Cheater Cheater Pizza Eater

I am cheating on myself.  Which sounds really bizarre I know.  The thing is with the Littledude and Ladybug in my life I have used my camera a lot less.....although recently I went crazy shooting them for a few days....but instead I have been cooking a LOT more.

I have been posting on Facebook about some of my culinary adventures, the hits and the spectacular misses as I go.... and family members, as well as a few friends kept asking for recipes....so I did the inevitable.

I started yet ANOTHER BLOG!

Heirlooms at a farm stand in New Jersey

Zia's Kitchen is all about Gluten Free and "Kid Friendly" cooking.  I am trying to cook super healthy for them, but sometimes in order to get veggies in the little dude I have to resort to trickery - covered in a lot of cheese!

All the photography is of course be mine, of course while in the midst of cooking and getting dinner to the table I don't get much time to whip out the Canon. So the iPhone and my sub par kitchen lighting has to do.  Thank god for the apps Camera Awesome (same people who I built my websites with) and Instagram.  

My kitchen the other night

So check out Zia's Kitchen at www.ziaskidkitchen.com  The address ziaskitchen.com was already taken by a restaurant somewhere. Booo and I thought I was being original! 

I will work on upgrading the photography to my normal level, as a family friend said upon seeing my photography for the first time last night at Sunday dinner..."wow, you take good pictures of food"

Awwww thanks.  Combining my 2 of my favorite hobbies in the world...Food & Photography.  Now if I could just get more travel in there somewhere!

Organic Farm in New Jersey

Farmers Market in North Yorkshire, England

Farmers Market in North Yorkshire, England

Is the year REALLY half over already?

June.  The halfway mark for the year.  How is it possible?  Wasn't it January just a few weeks ago? Time is brutal. 

Just ask the crows feet around my eyes and the grey hairs on my head.

I wanted to post about this right after the trip like a normal person but today will work.  Especially when I SHOULD be packing for the big move tomorrow.

Procrastination is a very misunderstood and undervalued talent.

6 months ago while recovering from a very mellow New Years Eve....so mellow in fact I have no memory of what I actually did. Probably just went to bed after watching the fireworks from mom's balcony - that sounds about right.

What I do remember is excitedly getting ready to travel outside of the country, for the first time in several years.  People who know me understand why this was such a huge deal. It had been over 3 years since I had left the country, something I used to do multiple times a year.  I was jones-ing in a bad way for a stamp in my brand new and pathetically empty passport.  Yes turning 40 meant a brand new passport and it looked far to shiny, new and lonely without stamps and visa's from other countries. My old one was 2/3 full  and I am optimistic in the next 10 years I can do the same or more to this one.

Meanwhile this virgin passport was headed to Nicaragua.

I was thrilled to be invited on this incredible trip.  My roommate from college Betsy decided to organize a trip there for HER 40th birthday, 1 month after mine and I was flying to meet her, the 2 Heathers (the other half of the "fearsome foursome" (don't ask) and about 24 of Betsy's closest friends and family.

I could write and write and write about the trip, but I think it is better shown photographically with a brief summary.

Great food & drinks, old friends, new friends, sun, heat, pool time, exploring, lakes, mountains, buses, horse drawn carriages, boats, roofs of busses, monkey's, bats, mean ducks, volcanos, tunnels, adventure, hiking, volcano surfing, dancing and more drinking.

Almost there!

Here are just a few of my favorites, in no particular order - actually completely and ridiculously out of order. You can check out more on an album on my Facebook Photography Page if you are so inclined.

Just hoping I get to go on another adventure during the second half of 2013!

Choices Choices

The Fearsome Foursome still going at 40 and Fabulous!

This is just a given

Thanks to our hosts this was home for the week

Private Island - oh ok.

Splash

Perfection

Hike to the top and then surf down?  Ummmm Ok.

Close to the top now as the sun starts to set

Yup. Volcano Surfing.  We did that.

Sunset Post Surf

Our lodgings were an oasis 

My new friend

Sunset on Lake Granada

Volcano Gasses

Happy Birthday Girl!

My Favorite spot

Mean Ducks

Seeing the photos makes me want to go back! I miss everything! 

Well except the mean ducks.

