alta strada

Life has been super hectic and busy, but I thought I’d post a slightly late but still kinda recent food adventure before a personal post :] This is first and foremost a food blog right?

So last month I finally had the chance to eat at alta strada in Wellesley. It’s so close yet I never had the chance to go.

I even broke out the nice Vera Wang stems

Of course I started off with a nice Italian red…

They gave us a beautiful slab of delicious bread.. EVOO, S&P and I asked for some Balsamic Vinegar as well :]

COULD NOT STOP EATING THIS BREAD.  The crust was perfection.

We ordered three AntiPasti [basically Italian Tapas]

Chilled Calamari with Cucumber and Citrus [top]
Marinated White Anchovies with Frisee [botom]

I looove anchovies.. the frisee totally helped balance out the saltiness of the fish… MMMM…..  The calamari almost felt like a ceviche… and the squid was cut into noodles… It was good, vinegary but nothing out of this world.

And of course Roasted  [Golden] Beets with Grana Padano

I actually wanted more but the waiter said that for two people this was far more than enough.  And he was right, I expected smaller dishes but these were HUGE.

And then split a pizza…

Prosciutto and Arugula

I asked for an egg in the middle, you know the pizzas that come out like this:

But I guess they just had no clue.. even tho I just asked for ONE gooey egg in the middle… they gave me chopped eggs all over the pizza… Kinda disappointing but it was still delicious.

And for dessert, even though we were super full, we got the Mascarpone Cheesecake; Lemon Curd, Vanilla Tuille

Light fluffy and a perfect sweet ending to an amazing dinner.

Best Worst Idea sort of Pizza on a Sunday Night: Habaneros Part 1 of 4

… we had leftovers of pizza dough from the last time I was in town so after getting some fresh vegetables at a local market in Brooklyn.. [after J’s weekly Bocce game]

so after tons of crap beer and a delicious brunch at Colonie before the game [which I’ll blog about later] we set out to make another pizza… and Tuscan Kale chips [the non-curly kind]

Kale chips, successful. Just EVOO and sea salt baked in a tray til almost burnt and crisp.

[sorry no picture]

The pizza was another story.  Successful, but the best worst idea.

Stroke stroke stroke

I took the biggest habanero and minced it up with a few garlic cloves… chopped up a chicken breast and threw it in a skillet.

Within a few minutes.. I know how to make pepper bombs. J was just asking me what wine to drink when he started coughing and I started gagging.

“On the floor the air is fresher” no it wasn’t.

We opened his giant window in his living room and screamed out the window.  We opened his apt door and ran screaming into the hallway gagging.

Half hour later when we were ready to assemble the pizza, his roommate and roommate’s gf came home saying they were gagging off the elevator hahahaha… we said it wasn’t even that bad anymore.

So much pain, but so much to gain.

Super spicy habanero garlic chicken [oh we also diced in a thai chili pepper, green one for color] on a Margherita pizza on whole wheat crust.

Worth it.

Oh and we ended up finding a good wine to go with the pizza :]

It’s a Bling Bling at Jimmy’s….

… where everyone knows Mike’s name :]

I headed over to Katy’s and even though it was storming I was determined to see my bestie and her hubby.  Mike’s good friend Matt was in town so we chilled and watched a scary movie while we waited for the storm to die down a bit.  We headed over to Jimmy’s and chitchatted for a bit while we waited for a table.  Stormy and rainy, yes, but still busy busy busy!

It all started out with the drink special from the chalkboard.. a BLING BLING… it had some prosecco, vodka and framboise.. YUM!!! And I got a cute little bottle of prosecco to go along with it.  It was on the sweet side so extra prosecco please!

We all got a nice salad.  Only I got feta on mine, but it was the first time I  was offered feta.. LOVE feta. YUM!

Matt got this.

Katy got this.

And then Mike and I both got the special Argentinian steak with Chimichurri sauce.

Mike got it cut.

I got mine whole and rare. YUM

The steak actually wasn’t as thin as I thought it’d be and my steak was a bit overcooked, but still tender and well flavored…. the veggies were fresh and the chimichurri sauce was good. YUM.

But then I got two knives and no fork :[ POUT

After demolishing our food.. obviously DESSERT!!!

Mississipi Mud pie for me and Katy to share…

DEEEEEELICIOUS!!!!!  It was so good and the crust was SOOO thick and buttery and delicious. YUM

… and Strawberry Cheesecake for the boys.

I love a good Bromance.

Another wonderful night. <3 I love my extended family.