Carmela's Food Blog: "Zombies" Valentine Dessert

Finished Zombies! 

A marriage between chocolate chip cookies & brownies!

I came across a photo of these “Zombies” on a tweet posted by one of our bloggers, Jane Springfield. They are a marriage between a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie. I tested the proportions first and I came up with a fail safe way to make these easy and quickly. I don't know anyone who isn't a fan of brownies or chocolate chip cookies, so these are definitely a sure way to your lover’s heart. These cookie cups, that I have appropriately named Zombies, are sure to be a favorite. The name Zombies was taken from Jane and since I added nuts to the recipe, the name Zombies stuck well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
This recipe will make exactly 2 muffin pans (24 Zombies)

Brownie portion:
Make any favorite brownie mix.  Spray your muffin pan generously with pam and divide the brownie batter equally into the 24 muffin spots.

Toasted Walnuts:
In frying pan (sprayed with pam)  or in a  toaster oven; add 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts and toast. Set aside.

Toasted walnuts

Chocolate Chip Cookie:
You can use any  pre-made chocolate cookie dough,  but I have an easy recipe for homemade cookies:
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of butter softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup of chocolate chips

Mix flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside. In another bowl, beat together the soft butter, egg, both sugars and vanilla till combined and creamy.  Gradually add the flour mixture and beat together. Add in the chocolate chips and stir.

Form into flattened cookies covering 1 side of the cookies with the toasted nuts. Place the cookie - toasted nut side down -on top of the brownie mix in the muffin pan.

Cookie over brownie

Bake for 25 minutes @ 350 degrees. After cooled they will pop right out. Serve for Valentine's Day or make them for yourself to eat during Mob Wives. Mob Wives will air at it's new time tonight: 10PM ET/9C!

Follow me on Twitter @CarmelaCorleone and let me know how your Zombies came out!

An Open Letter to Toni Marie Ricci…

Clearly someone’s been in this good lady’s ear….

Dear Toni Marie:

I am writing this because I cannot begin to explain it all on Twitter and I feel it needs to be said. I have always liked you and blogged about you and your events freely and often. We enjoyed a very cordial and friendly relationship and I loved meeting you. I feel that I personally have done my best to promote and support all your past, current and future projects, especially your upcoming book. Mob Mistress has also interviewed you and, I can tell from the questions, that she took great care and compassion not to hurt you, even apologizing for a past blog that was written concerning your ex-husband, which may have hurt you.

Yesterday, you came to me in DM on Twitter, and sent me a link to your blog radio interview. I said I would check it out. You said you thought it was strange that I hadn’t retweeted your interview link. I explained to you that we were in the process of doing our first blog radio show right before yours was airing, and I was distracted preparing for that because I had just learned of it. Then you told me, in that case, I should forget about listening to yours. I don’t know what one radio show has to do with the other, but I sensed you were either offended or felt slighted because we, neither Mob Mistress or myself, retweeted your link that night. In any case you found that odd because you had a relationship with both of us and “helped” MM out. Then you went on to say you were not upset with me. I thought that was the end of it.  But then you seemed to have taken issue with Mob Mistress, saying that you noticed something different (never saying what that was), she has no integrity, a bad attitude and that you give Carla credit for saying what she did about her. You asked me to relay a message to MM, which I did. When MM asked you directly what your problem with her was or if she did anything to you, you never replied. I asked MM myself, if anything had gone on between the two of you, because I was baffled by the whole exchange, which seemingly came out of the blue. I can attest that MM has never uttered one single, bad word about you to me, ever. So I feel that there is something else going on that we are not privy to, but the words you used against MM were uncalled for and unprovoked. I still do not know what brought this about.

