GRANPA-IL NONNO COOKS FOR JANUARY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

With my wife Barb's and son-in-law Domi's birthdays January 22, my daughter Natasha always has a family get together to celebrate. So last Saturday January 18, this cook offered to make most of the meal to help with the preparations. Keeping the mess at my house!! Making chicken legs and breasts sprinked with rosemary-rosmarino, hot and sweet sausage as well as a hearty ground beef red sauce-sugo to fulfill the protein requirements the aroma in the kitchen was great for the senses.

The sauce was added to the tortellini with cheese-formaggio, as the pasta dish for all. Everyone in our family group love vegetables so I made broccoli, mushrooms-funghi, rapini, peas-piselli and roasted potatoes-patate.

Natasha made a large bowl of Greek salad along with boccincini and olives on the table as appetizers. Lots of healthy eating.

Of course no birthday celebration would be complete without a cake or two accompanied by a large platter of fruit!

Happy Birthday Barb and Domi! Buon Compleanno! Now to have another event so this cook can show off his culinary skills!

GRANPA POSTS NUMBER 101

Numbers can mean something when we celebrate a birthday. Barb always takes pictures of everyone's birthday cake. This post marks number 101 of my posts. There is no picture! How to celebrate! Barb actually makes me post! She is proud of my cooking and likes to share it with the world. I like to cook because I like to eat!! Posting on my blog is a struggle but I am told that some people actually enjoy my posts and recipes. Here's to number 101! Enjoy!

GRANPA'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION 2014

My birthday celebration on January 5 was a late  morning brunch with more breakfast items. Sausage, regular bacon and peameal bacon along with scrambled eggs were our hot items.

Fresh bagels, muffins, cookies, fresh creamed cheeses-one plain and one with herbs, smoked salmon, three cheeses-cheddar, provolone, friulano, fruit-oranges, tangerines, delicious apples, sliced pineappple, sliced cantaloup, sliced watermelon, and of course beverages which included hot coffee, milk and and orange juice. If needed ketchup and two types of jam-strawberry and grape were added to the meal.

At the end of the delicious meal, of course the proverbial birthday cake! I love this type of celebration. For those of you that really know me, I do not like to sit in a restaurant for very long. Since it was my birthday, Barb and my girls decided a home event on a Sunday between the grandchildren's lessons worked better for everyone. Everyone contributed and I tried not to tell Barb how to cook the bacon and scrambled eggs. It is very hard for a cook to stay out of the kitchen! Even though Barb can cook, I can do it better!

FEAST OF THE 7 FISHES COOKED BY GRANPA

My Christmas Eve seafood dishes actually occurred December 22 to accomodate my daughters. Both were committed to Christmas Eve meals elsewhere. Barb and I decided last year to have the Italian seafood meal whenever we all can be together. Despite the horrendous ice storm we had power and I cooked the meal. Homemade fettucine and meat sauce were prepared a day previously. Some of my guests do not love the clam sauce on their fettucine so I serve  meat sauce for them too. Two of my guests will only eat fish if it is breaded. So breaded haddock, fish sticks and breaded calamari were added to the other dishes of shrimps, large and small scallops and baccala. A variety of vegetables and fresh buns complement the meal.

No meal is ever complete in my family without a dessert table of goodies.

This Merry Christmas cake was just of the many goodies brought by my daughter Natasha to the feast of the 7 fishes. Tradition is great but just having all the family together whenever we can is more important.
#Christmasevefishdinner#sevenfishes#baccala#shrimps#ovenbakedshrimps#friedfish#Italiansloveseafood

A GRANDDAUGTER'S SIP AND SEE

From an non-alcoholic cranberry punch-

To

a delightful sweet table of goodies.

To

pink cupcakes, our new little addition to the family was the centre of a lively family and friends' day. The sip and see holiday party was a fun time. A table full of appetizers, veggies and dip, cheese and crackers and hot pizza gave the guests lots to eat! Granpa did not have to cook and enjoyed the day very much!

ITALIANS LOVE CHRISTMAS SAYS GRANPA

Italians love Christmas and there are so many goodies to have. I am preparing for the days ahead where I will make my Seafood dinner. It is a Christmas Eve feast with over 7 dishes of seafood. Last year I wrote about the dishes. My Christmas seafood appetizer continues to get lots of pageviews every week. Perhaps I should write about it again. You can read it on my blog under my December 2012 posts. So from red wine to panetone to chocolates there are lots of items to have around the house to indulge your cravings.
#italiansandChristmas#Italiantreats#Bacichocolates#Amaretto#redwine#panetone

GRANPA COOKS FOR A BIRTHDAY DINNER

As everyone knows that reads this blog, I love to cook. So given an opportunity like a birthday get together for my oldest daughter Natasha, I did most of the cooking. The family had a discussion about which of granpa's pasta dishes- lasagna, gnocchi or spaghetti- I was to prepare. The consensus was homemade spaghetti or as I have posted previously the egg noodle. It is easier to make and actually is my favourite pasta dish.

Lots of meat for the ragu sauce for the pasta. As it simmers, I remove as much of the oil and fat as possible. The thick meat sauce clings to the pasta better. It gives a hardy meat portion to a meal.  I made oven roasted chicken thighs and leg along with potato wedges. Again draining off excess fat! Salt, pepper and rosemary added the needed flavour. Peas made with onions simmered on the stove top added another dish to the meal. The pasta was cooked and prepared. I took along extra sauce in case someone wanted more on their portions Taken to Natasha's in travelling tin foil containers made the job easy.

A Greek salad prepared right before dinner rounded out the meal. The kitchen mess stayed home for Barb to clean up later. I do the cooking but my cook's assistant cleans the pots! Overall it was a good birthday meal enjoyed by all!
#granpalovestocook#chichenandpeas#chickenandpotatoes#salad#homemadeeggnoodle#lotsofgoodfoodforabirhdaydinner