I love carbonara. It's fast, simple and cheap, yet very filling, warm and comforting. I generally don’t like it when I get it at a restaurant which is surprising to me because it is so easy to make! Today we used bacon rather than pancetta for a few reasons. We have tried both in this dish, and I prefer bacon. Also at the store I went to, they didn’t have the really good pancetta, only the thin round kind which I am not a fan of. Thirdly, we watched Giada at Home the other day and saw Aunt Raffi saying that when she is in the US, she uses bacon instead of pancetta because in the finished dish it tastes more “like it did back in Italy.” Those are enough reasons for me, so here is my recipe for pasta in the style of the coal miner's wife.

I wanted to do this recipe after the Beastie Boys post because that is one of the funnier food lines by them, and also because of the Adrock / Sara Moulton connection. Unfortunately, I should have tried Pannenkoeken instead because Mandi and I found out we aren’t the biggest meringue fans. I thought I was eating an egg white omelet filled with ice cream and brownies. However, the idea was pretty awesome and I think I will revisit this recipe down the line with some neat altercations I thought of. I’m not marking this as a failure, because it came out how it was supposed to, we just don’t like meringue all that much. If you flavored the meringue more heavily, or if you just like it plain, this dish was surprisingly easy and would be impressive at a dinner party. Most of it is do ahead except for whipping the egg whites which is easy. Even the brownie recipe was simple and the whole mess only cost about 10 bucks.

We were both home on a rainy day scrounging around the kitchen for something to eat. Mandi found some turkey and decided to make turkey melts. “If only we had some chips” she kept saying. “Why don’t you go out and get some chips” she finally said to me. Wasn’t the point of all this to not go out in the rain? To not gear up in the whole pants and jacket wetsuit and drive the scooter in the pouring rain to the nearest store? I looked around and found a leftover sweet potato from our sushi experiments and decided to whip up some chips.  Sweet potato chips are all the rage these days popping up in stores everywhere. I don't like them that much, but these were another story. It took no time and was really delicious!

Today’s post kills 2 birds with one pretzel. The soft pretzel is here to herald in the first day of October (Oktoberfest), and to welcome the beginning of the division series in baseball. I think pretzels represent both of those things pretty well. To elaborate more on the pretzel, I have asked Mandi for a paragraph:

I’ve always been rather proud of my Philadelphia food heritage. You’ve read my slice. You’ve seen my cheesesteak post. if there is one thing Philly knows, it's food. In my opinion the two foods they do the absolute best are the cheesesteak and the soft pretzel. I could live on soft pretzels. Happily. The pretzel cart in the airport is the first place i run when i land home. There’s absolutely nothing that makes me happier then a hot, fresh soft pretzel straight from one of their many pretzel factories first thing on a crisp Philadelphia morning. Recently I was home for a week visiting the family. I’d Estimate I had about three pretzels per day during that week. It was wonderful. Upon my return to this lovely island my body began to go through a soft pretzel withdrawal. I realized it was time to do something that Dan and I have been talking about ever since we saw Alton brown's on good eats. It was finally time to make soft pretzels.

Go Phillies!

-Mandoline

Over the past 2 weeks I have had a lot of strange and exotic foods on here, so I have decided to step back a bit with some awesome yet more basic dishes for the next week. I am starting today with a nice veggie soup. This soup began in my head as a healthier cream of broccoli, but sort of turned into a huge pot of veggie party. The reason was that I wanted a lot of mirepoix to kick up the flavor, and I also wanted a potato and some cauliflower to make it extra creamy. I wanted these veggies for the extra creamy factor because I wanted it to be healthy so I was using (not much) milk instead of (a bunch of) cream. I didn’t want to use much cheese either.

I haven’t quite put my finger on the word curry and its meaning. Wikipedia is no help really. For one, it’s a spice, but the spice is really a blend of other spices. Second, there are curry leaves which are a mystery to me, because wouldn’t you think curry powder would be made from this curry tree? Third, it is a name for hundreds of dishes from all over Asia that are completely different from each other! When I first started having curries, I only liked Thai curry, so as I made a few, I started to think that the meaning of curry had to do with mixing a blended paste with coconut milk, and simmering. After making a few Indian curries as well, my current definition of curry is: Curry: Any dish where you puree a bunch of sh*7 including lots of spices BEFORE cooking. Can anyone help me on that definition? I think it's pretty accurate, but I am guessing it will become even vaguer as I continue making curry from different areas.