Let me explain that we do not blog for a living, it is a hobby. We cannot monitor Twitter 24/7, but we do and have always retweeted all of your significant tweets. Okay, one fell through the cracks, but it was nothing to get offended about, it happens. I did a simple search of our blog and since May of 2012, we have posted at least 13 blogs about you or mentioning you and, in addition, I know I personally retweet several items a day from your account. I am sure if you had asked us to retweet the link to your radio interview, and we saw the request, it would have been done.

Now, although I feel very badly about what happened between the two of you, I have been placed in a very difficult position because of yesterday’s exchange. I had planned to blog about the additional paintings Michael Bell was working on, your book release, book signings and any other events associated with you. But how can I? People use the words loyalty and respect, but I take them to heart. Mob Mistress was a good friend of mine before we ever began this blog. She has stood up for me and defended me more times than I can count. I owe her my loyalty and she has always had my respect. How can I remain loyal to her and not disrespect her and still blog about you? It would be like me saying, I noticed something different about your husband, he has a bad attitude and needs to get integrity, and adding now I believe what Carla said about him…and then I still expect you to invite me to your home for dinner with him at the table. I hope you see what I mean by my analogy. While my allegiance is always going to be to Mob Mistress, I am trying to be honest and direct with you out of consideration for your feelings, which is a courtesy I normally would not extend if you were anyone else.  In the same vein, I also have not included the actual tweets and DM’s from yesterday’s conversation. I do hope you understand and I sincerely wish you all the best.

Chiara

Mob Wives: Joe Wants A Divorce Sneak Peek

Carla shocked about the word "divorce?"

Thanks to VH1 we now have a glimpse into the conversation between Joe and Carla where he nervously, but emphatically asks for a divorce. Carla seems to be a little in shock, and then somewhat upset. Joe wants to make a nice clean break and move on in a positive direction with his life...like this

Seems like Joe and Raquel just "fit"

But guess who else has already moved on with her life?  Yes Carla! So don't feel too sorry for her. Last week Carla and Handy were off in Puerto Rico for a nice little getaway...and I would think she would love to have her freedom, no? And by the way, who is watching the kids while the concerned mom is away?

In any case, when Joe compares his marriage to Carla to a "business arrangement" it's more than Carla can take and it leaves her with a sour taste in her mouth. Frankly, that was a poor choice of words for Joe to use if he was hoping for an amicable divorce. Carla starts telling him how hard she had it with him in prison, and gets no sympathy from Joe. He proceeds to tell her she needs to retain an attorney and get the process going expeditiously. Hopefully the scene will be longer than a minute on the show. Just watch Carla's facial expressions...

Picture and Video Credit: VH1 and Carla's Twitter

Mob Wives: Weapons of Choice?

Ramona & Karen on Dr. Drew with her "Brass Knuckle" phone case

This week TMZ reported on a story that Nora Schweichs threatened her live-in “boy toy” with a screwdriver. I can’t say I was surprised after what I have seen on Mob Wives since season one. Many of the Mob Wives have their own preferences when it comes to weapons. The question is would they really use them if push came to shove? Who knows? But as a blogger who has watched the show from day one, I thought it might be fun to go through all the wives and reminisce over the various “weapons” they have used, mentioned or carried with them.

Of course we can’t forget the most recent attack of the “butter knife” by Carla on Renee. Okay so it was a fake attack with a fake weapon, but what can we expect from Carla? Fake…fake…fake…fake…fake.  

Then there is the beautiful and bubbly Love Majewski. We haven’t seen her in action yet, but she has mentioned quite a few things she has used in the past for recreational violence. Among her arsenal we find poison, guns, and a letter opener…whatever happens to be handy and laying around the house. Love is, after all, nothing if not very resourceful. Can’t wait to see what develops in her storyline!

And who can forget Ramona’s cell phone which was encased in brass knuckles? Now that is very efficient because you may forget your brass knuckles at home, but no one in their right mind would go anywhere without their cell phone! Did I mention I want to see more of Ramona on the show! 

