newsandviewsjb

NEWS&VIEWS by Jacqueline Bennett

Posts from the “Food” Category

Mom’s Recipe Box: Great-Granddaughter Kathleen’s Bread & Butter Pickles

Posted on October 14, 2018

                                                                                                    Kathleen’s Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles Pickles are most definitely a passion of mine. Half Sour, Dill, Kosher – I love them all. Except the Bread and Butter pickle is just something special. It’s a guiltless snack that can be gobbled up so quickly; of course when I looked at the two cups of sugar that goes into pickle juice … I’ll try to only have a couple slices at a time. But it’s…

Categories: Cooking, Family, Food, NEWS, Recipes

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Destination: Two Little Fish a Clam Shack in Westerly, Rhode Island

Posted on August 12, 2018

Write-up & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett Thanks to its new location, I discovered Two Little Fish, a clam shack on Atlantic Avenue in Westerly, Rhode Island, this summer – what a great find! It has been voted ‘Best Seafood’ for “seventeen years running” in the Westerly Sun online reader’s poll, as announced on the sign out front it’s Atlantic Avenue locale. Relocated from Granite Street where Tim Brennan and Kevin Urbonas started the business in 1997, Two Little Fish is so good that customers willingly, eagerly, wait in long lines to enjoy the food.   Seriously, Two Little Fish has been in business for 21 years but in the past I must have overlooked it as I was focused on going to other restaurants located…

Categories: Clam Shacks in Rhode Island, Food, NEWS, Seafood Dining, Wild Caught Sustainable Locally Sourced

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Destination: The Lion’s Den – A Ratskeller with Winter Appeal As Snow Swirls

Posted on January 24, 2018

Article & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   Listening near the tavern bar one cold December day, tales could be heard of the ratskeller below.    “The Lion’s Den” in Stockbridge, Massachusetts is listed as one of New England’s coziest winter bars in an article  from “Yankee Magazine.” Located beneath the Red Lion Inn,  “The Den”, as it has been dubbed, can be reached through an exterior entrance and one inside the inn’s Widow Bingham’s Tavern.   During a luncheon at Widow Bingham’s Tavern, I overheard some staff express perplexity when a server described “The Den” as a ratskeller, sometimes spelled rathskeller. It is a term at the same time intriguing and off-putting. Any word that contains “rat” is cause for apprehension.   The…

Categories: Food, New England Ratskellers, New England Taverns, NEWS, Open Table Diner's Choice Winners

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Mom’s Recipe Box: Kathleen Shares “Grandpa Frank’s Spaghetti Sauce”

Posted on December 24, 2017

                  In Time For the Holidays – “Grandpa Franks’s Spaghetti Sauce” from Kathleen   It has been awhile since I’ve made an addition to  “Mom’s Recipe Box” and this is one I know my mother would love. It comes from Kathleen Pope, who is married to my second cousin Brad on my dad’s side  (my cousin Betty-Jane’s son). Thus Kathleen is Mom’s great-niece. As I’ve said before, Mom was all about family. She adored hearing about what was going on with each family member. Looking forward to every new recipe, I know Mom would have been so pleased to learn about Kathleen’s blog “The Fresh Cooky”  http://www.thefreshcooky.com/  –   Kathleen noted that years back her grandfather had,…

Categories: Cooking, Family, Food, NEWS, Treasured Recipes

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Destination: Sofia’s Italian Restaurant in East Windsor, Connecticut

Posted on October 25, 2017

Article & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   Sofia’s Restaurant in East Windsor, Connecticut had been a place I went fairly often 5-10 years past. For no special reason that changed. A few weeks ago, by invitation I returned. Set on a hilltop intersection, Sofia’s remains popular.         The exterior had been under renovation the last time I was here and is now complete. The interior has also undergone change. Three side-by-side dining sections have booths and tables, however the middle section now includes a bar located at the rear of the space. Lighting in this section seems dimmer which I prefer. Large screen televisions have been added to give a sports bar feel, and on this day they were tuned…

Categories: Food, NEWS, Restaurants

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Oh Those ~ Wicked Good ~ Fenway Franks !

