Last week, I learned that one of my favorite restaurants in Newtown, Asia Pacific, has closed.  I had gone there to eat dinner with my family only to find scaffolding inside and a sign out front reading “Fusion 2.0, coming soon”.  Now, not only did I feel this restaurant had some of the best sushi to offer in Fairfield County, but I also felt that they served some of the best Asian fusion around.  It was the very first place that I ordered a three course meal because I couldn’t decide what to get! Their kani salad was always presented beautifully in a large, Asian bowl, while their pan fried dumplings, as well as the sauce they came with, were to die for.  I had had the Teriyaki chicken once, and that too was delicious.  The sauce was light and sweet, and the chicken and vegetables blended together perfectly. However, my favorite dish there had to be the butterfly sushi roll.  It was a California style roll, topped with some sort of battered fish and filled to the brim with avocado, eel, tuna, and cucumbers.  It was topped with some sort of eel sauce, as well as a spicy mustard based sauce, and the contradicting flavors always turned out wonderful.  The presentation was astonishing too, since their sushi chef never presented it the same way.  Sometimes he drew a giant butterfly on the plate out of eel sauce, and sometimes he arranged the rolls in a circle with eel sauce hearts around the outside. It was honestly never the same, and it amazed me every time!  It’s a shame they’ve gone out of business, and I’ll definitely miss their food.  Hopefully Fusion 2.0 will be able to either meet or beat my expectations!

 Frankie B

With summer coming up on us so soon, I am looking forward to all of the fresh summer foods I will be eating all season. Obviously, summer is the time when families crack out the BBQ and grill up some tasty, savory meats. For example every Fourth of July, our family invites over a group of friends, neighbors, and family and enjoy the classic summer meal of hotdogs, hamburgers, coleslaw, potato salad, etc. All of it is just so delicious!

As soon as I taste certain foods, memories just flow back to me from summers past. Every summer, I spend at least a week at my grandparents’ house on Long Island. My grandparents have a boat, so everyday we go down to the water or the beach to spend the day and relax. At the club where the boats are kept, there is a cute little, very family-style restaurant where we always eat. Every time I go to the club, I am sure to order any kind of fish. Just being close to the beach and the boat puts me in the mood for seafood. And no one prepares the crispy fish with a light lemony sauce better than this club.

Another thing my family and I love to eat is grilled vegetables such as peppers and onions, shrimp, even pineapple, put onto wooden skewers. When we sit out on the deck, with the sun setting, a breeze breaking up the day’s heat, and ice cold drinks in hand, eating these fresh summer foods make me feel so relaxed and refreshed. It really is the best time of the year!

Colleen F.  

Occasionally when my family feels up to it we have pizza night. My mom buys the fresh dough from the store and we wait around and talk while it gets to room temperature and then stretch it little by little. My dad gets really into it when he starts trying to flip it around in the air like they do in pizza restaurants. He is pretty good but when I try it is never successful. We spread the dough across the tray and then stick it in the over. The pizza can be round, square, or any other form depending on whose making it. The cool thing about pizza is that you can pretty much put anything on it and it will taste good. When my mom is the only parent home, we usually make our pizza with lots of vegetables, such as spinach, mushrooms, peppers, and of course cheese and sauce. On the other hand, when my dad is home, the pizza is filled with different types of meats. He likes to add little pieces of sausage or bacon and sometimes chicken. Making pizza is also a good way to get rid of the leftovers because we can put anything that’s in the refrigerator on top and it seems to go well with the pizza. Everyone likes pizza and it is a fun and easy activity to do for dinner. I also feel like it is not as greasy or big as the ones you buy at the store. Although, I am not a huge fan of take-out pizza, my favorite in Newtown has got to be Franco’s pizza Bruschetta. It has no tomato sauce but it topped with stringy, cheese, grilled chicken, fresh tomatoes, onions and basil. I strongly suggest it.

