'Tis the season

As of last Thursday I am in NJ to visit my family for the holidays and to...eat. Since I've been here I've demolished roughly half of a marble coffee cake and almost an entire box of Shredded Spoonfuls cereal. I am sorely, sorely missing the grilled portobello sandwich with pesto and mozzarella from Flour-- almost to the point of withdrawl. I wish I were exaggerating the situation BUT I WANT ONE SO BAD.


Since I have been home I have had some old food-favorites brought back into my life as well. My dad made Squid Ink Pasta (Tagliatelle al nero di seppia) with a tomato broth, scallops, shrimp, calamari, and clams. The wonderful photo above was stolen from this gentleman's flickr page, but it looks very similar to what I ate the other night!

Also, I went to Alta Restaurant in NYC last night with my relatives and had some incredible tapas.
What I ordered:
(everything is quite simple. Ignore everything but the words you know.. like I did.)

1. Smoked Eggplant and Lebne Dip with Za'tar, honey, mint, and lemon zest
2. Spaghetti Pepperoncini, Bottarga di Muggine, dried bonito and shrimp oil, and peppercress
   >> Oh my god this was the hit of my entire night. Perfectly greasy pasta with a slightly fishy taste. Ahhh I want 5 more servings of it.
3. Gently Steamed Chanterelles, Summer Corn Fonduta, carmelized onion gastrique
   >> Sweet mushrooms and sweet corn. Mmmm.
4. Sea Scallops, artichoke puree, Yuzu mayonnaise, Salmon caviar
   >> I was delighted to find these seared.

WELL, it's lunch time.