Amongst other things like being really thirsty all of a sudden, followed by losing the teddy they sleep with every night which should never have been taken out of their bed in the first place, as well as the impromptu need of finding that one other obscure teddy which is usually not a regular sleep companion.
And while at that, include a few legos and one very specific toy car that has got to be orange in colour.
Welcome to parenthood and good night, folks! May your bedtime will always ever be so interesting.
Mention Italian food and the first things that come to mind would be the almighty pasta, pizza (margarita) and/or risotto.
Anything sandwich-ish would likely not cross your mind. Or deep-fried. (that by the way, would belong more to the Dutch centre of excellence).
Enter Mozzarella en Carrozza – an Italian and Southern Italian cuisine made by deep frying mozzarella cheese sandwich. In simple, plain English it is translated as mozzarella in a carriage. Think of it as golden-crusted slices of eggy bread filled with, as the name suggests…mozzarella!
The original ensemble only needs the very basic of ingredients : bread, mozzarella (of course!), eggs, breadcrumbs and oil for deep frying. Easy enough to make your world go round in the sandwich universe.
My bastardised version, however, prefers a little more flavour, a slab of happy and a dash of attitude. By that, I mean:
adding a little more herbs to the flavour…
a dash of exotic cheese to the attitude…
and enhancing a slab of meat to the happy
They could be activated collectively or individually or a combo of any two. Whatever works. Whatever rocks your Carrozza. Whatever you desire. It’s your sandwich. Just be sure to add that all first before you seal its fate prior to deep frying.
They can be made ahead to be frozen. Then whenever you feel like you need a cheesy pick-up in a Carrozza at any time of the day, all you have to do is pop them into the deep-fryer.
Slices of desired herbed/exotic cheese (I used asparagus cheese)
2 eggs
3-4 tbsp low fat milk
1 cup flour
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 tbpn dried Italian herbs
2 tspn paprika powder
3 tspn dried chives
Salt and pepper
Enough oil for deep frying
Instructions
Cut the mozzarella cheese into halves and place them flat on the bread slices
On the same bread, place deli meat on top of mozzarella. Top with one slice of bread. Set aside
On a separate bread piece, place slices of desired herbed cheese.
Then top that with mozzarella. Top with one slice of bread. Set aside
Repeat till all bread/meat/cheese are all used up
Cut the sandwiches into 2 (you can divide each bread into 4)
Beat the egg with milk. Season with salt and peper. Set aside
Mix the herbs (Italian herbs, paprika powder and chives) with the breadcrumbs. Add salt and pepper to tast. Mix well and set aside
On a non-cluttered working space, place separately 1. flour bowl 2.bowl with milk and egg batter 3. bowl with herbed breadcrumbs next to each other. This would make it an easier system
Dredge the sandwich first with the flour bowl
Then coat the sandwich with milk and egg batter until fully covered
Finally coat the sandwich with breadcrumbs thorougly to seal the insides of the sandwich
Repeat the process until all the bread slices are used up
Heat up oil in a deep pan enough for deep frying.
Deep fry each side till golden brown
Remove from heat and drain excess oil
Serve hot and watch that cheese oozing out
Notes
Cut the breaded sandwiches in smaller, bite size shapes for snacks or to be served for parties!
The world was raving about the super moon the other day. Another moon known as the Perigee Full Moon as it gets closest to the earth on its orbit on 14th November. My friend Jas captured it beautifully with her Canon Rebel Telephoto Lens and posted an impressive image @All_thats_Jas on IG
In astrology, it is believed that the few days within perigee is the time where many (not all) of the most severe events occur. Perhaps that explained chaos in the last 2 weeks?
The next sighting is expected to be in 2034 November 25. I’ll be pretty old by then, if not senile or dead.
Here in the Netherlands, the moon decided on a no-show.
We didn’t even have to wait for it because as soon as it was about to get dark (which now starts at about 4.30 pm), the sky got too cloudy for any kind of sky watching. It also rained at night.
Traffic has been chaotic too. Way too chaotic. So chaotic that we’ve got stuck in traffic for more than 2 hours (both ways!) in the last few days. It was almost like being back in Bangkok.
To add on to that, on the day I had to take the public transport home (again), the tram/metro was suspended due to a collision. I only got home 3 hours later. Train/Tram/Metro suspensions seemed to happen each time I had to take the public transport home. That was the 3rd continuous time it happened to me. Apparently, I was just plain unlucky!
Show or no-show, I blame the severe occurrence of the traffic mayhem on the Perigee Moon.
Well, partly.
The other part I blame it on drivers who think they are immortal and insist on engaging with their mobile phone while driving. And the stupid train schedule.
So. There was no moon for us to gawk at on November 14th but what we did see was a gorgeous morning sky. A sky so orange and beautiful that I forgo-ed my nap while in the car ride.
