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Category Archives: TRAVEL

Best Tomato Sauce Ever (Vol. III)

25 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by Leah in RECIPES, TRAVEL, TV / POP CULTURE

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, J-Date, Match.com, Nick & Toni's, Penne Alla Vecchia Bettola, Rachael Ray, Vodka Sauce

 

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Why am I still single if I can make this sumptuous, irresistible tomato sauce?  Let me explain. Years ago, a friend gave me the recipe for Rachael Ray’s “You Won’t Be Single For Long Vodka Sauce,” which promises that if you make her sauce for a guy, he’s sure to pop the question.  Um, still waiting. Then I went to Nick & Toni’s in NYC and had their version, called Penne Alla Vecchia Bettola, and after discovering the recipe online, I am now convinced I will land a prince.  A gorgeous, food-loving, Jewish prince at that!  It’s that good, and the best vodka sauce I’ve ever had, hands down.

If you can’t get to Nick & Toni’s, make it at home. (Thank you, Barefoot Contessa!) While it needs to bake in the oven for an hour and a half and yes, there’s a heck of a lot of cream, its comforting aromas and super-concentrated spicy/sweet flavor will more than make up for the extra calories and cooking time.  This is the third of my three-part “Best Tomato Sauce Ever” posts, yet it might be the first thing I’ll note if I ever join Match.com. (“Or J-Date!” my mother just screamed.)

Nick & Toni’s Penne Alla Vecchia Bettola

Adapted from Ina Garten, aka The Barefoot Contessa

  • 1/4 cup good olive oil
  • 1 medium Spanish onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, diced
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 cup vodka
  • 2 (28-ounce) cans peeled plum tomatoes (San Marzano are best)
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 3/4 pound penne pasta
  • 4 tablespoons fresh oregano
  • 3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream (Feel free to use half ‘n half for a slightly less rich taste)
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus a little more for presentation

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Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large oven-proof saute pan over medium heat, add the onions and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add the red pepper flakes and dried oregano and cook for 1 minute more. Add the vodka and continue cooking until the mixture is reduced by half.  Meanwhile, drain the tomatoes through a sieve and crush them into the pan with your hands. Add 2 teaspoons salt and a pinch of black pepper. Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and place it in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta al dente. Drain and set aside.

Place the tomato mixture in a blender and puree in batches until the sauce is a smooth consistency. Return to the pan.  Reheat the sauce, add 2 tablespoons fresh oregano and enough cream to make the sauce a creamy consistency. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and simmer for 10 minutes. Toss the pasta into the sauce and cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan. Serve with an additional sprinkle of Parmesan and a sprinkle of fresh oregano on each plate.  Good luck!

Serves 4-5

(small photos courtesy of Alexandracooks.com – a great foodie website)

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Travel + Food + Balls = Anthony Bourdain

21 Sunday Sep 2014

Posted by Leah in TRAVEL, TV / POP CULTURE

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Anthony Bourdain, CNN, Kitchen Confidential, Parts Unknown

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Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown

Sundays on CNN

Remember when Anthony Bourdain wrote the restaurant exposé “Kitchen Confidential,” cementing his stature as culinary bad boy for the ages?  Turns out, he brings the same sort of bad-ass intrigue he brought to the literary world to CNN, where his travel/food show “Parts Unknown” begins its fourth season next week. “Holy mother of Santa Muerte, please protect my stash of cocaine,” he begins in Mexico, where he dives head first into the world of drug cartels and government corruption, stopping along the way, of course, at the hottest table in Mexico City and the hippest mescal bar in Oaxaca.  In Jerusalem, he re-examines the Arab/Israeli dynamic with aplomb, or rather, over plums, apricots and zucchini from a restaurant’s garden in the West Bank and a watermelon field ablaze with gunfire in Gaza.  And in Detroit, though he likens the abandoned and decaying streets of the once-fabled Motor City to Chernobyl (!), he flaunts its irrepressible entrepreneurship and ends the episode defiantly believing in its comeback. (And its ribs.).

