Roll me out of here

I'm back you guys! What a great trip! Got to see lots of family in Toronto and Montreal and eat lots L-O-T-S of food!

 Let's take a little tour...

First stop! Tim Horton's...  Tim Horton was a hockey player.. are we surprised that Canada's most insanely (really.. it's nuts) popular coffee house is named after a hockey player? no? I didn't think so. Extra large double double is the way most people order their coffee - 2 cream, 2 sugar. Boston cream donut filled with custard. Not cream or frosting. No exceptions. I cross the border and this is the first thing I want.

ohhhhh, the Montreal bagel... don't get me started. NY and MTL have had a rivalry over their bagels forever. I'm biased (obv.) Montreal's are the best. They are made by hand, boiled, then baked in a food fired oven. Ever have a bagel melt (MELT) in your mouth? Go to Fairmount bakery and get one right out of the oven. It'll change your life.

 

 

Ok, you guys... it's getting serious right now. We're talking Steamie's and Poutine. Montreal hot dogs are steamed & dressed with mustard, relish and coleslaw. The fries are thick and dirty. You can eat them plain... or with sauce (don't call it gravy. It's sauce.).. or you can have a poutine.. which is fries, with curd cheese covered in sauce. The Poutine (Poot-Sin... not Poo-Teen) is a 100% French Canadian shameful guilty pleasure dish. Don't be scared. It's incredible. Try it. It won't be the same because we can't get the right cheese down here, but it'll be close.

So we all know I'm Italian, right? This right here is a plate of my childhood. Death row meal? This is it. Fresh cold cuts - Mortadella San Daniele, Hot Capicollo, Proscuitto di Parma, Genoa Salami, Provalone, marinated artichoke hearts, tomato focaccia, roasted red peppers, stuffed olives, panini. I'm done.

 

 

 

So, while I was in Montreal my mother had a craving for French Macarons... so much for linacucina's vacay ;)  Mocha Macarons with ganache filling. Voila

I had the chance to hit up a couple restaurants while back in Montreal. Here's a shot of probably the most moist piece of swordfish I've ever eaten. No need to be complicated. A beautifully grilled piece of fish with capers and lemon juice will hit the spot every single time.

I don't know that I've ever known another city to do breakfast like they do in Montreal. Restaurants are often times just as busy if not busier for brunch, than they are on a Friday or Saturday night. I went out for brunch with a couple old ladies I know and I had Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict with a Dill Hollandaise sauce. It looks like a lot.... but I only ate half of my potatoes.. the other half fell off my plate I'm looking at you J.W. ;)

...meanwhile, back at the ranch......  This is my all time favorite thing to eat for brekkie. My great grandmother who had 13 children and lived until she was 94 used to have this all the time. It's a toasted mortadella sandwich. We didn't (or very rarely) ever have bologna in our house. Our bologna was Mortadella. It's divine. Toasted Mortadella for breakfast is Italian grubbing at it's finest.

 

 

 

It was a great trip, and I loved seeing everyone and stuffing my face, but I'm glad to be back in NC... of course I couldn't come back empty handed, so as I sit here drinking my Timmy's out of my HBC mug dipping my maple cookies, I'm comforted in knowing that my freezer is packed with bagels and my pantry is loaded with cans of dark amber maple syrup, Cherry Blossom's, cornets de guimauve and ketchup chips  ;)

 

 

xo

L



Vay-cay-cay

I'm on vacation as of 2pm today and I'm not even going to lie.. I'm so excited I can barely stand it! Early (4am-URRRRRR-LEEE!) tomorrow morning we're loading up heading to "The North".  We haven't been home in almost a year and we're due.
First stop - Toronto. (lies... first stop - Pittsburg for a Primanti Bros sandwich. We're driving. True story.) The hubs' family lives in and around the T-Dot. We'll be staying with my inlaws at their horse farm. Love it. My husband and I have been together for almost 13 years and his parents have had horses on the farm the whole time. I still love watching the horses run and play in the paddocks. It never gets old. So magical.
Next up is Montreal to see my gang. There are no horses at my parents' place. There are, however, lots of crazy Italians... which, when you think about it, are as close as it comes to wild animals anyway. Same diff. Just with better shoes....and more gold chains.
I'll be taking photos and blogging about all the food I'll be enjoying which is going to contribute to the 15lbs I'm about to gain.. so stay tuned!
xo
L

