Izzy (and Mama) Eat: The Gourmand Grows up...

Tales of Empty Nesting ...The Next Chapter

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Hoboken Ingredients: Let'em Eat Cheese and Cannoli

My shopping excursions ended well yesterday. I managed to get everything I needed, including the fabulous mozzarella from Fiore's and the cannoli from Carlo's Bakery, both in Hoboken.

Our first stop was Fiore's, an old-time Italian deli which has a very loyal clientele. They are famous for their "mutz" and killer sandwiches. I myself go there for the "mutz". I must say that the pillow-soft, unctuous "mutz" is defintitely worth the trip. I had no idea how much of it I would need and ended up buying 5.5 lbs, sold in two, mishapen logs. They were certainly a sight to behold and one day I hope to have my new camera up and running so that you can share in my delight.

We completed our mission at Carlo's, another Hoboken institution, where I purchased 40 empty cannoli shells and 3 lbs. of cannoli cream with which to fill them (this way you have crunchy shells the next day but a royal pain to be sure when you have a zillion other things to do). Of course Izzy and I could not resist having a couple of filled cannoli to enjoy before making our way home in the drizzle.

Once home, I still had tons of stuff to do before the party. Veggies to prep, gingerbread cookies to cut out, dip to whip up and countless other details to tend to. I figured I would be up until two a.m. but Izzy couldn't sleep and needed me to soothe him. I ended up going to sleep earlier and leaving too much for the morning. At least I could rest-assured that two important items were ready for tomorrow. So if nothing else was done I could just say, "Let'em eat cheese and cannoli".

4 comments:

surlybiker said...

I loved reading about the preparations for Izzy's party. My Dad was a great Italian baker. My birthdays were memorable because of the awesome homemade cakes he would bake for me and one year we also had cannoli! But best of all, we also had the opportunity to taste a tazza caffe(cup of coffee). We added condensed milk to the coffee (who knows why) but man o man was it delicious. Maybe next year for Izzy's birthday - an espresso machine?

Bean's Mum said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bean's Mum said...

Lucky guests that we were, we are voting that you open a pizzeria! Fiores and all, it was delicious! Cheers to a fun, delicious, sunny birthday!

Izzy's Mama said...

Amy: Lucky you to have a baking dad. I was lucky if I even got to have a party! I remember having chocolate cake with buttercream frosting from Michele's Bakery in Fort Lee! I loved that cake.

p.s. Do you have the recipe for cannoli cream? I was almost going to make some but I got too overwhelmed.

Bean's Mum: Glad you liked it!