Eat, Drink, Play, Repeat

While working on one of our shows, All Mixed Up I have gotten to know our celebrity host Chef Ralph Pagano quite well over the months.  I have observed him through the planning stages to the opening of his newest venture - Alba Seaside Italian at Sole on the Ocean in Sunny Isles FL.

So, I have been spending a lot of time there the past weeks, literally every weekend and then some, doing photography, tasting drinks and food....I know its a rough job being friends with a chef....bringing family and friends to dine, and really the same word that escapes everyones lips upon their first taste of either a signature cocktail like the Ginny Rogers, or their first bite of, well anything is the only word I can choose to sum up the entire experience.

Wow.

Not my literary best I concur, and will not win me any food journalism accolades. I should be using others such as, divine, exquisit, epicurean mastery....but lets be honest people, this isn't food and wine magazine, its just little old me and I am going off of the real life reactions of every person I have brought in there to try it for the first time including myself, just WOW.

The view is one of a kind, nothing but aquamarine crystal blue seas during daylight hours.  Poolside and beachside dining by day, upscale casual elegance with a bit of gangster whimsy and homage to the great Sophia Loren (a personal idol of yours truly,  to look like her at ANY age would be a dream) by night.

Then again a place can be as beautiful as they come but it's the food that makes it or breaks it baby, and Alba does more then deliver the goods.  They own the goods. 

Comfort Food is an over used phrase for sure, and completely relative to most people, but Chef Ralph Pagano takes comfort food to a level I have never seen here in Florida.  I know I sound biased but I am a Northern East coast Italian food snob who has been disappointed with the food options in Florida for years now.  

I have brought friends from Los Angeles, my family (the mother is the toughest critic of them all) a columbian couple who have seen and tried every single restaurant in south Florida and most recently our celebrity host from LA Julie Moran, and every single one of them starts by uttering...."Wow".  See its back to that word - in encompasses all there is to say about Alba Seaside.  

You have NEVER had mussels cooked to perfection like this I am willing to put money on it.

Yes I work for Oysters, not a bad gig

The biggest compliment is that every single person I have brought there, immediately starts planning when and how they can return.  It could be Chef Pagano's dynamic personality and infectious enthusiasm as he brings the bingo wheel over at the end of each meal to explain the game of chance, "The Vinny D Split". You have to go and find out, I can't give away everything all at once, what fun is that?

It could be the special attention from the staff and manager that we always receive, although even though I am a friend I have noticed that kind of personal attention and service is lavished on all clientele - which probably accounts for the repeat business. It could be the food, every dish hitting the mark of perfectly cooked and executed.  Have you ever had Lobster cooked the correct way?  I have now, twice...at Alba.

My guess is it is combination of all of the above and more.  There is always something new to discover and it keeps bringing people back again, and again.

Personally its just fun for me to walk into a place and have everybody know your name ....yes you get the reference, I mean come on...who doesn't love being treated as one of the insiders?  Shooting photos for Alba means I am constantly being fed oysters, mussels, stone crabs and being sent home with top shelf wine.  Membership has it's privileges.

Alba.  Check it out.  Once you are in, you can't leave.  You won't want to.

Check out Alba Seaside Italian on Facebook for events, and specials such as WTF -something I can't wait to attend!

And if you have any problems getting in - let me know. 

I know a guy.  ;-)

and along comes a boy

There has been something/someone that has been on my mind quite a lot these days.  Its the arrival of a VERY important boy into my world.  A boy who will become a major part of my life, a serious commitment ....until death do us part.

No not that kind of lifelong relationship - the girl IS still single and as I am living in Fort Lauderdale I'm not anticipating THAT status update to change anytime in the foreseeable future......

No this boy will be of the infant variety.  My first Nephew.

He is due to arrive in exactly 10 weeks.  10 weeks and our lives will be forever changed in this house of estrogen horror.  3 generations of Italian women will soon be invaded by a little wee babe.....with a penis.  He will show up to be cared for and adored by fun, social, loud, opinionated women galore and a bevvy of fun "fairy godfathers" - a term our neighbor has bestowed upon himself and his friends,  the core group of gay men who are regular fixtures at our Sunday night dinners.  Oh my....this child will be ushered into more feminine energy then should be legal under one roof.  10 weeks of remaining estrogen dominance.....the clock is ticking......