Unlike the dearth of predictable travel and food shows littering cable, “Parts Unknown”  takes you to places, and kitchens, really unknown, and all with Bourdain’s keen eye and voracious appetite.  Think you know Tokyo?  Think again.  Been to Vegas?  Not this Vegas, I assure you.  Bourdain may still be an arrogant celebrity chef with a penchant for eating the balls of a bull, but word has it he goes to Iran and The Bronx in the coming weeks!  I’m going too.

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Hola….. George.

26 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by Leah in TRAVEL, TV / POP CULTURE

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Barcelona, El Xampanyet, George Costanza, Gothic Quarter, Jason Alexander, Picasso Museum, Seinfeld

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El Xampanyet

Hello… Newman.  Hola … George?  What would you do if one of the most iconic of TV characters worked at a bar near you?  Go there almost every night, like I did?!  I truly think that when I lived in Barcelona for a year, I chose an apartment in the Barrio Gotico, or Gothic Quarter, to be near the bar Xampanyet, where the spitting image of George Costanza, the curmudgeon from the TV classic “Seinfeld,” worked.  El Xampanyet (pronounced sham-pan-YET) is a small, traditional tapas bar across the street from Barcelona’s famed Picasso Museum, and two things make it a local favorite: the homemade cava they serve, and its decidedly unhip vibe in a neighborhood bursting with trendy, modern hot spots. But what made me return to it night after night was the owner’s uncanny resemblance to grumpy, jumpy George, aka Jason Alexander, Jerry Seinfeld’s not-so-loveable sidekick.  Same smile, same stature, same bald head. The cava-serving Signor doesn’t speak English, but in my barely there Spanish I’m pretty sure he told me that he heard that a lot. Not from the locals, of course, but from the tourists visiting the museum and then taking his picture afterwards. So why not stop in, try the bubbly cava and some delicious Catalan anchovies or Pa amb tomàquet (tomato bread) and do your best Elaine dance outside, just like I did!

El Xampanyet
Calle Montcada
Barcelona, Spain
 
Bar Xampanyet . Tapas . Barcelona

George Costanza doppelgänger?

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Jason Alexander as George Costanza

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Hartwood: Grab some people, go there now.

22 Thursday May 2014

Posted by Leah in TRAVEL

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Hartwood, Mexico, reservations, sustainable energy, Tulum

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Hartwood
Carretera Tulum Boca Paila
7.6KM Tulum Mexico

¡Atención por favor, lovers of Tulum!  You’ve no doubt either heard about Hartwood, the remarkable, open-air restaurant in Tulum, Mexico, or even tried to go, but have you gotten in?  There are countless articles about this magical eatery – opened in 2010 by a hipster couple from Brooklyn – extolling its much-deserved virtues that seem hard to believe (No stove? No fridge?).  Believe them all, by the way, and yet I’m going to tell you the most important thing you need to know about Hartwood:  Go as a party of eight. That’s right, eight.  Hartwood (in)famously does not take reservations, and as it’s become insanely popular of late, it seems you have to forsake your after-beach shower and stand in line for hours just for the possibility of a table.  Um, no.  Vacation in Mexico = afternoon siesta, right?  So what to do?!  Well, I recently traveled to Tulum for a certain, ahem, milestone birthday and brought along 7 milestone-making friends with me. Hartwood, you see, does take reservations, but only for parties of 8 or more.  “Mmm, here’s to you!” my friends said as they sipped their grapefruit habenero-infused margaritas and toasted my birthday.  “No, here’s to you,” I replied, “because you all got me into Hartwood!”

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Why all the hub-bub?  The romantic, rustic atmosphere sets the tone, the tropical cocktails almost knock you out, and by the time you taste the rosewater-scented sea bass ceviche, you know you’re in for something special.  Fall-off-the-bone pork ribs made my knees weak, and the charred and luscious “Arrechera Angus” was possibly the best steak I’ve ever had.  You’ll want to take pictures of the creative and colorful sides, like the largest, smokiest red beet I’ve ever seen, and you’ll want to savor your dessert, a lime tart that tastes like what citrus and heaven must taste like if they met. Finally, another juicy cocktail, mixed with a blender that is the only electrical appliance used at Hartwood, because that might be the biggest reason of all for all the fuss – this extraordinary restaurant uses no electricity (only a small generator for said blender) but rather relies solely on sustainable energy, a wood-burning oven, and lots of good knife skills.  It is truly the epitome of living (deliciously) off the grid.

