Charity Bake sale

A few Fridays ago I was getting ready for a big charity bake sale. I was all set with my ingredients and my friend M. who is also part of the charity was coming over to bake and hang out. The bake sale is for our charity called Coins 4 Hope, we help underprivileged children, set goals for ourselves, encourage others to give and we also help others to lead better lives. We are a group of friends, working together to make big changes in the lives of others. On Friday after school I went down the street to my art class for an hour, anticipating what M. and I would be baking. After class I went back to school, and followed the sound of singing, because M. was in an audition workshop. I found M. and we drove to my house. At home, we got right into baking, we started the sugar cookies first

We rolled out the dough my mom and I had made the night before. M. and I took turns trying to roll the dough evenly. After the dough was in a giant flat circle we took our cookie cutters and made cookie circles. We popped the sugar cookies into the oven to bake while we made the brownies. M. and I didn't read a lot of the directions while making the brownies. First we added the eggs, flour, sugar and tons (tons) of chocolate chips. The brownie mixture in the bowl looked a lot like cookie dough. I told M., "Do you think that these brownies will turn out more like cookies than brownies?" we both shrugged and continued to make them. Once the cookies came out of the oven we replaced them with the brownies. We had decided to make this batch of cookies with frosting instead of sprinkles. The only problem was that we didn't have the frosting pens and we wanted to write the name of the charity or hope or love. M. said, "I know how to make frosting pens." So I also learned how to make those that night. I held out a plastic bag and she filled it with frosting, then I squished the bag closed and we cut the top off. I did the same for her frosting pen. We decorated the tops of the cookies with frosting, edible glitter and sprinkles. The cookies looked wonderful!

As M. and I were sitting down for our dinner of Brie Pasta with tomatoes my mom rushed into the room with the tray of brownies we had made earlier. She thrust the tray in our faces and said, "There is something wrong with the brownies, they are really sweet and DO look like cookies!" I laughed and shook my head, thinking, 'They can't be that sweet!' One bite and I couldn't eat anymore, but they were good anyway. Later on we made real brownies. Then we went to sleep eagerly awaiting the bake sale the next day. When we woke up we had a lovely breakfast, M. had a bagel with cream cheese and I had (my own invention) a bagel with cream cheese and homeade corn beef. Believe it or not, this tastes really good. After M. left I changed into my Coins 4 Hope t-shirt and made some signs.


I was one of the first ones there and greeted my friends H. and E., who were already multiplying the number of signs we had. The table already had some yummy goodies like cupcakes and muffins. We made more signs as we talked about what we wanted to accomplish that day. We were joined by our friends A., E., R. and G. who were bringing cookies, cupcakes and more sweet treats, Oh My! We had a perfect strategy in mind, some people would stand with signs at the beginning of the block, a few kids would be positioned by the bake sale table itself, and finally three or four kids would stand on the far corner by the stop sign to yell into car windows. This strategy worked even more when M. and O. arrived. There was a man who had an estate sale on the other side of the street and this brought good business. The best part was when we flagged down a tour bus in the middle of the street, but the people in the bus couldn't get out so we brought the goodies to them, and it was quite fun. At the end we were all allowed to eat some of the leftovers, until a man bought all the rest of the sweets and we sold out! It was really fun!

If you are interested in the Coins 4 Hope charity please go to..

www.coins4hope.com and see the man looking at the moon logo.

We sell wristbands and t-shirts, too!

Watermelon Radish

Advisory Challenge

Last week my advisory was assigned to make a goal for the next day. Each person would make their own, some people chose to do all their homework or do their chores. I chose to make noodles and bring them into my advisory tomorrow. Ms. D'amato thought this was a great idea and I promised to make Peanut Noodles that night.

Well, when I got home my dad was still making dinner and wouldn't help me with my noodles, so it was agreed that I would make the noodles after dinner. We had a good meal but I saved some room for the taste test! After dinner I told my dad that I had to make them and not him. He nodded, but I'm not sure I got the point across.

First I put my ingredients in the Cuisinart, which (by the way) I pronounce Quiz-in-art. The recipe told me to put 1o garlic cloves into the Cuisinart, but I decided to put only 5 because I didn't want it to be too spicy. I put in the peanut butter because they're called Peanut Noodles. Then you add soy sauce or the fancy word, Shoyu. Followed by some sugar to make it extra sweet, like me! After the sugar, compliment the sweet with some spice, or 1/2 Tbsp. Ra-yu oil. To top all that you add some rice whine or even dry sherry. After adding all that mumbo jumbo you blend it and it becomes PEANUT DRESSING!

