With the Winter season fast approaching my metabolism has kicked into high gear and I’m consuming more and more of my favorite foods!  Here’s Part 4 of my Foods I Live on series: De Cecco Pasta – arguably the best bang for your buck dry pasta on the market.  While you can find cheaper dry, Italian, pasta on the market, De […]

Thanks to Av for first preparing this dish and providing the recipe!  Kufta Kebab are Israeli-style grilled lamb/beef skewers. The kebab recipe has Arab roots and Kufta actually means pounded meat and comes from the Syrian term kooftah.  Here’s the simple recipe beginning with the ingredients: 2 pounds of ground lamb 1 pound of ground beef 1 red onion, finely chopped 1 head […]

The winter season is just around the corner and if you haven’t already done so now is the time to start preparing your home for the winter elements.  Winterizing your home will not only make your home more cost efficient and save you money, but you’ll also be more comfortable in January and February when snow and wind are outside […]

NOW is the time to start preparing for the worsening economy (that’s right, you’ve read the preceding sentence correctly, the economy will get worse).  Sure, we’ve seen some pretty abysmal days on Wall Street and some radical actions taken by the US government, but beyond a deflated 401K account most Americans have yet to feel the roar of the current Recession.  […]

It’s time to raid the fridge again and tell you about my favorite foods (that’s Nonno Vincenzo on the right with one of his milk and cheese cows): Old Fashioned Quaker Oats Oat Meal – I usually change from cold cereal to hot oat meal around this time of the year because there’s something nice about a warm breakfast in the […]

Essential Kitchen Tools Basic Kitchen Tool Philosophy Let’s get something out of the way quickly: you don’t need a fancy kitchen or hundreds of kitchen tools and gadgets to produce superb Italian food at home.  There I’ve made a food claim that I categorically stand behind and encourage you to adopt when preparing food at home.  My bold claim stems […]

Continuing on the theme (see Part 1 here) of what every new homeowner should posses in terms of home improvement tools, equipment, and supplies, here’s Part 2 of “A Practical Tool Guide for First-Time Homeowners:” Basic Painting KitPainting is a very easy home improvement task and after a few trials even you can be an expert.  Painting is all about surface prep, […]

My parents emigrated from Italy in the early to mid 1970’s.  My father has the equivalent of a technical high school education and my mother finished her formal education in the 7th grade.  Yet my parents are one of the most financially savvy couples I know, often making smarter economic decisions then their US-born Boomer peers (with BAs and Master’s […]

As I’ve stated in an earlier post, please don’t skimp when it comes to purchasing food and shoes.  Specifically, on the latter item, I believe the well dressed man should own about six pair of high-quality footwear including: Classic Brown and Black Dress Shoes Dress shoes are the bedrock of any nice wardrobe (female or male).  For the sharp dressed man a pair of […]

There’s something about a freshly vacuumed carpet or newly washed windows that gets me excited – call me boring and dull, but I really do love cleaning stuff!  The fascination started when I was a young chap, often vacuuming and sweeping for my mother and grandmother.  As a college student, I would secretly curse my roommate for not making his bed or […]