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So if you’re in Tulum only with your beau, or maybe on a girls’ trip with your BFF’s, find a way to bump up your party. Make friends with that couple you always see at breakfast!  Ask your fellow yogis after your morning yoga class!  Did I take 7 friends to Tulum with me just so that I could get a reservation at Hartwood?  No.  Would I?  Um, could you pass the plantains?

 

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LA dee dah

10 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by Leah in TRAVEL

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

LA hotels, Petit Ermitage, rooftop pool, West Hollywood

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Petit Ermitage Hotel

West Hollywood, CA

What do a skinny celebrity stylist from NYC, a nouveau-riche televangelist from Seattle, and a retired lesbian couple traveling with their pet shnoodle have in common? They all stayed at the Petit Ermitage in West Hollywood, a little gem of a hotel that even my most in-the-know Angelinos didn’t know existed. And what attracted them there, as it did me, was its stunning, sexy rooftop. Up top is a charming restaurant, a cozy, laid-back vibe, and most of all, a lovely European pool (no kids! bikini tops optional!). As I partook in the overflowing breakfast buffet every day – served till noon, my kind of place – and swam in the warm-as-bathwater pool, all surrounded by orange trees and wildflowers, I wondered if I’d ever stay at the W again. (Answer: hell no.)  And at night, it transforms into a candlelit outdoor lounge with an inviting fire pit, animal print blankets, and ne’er a bad attitude in sight. Truly!

The hotel has spacious, comfortable rooms that run a little more shabby than chic, but they’re reasonably priced and really, it’s all about the upstairs. Book a room, invite some pals, and head to the most charming rooftop in town.

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Rooftop restaurant

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Rooftop pool

 

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Does Ruby need a wake up call?

12 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by Leah in TRAVEL

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

boutique hotels, Greyhounds, Kimpton hotels, mastiffs, San Francisco hôtels, Washington DC hotels

Kimpton Hotels

Dog lovers, listen up!  Do you start your sentences with we instead of I, even though you’re single?  Do you deliberately not finish your burger when out with friends, knowing that a certain someone at home would love to finish it?  Then you’re probably inclined to travel with your beloved pooch, and yet find it difficult to find a nice hotel that will accommodate the, um, two of you.

More room service, Ruby?

More room service, Ruby?

Worry no more.  Check out the Kimpton hotel chain (kimptonhotels.com), a series of boutique hotels across the country that not only allow dogs, but go out of their way to make them comfortable.  When I saw a picture on their web site of a big black lab lounging on a bed – a king bed, no less – I packed up my car and my greyhound Ruby, who never met a bed she didn’t love, and drove down to DC (where there are a whopping 8 hotels to choose from.  San Francisco has 10.).  For those of you who prefer leg room, they also provide dog beds, along with bowls and treats, dog walking services, and best of all, they don’t discriminate against breed.  Even your big buddy Mastiff is welcome!

Oh yeah, for you humans, every Kimpton hotel hosts a popular wine hour in the late afternoon, plus there are spa services, fitness centers, and always cool bars and restaurants.  Ruby and I were very, ahem, content, and who knows, maybe a cross country trip to San Fran is in our future?

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“Hello, my name is Moonbeam.”

28 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by Leah in TRAVEL

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Massage, Moonbeam, Nirvana, Santa Fe, Ten Thousand Waves, Watsu

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Ten Thousand Waves
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Thus began my Watsu experience at the famous Ten Thousand Waves (spa) in Santa Fe, one of the most memorable hours of my entire life.  A little far fetched?  Well, maybe I live a boring life.  But I don’t think so!  Imagine the best rubdown you’ve ever had, then imagine taking a tranquil, warm bath.  Now put them together and that’s what a Watsu, or underwater massage, is like.  It’s also a highly spiritual experience, if you really let yourself go.  As my therapist Moonbeam (I swear I am not making that up) explained, Watsu is all about trust.  The more I trusted her, the more fulfilling my experience would be. And sure enough, after a few minutes of awkward hesitancy, I relaxed into her arms as she held me like a baby and gently twisted me into yoga-like poses.  And that’s what made it so noteworthy – I completely lost myself, fully and completely, right there in a stranger’s arms.  My muscles turned to noodles and my breath became quiet, like at any good massage, but what was different was that I also had tears in my eyes.  It was almost as if I had just had the best therapy session ever, in a hot tub!  Moonbeam indeed.