Posted on July 23, 2017

  Write-up & Photos By Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   Wicked good. In New England that may be the ultimate compliment ~ underscoring the notion that sometimes a little wicked can be oh so good. That sentiment is aptly applied to Fenway Franks. Although most would agree hot dogs are not the healthiest choice ~ a little wicked ~ they surely are a ~ good ~ ole’ American favorite. Arguably, none more so than the hotdogs enjoyed at Fenway Park.   “The culinary icon of New England baseball got a fresh start in 2009, and now thanks in part to a bold, new recipe, Fenway Franks are more popular than ever,” Chris Burnett wrote for Yankee Magazine’s New England Living in May 2017.   Marking…

Categories: Fenway Franks, Food, NEWS, Storied Ballparks

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Expect Pepper & Promise At My Place

Posted on May 2, 2017

By Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com     My morning began as it usually does, at the computer either writing an article or researching a story. About an hour into it, I stopped to prepare and cook some fresh vegetables for the day – broccoli and carrots. My nieces Debbie and Donna and my nephew’s wife Melane are all fabulous in the kitchen, and my sister Candy is becoming so – although time was when what she made best were reservations.   Truth be told, however, I’m not much of a cook. When it comes to cooking I have more in common with my niece Jillian who is fond of saying, “If I’m cooking, it IS a headline.” Actually, I am more at ease writing this piece…

Categories: Cooking - Maybe, Food, For the Love of Writing, My Cardiologist Said So.., NEWS

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Crullers – A New England Favorite

Posted on April 20, 2017

By Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   Crullers are a New England favorite. In fact, speculation is they have been part of the New England menu since the days of the Pilgrims. Now considered to be of the donut genre, it is interesting that the English settlers were so fond of crullers when as it turns out the origin of the name is Dutch – kruller, meaning to curl.   And curled or twisted they are, that is true crullers. Deep fried dough pastry. Imposters can be found at donut shops that shall remain nameless, but a flat appearance, often not thoroughly cooked dough and bland flavor are giveaways.   All that twisting apparently makes authentic crullers “labor intensive” thus explaining why they are becoming more…

Categories: Food, Independent Donut Shops, New England Favorites

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Destination: “Ninety 99 Nine” Restaurants in Westerly, R.I. – Etc.

Posted on March 29, 2017

Write-up and Photos By Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com    Among the “Ninety 99 Nine Restaurants” where I have eaten my favorite is in Westerly, Rhode Island. What makes this one so special? Location, location, location.   Immediately across the road from the highway connector that enables beachgoers to bypass downtown Westerly and head directly to Misquamicut State Beach and the Westerly Beaches, the restaurant has easy access off Airport Road. It is about three miles from the shoreline, which off-season is barely a ten minute drive but much longer during the summer when traffic is backed-up.   Best described as a “pub chain serving American fare”, regardless of their location the “99 Restaurants” where I’ve been have similar layouts – two sides for dining, a bar,…

Categories: Casual Dining, Food, NEWS, Restaurants

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Destination: Panera Bread Cafe Newly Opened in South Windsor, CT

Posted on January 13, 2017

Write-Up & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   It has become tradition for my sisters and me to celebrate the January 12 anniversary of our mother’s birthday by picking a restaurant where we meet for lunch on that day. This year we could not think of a more perfect spot than the new Panera Bread Cafe in our South Windsor, Connecticut ‘neighborhood’ where we added to the celebration by using Christmas gift cards to Panera from our nieces Katie and Sofia.     Located on the edge of Evergreen Walk along Buckland Road, this is a busy place. A few features set it apart from other Panera cafes that I have been to, such as a popular drive thru window, self-ordering kioshs, an inside…

Categories: Clean Food, Food, Nationwide Restaurants

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