Evening of Fine Food and Wine

So mom has made her food blog debut #3 after attending our very first Evening of Fine Food and Wine at the Scranton Cultural Center last Sunday. We learned this is one of the cultural center's largest fundraisers! It was essentially a food bloggers dreamhouse with the plethora of food to try, all from LOCAL restaurants, and catering businesses.If any of you are interested in a night of great food, meeting great people, touring our very own cultural center, and supporting a large operation that needs our support...GO to the this event! Mark your calendars for next year (April 29th 2012).

Mom and I started the evening by walking into the ballroom, greeted with a glass of wine and an array of appetizers. We tried to "pace" ourselves, but good food, good wine? Please, we dug right in. Mom's favorite appetizer: assortment of spreads, pita, and bean salads from City Cafe (love them), ONE of my favorites was from State Street Grill. They had a wonderful cold Asian pasta salad. Other choices included ravioli, vegetable kabob, soup, stuffed mushrooms (those were fantastic too), and so much more.

For the "entree," we broke into groups and the real fun began. We were on our food/wine adventure to 5 different rooms, each of which housed a chef with their team, a glass of wine specially paired with each dish (thank you sommelier), and a demo kitchen. We watched each chef prepare their dish (I know..crazy fun). Then we tried each dish! I swear I felt like I was a judge on Top Chef (minus the critiquing). The restaurants that provided the entrees were Carmen's at the Radisson, Fire and Ice on Toby Creek, The French Manor, the Hilton, and Patsel's. Yes that means Jean had 5 glasses of wine. More importantly, that means mom had 5 glasses of wine. By the time we hit Patsel's mom couldn't tell what she was eating. She thought the tuna was "very soft steak."

My favorite entree was from Fire and Ice. The chef prepared a Cabernet marinated NY strip steak bruchetta. Oh my gosh. This is totally up my ally. The steak was cooked perfectly, the bread was soft (and freshly baked), and the wine it was served with gave me an appreciation for the art of pairing food with wine. I tried a sip of the wine before the brushetta was in sight and, yuck-o was written all over my face. Tasted like the wine was "smoked." However, once paired with this dish I loved it. Loooved it. The chef from Fire and Ice was also great. You could tell he loves what he does, and loves sharing his knowledge. When he started talking about mallard reaction on steak I got excited. Props to all the chefs and teams for the entrees.

So dessert time came. Mom and I were deffinetly full of food, and wine, but a couple desserts never hurt anything (I am a 30 day-to-be dietitian I swear). I was so happy to see Zummo's offering desserts! I enjoyed their trail-mix biscotti. Mom is a fan of the hard, crunchy, break your teeth, biscotti, but this one was pretty soft (some may say, a little 'dry'), and filled with dried fruit. Their coffee is also fantastic, obviously. Other than forgetting to ask for decaf and staying up until 2 am that night, no complaints! Unfortunately I was so incredibly loopy by the time dessert came around so I have no idea who else was sponsoring the desserts. I tried a great red velvet cake, and a delicious poached pear, but where they were from? I need help with that.

Going out and supporting our community feels great. Meeting people is even better. And doing all the above while learning about the greatest restaurants in our very own backyard that have not a cinch of commercialism is what it's all about. Most of all, I cannot wait for Jessica and I to take a trip to Fire and Ice for a full meal!

Your LIfe is About to Change.

What if you found out that you had to quit gluten and dairy right now- like, this instant? Your health depends on it.  If you are like me and love you some crusty delicious bread (and I have no doubt that you ARE, what being a loyal foodie/reader of this silly little pet blog) this could be the challenge of a lifetime.  You might feel like your life is going to change drastically- and you'd be right.  You couldn't just saunter into all of the fantastic restaurants listed on this blog and order whatever you crave that day... you have to be careful, you have to be that dreaded consumer- particular.

Celiac disease is the name of the game- and according to Pubmed health it is a condition that damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food that are important for staying healthy. The damage is due to a reaction to eating gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats. But, for many with this disorder it doesn't end with those foods, very often you need to lose the dairy too.  This disorder was largely un-catered to in this area, and there was very little knowledge until recently.  Others, who don't have Celiac disease, may chose to forgo the gluten and dairy for holistic or ethical reasons or ( to finally get to the personalized reason), to help internally heal and fight other types of infection that feed and thrive on those delicious little wheat germs.  Mark Hyman, MD is a practitioner of “functional medicine” (a holistic branch of medicine), the founder of the UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, and the guru behind the series of best-selling “Ultra” self-help books. He argues that the cause and the solution for many psychiatric disorders begins with what we are putting in our bodies. I won't list all the details on our blog (snore!) nor will I say whether or not to get you should get holistic (I'm a stinkin' music teacher!, but you should check it out his thoughts here. 

