Beautiful Foods 2023

Thank you 2023 for good health and good food!

Here's to the home chefs and the dishes they prepared. 

Seared Scallops | Angel Hair Pasta, Lemon, Butter, Parsley

Pork Loaf | barbeque sauce, herb roasted potato wedges, green apple + cabbage slaw

 Lettuce Wraps | Sticky Rice, Yellow Pepper + Crispy Prosciutto

Thanksgiving Dinner!

Filet Mignon | mushrooms & asparagus in a bordelaise sauce

Christmas Dinner | Beef Tenderloin, twice baked potato, lemony brussels, homemade Caesar salad 

Mom's famous éclair ring

There will always be solace in gathering around an elegant (Simon Pearce x Target x vintage) table setting graced by a homecooked meal.

Here's to comfort,  joy and S U B S T A C K in 2024!

You can find me over there!

Ruckus + Sakura Sunakku | Ramen Noodles in Chinatown

I have been very into Ramen Noodles since college. I might go so far as to say Ramen is my favorite food. My death row meal. The Ramen Noodle bowls in Boston's Chinatown are far better than the Maruchan of my college dorm days. From humble beginnings comes a deep appreciation.

Ruckus is literally serving the best ramen noodle soup in the city. 

Pictured are two different and equally phenomenal bowls of deeply flavorful broth, bracing vegetables, tender pork, house pulled noodles, gooey egg and crisp shards of nori. An elaborate fanfare of warm comforts are captured in a single ramen bowl. 

S H O R Y U K E N ($15) | Shoyu broth, pork neck chashu, bok choy, scallion marinated yuba, furikake

S P I C Y   M I S O  L I T  R A M E N ($14) | chicken and pork broth simmered for 24 hours, house made noodles, ground pork, grilled corn, soft cooked egg, chili oil, shaved nori

Runner up best Ramen in Boston: Sakura Sunakku in the Avana Marketplace - the same Food Court as Avana Sushi so you just know it's good. It certainly presents in a similar fashion as somewhere under the radar and to discover it feels sensational.  The Vegetarian Ramen ($16) features more exotic mushrooms than you have ever seen in one dish. Shitake Mushrooms, enokitake mushrooms, beech mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms with bamboo shoots, corn, scallions, yuba and miso broth. This soup is giving so much squeaky clean earthiness and umami. It is divine. 

Ruckus

9 Tyler St

Boston, MA 02111

Sakura Sunakku

42 Beach St #101

Boston, MA 02111

Gran Sasso National Park | Assergi

We arrived to the L'Aquila province of the Abruzzo Region just in time for dinner as night fell over the mountains. Hard to believe we started our morning in Praiano and visited Pompeii and Ortona dei Marsi on our journey. After the Amalfi Coast and the most famous ancient city, Italy's alpine nature took center stage for this leg of our trip! 

We spent one night at Hotel Nido dell'Aquila in the town of Assergi among the foothills of Parco Nazionale Gran Sasso. We're in a ski town!!

After a fantastic dinner and leisurely breakfast here at "Hotel Eagles Nest" we were checked out and off to explore the Gran Sasso via Funivia. 

Funivia means aerial lift or cable car and yes riding in one is very fun! There was not a soul in the ticket line, what a peaceful place we have happened upon. We rode up with a few mountain bikers, a few hikers. I could not believe how serene our ride was. And those views! 

Cam definitely enjoyed the ride. Somehow this baby is no stranger to cable cars - just last month we took him up the Cannon Tram in NH. 

As we sipped a cappuccino at the peaks alpine bar, it felt so surreal being up here. It was obvious we had stumbled upon another dimension of the country. This is not the Italy of your fellow tourists. 

After exploring Gran Sasso peak we caught a Funivia back down to the base. We were pretty hungry at this point and lucky for us a food truck had set up. Piping hot, rich, crackling pork roasted inside that truck. Porchetta sandwiches for the win. I wish I took a photo! (I think I was holding Camden and planning out where his diaper change would be before we got in the car.) 

Either way, that Porchetta Food Truck was another welcome surprise in Assergi!

As we head to join the masses in for Florence the words below on Abruzzo convey my deep feelings of gratitude perfectly. (source)

It is hard to think of a lovelier corner of Italy. Alpine meadows. Lush mountain valleys, this region is one of Italy's secret treasures. No over-crowding, no heavy industry. Hiding away down its curvy roads are castles, villages and mountains made of stone and memory. Life in the Abruzzo hasn't changed that much over the years, and it's like wandering into a gentler, kinder yesterday. 

Il Casale | Belmont Center

On Bob's birthday, Wednesday, February 27th, I was 2 days postpartum and still admitted. Baby Camden was in the NICU. I was discharged on the 28th while Camden was not quite ready. We had been visiting our sweet son at NWH and as we said our goodnights we impromptu decided to take advantage of his excellent care and head out for a birthday date night. 

Belmont Center is not too far from NWH. We arrived to Il Casale in a warm and bustling converted fire station and grabbed two seats at the bar. I eyed the martinis next to me thinking how good they looked. Suddenly my face lit up. "I can have a drink. I can actually order one of those!" It had not hit me until this glorious moment. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my 9 months of sobriety but what a moment. My first postpartum drink: the 60 day cask aged Meletti Manhattan made with overholt rye, meletti amaro + amarena cherry.  

The Buratta Salad was a wondrous portion of field greens, speck from Trentino Alto-Adige + fresh figs. All the pasta is made in house - I had a terrific Cream Mushroom Gnocchetti featuring pickled Beachwood mushrooms, charred endive, local carrots + pine nuts. It was our first time to this Il Casale location (I had been to Lexington) and it made for a lovely Friday birthday date night. 

Il Casale

50 Leonard St 

Belmont, MA 02478