Marcella, our hero. 

Alexandra does breakfast.

Calzone, anyone? This one actually looks good. 

Alexandra gives Bulgogi with Cucumber-Apple Pickle.

Oh fuggin’ hell yes.

So fresh, so fresh. From Saveur comes this cucumber-pepper slaw. 

Thank you, James Oseland.

Dig Heather Smith’s 2012 history of bagels and lox.

[Photo Credit: Michael Shindler]

Over at the New York Review of Books, Charles Simic gives us Spaghetti Lessons:

Italian restaurants produce not only epicures but also aspiring cooks. I bought cold cuts, cheeses, and olives for years in Italian groceries on Bleecker Street until one day I started cooking pasta, grilling sausages, and inviting friends over to my place on East 13th Street. In the 1950s and 1960s almost no one in literary circles knew how to cook, so these modest efforts of mine received extravagant praise. From then on, each time I tasted something in a restaurant, I’d wonder how it was made, what spices were used, and recollected other occasions when the same dish had come out differently. Now that I live in a village in New Hampshire, cooking Italian is a way of carrying on that comparative study. This may be a tautology, but a meal that does not cause an outpouring of memories is not a memorable meal. I don’t know how other poets imagine their muses, but mine is an Italian cookbook.

It is their unhurried air that makes most Italian restaurants congenial to everything from flirting to a rambling philosophical discussion. You linger over a glass of red wine and a plate of cheese at the meal’s end, alone or in the company of friends, while the place empties. Outside, there may be the lights of Manhattan or the tugboats in Portsmouth harbor. The waiter or the owner may bring a grappa eventually to remind you of the lateness of the hour, but he does not rush you. When you finally get up and leave, it’s out of consideration for him, but also out of genuine panic that you might be crazy enough to ask for another bowl of pasta or some of that grilled squid on a bed of white beans you enjoyed so much.

From Saveur. Tastiness.

[Photo Credit: Maxime Iattoni]

Hell, I didn’t know that Shishito Peppers were still in season. But I can tell you that they are a simple, beautiful thing. Dig this recipe from Food 52. 

This is dope: The Serious Eats Guide to Ramen Styles.

Summer ends and with it a couple of eggplant recipes from Food 52: here and here.

Looks like a place worth visiting. 

Alexandra gives us pasta with Marcella’s tomato sauce and hot Italian sausage. 

The fall and winter are coming. This one looks like one to try. 

Serious East tells us all about fish sauce. 

[Photo Credit: Paul Hillier]

Food 52 gives olive oil ricotta cake with plums. 

Appetite for China gives Shanghai Noodles. 

From Food 52: “A perfect grilled cheese needs no filter.” Amen to that.

Been awhile since I’ve had a grilled cheese. Hmmm….

Summer ain’t over, not just yet. Smitten Kitchen gives us popsicles: pink lemonade, butterscotch pudding and key lime pie.

The perfect bacon cooking method.