Another fun thing that we tend to do in the summer with pizza is at our friend’s house. They have a nice outdoor patio with a brick oven on it. They fire it up when we’re eating dinner outside and it takes no time at all to make a pizza. It tastes so good like that. Sometimes they let everyone make a pizza for themselves with all different topping of their preference. I honestly think that I will invest in a brick oven like theirs when I am older and have my own house because it is so fun and a crowd pleaser. -LJ

I feel that the second I got my license, my cullinary skills, are on a whole other level. Normally, I love to cook dinner for my family. LIke I've said before, my dad is a health nut, who loves to hear about teh new latest and greatest "super food." My mom loves eating, so anything I make, I am sure that she will finish. Now that I have my license I have the ability to go to the store, and get my own groceries, and test out different recipes that I normallly wouldn't be able too. Also tomorrow I am going to Middlebury, to watch a Raw Vegan chef, cook food and talk to us abuot her career. That is something that intrests me very much. Eating as close to the earth as possible. My goal in life is to go to school, either in Colorodo or Vermont. I want to move down to Coloroado after I'm done with school, and my dream would be to open either a vegan, vegetarian, or just a healthy food, fully organic, resturant. Much easier said then done. I know that the resturant buisness is brutal, adn I'm not too sure if my personality would be able to handle all of the pressure and stress, of running such a huge business like that. Maybe I will just go into agriculture, and have my own farm. Even if my career, doesn't have a cullinary aspect in it. I know that food will always be a big part of my life. Last week I went to an Earth Day Celebration down in Woodbury. I tried some things I've had before. One new thing I tried was maple butter. Instead of Maple Syrup, they took the sap from the tree and formed it into a butter. I thought it was absoloutley delicious. Another risky thing I decided to do was buy a bottle of curry, after trying some curry cashews. So far I have made, a curry vegetable sautee. Curried Caulifllower, and I sprinkled some on my eggs. One thing I want to improve/learn is how to use spices, which spices go good with eachother. I have never been big on spices, but I know if I were to ever go into vegan or vegetarian cooking, spices would be just as importent, as the other ingredients. I would love it if Hoagland taught us a lesson, on spices. Or if she opened a resturant with me. 

Over break I went to many good places in Florida that I would deffinatlly suggest for anyone who us visiting the sarasota area. The first place that I went to was square one burgers. They are very pertucular about their meat. They make sure there beef is humanlly raised and only feed grain and beer, hormone and antibiotic free and has their meat massaged so its tender. I ordered onion rings with ranch chipotle sauce, they where so crispy and the seasoning in the batter had a little kick that i liked. As my main course I had a juicy Lucy. this is a burger with the cheese inside, which is hard to find at many places. It was cooked to perfection and they had execelent service. I also went to a carabbas, my favorite thing there was their fresh cooked bread with olive oil and sicilian seasoning. Lastly I went to a long horn steak house and as a drink I ordered a blackberry peach ice tea which they brew themselves and I've been wanting to go back just to have that ever since.

Italian Food

            I love Italian food. I am Italian so that would probably be why. It is just my favorite type of food. There are so many types of Italian food that you could go crazy trying to find one that you would want to try. Italian food is one of the most popular types of food in the world. There are Italian restaurants all around the world and in just about every state and town. Some restaurants are better than others however. Some are real Italian food and others want to be Italian. The quality in the food is not the same and the decor of the restaurant is not the same. Also the workers in the restaurant always make the restaurant Italian or not. There is an Italian restaurant in New Milford called Italia-Mia. This is the real deal when it comes to Italian food and atmosphere. This place is always very clean all the time and the food is fantastic. The service is good and it is the type of restaurant that makes you want to come back another day. They have very authentic food is just delicious. I would definitely recommend this restaurant if you are in the mood for great Italian food.

A great culinary experience I had recently was in Boston, Massachusetts. I went to a Tapas restaurant on Newbury Street called Tapeo. Tapas restaurants are known for unique Hispanic foods served in small portions, so customers are meant to order a lot of small plates of food. Everything on the menu sounded delicious… I didn’t even know where to start! Almost every dish had some kind of meat with a special sauce or vegetable on the side. I was eating only with my sister, so we decided to order two things each from the menu and split all of our dishes. I decided to order the Spanish chiorizo (sausage) which was grilled so it was slightly crispy but still tender on the inside. The meat was rich in flavor and had a little kick to it because a spicy sauce was served over it. Also, I ordered the chicken empanadas. I had tried empanadas in the past, but none were as good as these. The flaky dough outside split open easily to reveal a steaming blend of moist chicken and delicious black beans. After that, we ordered the sizzling garlic shrimp which was a little simpler but still had an excellent flavor! Finally, we ordered the cured Spanish ham, which had a great glaze and a hearty texture. Everything was so tasty, I will definitely go back to Tapeo sometime soon. Colleen F.