Making espresso and steaming milk.. Morning coffee

Here is a little video on how I make one of my morning coffee drinks. A huge cup consisting of a double espresso and some steamy fluffy milk.

The technique is quite simple. Think of blowing bubbles into your chocolate milk when you were a kid.  Insert the valve into cold milk, a cold pitcher helps too. Then gently pull it up towards the surface and you will create foam that will come all the way to the top. It is easy to foam cold milk, so make your foam before you heat the rest of the milk. You can spoon it off the top of the pitcher for cappuccino or hold it back to make a caffe latte. At my cafe we made thousands of coffees and really anyone can do it with a little practice.

I made some Meatballs the other day....

I made these meatballs the other day and they were amazing. They just don't get any better than this.

It took me about 1 hour to make everything and I let them slow cook for about 3 hours. The house smelled so good that I had to make something else to eat while it cooked.

I followed our own blog recipes to make everything.

Sauce: http://theresaanddrew.blogspot.com/2010/09/theresas-tomato-and-basil-sauce.html

Meatballs: http://theresaanddrew.blogspot.com/2010/08/basic-meatball-recipe-1-lb.html

I doubled the meatballs and made 2 pounds. I took a shortcut and added the meatballs raw into the already cooking sauce. We ate it with pasta two nights and had meatball sandwiches two other nights. (And I few a meatballs here and there between meals.) Each day it seemed to taste better than the last.

It's really easy and it's the best damn meatball I've ever had. You have to try it.

Edit:  Theresa got hungry after reading this post and made some meatballs.  Here is a picture she sent to me.

Backyard Tomato Plants

Every Italian I know loves to grow their own tomatoes in their garden and I am no exception. I live in Aliso Viejo, CA so we have a long growing season here. I planted my first one back in April and put the rest in sometime in late May.

Here is a video of what I have so far.

Pizzelle

Recipe
6 Eggs
3 1/2 Cups Flour
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
2 sticks butter melted
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp Vanilla or other extract ( add anise seeds if desired , I use about 1/4 cup)

Beat eggs and sugar together with a whisk or beater. Add Flour and baking powder ( Mixture will be stiff) Add melted butter and vanilla or other flavorings You will need a Pizzelle Iron. Place about a tablespoon at a time on the iron and cook till the color of your choice. Remove and rest on a rack till cool. Once cooled you can stack them up. My good friend Anna Altomari and I are making these. Anna was recently on the Worst Cooks in America. She really doesn't know what she is doing in the kitchen but she loves to learn!