Straight to you from the Fairway meat counter!

I'm back!

Hi everyone, it has been a while, and I have been in a whole host of places. The most exciting of which was (wait for it) cooking school in Tuscany. Yes. I went to cooking school. In Tuscany. If that conjures up beautiful images of sunflowers and villas, bread and cheese, olives and grapes and lots and lots of vino for you, well, then the images in your head are almost as nice as the trip was.

My mother and I went to http://www.tastytuscany.com/ and had a wonderful time. I plan to take you guys through all the things I learned, and my first step is having some friends for dinner tomorrow night to recreate some of the dishes we made (practice!). But for now I wanted to share an enlightening conversation I had with the lovely butcher at the Fairway meat counter this evening.

While discussing the plan for cooking the large roast he was wrapping up for me, he told me about the rice he serves as a side dish for said roast.

He said he cooks his white rice with oregano, salt, pepper, and instead of water- Heineken!

I loved this idea, as it sounds like it gives the rice a bit of a bitter kick. He does top off the rice with a little water at the end of cooking, but I like the idea of it as an option for vegetarian rice without using veggie bouillon.

So there's a lot to do! There's tuscan cooking to talk about, stuffed grape leaves to dish on, and I'm excited to try the rice. I am telling you, the Fairway crew behind the counters- meat, cheese, coffee, bakery, are always good for information, tips, and general fun discussion (seriously, what's better than talking about meat and cheese?)

ciao!