eatalian weekend

if you haven't read my intro on the right side of the blog page, please read one of the last sentences...the one about not judging me on my calorie intake. <I am pausing so that you may do so>
did you read it? because i really need you to put aside "that type" of bias. why?

I ate an 8ish course meal last night. that's why. And even though I thought I'd wake up still feeling full, I wasn't. Finding myself in NYC, I nearly sprinted, ok more like briskly walked to and ate/devoured/scarfed a NY-bagel with schmear in less than 2 minutes. anyway, Back to that MEAL.

Chef and I were invited to a top secret location, and exclusive Italian rifle club in (to keep in top secret) NXC. No neon pizza signs in the window at this joint. The few "field markings": a plain red awning, the house number/address, a sole 3' X 3' bronze-like plaque adorning the image of two crossed rifles next to the front door, and a buzzer. And, no, the password was not a gabbygoal (hee hee that's my joke in reference to the sopranos..not sure if there will be more...)

We were greeted by our host, a member of the club (to be a member, you have to prove a high percentage of Italiannish on both sides of the familia to rise to such stature. Guests, on the other hand, doesn't matter apparently because they let us mutts in; and the other members of the party were Asian). Anyway, upon arrival, we went into a lounge-like room - low ceiling, five or six small tables, built-in wooden bookshelves, somewhat not bright/not dark lighting. And in this room we were served wine, a plate of salumi and cheese, and another plate of focaccia bread. Nice little snackies- for some people of the party, this was their first bite of the day because they knew the onslaught that awaited, but only some people...

The grand ballroom, I mean dining room - a much larger room, more tables, brighter lighting, and the good ol' push carts and hailed dessert cart in the front of the room. Wait staff in jackets and ties. Which reminds me, it was a dress up occasion and Chef did wear his suit. He looked handsome. We were seated, and then our wines from the lounge arrived separately, take that applebees. And then in instant, more food arrives! Plates of peppers, olives, celery, bread, butter. And they push the specials board over and an old italiano goes over the specials of the night first in italian and then a description in english but with an italian accent. The menu only showed a three course selection - appetizer, pasta, and entree - but on my accounting system we were up to 2 courses so far. Chef ordered a scungilli soup that was served with tomato broth and white beans. A little spicy, he said, but the scungilli was tender not rubbery like you most people are probably used to. Me, I ordered the farro salad that was tossed in olive oil and had little balls of mozzarella and cherry tomatoes. Our fellow diners did not know of the farro so i got to strut my food-nerdiness. "Farro is a grain, and resembles barley, except it is slightly larger,"I said something like that. And a note to my readers, do not buy it in Whole Foods in the packaged section because they totally mark the carp out it and sell it for like $7/lb but you can get it for less. Back to the meal, pasta - Chef chose the orcchiette with broccoli rabe and sausage. THe broc rabe was done right. Another note to my readers, if you don't like broccoli rabe its probably because who ever made it for you, didn't make it correctly. Additionally, sometimes when I eat it out in a restaurant, I nearly choke on it. bad, bad, bad, obviously. Orcchiette pasta by the way, is a cute little UFO shape pasta (no filling). Moi, I had fusilli (fusilli jerry, remember?? from seinfeld, fusilli jerry gets lodged in George's...you know, c'mon!) with cauliflower and bread crumbs in olive oil a few chunks of garlic. This was good, nice and simple. We were told all the pasta was made in-house. Pretty good. And then the entrees: Chef had some panchetta (pork) special and I had salmon with lemon and herbs. By this time, ugg the entree was somewhat gratuitous especially since they uncorked the second bottle of wine.

and, then, as a break in the feasting and with stained red teeth, off we went to the basement, where i fired my first firearm. a 22 rifle. and i even got one bull's; not the exact center, but in that sector. (will update with photo soon.) <<I am hoping that this blog is never taken out of context or used against me to defame my character ... I just hit the delete button in order to comply with my intentions of keeping this blog food-centric, but that doesn't mean you can't use your imagination :D >>

Back to the eating, after target practice, but as an aside: the club only allows the use of the club's 22 rifles in the basement, no personal firearms allowed. shooting practice is also proctored by an nypd type person or u.s. marshall. this all stems from an incident when a member's own firearm dislodged and he was shot himself in the foot upon ascending the stairs. And even though there is a sign that says no alcoholic beverages beyond this point at the top of the stairs, you are still allowed to fire a weapon if you have wine stains on your teeth and lips. phew! my dreams would have been crushed otherwise!

So, now back to the eating. Where were we? Cheese course! The cheeses, a half wheel of hard parmigiana (cow's milk) and lesser sized chunk of pecorino (sheep's milk) were placed on a cart on wheeled over the table. The waiter plated up a hunk of the parm and a sliver of the pec and we thoroughly enjoyed it after we busted caps down range.  The parmigiana had little nuggets of flavor crystals and the soft pecorino was v. nice and authentico! Cheese was followed by a plate of cookies and biscotti for the table and an actual fruit bowl. Like your at your friend's house on any day of the week fruit bowl. Name it, and it was probably in there as well as a prickly pear cactus. The fruit was a nice little pick me up.

Out came some coffees/espressos and then the maggiore dessert cart wheeled its way over. Nothing fancy, but good homestyle treats. We had one of each and shared it amongst the five of us. I had ricotta cheesecake for the first time, pretty fluffy and light I think I like it. We also had some berries soaked in booze, rice puddin (none for me), an apple tart, and an orangey-jam filled tart. Finally, the meal was over. Helluvalotta food. And did you hear about the mega millions>

Wow. Anyone have any tips for me for fasting?