For me, 2-for-1 Moscow Mules means just that: 2 for 1 person! Fun meal at Staff in Reykjavík
ICELAND PIC OF THE DAY 1
Posted: December 26, 2018 in UncategorizedTags: food, Iceland, Reykjavik, travel
0
Merry Christmas!
PARIS PIC OF THE DAY 4
Posted: December 24, 2018 in UncategorizedTags: food, france, Paris, raclette, travel
What makes Paris so special is the quality of the ingredients they use, from a Michelin star restaurant to a sandwich stand.
Nobody here settles for the cheap way out.
A simple sandwich: fresh baguette, Iberico ham, and a generous slathering of raclette cheese. Three ingredients, one incredible sandwich.
Almost didn’t get one. My daughter turned to me and said: “Dad, if you keep looking at it, you’re just going to torture yourself more. “ After all, what was the point of going to Paris if I wasn’t going to eat everything?
Not a bit of guilt. Not before and not after!
PARIS PIC OF THE DAY 3
Posted: December 23, 2018 in UncategorizedTags: food, france, Hard Rock, Paris, travel
My daughter’s continuing quest to go to every Hard Rock Cafe possible. So far: Orlando, New York, Cayman Islands, Washington DC…and today: Paris! 
Sixteen years ago, on the one-year anniversary of our first date, I flew her to Paris and proposed in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Now, we’re back, with our daughter taking the photo.
PARIS PIC OF THE DAY
Posted: December 21, 2018 in UncategorizedTags: food, france, Juvenile's, Paris, travel
Visiting Paris again, we had to stop at our favorite wine bar, Juvéniles. Sadly, our friend, Tim Johnston, went home to England at the same time we arrived. Nonetheless, his daughter, Margeaux and her husband, and accomplished chef, treated us well.
Dinner included foie gras, sautéed mushrooms, fresh scallops from Brittany, guinea hen, and more!
OK, WHAT DOES “LIVE THE LIVE” MEAN?
Posted: December 20, 2018 in UncategorizedTags: cocktails, food, livethelive, recipes
I had a friend ask me that question the other day.
Seems that some people aren’t sure how to pronounce the name of this blog. I guess it’s time to explain it a little…
First, the pronunciation. It’s \ˈliv \ the \ˈliv \…as in “Live for today”….or…”Live to a ripe old age.” Both “lives” rhyme with “give.”
It is not /līv/ the /līv/ (rhymes with “hive”) or any combination of the two, like \ˈliv \ the /līv/.
Where this name came from is a story that my wife and I disagree on. Our versions are similar, but not exactly the same.
Here’s my version: I have a good friend named Lee, who is up on every trip we take, every restaurant we go to, every amazing place we see in this world. Having traveled to many countries, we’ve been fortunate to come home with some wonderful stories.
After one such trip, my Lee said to me: “Wow…you guys really know how to live!”
My wife has quirky fun way with words and her response was: “Everybody knows how to live. The secret is to live the live!” Since then, we use the phrase “live the live” to describe anything that would normally be described as “living the life” or “living it up.”
Live the live simply means to live your life to the fullest by whatever means you are able to do so. You can live the live by climbing a mountain, dining at a Michelin-star restaurant, or simply soaking up the sun on a beautiful beach in the Caribbean.
But if none of that is your speed, you could live the live by sitting in front of your TV on a Sunday afternoon, watching football while chowing down on pizza and beer.
Live the live is whatever makes your life special to you.
For me, live the live means traveling for food…sharing experiences with friends…meeting wonderful new people in far away places…and enjoying a few cocktails along the way.
Whatever your definition of live the live is, I hope that you can achieve it more than once in 2019.
Thanks so much for my reading my blog!
PIZZA MONTANARA
Posted: December 17, 2018 in Food, frying, Italian, New York City, pizza, restaurants, Rhode Island, UncategorizedTags: food, montanara, New York City, pizza, recipes
Despite the large Italian community we have here in southern New England, there’s no exceptional pizza to speak of. I suppose you could say “them’s fightin’ words!” but if it’s here, I haven’t found it yet. (Fellini Pizza is about the best in Providence.)
