Go Green

I probably should have made tonight's dish last week considering the namesake of the dish was introduced to Real Housewife viewers last week. That's right, I made Audriana's Pesto. The recipe was pretty straightforward and easy to make. This is actually the first time I've attempted to make pesto and I think the end results were really great (I wish I had photos, but my phone's bluetooth and email aren't working oddly. Side note, I hate my phone and cannot wait to get the iPhone 4). So I'm just putting in pictures from other places of pesto.



Pesto is a powerful dish, and this one had a lot of bite. Basil and garlic and pine nuts and everything else! It really packs a punch, but taste great. I've actually been a fan of pesto for about as long as I can recall (though at one point i didn't eat it for a year or two because I happened to eat it before a strain of stomach flu set in-though the pesto didn't make me sick, I just sadly happened to eat my mom's home made before the virus attacked!).

Teresa gives two way of preparing the pesto- mortar and pestle or food processor. I thought about the mortar and then I realized wait I just got back from work after being the from 8:20am to 6:00pm (our managing editor from the London office- who actually happens to be Italian! flew in today, so I got there early to make sure I was ready), and today was the first day back in the office after a three-day weekend at the beach that involved lots of drinking and a horrible sun burn. Needless to say I went with my better judgment and used the food processor.

I thought the process was going to be arduous. My mother told me it would be. Actually, the dish was easy to make! I think my mother just didn't want me using her beloved Cuisinart! But it was easy and so worth it! I will definitely make this dish again. I think that because it is so easy to make that this will be a fun dish to experiment with the proportions of the ingredients- you know, a little more basil, less garlic etc etc!



Anyway, next meal to be made either Thursday or Friday! Make sure to check back then!

Dining Out

So I know I had intended to cook a delicious home made dinner, but rather I treated my mother to a (very belated) mother's day dinner. But! We kept it Italian.

We went to La Lanterna Cafe & Grill. It's this great little Tuscan restaurant in Ridgewood, NJ. First of all, we ate outside. They have this great little semi-enclosed eating area outside. Wrought iron furniture, exposed brick walls, an all around nice ambiance. It was nice sitting outside, but staying dry thanks to the above head enclosure. Secondly, the restaurant is family owned and operated. The wife and husband that own the restaurant both work there, he is the chef and she manages the floor. She was very friendly and his food was delicious!

So the important thing: what did we eat? Well this place is BYOB, so I stopped at a liquor store and picked up some Hoegaarden while walking over from the Ridgewood train station to this restaurant (another nice thing, this restaurant is a five minute walk from the train! So convenient). We shared an appetizer of calamari, and for entrees, my mother had a crab dish with broccoli rabe and I had pesto with penne. The calamari was really light and refreshing. Not overly fried or battered like a lot of places like to do. It was cooked really well. My mom felt the pesto was on the creamier side, but I didn't really think that so much. I thought it was good. The basil was very fresh! My mom liked the soft shell crab and the broccoli rabe, she had fewer leftovers than I!

I think my mom and I are going to go back over the summer, on a warmer, less rainy day! This place is definitely enjoyable for many reasons and if you live in the Northern New Jersey I would recommend you go!

Anyway, I am in the middle of packing. I am going away for the long weekend (No, not the shore. We're not all stereotypes here in Jersey). No cooking or updating for a few days! But check back in June (a new month-time flies)!