Comfort Foods and Indulgences

ami louis potatoesI just can’t forget the truffle pasta we enjoyed at the American Embassy residence in Rome accompanied by homemade Limoncello served by Ambassador John Phillips himself. We walked the catacombs under the Embassy to get to the wine cellar where just the three of us including my husband Mike ate the best Limoncello and pasta in the world. It was simple with butter and truffle, just pure food magic.
Our best meal in Paris was at L’Amis Louis. Their fois gras, escargot and scallops are always crazy good…but the potatoes and garlic with butter and fries can't be beat…and this new place, also in Paris, served us the tiny best appetizer in world of mushrooms, figs, cheese and proscuitto.
  Irena Medavoy

The best thing I ate last year was on Thursday, December 24th at E. Baldi in Beverly Hills - Chef Edoardo makes an amazing antipasti of Deep fried Shiitake Mushrooms with sea salt & truffled pecorino cheese ... What a taste treat!!!
  Wendy Howard Goldberg

The best thing I ate last year was a chicken schnitzel sandwich at Falafel Hakosem on King George Street in Tel Aviv, an hour before going to dinner at my grandmother's house. Never go to my grandmother's house hungry. 
  Anna Harari

biscuitsHot fluffy biscuits right out of the oven from Good Enough to Eat on Columbus Avenue in New York City.  I had many delicious foods in 2015 but seemed to only crave, and adore, those biscuits with their luscious strawberry butter. Mmmmm. Is it morning yet?
  Diane Sokolow

Last May, when my wife and I vacationed in Anguila, I ate a nectarine that I can taste to this very day. New Year's resolution - the moment that taste disappears, we'll head back to Anguila for another nectarine.
   Alan Zweibel 

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orangedrinks.jpgI love dessert but who can wait till the end of the day to have it?  Not me.  I refuse to live that way.

That's why I love having this shake for breakfast.  It tastes like you are having dessert and I am all about that kind of livin'.  I love tricking myself into thinking I am getting a treat before 9 am.  With this shake, it's not far from the truth.

As we were high-tailing it out of town on Sunday I made these to celebrate the beginning of our vacation.  Of course it delayed us from leaving for about three hours but who cares right?

These Buttermilk Citrus Shakes are a wonderful combination of fresh orange and lemon juice.

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breadpudding.jpg

Don't waste food. That's what my grandmother always told me. I took that simple idea to heart.

When we go out to eat, I bring home what we don't eat. Especially the bread. Why let good bread get thrown away?

And if you're in the grocery store, and you see a loaf of marked-down white bread, buy it and you'll be able to make a dessert that's as easy-to-make as it is elegant looking and delicious.

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facebook.jpgI resisted Facebook for years, but the ease with which I could share and view pictures of a high-school reunion compelled me. So like most people my age, I found myself using the site to reconnect with a past I had previously ignored or forgotten. Then, when my husband passed away suddenly a little more than a year ago, Facebook became a strange lifeline during my first year of grief. Frankly, being on Facebook makes me think about what it must be like to be dead, floating like a ghost into and out of people’s lives, into and out of all the worlds we’ve inhabited. The compression and conflation of time that Facebook provides makes way for the beguiling draw of nostalgia.

Nostalgia, like grief, is essentially homesickness, and we tend to get homesick when we want to restore the parts of ourselves we think we are losing or have lost. Soon enough, I found myself looking up my old summer camps, my old junior high school (that’s what we New Yorkers called middle school), and inevitably I discovered a Facebook page dedicated to Riverdale, the small northwest Bronx neighborhood where I spent my formative years.

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No-Bake-Banana-Split-CakesI have been making a version of this cake for the past 20 years. However, I’ve always made it in a 9 x 13 pan. I finally decided to streamline the recipe and serve it in individual portions. Since this cake was always something I would normally make for a party, it just made more sense to put it together this way. It’s so much easier to serve. And cuter too.

Nothing falls apart, it tastes great and believe it or not, it’s not overly sweet. The oven also never goes on! 

This cake gets a walnut crust just because it tastes so much better…more complex. The crust does not need baking, chilling it in the refrigerator keeps it all intact. If you have a nut allergy you could make a graham cracker crust using the same method. It works too.

I bought a wooden tamper originally to make mojitos. However, I rarely make mojitos but find I use this tool for so many baking and cooking projects. It worked especially well flattening the crusts in the bottom of the glasses.

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