Why Italian Food is Better Than Every Other Cuisine

I cannot pass through any metropolitan city without passing a million different cuisines. There's French-Cambodian, Japanese-American, Australian meat pies, Vegan-Indian, and endless food trucks that sell random organic things (eggplant and waffles anyone?). But let's all be honest here, we all know what cuisine is the best, most loved, and above all amazing: Italian food. Italian food is so awesome that Italians banned other countries from setting up competing cuisines in their country because pasta with some homemade bolognese sauce is just THAT AMAZING.

Here is why Italian food is superior to all other food species:

1.) You never leave the table hungry.  I have never seen a person leave a table hungry after a three course Italian dinner. There's bread, pasta, meat, insalata, and many yummy sauces to lick your spoon with. The words "low-fat" "non-dairy" and "vegan" don't apply to most Italians. They eat hearty foods that truly fill you up and make you want to unbuckle your belt. 

Cheese Gnocchi

2.) They don't put weird shit in their food.  How often do you eat at these weird Canadian-elk-dimsum-Asian fusion places and end up ordering something that either looks funky or has a weird after taste? You feel very refined for ordering octopus eyeballs but you quickly realize some good ole' fashioned Chicken Parmigiana would be more appetizing. Kids always ask for pizza or pasta because they know  "it just tastes good".  With Italian food, I can identify everything on the table. Is that tomato and garlic and basil in the sauce? You bet your ass it is.

3.) The wine is that much better. I guess some northern Californians are going to get on my case about this but let's just be real. The wine's better in Italy because the soil in Tuscany is mad old and ready for the best grape vine growing in the world.  And like the old Italian man who owns it, these vines have been growing in this garden for ages just waiting for some ripe youngster to pluck em', crush em' and enjoy em'.

4.) It tastes good after refrigerated. You can take it home, put it in the fridge, heat it up the next day, and it's still good. With other foods you taste a rubbery sensation after reheating. But day old pasta is still pasta. And sometimes the sauce that has time to sit for a day is even yummier. 

5.) They know how to make desserts. I just want to see someone try to top Gelato.

...Or Italian cookies

...Or Cannolis

... Or Tiramisu

Now that I've sufficiently made you hungry, enjoy some pasta.

Baci!

Taste of Tuscany

Back in the glory days of college, when I was allowed to go to Italy for 4 months to "study", I used to actually cook sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I did eat out a ton, and could probably provide an extensive list of Florentine restaurants with the best gnocchi and best bolognese sauce in il mondo. But sometimes, I went to the grocery store, and picked up some tomatoes and onions and other things and put them in a pan on the stove. Of course I had heavy assistance from my roommates since a.) I had never actually cooked for myself and b.) did not know how to "make things from scratch".

I read an article some where that quoted that by the time you are 25ish it's good to start feeding yourself and the people that you love with real food. She claimed that sitting at the table with people that you are close with to share a meal is something that is "more than worth it every time".
I've never believed this more than when I was in Italy and we used to have group dinners where we would drink 3 euro wine and stuff ourselves with carbohydrates and gelato. I also had the pleasure of having a Thanksgiving meal with my Boston friends (aka Boston family) this year and eating delicious turkey, stuffing, and epic side dishes. No one cared that after stringing together three tables of all different heights,  we still had to use paper napkins. It was about togetherness around food that made the time so special and cherished. Insert audible "aw".

Anyways, with all that in mind, I decided to embark upon a sauce creating expedition last night. I fed no one.. well me. But this was my dry run. Maybe if you're lucky my next meal target will be YOU.

I'm bad at recipes. So let's just say it's filled with stuff like sweet Italian sausage,  peeled tomatoes crushed with a wooden spoon, tomato paste, fennel, carrots, basil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, splash of white wine... and LOVE.

In the skillet. Steamy and bubbly.

Finished product.

Baci!

Delicious Dominican Dishes

So I spent the past 9 days in the Dominican Republic eating gluttonously all the fresh meat and plantain products that my heart could desire.



Here are my favorites:

Polvorones: a heavy, soft crumbly cookie that  has some type of cinnamon in them. They are yummilicious.

Rice and Beans: I'm sure there is a Dominican word that I'm missing for "Rice and Beans" but OMG delicious. Especially since the rice fields are a few miles away from the actual store.

Lasagna alla Sweet Plantains: Plantains in lasagna? Sounds gross but is actually the most delightful thing I've ever tasted.

Tostones: Fried, salted plantains.
















Crab or Squid Empanadas: I had these excellent empanadas at Meson D'Bari in Santo Domingo. Mouthwatering sea food in a pocket of fried love.

Free Range Chicken: A real chicken who has actually been fertilized by a rooster and not a hormone pill. I ate a chicken an hour after it was slaughtered (sorry for all you vegetarians out there). These were the most delicious, healthy best wings I've ever had. Take that Kentucky Fried Chicken


Mangoes, Bananas, Coconuts, literally any fruit with a peel that you can get your hands on will be the most delicious, juicy thing you will ever eat.


I also ate some kind of lemon square that I was fond of and some really great steak, eggs, and pork.  Also some pasta thing with clams in it. Yum.




Needless to say upon my return to the US my stomach had a rocky road to face with all the hormones, preservatives and additives we have in the food in this country. Good thing you can actually use the toilets here and have a hot shower since both of those were needed for my angry stomach.