Best meal I ever ate:
The best lunch I ever ate was at EatZis in Macy's Cellar -- a caprese style sandwich I got one day when I worked at McGraw Hill on 33rd St. across from Macys in NYC. It was on a huge slice of garlic bread dripping with evoo, alternated basil, fresh mozzarella and Roma tomatoes. However, when I was in high school my family used to summer in Hyannis Mass. Had my first real fried scallop at Baxters at the marina. I hadn't been there for 10 years. Back in May my husband and I went for a mini-vacation and we went to Baxters on a Sunday happy hours. Despite the Red Sox on the television, the fried scallops were perfect. They have spoiled me for any other fried scallop anywhere...
My current drink of choice:
Peroni beer, or Baileys and raspberry vodka on the rocks
I really wish I could:
win the lottery, go to the baking program at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park and run a bed and breakfast in Pawleys Island where I could have a big kitchen garden near the beach.
My "Go-to" dinner party dish:
Depends on summer or winter food - probably some variation on an Italian vegetable soup with sausage and pasta, shrimp and mushroom risotto or a chicken florentine with artichoke hearts. Dessert would be a cheesecake, either a pumpkin one with pecan/vanilla cookie crust or a black forest cheesecake with an Oreo crust.
My favorite comfort food:
ice cream, pepperoni or salami and good swiss cheese (not together)
My top 5 favorite restaurants:
Baxters, Hyannis Mass, Old World Italian Restaurant, Pawleys Island SC, Carmines, Bristol CT, Planet Wings Middletown NY, Olee's Pizza, Farmington CT, Coppolla's La Fantasia, Highland NY
My most tattered cookbooks:
Joy of Cooking, How to Cook Everything, Everyday Italian, The Lady and Sons, Italy in Small Bites
