Sgroppino - Italian After Dinner Drink

In Italy, digestivos are commonly drunk after the meal and when we were in Sicily, we certainly had our share of Averna after meals. But this digestive is drunk in the Venetian region of Italy and is bright, fresh and clean. A sgroppino is made by whipping together Italian Prosecco, lemon sorbet and vodka. Sgroppino means "to untie" as in, to "untie your stomach" after a meal. So you have a great excuse to make these after dinner! But hey, these are so refreshing we drink them on a hot summer day before dinner.

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Bouchon Bakery's "Nutter Butter" Cookies

The last time we were in Napa Valley, I drove by Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery and I couldn't believe the line outside the door.  But that makes sense because anything that Thomas Keller does is going to be wildly popular.  Thomas Keller loves to put his own modern spin on old cookie classics, like the Oreo cookie and this one - the Nutter Butter. 

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Pizza Quattro Stagioni

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that every Tuesday night in our household is pizza night.  I love that because I never have to think about what to make that night.  I just get the dough going sometime in the afternoon.  I let it proof and then I punch it down, break it up into individual dough balls and then let those rise.  We all fix our own personal size pizza.  I usually fix a vegetarian pizza and if I have some good quality anchovies, I will pop those on, too.  But sometimes I want a little variety and that is the time to make a "Pizza Quattro Stagioni".  This means "four seasons" in Italian and you simply divide the pizza up into four sections. It's traditionally made with artichokes, mozzarella, tomato sauce, ham and olives, but you can play around with it and make it with any combination you like.  

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