Elephant in the room

I know it might seem like it's been two months since my last blog post, but .... I've got nothing. It's been two months since my last blog post. Your girl's been busy, though! .. so maybe that gives me a bit of an excuse? notreally
It's wedding season and things have been non stop nutso since about mid-April. I've been knee deep in cupcakes, wedding cakes, stadium cakes, cooler cakes, photo shoots and naughty naughty bachelorette cookies. Here are just a couple of the sweet things that have come out of my kitchen in the last couple of months ... and no, you're not getting a photo of the cookies, you filthy bb's you're my kind of people

Things are going get back to normal for a little bit over the summer, so I promise you I'll blog more often.. at least once a week ... and if I don't, get on me! Follow me on Facebook and Twitter and call me out on it! I'll give you a discount on your next order if you catch me slacking off
xo
L

Weddings, Reviews and Village Market

Oh, my poor neglected bloggy poo..It.Has.Been.Crazy. up in here the past couple of weeks! 1st of all it's very much the start of wedding season. It's a season. Winter, Pollen, Wedding, Fire, Wedding II, Christmas.  If you do anything associated with the wedding industry, these are your seasons.
In the midst of my lovely weddings, I was so flattered to have received two really fabulous reviews from some bloggers I had sent samples to.
The first was from The Triangle Explorer.  John has a really great blog. If you live in the Raleigh/Durham area, check it out. He's got all kinds of info about cool places to go and eat in the 'hood.
http://triangleexplorer.com/2013/03/18/linacucina-brings-italian-inspired-cakes-and-baked-good-to-raleigh/
He's also got another blog exploringcoffee.com reviewing all things coffee. A man after my own heart.
The second review was from waaaay across the country in Arizona. Jaclyn from SugarLoco.com was super kind in her review of the cookies I sent her.
http://www.sugarloco.com/2013/03/linacucina-pizzelles/
Most recently I've been thrilled to share that I now have products available at Village Market in  Lafayette Village in North Raleigh, just off Falls of Neuse. I am so excited about this new partnership. Village Market is like a little piece of heaven for me. The secret to really incredible cooking is using really incredible ingredients. You can find those at Village Market.  Come on by and check out what they have to offer. You can grab a linacucina snack while you're there and you might even see me camping out in their kitchen. They've been kind enough to let me use their facilities when I need them, which is really generous and maybe a little strategic on their part.. why do I get the feeling I'll be having lots of volunteer taste testers in the near future ;)
http://villagemarketraleigh.com/ 
xo
L

Bread and Yeastophobia

I have a confession to make. I used to have a serious fear of yeast. Terrified. I was a big scaredycat and avoided baking anything requiring yeast for years. No breads. No pretzels. No cinnamon rolls. No way. Nooooooo. Way. Why go through all that trouble? There's all kinds of steps involved.. there's proofing... rising.. bubbling.. festering.. living.. breathing... all kinds of junk.
My change of heart about yeast came about 6 years ago.
In 2007 my husband and I moved to Raleigh from Toronto (we lived there for 3 1/2 years before we got here). Before then we were in Montreal but you've heard this before. When we got to Raleigh I remember one Sunday as I was making a sauce (we say sauce in my family... not gravy. because that's just crazy.) I was thinking that we could really use a nice crusty loaf to go with dinner. Then I tried to figure out where the local bakery was. I couldn't find one. Sure the grocery stores had 'artisan' bread but I was looking for a really fantastic bakery like I was used to back home. Truth be told, I started linacucina because I was hungry. For real.
That's when I began making my own bread. It actually started with focaccia. I missed my red and white pizzas. I had a mission. Eventually I got the hang of it and now I bake some sort of bread at least once a week.
Don't be afraid of the yeast, gang! It's super easy and totally worth the time and effort. If not only for the way your house will smell while your creation is baking in the oven.
Whether you're kneading dough with your own two hands (that's how I do), using a mixer or a bread maker (cheater.)  - Ok.. I'm a little bit kidding about the bread maker and cheating. I've had bread done in a machine and it's really not horrible. If nothing else, it's super duper convenient. It's like the crockpot of the breadmaking world. Set it and forget it.
Whatever you decide to make and however you decide to make it, do it. Give it a try. Really. You'll love it and you'll wonder what the big deal was in the first place. Plus it'll give you major domestic diva points when you go around telling people how you bake all your own bread. *hair flip*
Breadtopia and The Fresh Loaf are some great resources for beginners. Check them out!
xo
L

