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A Satisfying Menu: Italia Express Review



A Satisfying Menu: Italia Express Review





Italia Express has a satisfying menu for the locals, visitors, and dinner before drinks crowd.  The corner location with large windows, indoor dining tables, and patio seating is ideal for grabbing a bite on your own, bringing the family, or meeting up for lunch with friends.  The menu has something for meat lovers, vegetarians, and New York style pizza fans.


House-made: catch the pizza making show near the large pizza ovens (photo above) 


Italia Express has become part of my ritual when visiting the Dallas, Texas area.  I have had the pleasure of dining at Italia Express several times for lunch and dinner.  The restaurant is where to dine while in town.  Perfect for enjoying a delicious meal with family or dining with friends before a night out in the city.

Italia Express is located in Dallas, Texas within the Cedar Springs and Oak Lawn neighborhood.  Turtle Creek. Highland Park, and Downtown Dallas are close in proximity.  The metropolitan area consists of high-rise condominiums, townhomes, apartments, and older family homes.  Dallas and the State of Texas has a lot to offer with culture, sports, business, recreation, and more.  The climate is continental, distinguished by a great differences in high and low temperatures.  

The spring and fall are some of the best times to visit the city.  Order a dish from Italia Express and enjoy the meal on their patio during these seasons.  According to the National Weather Service, “[t]he average length of the warm season (freeze-free period) in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is about 249 days. The average last occurrence of 32°F or below is mid March and the average first occurrence of 32°F or below is in late November.”

Pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, green pepper, black olive pizza 

Pepperoni and mushroom pizza


The following items on the menu stand out after a few times dining at Italia Express.


Greek salad (add chicken): Onions, Tomatoes, Black Olives, Feta Cheese, Banana Peppers


Bruschetta [broo-sketta]: Italian bread with olive oil and garlic 

Spinach calzone: Italian oven-baked folded pizza that originated in Naples


Greek salad

Spaghetti 

Tiramisu 

LavAzza coffee


Tips

Italia Express is a crowd pleaser and food is prepared with care; therefore, do not always expect “express” wait times.

Ask the cashier or owner for suggestions on menu items to order.  I have always found the owner and staff to be friendly and helpful.

Order a large slice of pizza with fresh toppings to go.

Add a protein, such as chicken, to one of the salads for a hearty meal.  

Location: 4000 Cedar Springs Road, Dallas, Texas.

The address is within walking distance and a short drive to shopping, hotels, bars, museums, parks, tourist attractions, and much more.  Easily accessible by taxi or car service.  




There are numerous dining options across the country.  From New York to ChelseaDallas to San FranciscoOrange County to Los AngelesBeverly Hills to San DiegoEach community with a multitude of restaurants for good eats.  Here is where expert knowledge of cooking, restaurants, and trusted expertise comes in handy.  Many readers rely on Jesse Bluma at Pointe Viven as a source for how-to and where-to regarding cookery, culture, and community.  Dine at Italia Express and enjoy.


Italia Express Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato 





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Credits: http://www.italiaexpresscs.com, https://www.weather.gov/fwd/dnarrative

Christmas Tree Spritz Cookies



Christmas Tree Spritz Cookies





Vanilla, almond, chocolate, buttery, and tender.  

Vanilla, almond, and chocolate is a beloved combination.  The nutty in flavor spritz cookies have their roots in Scandinavian cultures, such as Germany and Sweden.  These tender treats were the number one popular item at my holiday party and for gift giving this month.  Spritz, of German origins referring to "press out", are terrific butter cookies that can be made in a variety of shapes such as Christmas trees.  A little bit of joy to see on a plate, a pleasure to eat, and satisfying to the last bite.  






When we consider baking at the ingredient level, the quality of those chief players is as important as any part in a music concert.  The source and standard of baking products affects the entire outcome of the confection.  As with cooking and everything else in life, quality matters.  An analogy worth remembering.

None of the science nor history of a recipe or ingredient matters as much as the baker.  We all come to the kitchen with various levels of skills in cookery, experience, and knowledge.  We come to the table with a multitude of perspectives, passions, and interests.  Whatever our skills and for whomever we are baking, making family and friends happy with home cooking or the gift of baked goods, pies, cookies, and more creates good times and memories.

The recipe for these Spritz Cookies includes the best quality ingredients and time-tested techniques.  The best of bakers make the process and outcome look simple.  Do not be fooled.  There is more that goes into these little confections than meets the eye.







If you are making your own treats or purchasing confections for loved ones, the ingredients matter.  The ingredients must be properly measured and mixed.  The dough must then be carefully transferred into a cookie press.  Time must be provided after baking for the spritz cookies to cool before decorating.

