I’m currently traveling in Italy and had some down time this evening. Kevin and I have been spending the last few days exploring different historical sites in Rome. We decided to take a break from exploring this evening, so I decided to use this time to share a recipe for one of my favorite breakfast items/snacks – everything pretzel bagels. My everything pretzel bagels use the same dough as my everything pretzels. The only difference between my everything pretzel bagels and my everything pretzels is the shape. These bagels are much softer in texture and are perfect for days when all I crave are soft pretzel bagels. Unlike a true New York style bagel, the texture of my everything pretzel bagel is much softer. Over the years, I’ve made variations of pretzels with cheddar cheese and scallion cream cheese dips. My more recent creation, everything pretzels with scallion cream cheese, was so good, I made a variation of the everything pretzels by turning my pizza/pretzel dough into bagel shapes. I even rolled the pretzel/pizza dough just the way the bagel shop owners in New York City roll the dough for their bagels. Growing up in New York, I would watch through glass doors and panels at bagel shop owners (or their staff) roll pieces upon pieces of bagels from dough. The dough starts off as a large chunk. Pieces of the dough are cut into small pieces. The pieces are then sliced into chunks and rolled into logs. Each piece of log shaped dough is brought together by the ends, formed into a loop, and then rolled several times to seal the two ends together. The end result is a rustic looking bagel with some of the ends peeking through. True New York style bagels are imperfect in shape, but taste delightfully unique.

Travel season is upon us. Kevin and I have started packing for an upcoming trip earlier this week. I’m taking a break from packing to share my recipe for baked rigatoni. Pasta is one of my favorite go-to weekly meals mainly because of how economical, satisfying, and quick it is to make. My baked rigatoni is another variation on my baked penne and baked cavatappi. I like to whip up a large serving of baked pasta when I want a tasty meal to feed a crowd. Today’s version of my baked pasta features rigatoni pasta, browned sausage, and fresh spinach. I always start by making a base sauce using canned whole tomatoes (gently crushed using my hands), tomato paste, and dried herbs. To elevate the flavors of my baked pasta, I added a large handful of chopped fresh parsley. While the sauce is cooking away on my stove top, I bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once the water begins to boil, I add some kosher salt, pour in a box of dried rigatoni, and let the pasta cook for a couple minutes short of al dente. Then, I toss the undercooked pasta in the sauce, layer on cheese, meats, and greens, and finish the rest of the dish in the oven. The baked pasta never disappoints. Once baked, I would gently remove the dish from the oven and serve the pasta while it is still hot. I like making my own version of baked pasta because I like to control the amount of cheese I add to the dish. A lot of the baked pastas I’ve had at restaurants are usually very heavy on the cheese. My baked rigatoni only uses 2-3 ounces of mozzarella cheese and about an ounce or two of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. The rest of the savory flavor comes from the meats, herbs, and greens. No matter how much pasta I eat, I still crave pasta at least once a week. Once a month, I make a variation of my baked pasta to satisfy my cravings for baked pasta. The best part about the pasta is how good it tastes the next day. I tend to make a large batch and pack 2-4 servings for lunch and/or dinner the next day. For me, it doesn’t matter what time of the year it is, baked pasta is still my go-to pasta dish when I want a tasty, savory, and satisfyingly quick meal.

Today is Kevin’s birthday! We celebrated over the weekend with some homemade California rolls. California rolls are usually my go-to order whenever I’m at a sushi restaurant. Kevin would always order his raw salmon over rice and I would always order my dragon roll and California roll. At least once a month, we would stop by our favorite sushi spot near our home for some sushi. A few years ago, Kevin and his friends would meet up every Thursday at a sushi restaurant in the Cincinnati area for Thursday sushi nights. I occasionally joined them when they changed the Thursday sushi nights to Friday nights. Overtime, everyone got busy and Thursday sushi nights were cancelled. For a period of time, Kevin and I revived Friday sushi nights and stopped by a local sushi restaurant to satisfy our sushi cravings. Recently, we discovered a sushi/burrito fusion spot near where we live. The restaurant operated like a Chipotle for sushi. We got to pick our base (rice), toppings (mostly sushi fillings), and protein. I built my sushi bowl just like my favorite dragon and California rolls. After going there for dinner one time, we definitely made it a goal to go back again in the near future. When I lived in New York, I craved sushi all the time. There were multiple sushi spots in the Brooklyn neighborhood where I grew up. Every other week, I would meet up with some friends or my brothers for sushi at different sushi restaurants throughout Brooklyn. No matter where we went, I would always order my favorite dragon roll and California roll. All of the California rolls I’ve had always featured imitation crab meat, avocado, and cucumber rolled tightly with some sushi rice and a seaweed wrapper. The dragon roll tends to have variations in fillings depending on which sushi restaurant I went to. In honor of Kevin’s birthday, I made him some California rolls for lunch and some confetti cookies for dessert.

I finally got to watch Avengers: Endgame over the weekend. On Friday night, Kevin and I met up with friends for the last movie showing at a local movie theater in Ohio. All of us thoroughly enjoyed the movie until the very end. Without spoiling the movie for others, all I can say is the movie seemed to have tied up a lot of loose ends from previous storylines. The next day, we were so tired, we took a long afternoon nap to recuperate. We really didn’t stay out too late, but I guess the older I get, the less I am able to bounce back from staying out later than usual. When I finally woke up from my nap, I was craving a combination of fried food with a fresh dip. I realize I do have very specific cravings. I immediately checked my refrigerator and saw I had some chicken wings sitting at the bottom level of my refrigerator. I ended up separating the wings into three parts. I saved the drums and middle parts for frying and tossed out the tips. I also prepared a very basic frying batter by combining some flour, salt, pepper, chili powder, and hot sauce in a bowl. As the chicken wings were frying, I whipped up a fresh yogurt herb dip using some parsley, cilantro, mint, and lime. Whenever I eat wings, I always want a side of crunchy carrots and celery. This specific craving is probably influenced by all of the restaurants and bars I’ve frequented over the years serving wings with a side of carrot and celery sticks. The crispy fried chicken and crunchy vegetables paired with the refreshing yogurt herb dip was just the perfect combination. After the wings and sauce were prepared, we both devoured the wings right away.