Forking Tasty

Happy Holidays…BURP!

Forgive us. It’s been 18 days since we’ve posted anything. There are reasons we will later go into but for now, suffice it to say we are full, at least 5 lbs heavier and planning for the turn of the year (It’s Spanish themed. More on that soon too.) The above Christmas beast image represents 2 of a 7 bone roast. The frenzy lasted 4 days straight this year, an Anello record. We hope you have all overindulged as much as we have. Have an amazing New Years. We’ve got one last post brewing before 2013 and it’s destination focused.

Lobster 7 Ways

This story is all about the challenge to out do last years dinner. Before we get into that there are a few things I’ll quickly clear up so you’re up to speed. Italian Christmas Eve is traditionally referred to as “The Feast of the Seven Fishes”. To understand the history of this Italian tradition and its origins, read this. To understand the Anello’s bastardized version of this yearly feast, review this or this. Now that that’s out of the way let’s get to the meat of the post, or should I say “the crustacean”.

Taking the seven potential fish dishes and focusing them on one fish done seven ways was a formidable challenge. It was first proposed back in September by my Uncle Brian, the ring leader of Anello/Nardone over-indulgence. Taking the challenge under consideration he and I began swapping recipes to attempt a sort of coup de grace Christmas Eve feast. The jury is still out whether we succeeded. Never-the-less, the next page has all the dishes and stories from the front range (electric BTW) on what worked, broke, surprised and wowed…

Christmas Cookies

If you know anything about how our family celebrates the holidays it is not like your ordinary family holiday. No, our holidays is packed with a ridiculous amount of food. Basically, if there is 10 people coming to eat we cook for 30. What do you expect, were Italian and we like to eat our delicious food more than just one day. We eat it over the course of a week, sometimes more. For instance, for dessert we made 15 different christmas cookies. Some of them were made 3x the regular recipe amount. Lets put it this way, picture your family dining room table that seats about 8. Now picture that entire table filled with tins of christmas cookies some 2 or 3 tins high. Oh and by the way, we also had a few cakes to make things interesting. Here is the rundown of the homemade goodness….

Merry Christmas

I think our wine choices explains the general feel of all the men and woman in our house today. We hope you all are having a great, tasty, over-filling day.

14 Excuses for Skipping Dinner

Nonsense happens at the holidays. I am sure for many families that comes in different forms. With no surprise my families nonsense comes in edible form. The crux of this derelict family trait is THE COOKIE TABLE. It sits in the corner of the dining room and taunts us all with silent sweetness. The first “official” cookie course doesn’t come until Christmas Eve but each of us quickly falls into temptation after the confectionery seduction uncrosses it’s proverbial legs. By the time dessert on Christmas Eve arrives each of has already dipped our fingers into one or more of the tightly sealed but loosely guarded cookie tins.

Let’s dig into this tradition and these baked menaces one by one…

Give Meat!

Christmas is NOT historically about giving. The modern day Christmas has become a frantic race to buy “crap” for people who you think will by you “crap” before the date reaches an arguably, fictitious, birthday in December. Today’s modern American culture has produced a true Christmas in July. More and more each year I hear that people start shopping for Christmas back in the summer. By comparison, people get engaged after dating for less time, spend less time organizing their finances for their tax return and plan expensive family vacations in a quarter of that time. Add to that fabricated days like “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” and the frenzy hits pandemonium status. Major big box chain stores open their doors at 4am. Retailers run sales called “door busters”. Really? That passed Kohl’s legal review? Why don’t they just call it “leg breakers” or “throat slashers”. Saving $10 on a $40 toy that will be played with for 5 minutes before your kids attention moves to the next gift hardly seems worth it. But then again, I don’t have kids.

I am sorry about the rant but I wanted to raise an eyebrow or two, make you think a little and set up a solution to this maddening cultural disaster. When, and if (Mom), I do have kids all presents except one will be edible. I wish I could say this practice is in full effect in my family (Thanks Uncle Doug for the awesome iPod alarm clock) but we are getting there. Giving edible gifts solves a few problems. First, it…

35th Annual Eating Marathon (aka Christmas)

I can barely move. I am not kidding. For the last 168 hours I have done very little but eat. My goal to eat smart and healthy between Thanksgiving and Christmas succeeded but I find myself asking to what end. Since the 24th I have put an ungodly amount of food down my throat. The best recap would be here. But let’s see if we can do a quick run down below.

12 dozen homemade cookies
11 piping hot side dishes
10 Tiger Shrimps a leaping
9 lobsters dancing
8 made of milk and cream sauces
7 fishes on Christmas eve (look for the post)
6 bone ribeye roast (another post)
5 linguine and clam sauce rings
4 plus 21lbs of turkey bird
3 french garlic breads
2 plates of lobster/crab risotto
1 Cold Stone creamery run

Beach Bun

On the way home from the beach today I stopped by this market/restaurant for a late lunch. A few years back my grandma and uncle had taken me here. The great part about this joint is that they have the freshest fish around because their main business is supplying all the local restaurants. When you walk in there are always fresh catch specials and deals of the day…

Leftover Luxury

I know I told you guys that the eating goes on all week. Today is when it all gets a little more relaxing. Everything is cooked already the work is only in deciding what you are going to craft from the myriad of options. Here we have a fresh turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato and mustard. On the side some cauliflower and eggplant caponata. If you are interested in the full Florida set, check it out here.

Jingle Smell Rock!

Christmas day starts off with a bang, and I am not talking about a frenzy induced, wrapping paper ripping, gift mania. I am talking about food. For better or for worse, my family does not do much if there is not food involved. I woke up in my grandmothers house which is covered in Santa Claus’. My parents were already stirring. My father had on coffee and my mom was making eggs. It was only about 9:30am. The tree, gift ceremony and “real” food would be back at my Uncle Doug’s. Kickoff? 10:30am…