A Wonderful Treasure

On a mission this morning to exchange the DVD and grocery shop. In the middle of the hub-bub before leaving the house (I’ll get to that in a minute), the ingredients for Thursdays CEimB night was missed.  I decided to stop at Barnes and Noble to take a peak at the recipe, since the book had to be there.  During my stop, I found a true treasure:

Being a cook book collector, this one couldn’t be passed up.  “Joey’s Italian. Favorite Recipes from Central New York’s Celebrated Restaurant”.    Look what was detailed on page 76…

Utica Greens by Joey DeCuffa

In the beginning of the book, Joey tells his story.  He talks about growing up and working in Utica at another famous area restaurant, Grimaldi’s.   It is a wonderful summary of his life and how he grew to love cooking and finally owning one of the most popular restaurants in Syracuse, New York.   All the local recipes we Central New Yorkers love.  What a treasure!

As for the hub bub… well, Ted discovered the upstairs freezer wasn’t working.  He proceeded to move it and check out the electrical connection. 

Groceries were on hold until we found out if it was a permanent failure or a simple “pause in the action”.  Turned out the circuit breaker had been tripped.  We were working again. Phew!

Then there was the muffin hold up.  Had to wait for muffins to bake.  These were made with SALBA whole grain, which is why you see the sesame seed type texture at the top.  They are just okay in my opinion so I won’t offer any recipe.  My mistake?  Too much salba, not enough fat and not enough flour.  As for healthy, you can’t beat them because they have all the vitamins, minerals, protein… everything a good healthy muffin should have.

Upon cleaning up after muffin making, I studied the sponge wondering if it had seen better days.. WARNING! This is gross so if you have a weak stomach, don’t look at the next shot…

sponge grunge

I  decided to use a new sponge and to heak with microwaving the old one to kill bacteria.  They really smell nasty if you microwave them. Peee-Yew!

How long do you keep your sponges? Do you do anything to try to extend their life, like microwaving them?

A wrap

I’m off. Tonights dinner post just might be something special and deserving of it’s own page. We will see.

Have a super Saturday night!