Linguine with Broccoli Rabe and Walnut Pesto

The piggies are back!  We’ve been gone a while but rest assured, we are here for all of your eating needs.  We wanted to kick off our return with one (of many) of our favorite things to eat: pasta.  I had been eying this recipe for a while and finally got around to testing it out.  It’s the easiest recipe ever (boil water and press a button) and takes almost no time at all, so if you’re a fan of broccoli rabe, there’s really no excuse for you not make this except for your extreme laziness. 

 

We’re on a pappardelle kick, so we used that instead of linguine – I love a good wide noodle that will just soak up the pesto sauce.  We also added in

Sprinkles Galore: Birthday Cupcakes and Cookies

We’ve been shirking our posting duties for the past couple months, but now we’re back!  What better way to celebrate the return of Piggie Diaries than with SPRINKLES???

Sprinkles everywhere!

When I think of any celebrations, I automatically think of cookies, cakes, and ice cream – all with lots of sprinkles on top!   A few weeks ago, two of my friends were celebrating their birthdays, a perfect time for me to test out some funfetti (best word invented by Pillsbury) recipes I found.  I made two different funfetti recipes:

1) Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes with Mascarpone / Cream Cheese Frosting:  Yes – homemade!! I didn’t use the mix for these delicious morsels of goodness.  These were SO yummy I had to

A City Gem: Yakitori Totto

It doesn’t happen very often that you walk into a place and immediately know that it is one of the best.  We knew this was such an occasion as soon as we walked up the stairs and entered Yakitori Totto, which serves authentic Japanese food in the middle of Hell’s Kitchen.

When you enter, you’ll notice that the open grill is the centerpiece of the warm dining room.  For your first visit, pick a seat by the bar to observe the chefs masterfully create the many grilled skewers of joy, ranging from

Banana Walnut Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, I managed to pack all of said ingredients into one cookie. 

 banana walnut oatmeal pb choc chip goodness

 

What better way to spend hurricane weekend than to make cookies (that sound like they were made by a tornado sweeping up all of the ingredients together).  These cookies really pack a punch (a healthy one!) with hearty oats,

Satisfying My Six Month Tiramisu Craving

For roughly six months now, I have been craving tiramisu.  Three months ago I got a slice from a nearby Italian restaurant only to be sourly disappointed, and so the craving continued on, unsatisfied.  I had to take matters into my own hands…the result is this giant tiramisu made by yours truly.  I think it’s safe to say I will have fully satisfied my craving after this is all gone.

 The solution to a six month tiramisu craving

Adventures in Spain: San Sebastian and Pamplona

We promise this is the last of our Spain posts (until our next trip).  We’ve dragged on our trip to Spain for more than a month now and almost considered not posting the last entry, but we couldn’t bear to skip over our final glorious days in the Basque region!

I’m going to keep this brief because the photos will speak for themselves.  We spent one day in the beautiful beach town of San Sebastian, known to have the best pintxos (that’s what they call tapas in the Basque region) and most Michelin star restaurants per capita in the world.  Heavy rain that day prevented us from wandering the beach; however, we happily occupied our time exploring the pintxos bars of San Sebastian.  

Yay we have arrived at San Sebastian!...but booo it's raining!

Adventures in Spain: Tasting Navarra's Best Wines

During our week in Spain, we were invited to tour two of Navarra’s finest wineries.  Neither of us knew much of anything about wine other than how to empty a glass of it, so it was nice to take a closer look and see how wine is produced from start to finish.  The process is extensive: harvest and crush the grapes, fermentation, aging period, and finally bottling the wine to be sold.  The master of all things wine, or the "enologist,"

Adventures in Spain: Road Trip Through Navarra

After our evening tapas crawl in Madrid, the next morning we set off on our journey to the region of Navarra.  After four hours of driving through rather quiet scenery, we arrived at the picturesque Bardenas Reales, a desert-like natural park of plateaus formed by erosion over millions of years. 

We continued on to the historic town of Olite.  It was a very charming town housing the Royal Palace of Olite, previously home to the court of the King of Navarra during the Middle Ages.

Quiet streets of Olite

 Royal Palace of Olite

That day it so happened that there was a special youth federation event – we got to witness a mini “running of the bulls” with the young boys of Olite running with small bulls through the streets of Olite. 

Adventures in Spain: Tapas Crawl in Madrid

Back in February, my string of good luck began when I won a trip to Navarra, Spain.  You can read my original post about Navarra and the dinner we attended during Navarra Gastronomic Week here. 

The time finally came last week for Piggie Hubby and me to embark on what we knew would be a spectacular, unforgettable gastronomic adventure in Spain.  As you’ll see from the photos, we kicked off our trip by spending our first two days eating all of the tapas Madrid had to offer. 

Our first food adventure was at Mercado de San Miguel, a covered market with over 30 different shops that offer fresh fruit and seafood and most importantly for us, beer and tapas!  We came here our first night in Madrid to have a sampling of tapas.  There was so much more we wanted to try, we came back for lunch the next day as well.

Tehuitzingo – Mexico en Nueva York Señoras y Señores

Today's post is compliments of Piggie Hubby.  Born and raised in Mexico, this piggie knows his tacos.  

I have searched endlessly for a place that would remind me of the delicious dishes I grew up eating in Mexico.  My search for those treats, tacos, quesadillas, tostadas, tortas, has spanned numerous cities with the hopes of finding the restaurant that would remind me of the comforts of home with a single bite.  Hidden in the back of a tiny Mexican grocery store in Hell’s Kitchen, I finally found the answer to my quest: Tehuitzingo.

In hindsight, I should have known that my search would end as soon as I entered Tehuitzingo and found myself surrounded by the familiar décor of a traditional deli in Mexico: shelves stocked with traditional spices, salsas, sweet treats, canned goods, and friendly faces.  Beyond the groceries and after walking past a set of fridges filled with Mexican drinks (Sidral, Sangria, Jumex juices),