While that's sitting out, take some Chow Mein noodles that you can buy at ANY supermarket in the Asian section. Then, without chopping off any fingers I successfully and thinly sliced some green onions. Then I added some baby corn or those weird mini things and sliced some water chestnuts. Usually I shred a chicken breast (cooked, best to avoid getting Salmonella) on top of the noodles.

When I was done I felt really proud that I had made some AWESOMELY good noodles. The next day I came to school with not one but two lunchboxes. I had to get to my first class but I handed my precious noodles to Hiram with a warning of, "Give these straight to Ms.D'amato or....." well lets not go there. At advisory I took my noodles out of the science lab fridge and walked down to the advisory room. Everyone had a plateful and LOVED them. I am very happy that I made noodles and will make them again soon.

Till tomorrow!

Watermelon Radish

French Reunion

Last night at my house we had a party. Our friends from France, Phyllis, JJ, Julie, Jordie, and Catherine came for dinner. We also had our good friends from LA, Carlyle, Web and their daughter Marjorie and our cousin Tavan. We all hung out for a while talking, eating bread, cheese and olives. After about an hour my brother Chris, his girlfriend Audrey and her friend Regina stopped by. Marjorie, Regina, Chris, Audrey and I all went on the trampoline and bounced around. After that I did mad libs with my friend then it was time for the appetizer. My mom had made Gazpacho the whole day, and I was really looking forward to it. The first time I had Gazpacho, was in Barcelona. We went to a cafe on the water and the soup came in little chilled clear bowls, with different colored layers of soup. There were also little bowls of condiments including croutons, avocado and sour cream. My moms soup reminded me of this because it was really good. It was really refreshing and the taste of tomato didn't overpower that of the cucumber, garlic and red bell peppers. It had a little bit of pepper and was sort of spicy, but not the type of spicy where you had to drink water.

After the soup my dad had a special treat for all of us! We filed into the kitchen with our plates and our choices were, skirt steak, Wild King salmon cooked on cedar plank or both! I chose the steak, but I didn't really like it because I am very sensitive to an ingredient in the marinade, Cumin. I have tried the salmon before and it is barbecued to perfection, it's soft and it cuts like butter. My dad puts a secret sauce on top that makes it taste sweet. I don't really like salmon but ever since I tasted that one I kept telling dad, "Can we have the Cedar Plank salmon?" With that there was a wilted arugula and grilled potato salad. It had a sweet balsamic like dressing but it was mustard vinaigrette. My favorite parts of the salad were the potatoes because they tasted like french fries and the arugula. For dessert there was homemade peach cobbler and little chocolates. I am in on a deal with my dad, so I can't eat any sweets for a month and I get an iPhone! I started two days ago and its not that hard, really!

Bye!!

Meat, meat and more meat at Solociccia

After going to Mac Dario's for lunch the other day, we found out that Dario owned three restaurants: one was Mac Dario's, then Solociccia and the restaurant behind his butcher shop.

My dad made reservations at Solociccia a restaurant that is family style and serves only meat. As mom, dad, Bruce, Alisa and I drove up the hill from our villa La Rota we all said that we were very hungry. Our property manager had told us to, 'pace ourselves' and we were sure that it meant a lot of food would be coming our way. Once we got there the waiter showed us to our long table where people came together from all over, to eat at Dario's restaurant. Once we sat down we all looked at the menu which I have copied below;

Spicy meat ragu on toast

Batter fried meats and vegetables

Rosemary up your bum (Chianti sushi)

Fresh, raw garden vegetables

Homemade focaccia

Garbanzo and white beans

A roasted dish

Boiled beef and vegetable salad

A braised dish

Tuscan bread

Dario red wine (quarter liter)

Water with and without bubbles

Coffee, olive oil cake

Grappa Cecchini

that is the menu and to tell the truth everything was really good

For the first course, we had was The Spicy Meat Ragu on toast. It came on Tuscan bread and in a big dish. All of it came together so everyone passed the dishes around the table, the meat ragu had soaked the toast so that it had a feel of being dipped in a warm and soothing broth and the meat was very good, it was sort of like a Sloppy Joe but better.

The Batter Fried Meats and Vegetables were very tasty and each was different, the meatball was delectable and would be really nice in a pasta with a meat sauce. The batter fried onion was like a gourmet onion ring. Finally, the batter fried pork was, to me the best one because it had a sort of sweet after taste.