Rustic Loaf

 



 

 

Challah

 

 

 

Red & White Focaccia

 

 

Croissants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Married and Hating Cake

It makes me a little bit sad to think about it, but there are actually folks out there who hate cake. Can you believe it?! It's like the people who hate chocolate. Or ponies. How does that even happen? It happens. And it's ok. I promise I won't take it personally.
More often than you'd think, I get a call from a couple wanting to know about my wedding cakes and almost in the same breath they'll tell me that they don't actually like cake, but they need one because they're getting married. Why? Who says?
I did a little digging about where all this cake business comes from. What's the symbolism? WELL... according to Wiki, back in the day the Romans (...and we all know how the Romans can get..) used unsweetened barley bread. The groom would break a piece of bread in half over the bride's head (really? crumbs in the hair? are we happy about this?) symbolizing "breaking of the bride's virginal state and the subsequent dominance of the groom over her". ....oh laaaawd. First of all I was barely able to type this because I was giving the side eye to that dominant Roman.
Later on, the barley bread (yum?) was replaced by white wedding cakes which, again, symbolized the bride's purity.
In 2013, are we still thinking the cake is symbolic? Notsomuch. These days the cake is not much more than 1. a showpiece and 2. a dessert.
If you're looking for a showpiece and a dessert, cake is not your only option. I know I've said this often, but it's your day and you should do what you want. If you don't like cake... and if your family knows you don't like cake.. why on earth would you want a cake at your wedding? Do something else. I'm doing more and more weddings where couples are opting for cobbler, or an assortment of pies or pastries. I've even had some do cookies. I've even had some not do anything sweet at all! I've done focaccia, cheese and fruit tables.
There are so many options available for all you Cakey Go-Hately's out there. Don't be afraid to switch it up!
xo
L

 

Pastry Selection

 

 

Focaccia

 

 

Chevre Stuffed Strawberries

Do People Really Use an Egg Slicer to slice Strawberries?

Does that happen in real life?
I recently saw a commercial on Entertainment Tonight BBC News or maybe it was an article in Cosmo The Wall Street Journal or probably Us Weekly The New England Journal Of Medicine or something... it was an ad showing how you could supposedly make your life easier by using an egg slicer to slice your strawberries. Are we doing this, you guys?  I don't think I know anyone who even owns an egg slicer to begin with . Is this task that hard?
I'm a little bit fascinated by kitchen gadgets. In general, I'm not a fan. Not because I don't think that some of them are useful. It mostly boils down to laziness. Is the time saved using this gadget worth me having to then wash this gadget and it's itty bitty parts and wires and little holes. I'm not a fan of dishes more than I'm not a fan of gadgets. 
I do own a garlic press, I won't lie. It's a really nice garlic press. I used to use it all the time.. back when I thought I needed to press garlic. I've grown since then, you guys.
Buy yourself a chef's knife. Spend a lot of money on it and get a good one because it'll really be the only thing you'll need for most tasks. A good knife will change everything. Really.
There are some gadgets which are quite useful, though, and I probably couldn't live without them. Favorite gadget? This thing.

It probably has a name, but I can't remember what it was. It's a peeler that Julienne's as I peel. I'm not fancy enough or have enough patience to julienne properly, so I use this thing.

My other favorite gadget, is this.

 

I love it because it's Bakelite and it's vintage and I collect vintage & antique kitchen stuff. It's incredibly awkward and not really efficient, so I never use it. Once in a while when I'm feeling nostalgic I'll bust it out and make some pudding with it. My mom had one when we were kids and that was my job when I was little. Now that I'm 25 (I'm not 25) I'm no better at keeping the pudding in the bowl and not all over my kitchen counter. I still love it.
What's your favorite gadget?