Now granted I am not the one giving birth and living with him 24 - 7, that gig goes to my sister and her boyfriend, who are both in some sort of blissful denial of how different their life is about to be and how a full night sleep is something they will not see again for quite a while, but as we live so close to each other and are the type of family who is constantly up in each others .....business, life, shit etc.. I know that life will change here as well.  Already our garage is filling up with, well...STUFF.  The stuff needed for babies. And I tell you - we only have maybe half of what is needed yet - and it's a LOT of stuff.  It's amazing that something so small can take up so much space!

So being the good sister that I am I threw the baby shower.  The party that honors the glowing mother to be, and allows everyone to get good and buzzed to be able to tolerate watching her open mounds of pastel wrapped presents for the boy.  Also being the crazy gluten-free-martha-stuart-type nut job that I am able to be while still jobless and full of free time, the floral tea party themed, gluten-free desert fest that took me 2 days of baking was received with much aplomb. Thank goodness

 Wanting the deserts to be Gluten Free I contacted the people at Pamela's Products - the company with the best gluten free all purpose flour and cake mixes on the market in my humble opinion) and found them to be SO incredibly accommodating!  They emailed me some special recipes in advance of publication so I could make my sisters request of Red Velvet Cupcakes.  If you have Celiac or ever need to bake for someone who has it, I must urge you to try Pamela's Products goods.  I have raved about them before on my blog and have to say it is WORTH $16 a bag of flour.  Yes being allergic to Gluten is an expensive annoyance but all things being relative - not so bad.

 I did go a wee bit overboard on the amount of pastries and cupcakes I baked, but god forbid there was a lack of sugar at the event was my theory.  I found that the best way to avoid answering probing questions about my own chronic single and childless status was to keep people liquored and shove pastries down their throat. (Well not literally but you know what I mean)

My one disappointment of the day was discovering that being the caterer, host and sister of the mommy-to-be leaves little time for focusing on photographing the event to the best of my ability.  These will suffice, I guess..... although along with being a crazy baking perfectionist I am also hyper-critical of my work.  I guess it comes with the territory.

I am however looking forward to the next few weeks of photographing sister in all her pregnant-ness, and once the little man arrives, well lets just say he will be one WELL photographed baby. My permanent guinea pig for practice.  I can't wait!

Meanwhile, Lucy better enjoy the silence now - I can't wait to see how the animals react to a screaming infant.  Oh joy!

Where does our food come from?

Yesterday I did the family food shopping. I generally tend to be a bit better at staying on budget then mom so it is a role I have assumed in the household. Although this time I did make the cardinal tri-fecta of mistakes ...being:

A. Not having breakfast
B. Working out in the hot sun on my first paddle-board lesson therefore making me...
C: Hungry at the grocery store.

Not always the best scenario - however with the heat and humidity of the day rising exponentially every 10 minutes as it does here in South Florida - I pressed on.

After wolfing down a banana to help with the leg cramps and ice coffee in hand I entered our local Publix. With it now being summer I find myself yearning for all things fruits and veggies these days so I headed to that section to go to town. One of my favorite things is photographing fresh produce in open air markets, there is just something so delicious about stacks and piles of fruits and veggies in season.



I do miss having multiple farmers markets options weekly as I was spoiled to have in California (note to my LA friends left behind - you have NO IDEA how lucky you are in terms of fresh produce options - keep those farmers markets thriving!)

Here in Fort Lauderdale, we have one tiny small farmers market down the street from our house on Sundays which mom diligently attends to pick from the limited available fresh produce, fish and homemade sauces. Mother always raised us to be conscious of what we put on our plates and in our bodies, and loves to tell the story of how she "picketed for lettuce" in the 1960's. I jest but really my sister and my love of fresh produce and support of "locally grown" stems just as much from her a-typical way of raising us in the 1980's which was fresh and home cooked meals when she came home from work every night of our lives -I never even saw a hot dog until a friends sleep over in grade school - as it does from 15 years living in the heavily eco-conscious environment of Southern California.

So back to Publix...here I am in the produce section and in the back of my mind are all the recent postings online, in blogs and on Facebook by some of my - mainly Venice, CA friends on the state of affairs in our food industry. Tips on how to shop organically and locally. The news on the big bad Monsanto/Whole Foods debacle of genetically engineered food . The terrible state of the fishing industry and contamination of our oceans, the demise of our honey bee population....the terrible list goes on and on and as the caffeine was buzzing through my nutrition depleted body I stood there in the tiny little overpriced organic section with a bunch of carrots in my hand and froze as the meaning of what I was reading sunk in.