So where is the excellent pizza? New York City, of course. OK…maybe I’m prejudiced because I’m a Brooklyn boy, and worked in a variety of pizzerias in my younger days, but there’s no doubt in my mind that if you want the best pizza–or bagel, for that matter–you’ve got to go to the Big Apple. (Even the most excellent “Frank Pepe’s” in New Haven, CT is a mere stop on the way to the real deal.)
Pizza in NYC can be confusing as there are many different varieties to choose from. Brick oven pizzas abound, but there are pizza lovers who won’t settle for anything less than a pizza baked in a coal-fired oven. The extremely high heat of a coal-fired oven cooks the pizza in just a minute, and imparts a crusty, charred flavor you can’t get any other way. There are only about a dozen coal-fired pizzerias in New York City, and many of them have been around for 100 years or more, so it’s definitely a matter of making a special trip to enjoy this style of pizza. (Providence now has its own coal-fired pizza, but it can’t compare.)
Plenty of good, basic pizza, too: the traditional thin, round Neopolitan pie, and the thicker, square Sicilian pie, baked in that Blodgett pizza oven we all knew in our early pizza-making days.
Several years ago, when I heard through the pizza lovers’ grapevine that a “new” pizza was out there, one that was gaining a cult following, I needed to know about it. And more importantly, I needed to taste it!
It’s called Pizza Montanara, and there’s only a few pizzerias in New York City that serve it. The one I go to without fail is PizzArte, on West 55th, and I have to say it’s the ultimate pizza.
Pizza Montanara, sitting next to me in the car, just waiting to be devoured.
What makes Pizza Montanara so spectacular, quite simply, is that the dough is fried in oil for 30 seconds, flipped and fried another 30 seconds, before they put the sauce and cheese on it, and then they cook it in a wood burning oven. It is not greasy. The frying process puffs the dough up and creates a beautiful pillow-like softness that I’ve never experienced in a pizza before. Imagine a pizza cloud and you’ve got Pizza Montanara.
Where to get Pizza Montanara.
I’ve made Pizza Montanara at home, with some success. I poured a few inches of olive oil in a large skillet, stretched my dough into a small pie, and gently floated it into the pan. Using a spatula and tongs, I was able to flip the fried dough over after about 30 seconds, then removed it from the pan after another 30 seconds. It was golden and puffy. I quickly sauced and cheesed it and in the oven it went. But it’s a messy process I’d rather leave to the pros.
Every time I post a photo of Pizza Montanara on Facebook or Instagram, my friends don’t believe that this could possibly be a life-changing pizza experience. It is. I just came back from Manhattan, and we devoured 3 pizzas on the ride home. Nothing makes New York traffic easier to bear than a Pizza Montanara in the seat next to you!
Pizza Arte also makes one helluva gluten-free pizza.
RECREATING KFC’s ORIGINAL RECIPE
Posted: December 14, 2018 in Carnivore!, chicken, Food, frying, RecipesTags: chicken, food, KFC, original recipe, recipes
Maybe you saw in the news recently that KFC just sold out (in just a few hours) of a firelog that contains the 11 secret herbs and spices of their original recipe chicken. Catch the story here: https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/money/2018/12/13/kfc-firelog-smells-just-like-its-fried-chicken-but-supplies-limited/2293216002/
It was just over a year ago where the nephew of Colonel Sanders himself revealed the 11 secret herbs and spices that made KFC‘s original recipe chicken a worldwide success. He claimed he worked for his uncle for many years and had to make huge batches of the seasoning mix.
Despite what they might say when asked, let’s face it: people just can’t get enough of KFC.
For me, going to KFC is a guilty pleasure. Although I’m a big proponent of grass-fed this and pastured that, my kryptonite is KFC’s original recipe chicken. There’s a KFC right next door to a local Home Depot in my area and my car literally drives itself to the pick-up window…I can’t help it. I justify the consumption of this heavenly grease by asking for no sides–no biscuit, no nothing. I get one breast and one thigh, and I drive off, steering my car with my knees as I indulge in my dirty secret, the hot grease dripping down my chin, a roll of paper towels at my side.