Karen is usually level headed and knows she can handle any situation when it comes to people attacking her. However, when she saw that her dear “cousin” Ramona was bleeding during her altercation at Renee’s party, well then she flung the dishes and they went flying through the room, like a discus player in the Olympics. Do not mess with Karen’s loved ones!

And Renee, well she feels threatened and her father isn’t home to protect her, so she wants to know which window she should be keeping her loaded gun pointing out of, in case of trouble. I won’t be visiting Renee at night…just sayin’.

And then there is lovely Drita, who used a paint gun on her raccoon mob. Drita has joked about bashing someone’s head in with a wrench, not just any wrench, but a blinged wrench! Of course Drita has used her fists and even took boxing lessons at one point, but certainly not to the extent that it made her hands lethal weapons. But as far as I can see, Drita has retired from fighting and someone else will have to step up to the plate and fill the void on the show.

Now that all the ladies all have websites and “stores,” maybe they should sell "weapon charms" on necklaces, or rings, or charm bracelets? What fan wouldn’t want to wear their mob wife’s weapon of choice around their neck? Or if you love them all, get a charm bracelet with all the weapons! As for me, I am going to be glued to season three. I think things are just beginning to heat up and I am going to be looking and listening for more weapons. Hey, you never know when I might need to protect or defend myself! Chirp!

Picture Credit: Dr. Drew

Mob Wives: Drita D'avanzo Does Drag Queen

Ms. Serena ChaCha and Drita D'avanzo

VH1 thought it would be a great idea to have Drita D'avanzo of Mob Wives interview a drag queen.  It seems Drita was a bit confused as to who was interviewing who.  She reads the questions & then exclaims, "How am I suppose to know?"  We all get confused sometimes, some of us more than others.  Moving along, Ms Serena ChaCha from RuPaul's Drag Race is fierce with a capital F.  Apparently, she complimented Drita's lip gloss once upon a time.  The generous mob wife dug down into her purse to give the drag queen her very own Limelight lip gloss.  Serena ChaCha also gives Drita a drag name Esmerelda KnockOut.  I was thinking more along the lines of Annie Ambulance.  Hey what do I know?!  I'm not a drag queen.  I just look like a man. Watch Drita's attempt at an interview here:

Get More: Watch Reality TV, Video and Movies, Logo TV

What did you think?  Did Drita do a wonderful job?  Should Oprah clear her desk & make way for Mrs. D'avanzo?  *watching my nail polish dry*  I don't know about you but I can't wait until Sunday @ 10PM on VH1.  I want my Mob Wives!

Photo Credit: VH1

Mob Wives Meet Staten Island Law Wives?

Website: Lets Lawyer Up!

How did I wind up in Staten Island on both sides of the law, stuck between a butter knife and a gavel? I don't know, but I love Mob Wives and Staten Island Law, so there you have it!

In fact, I was just sitting here missing my two favorite Staten Island Reality Shows, Mob Wives thanks to the Super Bowl, and Staten Island Law which is getting a new day and time slot on OWN. My brain kicked into overdrive and I started wondering about all the possibilities and potential for all these ladies to meet. The Mob Wives have a series of conflicts and the Staten Island Law wives are mediators! Sounds like a match made in heaven (or hell) right? This might make for some great television, but why is it I am the one who always has to come up with these great ideas? Will someone make me a producer or an assistant producer already?

Okay, it may not be a good idea to get rid of all the drama on Mob Wives, even if they could. Staten Island Law may not be as successful making peace and finding resolutions in this toxic arena as they are with the ordinary issues of everyday people. In reality, the shows are at odds with each other. One seeks to find peace, the other can’t help but go to war. But imagine the possibilities? Here are just a few sessions of mediation I’d like to propose (and this will also serve as a review of season three so far).

Case #1 - Carla and Renee are fighting the “You called me whore/You called me junkie” war. Big Ang and Drita failed to make peace at their “sitdown,” although Renee says she is willing to be in the same room as Carla. I’m not so sure those two can be around each other any more. I wonder what Michele and Elura would advise each of them to do? Maybe there comes a point when there really has been too much water under the freakin’ bridge for any mediation?

