Every relationship has “bad days”. I recommend preparing this dish on a day that you are crazy mad, or “pazzo”! Chicken is very versatile which is why it works well for this recipe. I suggest buying a Family Pack of chicken breasts and freeze them in 1 to 2 per pack so that you always have some on hand when the mood strikes.

When angry…

1. Defrost, rinse chicken and put into roasting pan.

2. Over season the chicken with garlic powder, oregano and black pepper or any spices you wish to get rid of because they are past their prime.

3. Add 1 or 2 spices that do NOT complement the dish. Add dill. Why?? Dill goes better on fish not chicken. Or add celery seed. What?!?? That’s for deviled eggs and it just sticks in your teeth & has little taste. Perfect! Use a lot of it!! How about dry mustard? Great idea! You’ll never use that all up. I don’t know why I even have it. Get my point?

4. Now go to the fridge and take out the first 4 items that you see. For example: cheese, tomatoes, carrots, orange juice (or any juice). Chop the carrots & tomatoes, throw them into the roasting pan and pour juice over everything. If cheese is grated put that on top; if it is sliced just plop it on top of chicken.

5. Turn on the oven, set it to 350 degrees, set the timer for 1 hour and leave a note: “dinner in oven”.

6. Leave the house. Go shopping, grab a drink with a friend, catch a movie, whatever. You will come home refreshed, your husband/boyfriend will be very grateful you even made dinner in your maddened state and you can turn the page to a new day.

You may be thinking why cook at all when you are mad?  Well, that is a very Italian way to handle your man. As Zia Pepino (a.k.a. Pepi) would say: The bed & the kitchen, keep him happy in those two places, he’ll never wander! I made this dish many a time for my husband. I must admit he always loved it, no matter how I tried to botch it up. Some times I even felt sorry for him. Of course, he is now my ex-husband but our parting had nothing to do with my cooking.

Mangia!!

photo: MamamiaRita via iPad

Translated from Italian, “Mia Cose Favorite” means “My Favorite Things”. Here’s a few of my favorite things that I just can’t live without:

1. Asiatic lilies from Trader Joe’s. Their fragrance encompasses the whole room!

2. Ceramic vase by Jonathan Adler. I love his gorgeous colors & mod patterns. Next on my wishlist? Something from the Utopia collection.

3. White Birds & Branches picture frame from Paper Source. Pretty soon this photo of me with my fiancé will be replaced with a wedding photo! (We’re getting hitched in June!)

4. Vintage magazine clutch. MamamiaRita has always been ahead of her time when it comes to fashion. She gave me this purse when I was a little girl. Back then I carried markers, small notepads and little treasures that I found. Now I carry a cell phone, business cards, lip gloss and keys.

5. Tape Runner XL from Paper Source. Whether I’m assembling a DIY project or wrapping a gift, this double-sided trusty tape is quite handy to have around.

6. Heart & Arrow plate from BHLDN. This sweet ceramic plate resides next to my sink and holds my ring when I wash my hands.

I’m thrilled to introduce you to a regular contributor: my mom, who will be known around here as “MaMaMiaRita”. This is her very first blog post (ever!). She could not be more enthusiastic to get blogging and let me tell you — she has a lot up her sleeve! She has been sending me multiple emails each day with ideas, drafts and photos for future posts. So, without further ado….

I grew up in an Italian neighborhood in Atlantic City, New Jersey, called “Ducktown”. It was a place where everyone had one foot in Italy while trying to place the other in America. My family’s ideas and rules were very old world Italian. And then there was me — a product of the Sixties who was excited to explore the world and show my independence. While I became a total American woman, I managed to keep a few “toes” planted in my Italian culture.

I eventually married and moved to Philly but would visit my family in Ducktown often. When my daughter was born I chose an American name, “Rachel” yet I wanted to acknowledge my Italian roots. So, I decided for Rachel’s middle name I would Americanize my great Aunt’s name “Antonietta” (who is the Lupa of Lupa & Pepi) to “Annette”. Lupa refused to accept this version of her name as an honor. Instead she called her “Piccolina Pizzelle” (“Little Pizzelle”) because I bathed Rachel in her pizzelle tub. This tub — large enough to bathe a baby — could hold enough pizzelle dough to feed the entire Italian army. That was pretty much how my family cooked every day — enough to feed the entire neighborhood. The kitchen table sat a dozen people — most nights it was full but we always had leftovers galore and we never threw anything out!

So, that’s a little bit about me and where I’m from. I would love to talk with you about food, vino, entertaining and all the good things in life. Let’s share thoughts, recipes, old times and talk about how important it is to link the past with the future.

We all have great life stories to tell. I look forward to sharing mine and hearing yours.

Ciao,
MaMaMiaRita

{Photos from left to right: my high school yearbook photo, seated for dinner at our kitchen table in Ducktown — I’m in the center wearing orange and Lupa on the bottom right forgot to smile, Rachel and I on the Atlantic City beach}

I could not be more thrilled to be typing my very first blog post on my brand new website! A grande grazie to the Roundhouse Designs guys who totally rocked building the pages that comprise this site. Not only are they programming rockstars, they even taught me a new word: skeuomorphism — they're so smart! My site is going live just in time for the annual design blogger conference, ALT Summit. Before I jet to Salt Lake City to hob nob with fellow bloggers, let me whet your appetite with a few things you can expect on my corner of the world wide web:

~ A sneak peek behind the scenes at the design process and the inspiration for Lupa & Pepi's custom and ready-made papergoods. You'll also have a front row seat as I face the ultimate design challenge: designing paper goods for my own wedding!

~ While design has my heart, food occupies my mind! The evidence? My Instagram feed. On the blog, I will share favorite recipes, culinary adventures and my attempts at cracking the code of my great-great-aunt's (she's the "Lupa" of "Lupa & Pepi") recipe book. She never wrote down a recipe without omitting an ingredient or altering measurements for fear one of her friends would claim the recipe as her own!

~ The women in my family have had tremendous influence on me and serve as the inspiration for the name of my company. My mom — known around here as MamamiaRita — will be a regular guest contributor, sharing everything from classic pasta recipes to sage advice. She is one amazing lady! You will rarely see her in the kitchen, yet there's always a home-cooked multi-course meal on the table at dinner time. Maybe if you ask nicely, she'll tell you how she does it!

Ok, time to dash off to the airport!
Arrivederci!

Photos by Lupa & Pepi. Left to right: Custom papergoods order, our Thanksgiving table setting, homebaked Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook, MamamiaRita and Me at Eataly in New York City