Making the KFC chicken recipe at home means I do have some control over product quality. I can use pastured or organic chicken. I can use clean oil. And I can oven-fry my chicken, meaning I fry it in oil until golden brown, then finish the cooking process in the oven.
I have to say, the recipe really works! Maybe if I placed the real KFC side-by-side with my home-made chicken, I’d notice a difference. But it was pretty damn close and absolutely delicious! If I could change one thing, I would use smaller chicken pieces next time. I used large pieces and the meat-to-breading ratio was off. Though it was mighty tasty, I was craving more breading per bite.
The recipe calls for all-purpose flour, but I used Cup4Cup gluten-free flour, and the results were excellent!
2 cups all-purpose flour (I use Cup4Cup gluten-free flour)
3 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 tablespoon dried mustard
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons black pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons basil
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
5 lbs. chicken pieces…your choice
oil, for frying
Combine the flour and the “11 herbs and spices” in a bowl. Mix well.
In another bowl, whisk together the milk and the egg. Add the chicken pieces to this bowl and let the chicken soak in it for 10 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Pour a couple of inches of the oil into a pan with high sides and heat it to 340 degrees, using a thermometer. Don’t fill it with too much oil, because oil expands when hot and it could spill over.
Take the chicken pieces and coat them with the seasoning mix one at a time, making sure you coat them well. Carefully place the chicken in the hot oil. Don’t overcrowd the pan…work in small batches. Too much chicken could cause the oil to spill over the top.
Fry the chicken pieces just until golden…no need to cook them all the way through. Place the pieces on a baking sheet lined with non-stick aluminum foil. When all the chicken has been fried, place the baking sheet in the oven and cook until the chicken pieces reach an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees.
Make a lot! Leftovers are great, and they re-heat really well in the oven! (Don’t use a microwave…the oven is best.)
A “SECRET” LIMONCELLO RECIPE
Posted: December 11, 2018 in Capri, Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, Food, mixology, Recipes, travel, UncategorizedTags: Amalfi, Capri, cocktails, drinks, food, limoncello, recipes
It takes a few weeks for this limoncello recipe to be ready, so plan ahead!
It starts with beautiful lemons…
Many years ago, my wife and I visited the Amalfi coast, and we spent several nights on the beautiful island of Capri. On our last night, we dined at the historic Grand Hotel Quisisana, and our meal ended with a glass of the most delicious limoncello I ever had.
I asked the waiter if it was possible to get the recipe of the limoncello, and he made a big deal about the recipe being a “secret.” Though disappointed, I understood, and I left Capri thinking that I would never taste it again.
Sure, you can buy limoncello from Capri in a bottle, but what fun is that?
Two weeks later, now back at home, I was reading the latest issue of Conde Nast Traveler, and there in black and white, was the Quisisana limoncello recipe! WTF?
After making many batches of this limoncello, I started experimenting with other citrus, and the most successful by far was with grapefruit. Now I make a batch of each–lemon and grapefruit–every year. It’s important to use 100-proof vodka in this recipe. Most vodka is 80-proof, so you’ll need to go to a liquor store with a better selection to find it. Absolut makes a good one, as does Stoli.
Four ingredients, easy to make. The toughest part is waiting for it to mellow a bit.
4 lbs. of lemons, but you only use the zest!
4 lbs. lemons, zest only
2 750-ml bottles 100 proof vodka
5 1/2 cups sugar
6 cups filtered water
Just the zest!
Peel the zest off all the lemons, making sure you don’t get any of the white pith that could make the limoncello bitter. Place all the zest in the bottom of a glass jar with a lid that can hold all the vodka.
Pour the vodka on top of the lemon zest pieces, seal the container, and keep it at room temperature for a week, swirling the jar around gently once a day.
Vodka and zest.
On the sixth day, combine the sugar and water in a pot over medium-high heat, and stir until all the sugar completely dissolves. Remove from the heat, cover, and let it thoroughly cool to room temperature (overnight is best.)
On day seven, strain the lemon zest, pouring the infused vodka into a clean glass jar. Discard the lemon zest.
Pour the sugar/water mixture into the vodka and mix well.
At this point, you can pour the finished product into bottles, but let it mellow for about a month before drinking.
I keep my limoncello refrigerated.
Live the Live ™ 