As cookbook author and chef Marion Cunningham declared, "In many ways, home cooking is even more creative than what chefs do, because we improvise.  We also have the fun of cooking together with our children or with friends.  And there is a satisfaction of giving pleasure and comfort to others with something we have cooked ourselves.”  Baking and cooking confections or other goods for family and friends is also fun and an excellent way to demonstrate gratitude.






Many readers rely on Jesse Bluma at Pointe Viven as a source for how-to and where-to regarding cookery, culture, and community.  Thank you to all those that have been loyal supporters and fans.  The business originated when I started selling homemade chocolates around age 10.  Jesse Bluma at Pointe Viven liberates taste in cookery, culture, and community, provides gourmet goods made with organic ingredients, inspired by the culinary worlds of California, Central, and South America, and engages in a community of customers and readers with lifestyle content, reviews, and expertise.





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Credits: https://www.etymonline.com/word/spritz, http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1397&context=a4hhistory, stock.adobe.com Michelle Arnold, johnkaposphotography at Twenty20

Endive Lettuce Cups with Homemade Parsley and Mint Hummus Recipe



Endive Lettuce Cups with Homemade Parsley and Mint Hummus Recipe





This is the party recipe that gives you more time and great flavor.  Homemade hummus is light, zingy, and full of tasty ingredients, such as parsley, mint, and lemon.  An excellent appetizer and finger food to make for a beach cottage party, Christmas social, or simply for yourself to enjoy. 

The other magic ingredients in this recipe are fresh cracked pepper and crisp endive.  Fresh cracked pepper tingles the tongue and is bold.  Look for darker in color pepper corns when shopping and pepper corns that are nicely shaped; uniform in size.  Generally, two signs of higher quality and better flavor pepper corns.  Purchase or pick endive lettuce that is crisp.  These salad greens provide slight bitter flavor in the raw form that pairs well with other ingredients, such as hummus.  

This recipe for endive lettuce cups with homemade parsley and mint hummus requires simple preparation, yet yields back a tasty time.  That flavorful result is in part because of the 
English cucumbers, feta cheese, olive oil, and salt.  English cucumbers are narrow in shape and have a mild sweet flavor.  Feta cheese adds the necessary salty and tangy element to the blended chickpeas in the hummus.  Olive oil and salt enhance the overall richness and depth of flavor.  These lettuce cups can be enjoyed as an appetizer for your next party near the beach, before your next dinner, or for Sunday brunch.  




Ingredients for Hummus

3 1/2 cups Cooked Dried Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or two 15.5 ounce cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1/4 cup organic lemon juice
3 Tablespoons organic lemon zest
2 cups organic flat-leaf parsley leaves, rinsed; plus more for garnish
1/2 cup organic mint leaves, rinsed 
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup quality olive oil (such as California Olive Ranch Oil)
*See additional ingredients below for endive lettuce cups.




Additional Ingredients for Endive Lettuce Cups

24 yellow-green endive leaves (approximately 4 endive spears)
Feta cheese block, crumble by hand (do not purchase crumbled feta cheese)
Quality olive oil (such as California Olive Ranch Oil)




Directions for Hummus

Cook dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans), following package directions.  Or rinse tops of chickpea (garbanzo bean) cans, open cans, drain water from cans, place beans in a colander, and then rinse beans with water.

Wash lemon.
Zest lemons (3 Tablespoons of zest).
Juice lemon (1/4 cup juice).

Peel and smash 3 garlic cloves.

Rinse off the 2 cups flat-leaf parsley leaves.

Rinse off the 1/2 cup mint leaves.

In the bowl of a food processor combine chickpeas (garbanzo beans), peeled and smashed garlic, 2 cups flat-leaf parsley leaves, 1/2 cup mint leaves, lemon juice, lemon zest, tahini, and salt. 

Pulse the ingredients into a thick paste. 

Slowly add 1/2 cup water, then 1/2 cup olive oil, in a slow stream as the food processor is still running.

Turn off food processor.

Then taste test the hummus and add more salt if needed.




Ingredients for Endive Cups

English cucumber
Quality olive oil (such as California Olive Ranch Oil)


Check: pause to ensure you have all the ingredients above for the Endive Lettuce Cups.




Assemble Endive Cups

For the endive cups, first cut off the root end of each endive.
Then carefully separate and wash the endive leaves.
Pat dry the endive leaves with paper towel.
Use the larger endive leaves for this recipe; save the smaller leaves to eat later or with another recipe.

Spoon hummus into endive leaves on a platter.

Wash and dry off the English cucumber.  
Thinly slice the English cucumber.
Place a slice of cucumber on top of hummus in each endive lettuce cup.

Crumble the block of feta cheese.
Sprinkle feta cheese crumble on endive lettuce cups.

Lightly drizzle endive lettuce cups with olive oil.

