All posts filed under: Uncategorized

Broccoli Crunch Salad with Apple, Walnut, and Dried Cranberries

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I have been an admirer of 101 Cookbooks for years.  After reading a new post, I always walking away thinking “I should eat healthier.”  “I should eat more vegetarian.”  “Why don’t I make more recipes from this blog??”  I share Heidi’s passion for broccoli and was thrilled to stumble on this recipe.  I made a recent discovery of a product called PB2.  PB2 is essentially genius peanut butter.  The manufacturer presses peanuts under extreme pressure which releases the natural oils from the nuts.  They then bottle the pressed oil and sell it as well as the ground oil-free peanuts.  The ground peanuts are in powdered form in the jar when purchased.  You simply add a little water to the ground peanuts to make a paste–just like real peanut butter.  It’s truly delicious, and we’ve become addicted.  I decided to substitute PB2 for the peanut butter in the recipe here and was thrilled with the results.  I think you will be too. Broccoli Crunch Recipe courtesy of 101Cookbooks.com The success of this salad hinges on the …

Slideshow: Dollhouse Food Miniatures

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Etsy.com has probably made the biggest impact on handmade goods of all time.  I’m constantly inspired by the wide range of creativity and talents in this marketplace, and this slideshow highlights a few items I stumbled on by accident.  I found myself through some search term (miniature-something), looking at dozens of pages of dollhouse furniture.  From miniature Eames replicas to $100s in vintage mini-hutches, Etsy had an incredible variety of dollhouse pieces. I never picked up this hobby personally, but I couldn’t help but be drawn into the art and craft.  Being a foodie, I’ve included the miniature food items.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Check out these miniature food items and many more, here at Etsy.

Olive to Cook is back!

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Olive to Cook has been MIA.  Why?  Because I just got married!  Olive to Cook officially has a new family.  Hubby Nick Gerome and two new kittens, Miles and Sadie.  The four of us are all settled in and ready to start up the next phase of our culinary journey together, as a family. Over the break away from blogging, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to do with it next.  I have a lot of passions other than cooking, including style, home, craft, and travel.  You could say that “Olive” (I love) those things too, and it seems only fitting for me to use this blog as an outlet for those interests too. So look out for posts of a variety going forward… posts on all “Olive:” food, family, style, home, craft, and travel.

Day Boat Cafe’s Lobster Roll

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Always on the hunt for the perfect lobster roll, I found myself with that summertime craving and a good hour away from Pearl Oyster Bar (my usual stop for the bestest bestest lobster rolls evah.)  I decided to Google “lobster roll” and “Westchester, NY” to see what would come up and BAM, an awesome New York Times review of a lobster roll at a place called Day Boat Cafe in Irvington, NY.  Only 15 minutes away, Nick and I jumped in the car. What a wonderful place.  The space looks like a beach house, accented with striped canvas booths, oars criss-crossing as decoration on the ceiling, and awesomely bright, blue photographs of the ocean on the walls. There is a gorgeous raw bar, so we started with super spicy bloodies and a dozen oysters.  Half from the east coast and half from the west coast.  The west coasters were the fave.  And then the main event–lobster roll time!  OMG, big chunks of lobster, not too much mayo, and just a sprinkling of chopped chives on …

New NYMag.com Recipe page

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Everytime I receive the latest issue of New York Magazine, I flip to their in season food page.  It showcases a fruit or vegetable or meat or cheese that is in season or of-the-moment, and a NY chef presents a simple recipe starring that special ingredient.  All of these recipes were long held on their website, but the viewer experience wasn’t nearly as lovely as the print edition.  They just got it right–check out the new NYMag.com Recipe Archive.  And drool over their photography.

Garlic Fries

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About the only thing I like about the Yankees: The GARLIC FRIES!  Dripping with hot oil mixed with TONS of chopped garlic, parsley, and salt, these were amazing.  Wow.  A beautiful day in New York, hot garlic fries, a cold beer… life doesn’t get much better. Yankee Stadium GARLIC FRIES concession stand, near field section 108/109

I Love Tommy Bahama’s Scallop Sliders

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// <![CDATA[// image credit: FoodPornDaily.com I was recently in Sarasota, Florida for a sales meeting.  Every year I go to Sarasota, I’m always looking for a great restaurant.  Finding great crab and grouper is a must.  Crab and Fin is one of my favorites.  It’s right on St. Armands Circle, a charming spot for shopping and dining in Sarasota.  After 4 years of going to Sarasota, I never tried Tommy Bahama’s Restaurant.  Why?  Because it’s a “chain.”  I thought “why would I eat at a chain when there are so many other great places to try?”  I was completely wrong about Tommy Bahama’s.  After walking around St. Armands, reading menus posted outside of dozens of restaurants, the Tommy Bahama menu jumped out.  Thanks to Nick, we tried it.  And I pushed aside my snobbery about chains.  Wow, it was worth it.  We loved it!  One item really stood out: the Scallop Sliders with Asian Slaw and Chipotle Aioli.  It’s served with onion straws too.  There are so many dimensions of flavor… so many different textures… …

100 Layer Lasagna

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I love you, lasagna.  You contain all of my favorite food groups: Fresh pasta Cheese Sauce (red and white) Ground meat (the more complex the mix, the better) Normally, I would be salivating at any regular lasagna, as I view lasagna the same way as pizza (that any pizza is good… even if you bought it at, say, 7-11.)  Leave it to the master… my favorite Italian chef, Mario Batali, to create the 100 layer lasagna.  Yes, 100. The pasta layers are said to be so thin, they’re translucent.  This thing of beauty is now available at the delicious Del Posto.  You can buy it a la carte for $30 or enjoy it on a tasting menu.  Fortunate for me (and Nick!), we received a gift card to Del Posto from the extremely generous duo, Pete and Karen Gerome, to celebrate our engagement.  That means that this glorious beauty will be mine… all mine… I love you, 100 layer lasagna.  Let’s make lasagna babies together.