The homemade focaccia was crunchy bread with different veggies in it, like my favorite piece had onion. The Garbanzo and White Beans were warm and had an olive oil broth.

The Rosemary Up Your Bum was to die for! It was so good, rare meat with a hole in the top and a sprig of Rosemary sticking out and therefore 'up your bum'.

The Roasted Dish was similar to a roast beef with parsley on top with olive oil seasoning, it was way better than any roast beef we know and so much better than any deli cut.

Boiled Beef and Vegetable Salad is like a corn beef lovers dream, it was by far my favorite and it was so easy to eat all of it on the plate! The Boiled Beef fell right off of the largest piece and it tasted so delicious and rich and creamy.

At the point the Braised Beef dish arrived, I was too full to take another bite and when I tried it it tasted so rich and salty that I gave up on eating any more food.

Then our very kind waiter clanged his glass and we all listened as he told us about the Olive Oil Cake that was about to come out of the oven and onto our table. It was so nice and it tasted like lemon pound cake and then I grabbed the piece in the center and bit the bottom and found a type of sugar that was so sweet and crunchy.

After dinner we all went to the butcher shop for Grappa and Dario was filling the glasses again and again. I met Dario's wife Kym and she was very nice to me and told me I could ask Dario about his career as a butcher. This is the interview that I had with him,

In which part of Italy were you born in?

"I was born in that window across the street, right there!"

Why did you decide to become a butcher?

"My family has been doing this job for 250 years, and it has been passed on from father to son."

What is your favorite type of meat?

"All the recipes in the menu are the ones I grew up with, my menu is like music all the notes together make a melody. Everything in the menu is no waste and we use all of the animal in a way so everything is used because an animal gave its life for us to eat. In a world like ours where people are starving we have to handle, cook with and work with the meat carefully ."

What would you have done if you weren't a butcher?

"My dream was to be an opera singer, but I didn't have the voice I had the heart."

(he was playing opera music in his butcher shop and everyone was laughing and Dario was walking around socializing and balancing shot glasses in one hand and Grappa in the other. It was like a really loud food music concert in the alley. People driving by were getting Grappa shots while people from everywhere in the village walked over and laughed and talked and drank.)

I admire Dario Cecchini's talent for working with meat so well and bringing people together at his table to enjoy the meat and each others company.

Thank you Dario for answering my questions and welcoming me to your restaurant

The Watermelon Radish

Mac Donalds, but better!

On our second day in Italy me, mom, dad, Alisa and Bruce all were wanting a lunch of good food. Also at the airport my family was disappointed because the only forms of food where Panda Express, Pete's Coffee and a Buffalo Wings Bar and what we really wanted was a hamburger! Anyway, when we all got to our villa in 'Panzano in Chianti' the property manager ran out to greet us and told us about a great hamburger place run by a famous butcher in town who has three restaurants! This butchers name is Dario Cecchini, and in his view... vegetarians are unwelcome. My dad wanted to find out about Dario's burger place and went to his butcher shop. The shop was full of people drinking free wine and having bread with rosemary lard and salami. The burger restaurant was upstairs from the butcher shop but was closed already.

The next day we went for lunch and ordered "Mac Dario' burgers. The menu only had two options, a burger that was like a rare meatball but grilled on the outside and amazing fries or some veggies with meat carpaccio. My dad, Bruce and mom ordered their own, but I had seen the plates and they were huge! So just as I was about to ask Alisa if she'd like to share one with me she asked the same thing and we agreed. We ordered 4 Mac Dario's and one raw veggie bowl. The veggie bowl came first and the head waiter made the dressing for us. He 'tossed' us each a little bowl and threw some salt in each of of them. Then from a good distance away, he poured Red Wine Vinegar into the bowls and topped it of with 'Italian' Olive Oil. We dug into our veggies and the dressing was so refreshing we wondered if it was really only the ingredients he had flung in! Then the burgers came, and I have a review from each of us! When dad bit into his Mac Dario he said, "Unique, and Top Quality!" Mom took a small bite of her rare Dario and babbled, " I could eat the whole thing but I shouldn't, this is killer!" Bruce just mumbled, "Yummmmmm!" Alisa and I cut ours in half and both took a piece. Alisa looked at me and said, "Oh ya sister!" and I laughed and cut into my rare burger and before I could say anything Bruce yelled, "Have you tried this ketchup? its like not ketchup!" I replied, "After I try it alone." I picked up my fork and poised it over the meat on my plate and stabbed a small piece and dad chuckled whispering, "Girl bite!" I ignored him and popped the piece of meat into my mouth, it was so good and the meat was not hard it was rare and soft, it wasn't too rich and it made me want more of it! I said, "This is super duper good!" Then I thought, can we come back? We walked away full and happy! So if you're ever in Chianti, go to Panzano where you should drop by the one and only Mac Dario's

I give it five stars!