Salt and pepper endive lettuce cups to taste.

Toss the remaining flat-leaf parsley leaves with lemon juice. 
Then garnish the platter with the flat-leaf parsley. 




Remember.  Cooking and preparing food is a powerful skill.  Some readers are at an advanced level and will prepare this dish with ease.  Some will go on to experiment with other ingredients.  While others looking at this recipe may be too intrepid to cook.  As with any skill there can be barriers and self-doubt involving fear, sensitivity, motivation, and emotions.  

If you are stuck at the point of merely looking at recipes, thinking about changes you want to make to your diet, and are unsure of your way around the kitchen, then make this recipe your one goal.  Start with this recipe, read the directions a few times, make notes, and plan out the preparation needed.  Once you conquer this recipe you will feel more inspired to make other recipes and create ones of your own.

After you discover the foods, recipes, and techniques you like, the barriers will melt away.  No need to be scared in the kitchen.  Here is where expert knowledge of cooking, restaurants, and trusted expertise comes in handy.  Many readers rely on Jesse Bluma at Pointe Viven as a source for how-to and where-to regarding cookery, culture, and community.  Let an enjoyable experience with this recipe be your start.  If you are a more advanced cook, then come back and share what you made and other ideas.





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Apple-Cider Bundt Cake



Apple-Cider Bundt Cake





If you love apples, warm autumn flavors, and cakes that pair well with coffee or ice cream, you will love this cake!  This Bundt cake feels like a wholesome way to top off Sunday brunch at home with friends or dinner with family.  The blend of ingredients, including apple sauce and olive oil, gives the cake great texture and flavor.  

Handmade cakes are special.  As cookbook author Marion Cunningham noted, “In many ways, home cooking is even more creative than what chefs do, because we improvise. We also have the fun of cooking together with our children or with friends. And there is a satisfaction of giving pleasure and comfort to others with something we have cooked ourselves."

Marion Cunningham was responsible for revising The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and she wrote her own cookbooks, such as Learning to Cook.  Despite an extremely challenging childhood, Cunningham graduated school, got married, became a housewife and mother, and later in life became an accomplished cook, earning a position with famed cookbook author James Beard.  








Holidays, such as Thanksgiving, or any day for that matter is time for gratitude.  Making family and friends happy with your cooking or the gift of baked goods, cakes, cookies, and more creates good times and memories.  Surrounding ourselves with people that like to laugh, are genuine, and enjoy food too is always a good thing.  Certainly, apple-cider Bundt cake is a genuine gift of cookery.

This apple-cider cake is made with quality ingredients and time-tested methods.  If you are making your own cakes or purchasing cakes for loved ones, the ingredients matter.  The process of cake making is also important to ensure cakes are made well and taste delectable.  The batter must be stirred thoroughly without over-mixing.  The batter for this great cake requires a blend of carefully sifted flours, freshly ground cinnamon, maple syrup, apple sauce, and apple-cider.  A splash of bourbon is optional, yet so good.   The top of the cake is then successfully crowned with powdered sugar after baking and cooling. 




As Marion Cunningham declared, the art and science of cookery is a creative endeavor.  Baking cakes or other goods for family and friends is also fun and an excellent way to demonstrate gratitude.  






Thank you to all those that have been loyal supporters and fans.  My business originated when I started selling homemade chocolates around age 10.  Jesse Bluma at Point Viven liberates taste in cookery, culture, and community, provides gourmet goods made with organic ingredients, inspired by the culinary worlds of California, Central, and South America, and engages in a community of customers and readers with lifestyle content, reviews, and expertise.


Order online or contact me for catering.


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Credit:  http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/11/remembering-marion-cunningham/?_r=0 

A Sleek Restaurant with Neighborhood-Hangout Appeal: insideOut Review



A Sleek Restaurant with Neighborhood-Hangout Appeal: insideOut Review






insideOUT has many possibilities for the locals, visitors, and after work socializers.  The sleek ambiance includes large windows, expansive indoor-outdoor bar, the Eitol [EYE TOLL] Towers, waterfall, and terraced outdoor areas for gathering with small or large groups or more intimate one-on-one conversations.  The California-mediterranean menu is freshly updated with seasonal ingredients and dishes created by chef-owner Maryjo "MJ" Testa.


Beets and Burrata: seasonal roast beets, creamy burrata, toasted hazelnuts, red wine reductions, and basil extraction (photo above) 


A friend first introduced the restaurant to me and I have had the pleasure of dining at insideOUT a few times.  As well as going for happy hour and late night.  The restaurant and social space is where to be on a Friday or Saturday night.  Perfect for enjoying a pre-dinner drink with friends and music by the waterfall and patio heaters.  





insideOUT is located in San Diego, California.  The climate is some of the best in the world.  Mostly beautiful days throughout the year.  Perfect temperatures.  According to the National Weather Service, “[t]he average daily maximum temperature is 70.8 and the average daily low is 58.1.  Average daily maximum temperatures peak in late August and early September at 78, dropping to 65 in late December and early January.”  A great destination for a sexy and chic restaurant. 