Case #2 - Carla and Joe are at odds. She doesn’t think he needs such a big house, she doesn’t think he needs his girlfriend to move in, she doesn’t think Raquel contributes to the household finances, she doesn’t think the kids are getting enough attention, she doesn‘t think Raquel should mother the kids…she just doesn’t think, period. Poor Joe just wants to move on with his life and be happy. He seems happy with Raquel. Raquel loves his kids. Raquel and Joe love each other. How is Joe going to get Carla to give him an amicable and speedy divorce? I can’t imagine Michele and Elura trying to reason with Carla on Joe’s behalf. What I do envision is Carla pulling a butter knife out on the mediators, calling them clowns and telling them to mind their own f*ckin’ business, it’s her f*ckin’ life!

Case #3 - Carla and Love have issues. Love has heard that Carla has been talking about her all over Staten Island. Carla dated Love’s ex while Love was dating him. Carla is dating Handy Man, who was dating Love for a short time, until she broke it off. Why is Carla dating Love’s “leftovers?“ Love and Carla need a sit down/confrontation (and I want to be there). Would Michele and Elura want to mediate and get in the middle of these two, knowing Love’s violent history and that Carla is a liar?

Case #4 - We can assume that Carla is not in good standing with Ramona and Karen either. I’m sure they don’t like it that she called their dear friend, Renee, a junkie and disrespected her with a butter knife, while she is going through a very rough time. That’s not how they roll. Don’t you think they want to confront Carla about that? Would Michele and Elura be able to smooth things over between these three?

Case #5 - Karen has her issues with Dave. Should he be bringing his girlfriend into her home and disrespecting her? Considering the fact that he says he has a good job in Arizona, shouldn’t he have offered to pay rent by now? Should Karen give him a 30 day notice and kick him out? If he hasn’t paid rent, does she even need to give him 30 days? I think Michele and Elura can advise Karen what to do legally. And, maybe they can find a way to help her get rid of Dave without alienating Karina. Oh, and hopefully they can get some child support for Karina? College is expensive after all.

Case #6 - And then there is Drita and Lee. Sure Drita is all happy and excited and hopeful about their future right now. It’s the honeymoon period. But soon reality will set in. If they intend on working on the marriage and getting back together, Drita may want to set some ground rules for their relationship. She has some serious concerns. Who wouldn’t? Lee made some bad mistakes and has to reestablish trust. Enter Michele and Elura to draw up a “post prison release nuptial agreement.” Drita is making the big money now. She needs to protect her assets, her heart and her girls.

I would really love the hear what Elura and Michele have to say on any or all of these conflicts. I can already hear some of their lines playing in my head. “Renee and Carla aren’t right in the head, for mediation.” “Joe should stick to his guns about the divorce.” “Carla? She thinks who she is.” “Not for nuttin, Dave needs to move out of Karen’s house and pay child support.”

What do you think? Can mediation work in any of these cases? I’m not sure, but one thing I do know, if there is to be any kind of mediation, Michele and Elura would be perfect for the job.

Stay tuned for Staten Island Law’s new day and time! I love it! Follow me on Twitter to get all your Mob Wives information and anything else I find interesting @chiarasoprano1.

Picture Credit: Let's Lawyer Up!

Mob Wives: Joe Ferragamo’s Guide To Incarceration?

The inspiration for my imagination

I was minding my own business on twitter when all of a sudden I come across Joseph Ferragamo tweeting about his new position as an Incarceration Counselor/Advisor. He is offering his services to those who are facing incarceration in the near future. I’m sure Joe has a lot of good, first hand advice and knowledge about prison life and how to while away the time. If Arnold Swartzenegger is the “Terminator,” then I am going to dub Joe “The Incarcerator.” 

