Love & Pizza...and Pork

Have you ever gone to &pizza? I’ve been missing out on life apparently!! And if you haven’t had it, you are also missing out on life! I have had the &pizza experience before, but I only tried a Jenny, which has delicious, fresh tasting shrimp, capers (God I love capers!) and fresh mozzarella. But my son likes to add pretty much every meat on the menu. So I broke down, and followed suite and OH BOY WOW!!! I got lots of pork products. Pepperoni, salami, sausage, bacon (oh bacon) added some fresh basil, garlic oil, spicy tomato sauce all on a multi-grain fresh made crust. When I say these meats were fresh, I was SHOCKED! I mean the meats are pretty much cooked before they go on your pizza. So you think, eh, it’s gonna taste like every other pizza. And I mean, I like pizza. But when I bit into this pizza….when I bit into THIS pizza, the meats tasted like they were prepared and made right there in that kitchen, just for my pizza, just for my tongue, to make me happy. It was a LoLo Pizza!!! It was a pizza made for Lo! My happy was found in that pizza. Absofreakinlutely delicious! The love that they declare on these boxes, are the love of true pizza-makers. #thatisall #justagirl

Brunch at Lavagna

Brunch with Mom is always great! Our usual locale is Banana Café. A yummy little place on M Street in SW DC. (Review for another post) But today my sister said, “Let’s try something different.”  And Mom said “Let’s try Lavagna!” She had me at bottomless mimosas!
Ristorante Italiano Lavagna, also located on M Street, SW, among an array of cultural delights. Lavangna’s brunch menu had me captivated with delicious treats like Marscapone Pancakes, Goat Cheese Omelets, and Italian Sausage Gravy. I was at a loss for what to decide! My first choice was the Marscapone Pancakes. It’s very hard for me to say no to anything involving marscapone, and these featured marscapone made with honey nutella!! WHAT?? I NEED!!! However, this trip I was pretty hungry and wanted something savory to go with my sweet. I decided to try something else this go round and indulge in the pancakes another day. Today I would try the Smoked Salmon Omelet! Citrus cured salmon, smoked gouda, spinach, capers (yet another thing I can’t say no to), with house made potatoes tossed in garlic oil and parmesan. They failed to mention that the omelet would be drizzled over with an aioli sauce, but I am absolutely not complaining!! The caramelized onions inside of the omelet were also a pleasant surprise! But sweet and perfectly caramelized they were the perfect addition to this amazing concoction! You get a healthy portion, I wasn’t able to finish it! The salmon was moist and flavorful, but a little cold. This may have been a purposeful, I’m afraid I’m not sure, but it wasn’t enough to make me complain or send it back and it was definitely fully cooked. This could be just the way it is meant to be served. The spinach still fresh and fairly crisp, proving Lavagna’s claim to fresh made meals, made from scratch. Overall, I was very pleased! Mom and sis both had eggs any style, and I took the liberty of sampling from both of their plates. Sis had scrambled eggs made with goat cheese, creamy, light and burst in your mouth flavor! Mom had some Italian sausage patties that I had to try! They looked like sliders, thick and hearty! Unfortunately, they tasted a bit more like burgers than sausage, but I could definitely taste the seasoning in the meat that I’m sure many would love. The highlight, I must say, was the focaccia toast! I was sad not to have any on my own plate, I think it should come with every meal! Lightly toasted and full of flavor these triangles came with honey butter that was to die for!! It took everything in us not to take it home, even once the toast was gone. There were little cups of jam as well, but unfortunately, we didn’t even notice it until the check was coming. Next time!
All in all, Lavagna was a great choice!! An enjoyable meal, pretty good service, and focaccia toast!! Made me happy! I will absolutely be back!

#justagirl

Saddlebags and Bacon

My son and I have fallen into watching a couple of different food related shows. Two of our favorites being, Man vs. Food and Bizarre Foods. You see, my son loves food as much as I do. He’s always been an eater, he’s Mikey! And I work with that to develop his palate early, and show him that there is more to the world than hamburgers and hot dogs (as delicious as they both may be). One day, while watching Bizarre Foods, we saw an episode on a restaurant in Boulder, CO called The Buff. At the Buff, they made Saddlebags….pancakes with bacon and/or sausage cooked right into them, topped with two braised eggs, and smothered in maple syrup (of course). Isaiah looked at me and I looked back at him, our faces totally identical, in awe, eyes wide, a bit of drool hanging from the sides of our lips. He says to me “Mom, I think I want that.” I say to him, “Saih, we are totally making that ASAP!!” Family Night rolled around, two days later, and with it, we were in the kitchen, whipping up some Saddlebags!! Now I have to say, as delicious of a love affair I have with bacon, this dish would have tasted even better with sausage (and perhaps a side of bacon…and angina, lol). HOWEVER, the bacon was absolutely divine!!! We cooked the bacon in the oven, something I had never done before, and DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN what have I been missing????? I thought I was obsessed with bacon before, I thought I was, I really really thought I was. But now, my love of bacon has taken on a whole new world of obsession. I want to take packs of bacon and put them in the oven and lay in bed with them and whisper sweet nothings to them as they make their ways into my mouth….but I digress. We put the bacon on the oven (mmm bacon) and added them to the griddling pancakes while we began our eggs. Now, I have never braised and egg before. I have never had a braised egg. I have no idea how to braise an egg. They were described as being similar to a poached egg…but I have never poached an egg before either, lol, so that really didn’t help. In a brave attempt at getting close to the recipe, I instead fried the eggs soft, without breaking the yolks in the pan. This way the eggs could sit on the pancake and when cut into, would still run like the braised eggs did. WE LOVED IT!!! I wasn’t sure how my son would react to the runny eggs, but he was really excited about trying them! I let his cook a little longer, so they didn’t really run, just in case he wasn’t crazy about them. He devoured it all. It was so good, in fact, that he forgot about the syrup right next to him and ate half the plate dry!! How many 8 year olds do you know who would do that?? We added a couple of strips of bacon to the sides of our plates just for the heck of it and sat together in absolute heaven for about 15 minutes. I tried my best, but I couldn’t finish my plate. Stuffed, I sat back and watched my kid inhale his last piece of pancake before laying back in his chair, hands on his belly, smile on his face. We declared this Family Night to be Different Foods night. A night where we would try something a little different as seen on our new favorite shows. This would be the start of something beautiful! Eating like this, we are DEFINITELY going to have to work out more. Healthy balances and all. But we’re ok with that. As long as there’s bacon when we get home. :-D #dontjudgeme #justagirl