Anyway, today I have a quick, healthful, and delicious weeknight meal for you to check out. I saw the recipe for the cauliflower on the food and wine website a few days ago, thought it would be good with fish, and made it that night.

Pasta Fagioli is my favorite soup. By far. When I get it at restaurants, it is much different then the version I grew up with, and when I see Mario and Giada make it, it is definitely different from either of those. So what gives? Well after doing some research, I realized that this soup started as a meal of leftovers. Whatever you had that was about to go bad, throw in the soup. Pasta Fagioli really just means pasta and beans, so if it has those two things, I think you are on the right track. Here is my take on my grandmothers version. She gave the recipe to my mother a few years ago after years and years of hiding it, and we were all surprised it was so easy. I changed a few things to protect the family secrets…errrr I mean because I like it this way! I know first week of September is still pretty hot for most people, but that chill is seeping into the air. If you make this on the first chilly or rainy day, you will be extremely satisfied!

In Bermuda, it is customary to paint your apartment when you move out. In the US (or at least where I have lived) paint is covered under the “normal wear and tear” of an apartment, but not here. We got together some friends to help us paint and get everything out of the place. Food seemed appropriate for a nights work and we were going to order pizza, but decided to use what we had in the freezer. I am happy to post this recipe, because it was always a favorite appetizer my mom would bring to parties when I was growing up. Now I tell my friends to make this when they ask me what to make that’s easy to bring to someone’s party or when they are having people over for a sporting event.

We hadn’t made pasta in some time, and for some reason I was craving manicotti. As a kid, this was my favorite meal and I hadn’t had it in years! we decided to have a nice night in and watch the opening ceremonies and spend time making this meal great. We started with some drinks and apps as you can see here. Some would call this cannelloni, where manicotti would be pre formed tubes, but this is what I grew up knowing as manicotti.

Broke account so I broke a sweat
I've bought some things that I sort of regret about now – Modest Mouse

I’m not really that broke, but a few things happened that caused me to have to be creative for a few days last week with my food. Last Tuesday, Mandi and I ate really well all day without spending a dollar! Luckily, because I cook all the time there were ingredients lying around my house, but even if there weren’t, these would still be really cheap meals to make.

SIDE RANT - we have been watching the next food network star and enjoying the show somewhat. I take it for what it is and realize that no one on this show could ever touch anyone on top chef. But it is a different show and they are looking for something different then Tom and Padma. Last night I was completely disappointed with the winner and I can’t imagine that anyone liked Aaron. He sucked the last 2 weeks and I didn’t even think he could possibly win. I was trying to decide if it would be Lisa or Adam the whole episode, they both had way better pilots and are way better in general. I wanted Lisa to win from day one and I am going to be making it my personal goal to contact her and interview her or post one of her recipes. I don’t care if it is a year from now and no one even remembers her! YEA LISA GARZA! Mandi and I have sworn off food network before, once when they stopped playing Molto Mario, the first time we saw ultimate recipe showdown or down home with the Neely’s, and who could forget the holiday dessert iron chef debacle. This time we really mean it food network! Its over! Well maybe after Jamie and Anne this weekend, THEN it is over.

I make breakfast every day that I don’t go to work. This means Saturday and Sunday most weeks, and random days sprinkled in here and there. When on a diet, the usual bacon and eggs doesn’t really cut it for both weekend days. Neither does the leftover taco ingredient omelet, the breakfast pile, the McDonalds steak egg and cheese clone, or the sausage sandwich with pancakes as bread smothered in high fructose corn syrup also known as fake maple syrup (Figure 1, After click-through) I decided this week to go light for breakfast and make some blueberry buckwheat pancakes. There is a recipe with yeast right on the bag of buckwheat, but I decided to go with an Ellie Krieger recipe I saw her make a few weeks back. Another quick pancake anecdote – I used to hate pancakes all my life until about a year ago when I first made them without using a box, then I realized its pancake mix that I hate, and not actual pancakes.