This weekend was very low-key food wise. It was damp and rainy. I really didn't feel like doing much at all. Although it was gray and dismal, it felt like spring was in the air! Friday I spent my day playing bingo at Foxwoods so I only ate a quick grilled cheese during intermission. Nothing to comment on. If we ate at one of the restaurants I would of had a review but no need for a counter service grilled cheese. We did, however, stop at Libby's Italian Pastry Shop on the way home. I love Libby's. It brings me to a different place and time.
When you walk through the door, the inside looks as it always did. To the left there's a little roped off area where you can sit down an get coffee. All of the cases are at the back of the room. First they have pastries and pieces of cake, then cookies, then the freezer with the Italian ice. I love it in Libby's. I'm usually intimidated to sit down and order coffee but I just love the whole idea of it. I could imagine myself living on Wooster Street and walking down for a normal coffee/chat session night every week. It's pathetic that I can imagine myself as a little, old fart, lady hanging out at a pastry shop. I've always said that I was born in the wrong decade. I would love a place like Libby's to be closer to me. I'm not a huge dessert person, so you know I didn't order pastries, pie, or cake. I went to Libby's for what I love- the cookies! I ordered myself a nice pound of cookies comprised of tri color, stars, milano, thumb prints, and pignoli. Delicious. If they had acorns, I would've ordered those too. I love their cookies. I also had a squeeze cup of lemon Italian ice. Another fabulous thing. You can buy Libby's Italian ice at a few different places, but it's not the same. To get it freshly scooped. Nothing like it. I'd also like to try their gelato but haven't yet. If anyone wants to join me in a weekly visit to Libby's once the warmer weather arrives, let me know.
Tonight my mom showed me how to make corned beef and cabbage. Let's stop right there. I just want those who read this to know that the beef is corned, or salt cured. It is not corn beef or corn, beef, and cabbage (it was written this way once in a SCSU newsletter). I love corned beef. It's so salty and tender I just can't get enough! I love it plain in a dish, I love it with mustard, I love it on a sandwich! I love it on a boat. I love it with a goat. I love corned beef and cabbage. I love it Sam-I-am. Some places, though, do not make it properly. Yes, corned beef and cabbage is a one-pot, boiled dish, but that doesn't mean that it needs to taste like a pot of boiled crap. I asked my mom how she and my Auntie Carm make it. The corned beef goes in water with a few garlic cloves and an onion studded with cloves. That should begin to boil and cook for 3 hours. The meat comes out, carrots, cabbage, and potatoes are then added. Those boil for a bit and then the corned beef is returned to the pot. Fabulous. It's amazing how much flavor comes out of the onion and cloves. That's it. It can also be done in the crock pot, which actually I prefer, but it really doesn't matter that much. We ate this with rye bread and Irish soda bread from Emerald Bakery. I like Emerald Bakery. Their cupcakes and dessert products aren't really that good but their bread and scones are out of this world. Russian pumpernickel. Divine. Toasted with butter. Out of this world.
I'm getting off track. That's really it though. I love a good corned beef and it always makes me think of spring. St. Patty's day is a few weeks a way. Hopefully I'll be eating it again soon. Maybe with something green. I love food that has food coloring in it. People were grossed out by the green ketchup, not me. Just makes it better. That's all for now. Keep eating and keep thinking of spring!
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