Archive | January, 2013

Classic Italian — Spaghetti and Meatballs

30 Jan

I was on a roll for a while, turning out regular blog posts to keep my nascent audience entertained.  And while I write this blog for the dual joys of cooking and writing, the ever growing number of hits showed that all my effort was not for nothing.  Then came the past few weeks and…silence.  It’s not that there’s nothing to write about; I’ve been busy.  It’s just that there hasn’t been time to write is all.  So, traveling in the way-back machine, let me tell you about an awesome dinner Tania and I had several Sundays past.

My ancestry is Swedish-German.  Somewhere along the way though, and I’m not sure where, a really good recipe for spaghetti and meatballs worked itself into my family’s repertoire.  (Is it just me, or is the word spaghetti hard to remember how to spell? It’s definitely one of those words that I misspell just about every time I write it.)  Lest you be confused, these are meatballs of the Italian—not Swedish—variety.

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Spaghetti and meatballs, at least as my family prepares them, is not a weekday sort of dish.  It’s one that requires several hours of simmering on the stove.  And while it can simmer largely untouched once you get started, you still have to stir the concoction every so often to prevent the bottom from burning. (Which inevitably still happens to me anyway.)

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Premier Pizza — Borgata Pizza Cafe

12 Jan

A few years ago, word began to spread of a new pizza place in town.  Located somewhere along the rather nondescript 161 corridor, it was said that this pizza transcended its unassuming surroundings.  Those in the know, well-versed in Columbus’s other pizza offerings, said that this pizza was special; that it stood out.  Eventually, the trickle became a flood, and it became accepted as common wisdom among a certain set that Borgata Pizza Café made some of the best pizza in town.

I don't know what too me so long to try this pizza! It tastes as great as it looks.

I don’t know what too me so long to try this pizza! It tastes as great as it looks.

Despite all that, despite the recommendations from numerous reliable sources, it took me years to finally make the trip myself.  Every time I thought about getting pizza, my thought was “Oh, that’s too far away.  Let’s just go to [closer pizza shop]. I mean, can the pizza really be that good?”  You know how, as you get older and wiser, you look back and think “If only I could go back in time and tell my younger self what I know now”?  That’s how I feel about my pre-Borgata self.

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Breakfast Rising — Apple Pancake or Puff Pancake or Dutch Baby

10 Jan

I know that everyone says “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”  And some people write entire books and blogs, just about breakfast. But I must confess: I’m not a regular breakfast eater.  I have nothing against the meal mind you.  It’s just that I’m really not that hungry until a few hours after I wake up, and by that time, I’m at work and it’s easier to wait for lunch time to roll around.  Someone once suggested that I just wake up earlier.  That suggestion  was a non-starter; as much as I love food, I love sleeping more.

In stark contrast to myself, Tania is a breakfast lover.  She eats breakfast pretty much every day, and it’s usually the same thing: oatmeal with bananas, cinnamon, Splenda, and vanilla.  Woe is it to the one who gets between her and her oatmeal; there are very few things that could tear her away from a bowl of hot oats.  If there is one thing that could do it however, it’s a dish that she calls “apple pancake.”

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I’ve written at length about my own family food traditions.  Apple pancake is one of Tania’s.  Most commonly referred to as a Dutch Baby, sometimes as a puff pancake, and occasionally as an oven pancake, the apple pancake is akin to a large popover.  If done properly, it will tower above the pan in which it is cooked.

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Swish Swish — Eating Shabu Shabu at Kihachi

3 Jan

The recently ended holiday season was quite a bit of fun, and it involved countless food-related events that were worth blogging about.  I’ve already written about a few of those, lebkuchen cookies and Swedish rye bread for example.  But for every one blog I wrote, it seems like there were three or four other things I that could write about—indeed that I wanted to write about.  I just couldn’t find the time though.  I was too busy cooking and eating!

In an attempt to make up for the lack of posts over the past month, I’m going to recount one definite highlight from that period of time.

Earlier this year, Tania started working as a part-time tour guide for Columbus Food Adventures.  If you’ve been on the German Village walking food tour any time over the past several months, she’s probably been the one instructing you about the history and architecture of German Village and introducing you to the many awesome restaurants.  Like many companies out there, Columbus Food Adventures has a holiday party.  But unlike other companies, the entire business is built upon introducing people to awesome and interesting food.  So, it’s only logical that the holiday party would be similarly food-focused.

And it was.

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