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I Saw God in Beverly Hills.

23 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by Leah in TRAVEL

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Tags

Jose Andres, Molecular Gastronomy, pan con tomate, SLS Hotel, The Bazaar, tomato bread

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Modern and Traditional Olives @ The Bazaar

The Bazaar
SLS Hotel, Beverly HIlls, CA

Jose Andres = God.  That’s what I thought when I ate at The Bazaar, the swank Beverly Hills home to the super-chef from Barcelona.  More specifically, that’s what I thought five minutes in, when a plate of his “modern olives” literally popped in my mouth!  Whaaaaaaaaat just happened, I think I screamed to the waiter!  Apparently some molecular gastronomy just happened, as these light green blobs on silver spoons turned into the craziest thing to happen to my mouth since my braces came off.

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“Philly Cheesesteak” @ The Bazaar

His food is so good and so inventive, yet because of his technique and stupefying flavors, it’s almost other-worldly.  The other highlights on the tapas menu include Andres’ take on a Philly cheese steak – the lightest, airiest two-bite sandwich you’ll ever have – and the Brussels sprouts with lemon air.  Yes, air.  They also serve the best pan con tomate (tomato bread) I’ve ever had, and I lived in Spain!  Please go.

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The Power of Three

23 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by Leah in TRAVEL

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Brooklyn, Dumbo, Grimaldi's, Jon Stewart, Pizza, Zagat's

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Grimaldi’s
Brooklyn, NY

RESTAURANT TIP!

Wanna try the “best pizza in NY” (according to Jon Stewart, and ok, Zagat’s) but not have to wait an eternity for a table?  I went to Grimaldi’s recently, the famous pizza joint underneath the Brooklyn bridge, and we got in – on a Friday night at 9, no less – without having to wait more than a few minutes.  How?  We were a party of three rather than two, so we waltzed in past a huge cue of pissed off-looking couples almost instantly.  Moments later, a smoky, crisp, kind of perfect pizza adorned our table, and it might’ve tasted even better knowing how quickly we got in!  So next time you have date night, grab an extra friend or a guy crossing the bridge if you have to, and go to Dumbo with confidence.  Even on the weekend!

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The New Pesto

17 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by Leah in RECIPES, TRAVEL

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

David Chang, Ginger, Momofuku, Pesto, Sauce, Scallion

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Move over pesto, mama’s got a favorite new sauce!  If you’ve ever been to any of the Momofuku restaurants in NYC, maybe you, too, have savored every bite of Chef David Chang’s classic Ginger Scallion Noodles.  But did you know how great that sauce is on almost anything, and how easy it is to make?  So far, I’ve had it on roasted salmon, pan-fried shrimp, ramen noodles, jasmine rice, and even vermicelli.  It’s also great on grilled fish or meat.  It’s just a whole lotta’ sweet ‘n sour goodness with a kick (read: ginger!) and even though, consistency-wise, it’s more like a relish than a sauce, it’s my new favorite ‘must-have’ in the fridge!

Momofuku’s Ginger Scallion Sauce

  • 2 ½ cups thinly chopped scallions (white and green parts, from about 1-2 bunches)
  • ½ cup finely minced peeled fresh ginger (that’s not a typo, go for it!)
  • ¼ cup grapeseed or canola oil
  • 1 ½ tsp. light soy sauce
  • ¾ tsp. sherry vinegar
  • ¾ tsp. kosher salt, or more to taste

Mix together all ingredients in a bowl, adding more salt if needed.  Let stand at least 15 minutes, open your refrigerator, and see what you can put it on!

    • Makes about 3 cups.
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Ginger Scallion Noodles @ Momofuku

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All Small Things Considered.com

Because it's the little things that make your day

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Because it's the little things that make your day

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Because it's the little things that make your day

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Detroit baseball for strange people.

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Because it's the little things that make your day

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Because it's the little things that make your day

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