Sunday, April 20, 2014

NEGRONI





THE NEGRONI

    The Negroni? A question? A question to some? Most of America probably. Many so-called sophisticates have been drinking this “The Negroni” quite a bit in the past 4 years or so. The truly sophisticated, worldly folks have known about them far longer. Me? I’ve been drinking this great Italian-Cocktail for some 28 years now. Yes, I’ve been drinking Negroni’s ever since my first at a Bar in la Bella Roma back in the Summer of 1985. Rome, “The Eternal City” is where I had my first, on that marvelous first trip to Bella Italia. I was quite a young man, and that trip was completely magical, discovering real Italian “Italian Food” for the very first time, I had my first true Bolognese, Spaghetti Carbonara, Coda di Vacinara, Bucatini Amatriciana, Gelato, and a true Italian Espresso, “Oh Bliss!” Yes it was. I saw The Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo’s Moses at San Pietro en Vincole (Saint Peter in Chains), I saw the Coliseum, The Roman Forum, The Duomo in Florence, Venice and The Grand Canal, Positano, Capri, Napoli, and so much more. Yes the trip was magical. It was magical hanging out at a Bar in the Piazza Popolo drinking my first Campari, and that first of a thousand Negroni’s, or more. Many American’s are just discov-ering its charms, “me and the Negroni,” we go way back; in Rome, Venice, Capri, Positano, Capri, Verona, Bologna, I’ve had Negroni’s all over. And many in New York in restaurants and bars all over Manhattan, and Staten Island where I drink some of the best Negroni’s I’ve ever had, certainly in New York, at my buddy Pat Parotta’s house in Staten Island. Pat pours an awesome Negroni, better than any bartender in the city. He makes them with love and when I go to one of his wonderful little dinner parties, that’s the first thing I have. It’s tradition for us now. Leaving my house in Greenwich Village, I hop on the 1 Train and take it down to the Battery to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. I hop on the ferry, ride across New York Harbor, passing the gorgeous Lady Liberty (The Statue of Liberty) along the way.  I get off the ferry. Pat picks me up at the terminal on the Staten Island side. We go to house, and I’m not through the door two minutes and he’s mixing up a nice one. A Negroni that is! Well 2 that is, one for me, and a Negroni for himself. We drink great Italian Wine at those dinner parties, and some of Pat’s tasty food. But we always start it off with our ritualistic Negroni’s alla Patty “P” and you should too.





















THE NEGRONI

Basic Recipe:

1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Sweet Vermouth
1 ounce Gin
Ice
Orange

1. Fill a Rocks-Glass or Highball Glass with Ice.

2)  Add Campari, Sweet Vermouth, and Gin.

3) Stir ingredients. Garnish with a piece of Orange Peel or slice of Orange.

Note: Orsen Wells after discovering the Negroni while writing a screenplay in Rome, wrote in a correspon-dence back home that he had discovered a delightful Italian Cocktail, “The Negroni.” Welles stated, “It is made of Bitter Campari which is good for the liver, and of Gin which is bad. The two balance each other out.”







photo Daniel Bellino-Zwicke


 THE BELLINO NEGRONI

    For me, this is the Perfect Negroni. The basic Negroni recipe calls for 3 equal parts(1 oz.) each of Camapari, Sweet Vermouth, and Gin in a glass filled with ice, and garnished with an Orange Peel.

    For the most perfectly balanced Negroni, I put in slightly less Campari  (3/4 oz.),  ¾ ounce of Gin, a little more Sweet Vermouth with 1 ¼ ounces, over Ice,  add  a tiny spalsh of Club Soda and Garnish with a good  size  piece of Orange. Voila! The Perfect Negroni. Enjoy!



THE NEGRONI is Excerpted From Daniel Bellino-Zwicke 's  SUNDAY SAUCE




Friday, April 11, 2014

Italian Guitar Masters NY







Just saw the Exhibition "GUITAR HEROES" at The Metroplitan Musem of Art, NYNY.
   Dam it was Awesome! Amazing Guitars! Works of Art by 3 of the Greatest Guitar Players to walk the Planet! and guess what!? They were all Italian Americans. James D'Aquisto,
John D'Angelico, and John Monteleone. And guess what else? They all grew up and made there Guitars in Little Italy in New York and more specifically had shops on Kenmare and Mott Streets. Friggin Amazing! The 3 Greatest Guitar Makers of All-Time, all Italian-Americans from Little Italy, New York. Why it's like a Little Cremona (where Great Violins are made), and these guys were like Stradivarius of Guitars.
    These Guitars are considered the "Rolls Royce of Guitars" and you can see a nice collection of them at the Met. The exhibition is Amazing. What's more amazing is, I never heard of them, and i'm a person who keeps up on pretty much "Everything and Anything," and especially Art, Music, Italian -Americana, and beautiful things, and these Guitars and the great Italian Craftsmen who made them are all four; pieces of Art, Musical, Italian-American, and Things of Beauty.
Let me tell you. If you live in New York or the area, or you are visiting our Lovely City before the end of June 2011, make it a point to see this Wonderful Exhibition. It's Amazing!



by "Italian-American" and Proud of It, Especially When I See Some More Great Things Made By Italians ...



Daniel Bellino Zwicke


Monday, April 7, 2014

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN





IN MEMORY 
OF
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN











XXX

DUDES BIG LEBOWSKI COOKBOOK



THE BIG LEBOWSKI COOKBOOK

GOT ANY KAHLUA?

A Book by Daniel Zwicke






GOT ANY KAHLUA?




KEEF !!!



