My love for Italian food can be traced as far back to the age of 5. We were driving in Manhattan when I suddenly declared an impassioned desire for noodles. My dad, who passed away two years ago last month, apparently had no problem changing direction to find me some pasta. Now that's love :-)
Yesterday evening, my mom and I went out to local Italian restaurant Carlucci's. We cracked open a bottle of wine -- an Excelsior Cabernet 2008 from South Africa (I definitely recommend this) -- and enjoyed a delicious meal. I ordered a dish with chicken, lump crabmeat, and pasta in a fabulous champagne cream sauce. If I wasn't so full from the heavy meal (and I guess if we weren't in public), I would have licked the plate clean. My mom also ordered a great dish with sauteed salmon, shrimp, and pappardelle noodles in a white vodka sauce. Deliziosa!
This meal provided a lot of inspiration for me. I definitely need to learn to cook with crabmeat -- it's really a shame (I can't believe that I'm admitting this) that I never tried Maryland crab while I was down there for four years. I'll have to make up for it now!
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| chicken w/ crabmeat, asparagus, and angel hair in a champagne cream sauce @ Carlucci's |
Afterwards, I took my mom over to the Grover's Mill Coffee House just down the block, where they had a fun local band playing. I can't believe it was my first time in there. The place was so welcoming -- there were cute little signs everywhere (there was one that said "will trade gossip for coffee") and the coffee was delicious -- they roast their own coffee in the store! In the back, they had all these old pictures and comics from back in the day, when people believed martians had landed in the sleepy little town of Grover's Mill, NJ. It was dismissed as a hoax, but the coffee house made their own story involving a coffee-loving martian, who is now their official mascot. Silly, but very cute!
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| @ Grover's Mill Coffee House |
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| Local band @ Grover's Mill Coffee House |
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