Bye bye all my five starred fans!

Watermelon Radish

CC Cookies

Last Sunday some family and friends were coming over to my house for dinner. My mom wanted to bake something for them and decided to make some Chocolate Chip Cookies. I helped my mom bake and it was really fun!

First we had to lay out the ingredients like white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, salt, baking soda and butter. Step 1: we had to put the sugars, eggs and the butter in the bowl and mix them. We did this, but we forgot to put in the brown sugar so we had to start over again. The second time we mixed it correctly and made a nice fluffy batter that had a brown tint. After this, we added the mixture of flour, baking soda and salt, that didn't change the color or the look of the batter very much.

Then for my second favorite part we added a big bowl of chocolate chips! I mixed those in and it was really difficult to stir. Then I went upstairs to get ready for our guests, while I was doing that my mom put the batches of cookies in the oven.

I could smell them all the way up in my room and they still made my mouth water! Then, right as my mom was taking the cookies out of the oven I came downstairs, perfect timing on my part. The cookies that had just come out of the oven smelled like a mixture of cupcakes, chocolate and dough.

Then my dad asked about my favorite part of baking and he said, "What about a taste test?" mom wanted dad and I to split one, but dad said that he would not share his cookie. Thank You Daddy! I chose a cookie without many chocolate chips (maybe two on the inside) and took a bite. It tasted so good! The dough was chewy but crunchy when you first bit in and the chocolate was all melted and gooey. My dad announced his verdict, "They're ok, as a matter of fact they are really good!" Then all eyes were on me with my cookie and one bite taken out of it. I cried, "This is the best cookie I have ever tasted!" So, when my brother came with his new puppy Cheddar and my friend and his mom came they all said, "Wow these cookies are great!" The following day I had a cookie in my lunch at school!

Bye!

P.S. I am going on a vacation in Europe for three weeks and intend to write about all the amazing food there! I would also like to thank all of the people who read my blog and leave so many gr8 comments that brighten my day!

Watermelon Radish

Healthy Breakfast

I have been away and have not been able to write on my blog, but during that time I tried eating healthier and this is a family breakfast favorite. Sauteed kale with turkey bacon and scrambled eggs, is a perfect mix of greens and protien. The kale is salty and dry, it tastes sort of like a piece of cardboard that has a hint of butter on it. Whatever the kale may taste like, I love it. There is only one type of turkey bacon we like and it's from Whole Foods. It has a great taste and mixes its greasy and meat like taste with the dryness of the kale. If you want to add even more you can put egg into your pan!

My family scrambles it but I'm sure you can have it over-easy. You can also put toast on the side and I think either Olive Bread from La Brea bakery or bagels from Sarah Lee are the best.

After this great breakfast I had some fruit. There was sweet pineapple that melted in your mouth, sour and good strawberries that froze your teeth and kiwi that was amazing but really gooey! If you ever want to eat healthier you can use simple recipes like this one instead of going on a diet!

That's all folks!

Watermelon Radish

Boa

Hey there,

For my grandparents anniversary (on Valentines Day) we took them to Boa Steakhouse. Funny, none of us ended up having steak! For my appetizer I had Tuna Tar Tar with thin toast. The tuna didn't have a lot of taste by itself, but when I added the toast it tasted really good. My mom had the same thing, she loved it, even my grandmother who hates raw fish liked it! My father had some of ours but he also had foie gras.

For my main course I had a medium rare cheeseburger with Camembert cheese. It was one of the best burgers I have ever had. There was a brioche bun that tasted like a bagel. In case you didn't know, I am a sucker for soft cheese so the moment I saw that it had Camembert and fries, I had to get it! My grandfather had the same thing but well-done and with regular cheese. My grandmother also had it the way grandpa did. My mother had raw salmon on a cracker that was too fishy for me and she said it was "OKAY". Dad had sea bass that was also too fishy. For the table we had chipotle lime corn, which was really good and only a little bit spicy and sour!

For dessert we had a plate of cookies, which I didn't have, big surprise, right! Me and my dad shared a marshmallow chocolate ice cream cup, it was too sweet and it tasted burnt.

That's all folks!