No trip is complete...

We just returned from a fabulous weekend in Montreal- celebrating Netta's 30th Bday. We drove up for a quick trip which culminated in a snow bound weekend up in the laurentian mountains. There was a group of 13 driving up north, car trunks packed with food, drinks warm sweaters and woolen socks. We all met up at the Orange Julep on Decarie Blv to regroup before the 2 hour drive. I just couldn't help myself! I had to buy some Montreal frites...



Since we have not yet gotten our fill of winter here in New York (well not the snowy part at least) it was so beautiful and picturesquely Canadian to be completely surrounded by whiteness. Driving up to the cottage we drove by trees and fields covered in a thick quilt of deep fresh snow.

On Sunday, on our way back to Montreal, a van load of us drove to the snow tubing adventure mountain right outside of St. Sauver... barreling down a steep snowy mountain, 7 of us holding on to each other's inner tubes for dear life... what an amazing feeling to be flying over the snow...

Warm Tummy Part 2: Rice Balls and Rabe

As promised here is dinner idea #2.
On another famed trip to Fairway, we took a gamble on these delicious looking Italian rice balls with cheese. They are cooked rice, stuffed with Mozza and rolled in breadcrumbs, pan fried and dee-licious!
This simple winter meal should be made and eaten right away. The broccoli rabe will be the most time consuming step. Boil salted water in a pot. Drop in rabe (which has been trimmed of its rough stems) and boil for 5 minutes. As it is cooking, prepare a bowl of ice water in the sink. After the 5 minutes are up, drain rabe and plunge into cold water, shocking it and stopping its cooking. It should be bright green and beautiful. After warming the rice balls in a lightly oiled pan, heat up left over red sauce (from the previous post). Rabe should be drained out of the cold water, and thrown back into a hot olive-oiled pan with some garlic. heat and coat with olive oil garlic, toss and sprinkle with salt, pepper and some finely grated Parmesan or assiago. Arrange all parts on a plate and serve!