I (Two) was having a conversation with my friend Pauline yesterday. We were praising our significant others for their formidable skills in the kitchen. Having graduated from the Cordon Bleu and having worked in restaurants and having cooked for admiring friends throughout the years, Two was unprepared to be intimidated by One's cooking skills. But alas, she was. One trained under two masters, his Serbian mother and her parents and the illustrious television personality of the 70's, Julia Child. One is impressive to say the least. Two has finally learned to cook along side him without wondering what it is that she thought she knew. Humility is a virtue, right? A virtue that Two continues to hone as One continues to shine in the kitchen. Pauline's significant other is no slouch either. He asked her to zest a lemon the other night for his pasta...then looked at her cautiously..."Do you know how to zest a lemon?" Whereupon she replied, "Do you even have a lemon zester?"
"No."
"Well I have two!"
Again, more humility in the kitchen. But honestly, what a wonderful lesson to be faced with learning - to have two great cooks in the kitchen.
Which brings me to our sad lack of entries this summer. We cooked from our garden. We cooked from Marie's garden. We went out, but mostly to sit at the bar and drink martinis and munch on bar snacks. Well, it's time to head out again. Last night we went into Doylestown for dinner al fresco. If you wander down past the Doylestown Inn you will come to a number of restaurants that offer outdoor seating. Paganini has a great outdoor garden festooned with trumpet vines that remarkably blocks much of the noise from another restaurant, 86, that features some sort of loud music. The fountain is also a lovely touch. All of the sauces are made to order, with each night featuring three pasta dishes. One had speck, peas, cream, and parmesagne linguine which was just right on richness, though One wanted more speck. Two had the special, rotini with red pepper flakes, capers, and feta. Also very good. Buffalo Mozarella and fresh tomatoes started the meal. There have been restaurants that blew our palettes right out of the atmosphere, stilling conversation as we marvelled over the unusual and sublime. This is not what you will find here. This is very well crafted Italian comfort food with fresh ingredients and rich flavors. By all means try Paganini.
