Fabulous Spellos Brothers

Feeding the Homeless & Needy...It's Easy

At least it is when you hear Syd Mandelbaum of Rock & Wrap it Up speak.  I've known Syd for many years, and can't think of too many people on this planet who is helping those who need help more than he and his wife Diane are doing.

Can't embed this video, but please take the time to watch this video about what they do - http://www.vimeo.com/5208961.  The password is robusto.

My hat is always off to Syd.  We need more like him.

Jim

Food Blogs

Hi gang...

Haven't posted about food in a while (probably since the book came out), but thanks to a friend and colleague, Stacy, she told me about an article written in the Times (that's the London Times) online identifying the top 50 food blogs.  Here's the link (via TinyURL): 

http://tinyurl.com/akgq8s.  Some of them I had heard about, others I'm looking forward to delving into further.

Happy eating!

Jim

Mrs. Claus' Cookbook

What...you think she doesn't have one?   The holidays are coming, food is beginning to cook on the stove, and ya gotta check out Mrs. Claus' Cookbook.

Jim

Btw...this should be the first of our blog post also posted to my Facebook page.  We'll see how that works.

If You're In Sacramento...

...definitely have dinner at the Waterboy Restaurant.  It may be an odd name, but it was one of the best dining experiences I've had in years.  Great service, superb food, and did I mention great service?  First restaurant I've found worth blogging about in a long, long time.

Jim

Free Rice - Help Feed the Hungry

Hi Gang...

Talk about a cool, useful and fun website, look no further than Free Rice.  Go there, and guess the meaning of a word.  Get it right, and 10 grains of rice are donated to people who need food around the world by the United Nation.   Keep playing and getting the vocabulary answers correct...more rice is donated.

In the past month since it's inception, Free Rice is now up to nearly 60,000,000 grains of rice a day donated.  For those of you who are interested, the donation is handled by the advertisers from their website.

What a great site...and a great cause...and a fun way to increase your vocabulary.

Jim

Celluloid Heroes..with Mustard!

        I have a head cold today. And yesterday. And the day before. Some say listen to the old axium, "feed a cold, starve a fever." But ask anyone who is congested and stuffy, food is the last thing on your mind, hungry or not. So to suppliment my mom's "tea and toast when you're sick" routine, I decided to rent a movie with lots of food in it. This way I can dream about the food I will make and eat when I'm feeling better. My favorite food-themed motion picture is Stanley Tucci's BIG NIGHT - a touching feast for the soul as well as the eyes and palate. (if you don't know this movie, you must see it)

        So to pass the time while my cold runs it's course, I got to thinking about other great food scenes in filmdom. Here's a partial list, since most of my brain is congested today as well, in no particular order.

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY - Meg Ryan's fake "O" at the deli
THE WAR OF THE ROSES - don't try the pate from someone who hates you
TOM JONES - you'll never use utensils again

        Though not a food movie, the original PRODUCERS had the best food line ever. Leo - "Max, you just can't kill the actors! Actors aren't animals!" Max - "Oh, yeah? Have you ever eaten with one?"

        Did I miss your favorite? Let me know - in the meantime, chicken noodle soup is starting to sound REAL good right....(Achoo)...now!

love and sniffles,
Peter

Back to Basics

        Had a great culinary holiday in NYC with Jim and sis-in-law Marjorie. We had dinner at Morimoto's in NYC -an experience like no other! (details another day this week). I made leg of lamb and roast potaotes with my 85 year old Mom. (and that was an experience) But the story I want to mention most today is the passing of Momofuku Ando, 96 years old, founder of the Nissin Food Products Co.

        Don't know who he is? I'm sure all us foodies and chowhounds of the world started out refining their palates with....Ramen Instant Noodles!!! Mr. Ando invented the college student staple and presented his "Chicken Ramen" to the world in 1958. I can remember many undergrad (and even later) evenings knowing I could get by the weekend of lousy dorm food or non-existent finances on a mere dollar by getting 3 Ramen packages for a buck! (Chicken, Beef or Shrimp!)

        Haute cuisine? No, not really. but fond memories of simpler times and taste buds. Maybe not comfort food at its finest, but comforting to know a bit of the past is still around....still salty and soothing after all these years....