Grown in California

CALIFORNIA!!

I mean it's no secret to my family, my friends here, hell anyone who talks to me that I miss a LOT about my adopted home state. I miss the fresh locally grown food the most - but I live in FLORIDA! Which means these scrumptious, organic carrots had to travel over 3,00o miles to be in my hand!!!
(OK for those of you who know I like to exaggerate a tad it is actually 2,715 miles by car....)
But STILL!

I then began wandering around the produce dept, past the one shelf of organic choices and seeing the signs.

Grown in Mexico, Chili, California, Costa Rica, FRANCE for god's sake! This is Florida, the sunshine state, I KNOW we have farms here, and the orange juice industry was STARTED here!! Interesting note - the ONLY orange juice in Florida that actually comes from Florida oranges is the brand Florida's Natural. Yep in the state made famous for Orange Juice there is only one locally sourced brand.

Last summer I visited my oldest and dearest friend in the New Jersey suburb of Pennington, near Princeton. She belongs to an organic farm co-op called Honey Brook Organic Farm and goes weekly to pick fresh in season produce like the beans above and the eggplants below to cook for her children and husband for dinner. How jealous am I of THAT? By the way dinner that evening was one of the best I had in a long while. There really is something to picking the food yourself that goes on your plate later in the day, and she is raising her triplets (yes 4 year old triplets) to be involved in what they eat from picking fresh produce from the farm, to planting their own vegetable garden! Yea Jen!

When they have surplus as they do with these amazing tomatoes, she makes sauces to freeze for the winter months so her family is still eating as much produce that is organically and locally sourced as possible, because even in the Garden State of New Jersey you run into the same problems in the grocery store of having to search for locally sourced, and in the winter having to make do with what they have if you want to eat a fruit or vegetable. In fact I am certain that anywhere you live - when you look at your choices for produce it is difficult to buy only locally sourced produce. Some states it is harder then others, but
Florida - for SHAME ON YOU!

So the dilemma I was faced while standing there was the following:
A. Continue to buy fruits and veggies for my family regardless of where they are grown and be a part of the problem.
or
B. Stop buying produce that isn't locally sourced and leave the department with nothing but a few large Florida Avocados (which are so strange looking and I am completely unsure how they taste or what to do with them) and Mangoes - which you can find all over Florida in backyards but are not organic as they are sprayed with pesticides. This option would obviously and severely limit my families fruit and veggie consumption.

Neither option is a win, so I chose organically while I could, and seethed with annoyance as I picked up other offerings and pondered if there is a 3rd option that benefits my families health as well as our environment. I have yet to find that option.

So with limited choices I do what I can for the health of my family and what we put into our bodies. I wait for 20 minutes at the deli for fresh sliced Boar's head meats and cheese that I can pick for its lower sodium content etc, as opposed to the quick pick pre-packaged varieties that are higher in sodium nitrates and preservatives. I choose organic produce, meat etc whenever possible - although it is a VERY expensive way to feed a family of 5 - as my sister and her boyfriend eat with us several days a week...well 6 if you count that sis is now eating for 2. We search for loally sourced fish that is healthy and not on the "bad fish" list, something that is getting increasingly difficult as the health of our ocean continues on it's downward spiral, but that's a rant for another day...
and Mother continues to go to the Farmers Market to support locally grown, even though the beautiful peaches she picked up last Sunday rotted by Monday.

Finally I continue to educate myself, even though the news out there gets scarier with every article, blog post and Facebook update you read.

Some of the best are blogs by friends of mine in California. Jason Stroh, chef, prior owner of Strohs Gourmet in Venice, CA and now Food blogger. Jason is into educating people as well as delighting them with healthful recipes with his blog FreeRangeTuna

Also my friend Elisha Reverby, owner of Elique Organics. While Elisha is an organic Skincare purveyor, she is also an advocate of the fate of the honey bee, and all things healthful and organic for our bodies inside and out. Check out her blog here.

Meanwhile - here in Florida I continue my quest of healthful and affordable goods to feed my family. All advice welcome!