Insalata Russa [Russian Salad]

July 26, 2011 by Monica in Entertaining, Family, Family Cookbook, Main Courses, Salad, Vegetable

This is another recipe plucked right out my Nonna’s A cookbook. This salad was served in all of our family “special events”, so any birthday, baptism, party, Christmas, anything that involved a gathering of more than 20 people and this dish would make an appearance.

Since I been reminiscing my younger years in the last couple of weeks, I of course made this. This dish, as my grandmother use to tell me could be found in any “antipasto” offering in Italy. During my travels, I have found countless versions of this salad but I always go back to my grandmother’s italian version.

In Italy it’s mainly made with diced vegetables like potatoes, peas, carrots, green beans, and combined with homemade mayonnaise.

Baked Leeks in Béchamel Sauce

July 24, 2011 by Monica in Appletizers & Snacks, Baking, Dinner, Entertaining, Savory, Sides, Vegetable, Vegetarian

A couple of weeks back when I was planning our Paella party – that never happened, I had round up a couple of tapas recipes to served while our paella was cooking on the open flame.

This dish was one in the list. Today, as I opened the refrigerator to get some cheese to make myself and Tom a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches, I notice the leeks and remember this recipe. After a bit more of investigating, realized that I had everything I needed to make it and off I went to test my memory bank. I did this on the fly, because after looking for over 10 minutes ALL OVER MY HOUSE could not find the original printed/marked recipe in any of my print outs or books.

I’m happy to say my memory is just fine, thank-you-very-much.

Hello Cheeky!

July 19, 2011 by Monica in Miscellaneous, Photography

A couple of weeks ago, I crumbled and gave myself a present and bought a new camera. It’s been months of a lot of reading, researching, getting feedback from everyone that had a camera and it came down to either the Nikon D7000 or the Sony a55.

Both excellent cameras, both had the goods to give me results that will wow the crowds, both held high reputations in the industry (even thought Sony is pretty new in the DSLR market) but when everything was said and done It came down to this:

Price.