I have never been incarcerated, but I am curious as to what kind of advice Joe is prepared to give from his personal experience. I can’t very well ask him because it’s not fair for him to divulge all his secrets for free. But as I sit here, turning this around in my mind, I felt a blog coming on just for fun. Obviously, this is meant to be humorous, and nothing in this blog should be attributed to Joseph Ferragamo, whose only contribution was a bit of inspiration for a blog idea.

An Inmate’s Guide To Incarceration 

1. Pick your friends wisely. Don’t befriend people who are chatterboxes or have low IQ’s or both. Their incessant chattering will make your 5 year sentence feel like 10 or more.

2. Start a diet. This ain’t Mayberry and you won’t be getting any of Aunt Bee’s home cooking. Prison food stinks, the mashed potatoes are lumpy, so just eat what you have to in order to survive and become lean and mean.

3. Exercise. A workout routine will help kill the time, keep you healthy both mentally and physically, and toughen you up. You never know when you might need that extra muscle in a tight squeeze.

4. Read the Bible. You are going to need a lot of prayer and meditation to get you through some bad situations. A sample bedtime prayer might be: Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my stash to keep, If I should die before I wake, I pray they know it was inmate Jake.

5. Be positive. Now is the time to catch up on all that reading you’ve been meaning to do, but never got around to because your criminal activities got in the way. Try getting your hands on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment or War and Peace, by the time you finish one, you may be up for parole.

6. Be Resourceful. You don’t have much to work with in prison so you have to think like MacGyver. For example, you can make a set of dice out of papier-Mâché with toilet paper, water and glue. If you are very creative, you can even make a whole chess set.

7. Learn to Cook. You’d be amazed at what recipes prisoners can concoct with a few items purchased from the commissary, like Ramen noodles, and some stolen from the cafeteria. Study online recipes for prison life, like no bake cheesecake and prison wine, before being hauled to the klink. Being a prison chef just might keep you healthy and happy. Remember, the way to a fellow inmate’s heart may be through his stomach!

8. Educate yourself. Rehabilitation doesn’t work. Your best bet for getting a job when you are released is getting yourself educated. Maybe you can study to be a paralegal since you already have some first hand knowledge and background in the judicial system?

9. Write letters to loved ones. Pour out your experiences on paper. Who knows, when you get out, you might be able to turn the correspondence into a best selling book. 

10. Learn to draw. What could be better than a prison novel? An illustrated prison novel! 

11. Learn to sleep with one eye open. Just sayin'

PLUS BONUS Guide for jailhouse visitors: including directions on things like how visitors can smuggle in Sunday sauce and meatballs in a potato chip bag. 

But seriously, if you know someone facing prison time, and they would like to consult with Joseph Ferragamo about what to expect in prison and more, you can reach him on Twitter @JosephFerragamo.

Thanks to Joe for being a good sport!

The Sopranos: Parody of High School Days

I love parodies, especially ones that are well done about my favorite people and shows. The video of above takes us back to when Tony, Paulie, Sylvio, Carmela and Janice were in High School. A kind of pre-quel to the show...and it's not far from it! If you need a good laugh and were a fan of the Sopranos you are going to love this little skit. And now that I have shared it with you, I am going to go watch it again! 

Video Credit: SNL & Hulu

American Horror Story: Asylum - Madness Ends

Season 2 went out with a bang, but first, some season 3 updates.  Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson and Lily Rabe are all set to return, as well as Taissa Farminga, and it will include another pair of starcrossed teenage angsty lovers.  Oh joy.  It will also center on Lange.  And what else is new?

Madness Ends takes place in 2013, with Lana as a Barbara Walters type, and she looks GREAT, and by great I mean her face is motionless.  She's doing a tell all interview about her career.  After Kit spoke to her about needing to shut down Briarcliff, Lana decides to change direction in her career.  She becomes an investigative reporter, and sneaks cameras into Briarcliff to show the horrors.

