Curly Garlic Scapes
Even before I became a food blogger, my thoughts were always on food. After savoring each bite of a hearty breakfast, no matter how delicious it was, my thoughts would immediately turn to my next meal. What’s for lunch? What should I serve at that dinner party two months from now? What was in that sauce? So naturally my camera is drawn to the beautiful bites too. We eat with our eyes, just as much as we do with our mouths. Beautiful food just tastes better.
Photo courtesy of Boomerang Dining
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of dining at RoCCA, a quaint Italian restaurant in Glen Rock, NJ. After devouring my meal, practically licking the plate, I was sold that this was the new “it” restaurant. You can imagine my surprise when I later learned it has been around for almost 9 years. Why didn’t anyone tell me about this place before? We’re talking YEARS of missed meals that can never be recouped. Now I’m certainly not an authority on Northern NJ restaurants, but in all honestly (because that’s what you do on blogs…speak honestly to thousands of people you don’t even know) I haven’t been to many that wow me. I LOVE that so many are BYOB, giving us a change to select from our well stocked Brooklyn wine cellar, but often I find the food at these restaurants tend to be mediocre. Nothing creative or extraordinary, and certainly nothing to make a pilgrimage from Brooklyn for. There are a few standouts of course–The Saddle River Inn, Latour, and Esty Street. With both my AND my husband’s family living in NJ, you think I would have gone to RoCCA years ago, but no. I guess they like to save Jersey’s best for themselves.
First don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not asking to make Thanksgiving. I am very fortune that my husband’s and my families live close to each other, so we celebrate not just one but TWO Thanksgivings each year. One at 2pm and one around 6pm. Yes, it is a little insane. But over time, we adapt. Small portions, pass on the first dessert, lots of water and easy on the booze early on–all great tips on how to eat two times the calories you’d probably consume in a week 🙂 I also cheat a bit. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m actually not a huge fan of turkey. Both families have perfected a moist, tender turkey, but still it just doesn’t really appeal. So it’s easy to skip a big part of that.
Brooklyn Locavore 