Getting to the POINT (you know I like to drag my feet) Someone who I love very dearly has recently had to adopt this diet because of a late-stage lyme disease diagnosis and in a moment of less-than clarity I declared I would try it too- to encourage and support him.  Scary right? I'm easing into it- but he doesn't have that luxury.  So, we're trying out new meals and learning about some of the alternative flours and cooking aids.  Check out Manifest Vegan once you get the itch to cook outside the box- I just made their yummy Basil Gnocchi- (I've never made homemade pasta EVER and being me, I choose to start with gluten free!) Check it out! (Also pictured nutritional yeast which adds a tasty flavor and packs a punch nutritionally, and some of the alt flours).

I have to give a shout out to Everything Natural in Clarkes Summit and Wegman's too- they do a great job with providing our community with gluten-free alternatives.  Also, if you're jonesin for some delicious gluten and dairy free treats we have The Grainless Baker right in Lake Ariel. 

Eataly

Take a trip with me to Italy…excuse me, I mean EATaly in the heart of Manhattan. As you know Jessica and I blog to enjoy and support local businesses in our surrounding NEPA area, however I am taking a hall pass (or EZpass…haha) to NYC and am going to share with all of you my experience at this fantastic Italian market.

While in NYC yesterday my mom and I decided to eat dinner at Eataly. My mother, born in Sicily, naturally loves Italian food and clean, fresh flavors. We experienced a food dream that gave me a different appreciation for the diversity of Italian cuisine and brought mom back to her roots. After a cab drive from hell we entered our Italian heaven and were immediately immersed in parmiagiano reggiano, pizza, pasta, pancetta, fish, basil, tomatoes, gelato, biscotti, and chocolate. I would describe Eataly as an authentic Italian market that stays true to traditional Italian cuisine in their 5 different eateries and allows for customers to purchase traditional grocery items such as pasta, fruit, vegetables, cheese, fresh/cured meats, fish, oil, vinegar, herbs, baked goods, and other items diehard Italians just “couldn’t live without.”

No one could experience ALL Eataly has to offer in one visit, but mom and I tried to soak in as much as we could by spreading our dinner out amongst 2 of the 5 eateries as well as a special stop at the gelato stand for dessert. First we ate at “Il Pesce,” or The Fish. I had a bowl of “zuppa de pesce,” fish soup with spicy tomato crostini, and mom ordered “crudo di congole,” stuffed clams, basically. Both our dishes were outstanding. The fish tasted incredibly fresh. Fresh fish tastes so clean, and pure. Ah, delicious. The couple next to us ordered a whole fish each, which also looked outstanding. But, instead of a whole fish, mom and I continued our food crawl and had to visit a second eatery “La pizza & pasta,” where we shared a 10” pizza called La Verace TSG.

La Verace had tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, parmigiano reggiano, imported olive oil from Sorrento, and fresh basil leaves. This pizza had a very thin crust, and tasted like burned toast with the texture of perfectly cooked dough. Ok, that doesn’t sound terribly appetizing but it tasted great. Quick cooking in high heat allows the dough to stay soft whereas the outside achieves a charred flavor. The picture doesn’t give the favor justice (thank you iPhone). Out of the 5 eateries La pizza & pasta was the busiest! Naturally, this is America, pizza/pasta hungry hungry hippos. Plus, this is probably the most affordable.

Our waiter at La pizza & pasta was straight from Sicily. After he and mom had a little Italian conversation I learned (in English) that he moved to Brooklyn to work for Eataly for one year. So, as my mom said…"they import the olive oil…AND the people!” Authentic, thick Italian accent absolutely made me feel one step closer to Italy. So, kudos to you, Eataly…you’ve thought of everything.

Okay, gelato time. While waiting on line deciding what flavor to order I heard mom say, “ah, they have brioche jean!” These brioche looked like dinner rolls to me, but “brioche” is a sweet egg bread that is traditionally served with gelato or sorbet inside. So gelato on a brioche is like our ice cream cone here in America. Who would have known? Mom ordered pistachio gelato and enjoyed it in her brioche (which I tired and was delicious!) and I decided on lemon sorbet. Very nice ending to our meal. I posed a picture of other desserts you could enjoy.

After we ate, we shopped. Foccocha bread, olive bread, homemade ravioli, Lidia Bastianich’s sauce, Italian candies, chocolate, and porchetta for my brother Louis. A trip to Eataly is a gift that keeps on giving with the ability to enjoy special items that are difficult to find elsewhere. I really wanted to buy this t-shirt that says, “you are what you EATaly." Guess how much it was…$58. For a t-shirt. That I would wear to the supermarket. No thanks.

I made the spinach and ricotta ravioli with Lidia’s sauce for dinner tonight. So delicious!

When we visit Eataly again, I think we’d love to try the vegetarian eatery, and the wine/cheese bar, buy more foccochia and fresh pasta…but most of all just enjoy a little Italian escape from mom’s childhood, to my love for this culture and food.

Mom and I are making our next stop back in PA on Sunday to “An Evening of wine and food” at the Scranton Cultural Center, where we’ll try foods from all our local restaurants in Scranton. Looking forward to sharing our favorites with all of you!