Gift basket, deconstructed.

[bzarcher]

From left to right: Focaccia crackers, bulk provalone, mini-pannettone, coffee, cookies, all in a steel (?) pasta strainer. Pickeled peppers, bear cookie, candy cane, snowman cookie, chocolate wedges, asst hard candies and the marinated artichoke hearts.

Back row is 12 yr. old oak aged balsamic vinegar, bag of cottura, extra virgin olive oil, and vodka sauce!

Basket of OMG provided by Joe Leone's Italian specialties and gifts of Pt. Pleasant, NJ.

Comments

[flaggerx.livejournal.com]

They know you well. Who could put this to better use?

[alathaniel.livejournal.com]

It is perhaps unfortunate that the "Vodka Sauce" reminds me of the Vodka-and-Noodles incident from my Undergrad days whilst ardaniel was working at CMU.

(Note that I did not directly witness this incident, and have only heard of it's aftermath.)

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I don't think Christine or Deborah know that I cook a lot, unless I mentioned it offhand...

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

OK, I'm gonna have to ask for an explanation on this one...

[alathaniel.livejournal.com]

Approximately 6am, following the Midnight Magic Game that lasted until 4am (which included the infamous "what happens if two people have played a doppelganger" argument and resulted in me having less than zero desire to play it):

My friend is making beef stroganof noodles for breakfast. He observes that he also has a bottle of Vodka in the kitchen. He declares that breakfast and noodles can be had for breakfast.

His roomate, who was also a participant in said game, then pours vodka over his beef stroganof noodles. I am told his face had a truly revolting expression on it after sampling the concoction.

Or so I have been told.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

I can only imagine. :) I asked Ard, too, and nearly died laughing with how she told the story.

[alathaniel.livejournal.com]

She was there, I wasn't. Her rendition probbably has more incriminating details in addition to higher entertainment value.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

Regardless, the key to vodka and noodles is tomatoes. :)

The vodka is blended with tomatoes and spices to make a tasty sauce.

[felislachesis.livejournal.com]

the M:tG judge in me decided to come out:

As long as the first doppelganger had another card to target (as the card itself is not yet a creature as its being played) then it can come into play. If a 2nd doppelganger comes into play and targets the first doppelganger, then it assumes the form of the first doppelganger. See, not that hard. :D

Don't get me started on the Shahrazad that was immediately Forked 5 times.

[felislachesis.livejournal.com]

On an entirely different note than my multi-forked Shahrazad (game lasted near 6 hours), there was a little bit of butcher paper used inside the colander to hold everything up. That paper smelled like New Jersey. If you've ever been to NJ, you know the smell. If you haven't been to NJ, bless your lucky stars.

[dasubergeek.livejournal.com]

Unbelievable as it may sound, there is more to New Jersey than Newark and the Turnpike and precious little of it smells like Newark and the Turnpike, which, now I come to think of it, smells like Sandusky.

I used to work for Joe Leone's brother Salvatore at Jenkinson's Boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach. Very, VERY briefly.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

If they're anything like the basket suggests, they must be nice guys.

[felislachesis.livejournal.com]

I've been all over New Jersey. Up and down the Black Horse Pike, through the Tacony-Palmyra, across the AC Expressway. Getting lost on the way to Staten Island (I ended up in Brooklyn somehow). I spent a week at Long Beach Island (still want to go back). Brigantine Castle... I grew up in Philly, so NJ was always that neat place to visit, but never wanted to live there :D