While she's there, she discovers that Jude is missing.  She discovers that Kit had Jude discharged into his care.  She meets with him and he tells her about Jude's recovery.  After detoxing from her medications, she had a violent outburst, but Kit's children take her into the woods, and when she returns, she is well adjusted and happy.  Soon after that, Jude dies.

Lana then turns her attention to Father Timothy, now a Cardinal, in a new investigative report.  Though he does not cooperate, Lana exposes his knowledge of the atrocities at Briarcliff, and how he knowingly worked with a former Nazi who performed experimental procedures on patients.  As a result of this investigation, Cardinal Howard kills himself.  From the shame, I suppose.

A few years later on, Kit is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  His condition worsens, until one day, he just disappears.  What a satisfying conclusion to the alien plotline I've been complaining about all season.  Oh Ryan Murphy, how could I have ever doubted you.  ::eyeroll::

Lana admits in her interview that she lied in her book when she said her child was dead.  She comes clean that he was alive, and that she used her investigative skills to track him down once when he was a child, and stood up for him when he was being bullied.

Meanwhile, this whole time Dylan McDermott has been waltzing around her apartment like craft services, angrily eating eclairs.  At some point they also reveal that he hacked off Adam Levine's arm at the beginning of the season.  How very anticlimactic.

The camera crew packs up their stuff and leaves, but Lana knows that someone stayed behind.  Dylan is there to kill her, and she's known it the whole time.  He knew she was his mother ever since she came up to him that day at school.  But he started hating her when he bought the confession tape on ebay and heard her talk about aborting him.

Lana calms him down and says he's not a bad person, because he's part of her too.  He breaks down and starts crying.  And she shoots him in the head.  POW POW POW.  So much for "no more death," right??

I'm sure many of you enjoyed this season, and I think the actors are terrific, but I just can't be a Ryan Murphy fan.  Any thoughts on what next season will be?  Hoping it will be more cohesive than this one!

Carmela’s Food Blog: Stuffed Mushroom Recipe

Finished Mushrooms, delicioso

Last weeks episode of Mob Wives showed us some of the casts’ colorful personalities. I, myself, am happy with Drita's new un-confrontational attitude. I am hoping Lee will become the father Drita is hoping he will be to their girls. She was very close to her father and wants her children to have a close relationship with Lee. On the flip side, some of our Mob Wives are slightly full of themselves. I mean like really stuffed over the top. So I couldn't help it, but I got inspired to make Stuffed Mushrooms. These take time, but they are really easy to accomplish, and well worth it. I hope you enjoy them!

Stuffed Mushrooms - with sausage- or without works too.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Approximately 50 mushrooms White cap or Baby Bella's

Rinse mushrooms and make sure they are free of all dirt and debris.
Cut off the stems and scoop out the middle and save.  Place on lightly oiled baking sheet. If you are counting calories- spray baking sheet with pam.

Clean the mushrooms

Stuffing:
Dice the stems of the mushrooms in very small pieces
1 onion diced
3/4 cups of bread crumbs
1/4 cup of grated cheese
8 ounces (1/2 pound) sausage without the casing - if you are watching calories- turkey sausage links work well
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 stick of melted butter

Cook your stuffing!

Prepare hot frying pan with olive oil on bottom. Throw in the diced mushroom stems and onion & chopped garlic. Sauté until onions are soft. Add the sausage- you want it to break up like chop meat. Brown the sausage. Add the breadcrumbs, the grated cheese and then the olive oil. Mix well all together. Remove from heat. When the stuffing isn't too hot for you to handle, stuff the mushroom caps.
Pour the melted butter over the caps.

Fill your tray and bake!

Place in oven and bake @ 400 degrees for approximately  45 minutes.

Flavorful and delicious!

If you make them please send me your pictures or comments!

Follow me on twitter @carmelacorleone aka  #mobchef