Stylish and a bright candy apple spot in the city.  The dining space is modern and earthy, with metal fixtures, and tables constructed of wood and concrete by artisan Sven Hasselberg.  Concrete floors and floor-to-ceiling glass windows give diners a view onto the avenue and passerby a view inside.  The restaurant then flows into the terraced courtyard, complete with waterfall, bridge, shops, and apartments above.  The spaces are married by the impressive  Brazilian stone top bar.

This urban oasis of a restaurant is located within the memorable Eitol Towers and is part of a group of restaurants in San Diego.  The striking red buildings stir up attention on the avenue, “Eitol is ‘lot13’  backwards...the property sits on Parcel 13, there are 13 towers in the design, the 1642 University address adds up to 13”.  The property was designed as a living space, with apartments, commercial space, a few shops, and dining and outside lounge in the courtyard.  






Mike Burnett, Architect and Developer for FoundationForForm, was the project designer.  Eitol has outdoor spaces, niches, walkways for socializing in the courtyard surrounded by the red buildings, and the pulse of the property is provided by the restaurant insideOut.  The large windows in the restaurant, indoor-outdoor bar, and must-see restroom all add up to a restaurant the city needed.

Matt Ramon, Director of the MO’s Universe Group, developed the concept and name of the restaurant and lounge, drawing inspiration from the design of the Eitol building.  insideOUT is just that, a space where you walk in to be outside.  “insideOUT, or iO as we have already nicknamed it, is a casual, elegant restaurant that features an atrium surrounded by 13 live/work towers juxtaposed to contrast with San Diego’s gorgeous blue skies, floor to ceiling glass front windows on the inside dining room and bar, a heated water feature, a switchback walkway with seating nooks to relax, see and be seen with a few more surprises along the way,” Ramon explained.


Fideo Rosa: Spanish paella

Grilled Spanish Octopus

Moroccan Spiced Chicken Tagine


The following items on the menu stand out after a few times dining at insideOUT.

Moroccan Spiced Chicken Tagine: grilled aubergine, aromatic couscous, slow roasted tomatoes accompanied by garlic hummus, raita, habañero sauce, and fig chutney

Fideo Rosa: Spanish style paella vermicelli, seared shrimp, Spanish chorizo and chicken, simmered in a sofrito (aromatic blend of vegetables, herbs, and spices) sauce, finished with housemade lemon aioli (Mediterranean sauce made of garlic and olive oil)

Cauliflower purée

Explore the craft cocktails on the menu, such as the St. Gin French 75 made with St. George Botanivore (botanical gin), St. Germain (elderflower liqueur), lavender, and house bubbles.


St. Gin French 75

Tropical Cocktail


Tips

insideOUT is a crowd pleaser; therefore, make reservations for dining. 

Location: 1642 University Ave, Suite 100, San Diego, California 92103.

The address is within walking distance and a short drive to other bars, shopping, hotels, beach, museums, parks, tourist attractions, and much more.  Easily accessible by taxi or car service.  

There are numerous dining options across the country.  From New York to Chelsea, Dallas to San Francisco, Orange County to Los Angeles, Beverly Hills to San Diego.  Each community with a multitude of restaurants for good eats.  Here is where expert knowledge of cooking, restaurants, and trusted expertise comes in handy.  Many readers rely on Jesse Bluma at Pointe Viven as a source for how-to and where-to regarding cookery, culture, and community.  Dine at insideOut and enjoy.


InsideOut Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato 





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Credits: eitoltowers.com, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17nz14-79TuoZyrnvd8CsuCvPvIEtbv0b, http://www.urbanmos.com/insideout-fifth-mos-universe-location/, ftp://ftp.library.noaa.gov/noaa_documents.lib/NWS/NWS_WR/TM_NWS_WR_270.pdf, facebook.com/insideoutsd  

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taste in cookery, culture, and
community, provides gourmet goods
made with organic ingredients, inspired
by the culinary worlds of California,
Central, and South America, and
engages in a community of customers
and readers with lifestyle content,
reviews, and expertise. © Jesse Bluma at Pointe Viven

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Jesse Bluma at Point Viven liberates taste in cookery, culture, and community, provides gourmet goods made with organic ingredients, inspired by the culinary worlds of California, Central, and South America, and engages in a community of customers and readers with lifestyle content, reviews, and expertise. Use and redistribution of original content allowed only with explicit permission of site owner and author.