turkey and all of those trimmings, you have a burning desire to watch a football game, which you do for, oh, about five minutes before falling asleep on the sofa with assorted relatives, some of whom you haven't seen since last Thanksgiving. The ritual of "Thanksgiving means turkey" needs to be re-examined. Do we really need to eat turkey on Thanksgiving? Who says? Why have we singled out this bird to be the star of the Thanksgiving table? Benjamin Franklin was so in love with the turkey that he proposed it be our national bird. And when the eagle was chosen instead, he sulked for a bit then went out and flew a kite (football was not on TV back then).... | |
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| | | Cal's cuisine reigns supreme in 'Iron Chef' cookoff | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 10:50:44 PM by Blog57 Team | | BERKELEY ? An age-old rivalry between UC Berkeley and Stanford went from the gridiron to the kitchen Sunday with budding chefs from Cal taking home the prized cleaver in a cooking contest where tomatoes were used in every dish. The contest was modeled after the Food Network's "Iron Chef, a Japanese TV program that has a cult following among foodies in the United States. Like the show, the "secret ingredient," which must be used in each of the three dishes, was not revealed to the chefs until right before the cooking showdown began. "To tell you the truth, we were a little worried about tomatoes, our recipes were a little difficult with tomatoes," said Stanford student chef Lily Cheng. "We were hoping for tofu ... it's a great vegetarian and vegan option and we want to prove to the world that it can taste wonderful." Bread, eggs, applesauce and tofu were the other possible choices.... | |
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| | | Happy days for U.S. diners, survey finds | | Posted Sunday, November 05, 2006 10:53:27 AM by Blog57 Team | | NEW YORK (Reuters) -- When it comes to eating out in the United States, Texans do it the most, New Yorkers pay the most, and Italian is the country's favorite cuisine, a study showed Wednesday. Zagat Survey released its "America's Top Restaurants," a guide covering 1,389 eateries in 42 cities, which is based on 21 million meals worth of experience by more than 123,000 people. It found that during 2006 restaurant openings have been far outpacing closings and that the cost of a meal increased 2.8 percent, less than the 4 percent rise in the country's Consumer Price Index. "These are happy days for food lovers -- this marks another year where restaurant quality, diversity and value have improved across America," Tim Zagat, chief executive officer of the survey, said in a statement.... | |
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| | | Speedy Linguine | | Posted Friday, November 03, 2006 2:56:54 AM by Blog57 Team | | A catchy name combined with a rather drab exterior could lead to the assumption that Lake Oswego's Speedy Linguine is a fast-food joint with so-so Italian cuisine. Don't be fooled. The rush of garlic aroma as soon as the door is opened and the cozy interior are signs of good things to come. Dishes arrive in a flash, and are flavorful and satisfying. Fresh herbs and crushed garlic add pleasing adornment to the dipping oil. Entrees range from $8 to $12, with the small, spicy linguine packing a real kick and enough pasta for a to-go box. The tomato and basil bisque ($4 a cup), with its huge chunks of fresh tomatoes, is simply delightful. Address: 5405 Jean Road, Lake Oswego Hours: 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday, 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday.... | |
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| | | Abbracci's concept to be re-worked | | Posted Tuesday, October 31, 2006 2:52:21 PM by Blog57 Team | | Restaurateur Richard Stopper has changed directions with his Italian-themed steakhouse, Abbracci, near the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Next year, the restaurant, 511 N. High St., will be re-engineered as a contemporary trattoria called Alta on High, featuring regional Italian specialties and wines, classic dishes and steaks. A number of moderately priced menu items will be added including pizza. "I think we had a bit of a concept problem," said Stopper, who also owns Short North seafood restaurant R.J. Snappers. For one thing, "People couldnt spell or pronounce our name." Abbracci will be closed Jan. 1 to 4 to make the conversion. It will reopen Jan. 5 as Alta. The change is one of several planned for his company, Stopper Enterprises Entertainment. In fact, he increasingly plans to play up the corporate name and its corkscrew logo.... | |
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