IT'S KEITH RICHARDS FAVORITE COOKBOOK
GOT ANY KAHLUA?
THE COLLECTED RECIPES of THGE DUDE
by Daniel Zwicke
SEE Why KEEF LOVES IT SO !!!








"ABIDE and GET YOURSELF A COPY"

"MY BOOKD IS AVAILABLE In PAPERBACK
and That NEW FANGLED THING KINDLE"

On AMAZON.com




PRES REEASE:     The BIG LEBOWSKI COOKBOOK  ..  GOT ANY KAHLUA ?

For Immediate Release  ...     New York

Big Lebowski Amazon Cook Book Launch


The Big Lebowski, one of the greatest cult movies of all time, has hit home with food lovers across America. Many of the "greatest hits" of America’s favourite foods are in the book.  The recipes are mostly quick and easy to make, of course tasty and with the budget conscious in mind.

The best of the Big Lebowski scenes and characters are captured by imaginative recipe titles with funny twists, such as "Dude's Chocolate Kahlua Sauce," "Crazy Wings," and "Gooey Chop-Meat."

The Big Lebowsi and philosophy are always closely tied in, and this is not ignored by what may seem on the surface to be just another cookbook. But don't judge this book by its cover. This isn't just a book of easy Super Bowl recipes - it aims to make great food easy and cheap to make, so people can spend less time cooking and more time enjoying the food with their friends and loved ones.

"Got Any Kahlua - The Collected Recipes of The Dude" will be a big hit with Achievers everywhere (the name the cult movie's followers have adopted). Not just a recipe book, it involves the philosophy of The Dude and forms a small cookery course in itself - penned by New Yorke writer, Daniel Bellino Zwicke, a wine and restaurant professional for over 20 years.

The Big Lebowski movie was a phenomenon that shot Jeff Bridges to messiah status in 1998 and starred an eclectic mix of movie stars. It seems appropriate that such a mix of fun and flavoursome foods has been chosen to remind us of its greatness. 

This recipe book is almost ghost written by The Dude himself, and Daniel describes the book: “Dude has collected a lifetime of wonderful recipes, like, Dudes Cowboy Chili, Gooey Chop Meat, Da Fino's Meatballs, and more. Dude will teach you how to make a tasty Taco, Burrito, Ramen, Tuna-Fish Sandwich or whatever your little Achiever Heart desires. Being The Dude, all these recipes are Easy, Economical, and of course Tasty! The Dude wouldn't have it any other way. And the Dude wants to help you and guide you along the way to a beautiful journey as you cook along with The Dude, you will always Abide!"

If the movie's nuances have escaped you in the past, you can stop wondering what is the Big Lebowski about, and start enjoying social gatherings without fuss whenever you have the guys around for the football game.

"Got Any Kahlua: Collected Recipes of The Dude" is available in both paperback and digital format on your local Amazon store now.

Contact: Daniel Zwicke
Email:
Phone: 212-***-****


###


GOT ANY KAHLUA? The COLLECTED RECIPES of THE DUDE
With Recipes of: DUDES COWBOY CHILI,  Maude's Meatloaf, TACOS,
BURGERS, BUARRITOS,  RAMEN,  "GOOEY CHOP-MEAT"

"FINGER FOODS"
SUPER BOWL FAVORITES

DUDER STYLE BUFFALO CHICKEN WINGS 

WHITE RUSSIANS
aka CAUCASIANS

And So MUCH MORE !!!

"YOU JUST GOTTA GET A COPY"














Thursday, April 3, 2014

EDWARD HOPPER NIGHTHAWKS



EDWARD HOPPER




Study for "OFFICE at NICE'

Pencil on Paper


Edward Hopper painted American landscapes and cityscapes with a disturbing truth, expressing the world around him as a chilling, alienating, and often vacuous place. Everybody in a Hopper picture appears terribly alone. Hopper soon gained a widespread reputation as the artist who gave visual form to the loneliness and boredom of life in the big city. This was something new in art, perhaps an expression of the sense of human hopelessness that characterized the Great Depression of the 1930s.
    Edward Hopper has something of the lonely gravity peculiar to Thomas Eakins, courageous fidelity to life as he feels it to be. He also shares Winslow Homer's power to recall the feel of things. For Hopper, this feel is insistently low-key and ruminative. He shows the modern world unflinchingly; even its gaieties are gently mournful, echoing the disillusionment that swept across the country after the start of the Great Depression in 1929. Cape Cod Evening(1939) should be idyllic, and in a way it is. The couple enjoy the evening sunshine outside their home, yet they are a couple only technically and the enjoyment is wholly passive as both are isolated and introspective in their reveries. Their house is closed to intimacy, the door firmly shut and the windows covered. The dog is the only alert creature, but even it turns away from the house. The thick, sinister trees tap on the window panes, but there will be no answer.





NIGHTHAWKS

HOPPER'S Most FAMOUS PAINTING

Paintings such as Nighthawks (1942) convey a mood of loneliness and desolation by their emptiness or by the presence of anonymous, non-communicating figures. But of this picture Hopper said: `I didn't see it as particularly lonely... Unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city.' Deliberately so or not, in his still, reserved, and blandly handled paintings Hopper often exerts a powerful psychological impact -- distantly akin to that made by the Metaphysical painter de Chirico; but while de Chirico's effect was obtained by making the unreal seem real, Hopper's was rooted in the presentation of the familiar and concrete.






PORTRAIT of NEW ORLEANS

"I NEVER WOULD of GUESSED IT"
Looks Like Somewhere in Middle America or Upstate New York






The Long Leg

Love This Painting
I Did a Small Copy of It Myself
That Hangs on My Parlor Wall






CHOP SUEY