Cheers and Chicken Flavor,
Peter

Bernie Mac and Cheese

        The home made Spellos Mac and Cheese from coast to coast is a favorite of those who chow down with us. Now, I have fond memories and many thanks to the fine food folks at Kraft for allowing my college years to be foritified with such cheap and convienint sustanence. But now that I'm older, and more calorically challenged, good is not good enough when your dream of being grated!       
         We make our M&C much like Alton Brown does. Layer the mac with great and grated cheese, gruyere, fontina, pick your fave, add more cheese and breadcrumbs (panko) to the top and bake 'til "golden (alton) brown and delicious.
        So, here's my Sunday morning question to you. Do you like to butter or spray the bottom of the casserole dish so you mac is smooth on the bottom, like AB's? Or do what we Spellos do, leave the bottom fairly dry, so the mac at the bottom gets a wee bit crunchy. So you get crunchy, gooey and crunchy again!. You know, burn-y. Like Burn-y Mac...and Cheese! Bad gag perhaps, but either way, sure does sound like "good eats" comfort food to us!
        How do you mac and cheese? It's Sunday and inquiring chefs want to know.....

love and curd -
Peter

We're Published!

        Happy December 1st! It's a very happy one in the Spellos household, as our first book is now available on Lulu.com!!!! Search the word SPELLOS once on the Lulu site and you'll be whisked (kitchen pun) away to our page, where you can purchase, rate and review our amusingly written bouche! (more bad food puns)
        As Chef Emeril would say, "go out and buy 100 copies for your friends." They make great stocking stuffers, and can double as a small serving tray. (Okay, I've gone too far now...)

Please check us out and take home 99 Fabulous FOOD Websites You Can' Eat Without today -

www.lulu.com/content/443889

    We truly aapreciate your support, comments, or even tell us what you'd like to see in our next book!

love and egg nog,
Spellos the Older (peter)

Taking Time With The Holidays

        Somewhere, deep inside my skull, I hear Hank Williams Jr. wail, “Are you ready for some Holidays?!?!?!” I sit straight up in bed from a dead sleep. I panic. Wasn’t it just Labor Day Weekend? I won’t be the first scribe to bemoan that the “holiday season” now starts weeks before Halloween and runs through the last BCS Bowl game in January. I’m just putting away the candy corn ‘till next year when Marketing and Commerce, the most obnoxious of Santa’s new reindeer (they were the ones that ran over Grandma in that song), start making noise. Look, I’m 300 lbs. of Christmas cheer. I dig a good egg nog latte. I like this time of year, even home in Santa Wears Shorts, Southern California. I’m not the religious kind, so I celebrate the traditions of love of family, friends and being grateful for all of life’s gifts. But the holiday sale at Mervyn’s is not a family tradition!!!!! One celebration at a time, Corporate Claus, if you please?!? We’re all going to keep the money machine alive, don’t you worry. There’s plenty of gift-giving holidays about to happen, just let us enjoy it all, one bloody holiday at a time.
        Why this deck the halls diatribe? So you don’t miss Thanksgiving. It may be my favorite holiday for two reasons. First, the food. You may get lots of gifts for Christmas, but none of them smell of candied sweet potatoes or hot pie a la mode. Secondly, it has an 80 year old New York City tradition, now celebrated by the world. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Next to Mardi Gras, the Macy’s T-Day Parade may be the world’s biggest block party. Folks line the streets the night before just to watch them blow up the giant character balloons that are a signature of the parade! Many years, it’s well below freezing out there, too!
        Here’s a fact you may not know. Back in the 1930’s, the parade was staffed by the employees of R.H. Macy and Company, who worked in the store in Herald Square. Our mom, Diana, worked at Macy’s in 1939, that is how I know this. The best part, she was one of Santa’s helpers on Santa’s float, (I have great pix in her Rockettes-like elf outfit) always the last float in the parade. Why is it the last float, my faithful readers? Because NOW, the Christmas season begins! Santa checking in with us a month before the big day, making sure who’s naughty or nice!!! (haven’t seen the “nice” list for years) With Sears Christmas catalog in hand, a 8 year old sat before the TV and waved at the jolly ol’ elf….sorry, I’m rambling. The holidays have a way of doing that to me. So here’s the one link you need to start your holiday season, whatever that may be. It’s the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade page: http://www.macys.com/campaign/parade/parade.jsp
        No matter what we all celebrate, giving thanks for who we are, what we have and what we can give, may not be a bad idea. Feeding others will help feed yourself. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. And save me a piece of your favorite pie!

Cheers!
Peter
11/15/06