Random Apps of Kindness

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Labels: Grow Cook Eat

Now in its 19th year, Taste of the Nation is the ultimate Random App of Kindness. The concept is simple: bring together the finest wineries and local restaurants for one night and hold a gala tasting. For the cost of a meal out, you can sample random appetizers from 50 local restaurants and sip wine from around the globe. Taste of the Nation is the preeminent culinary fundraiser supporting the fight to end hunger. One hundred percent of ticket sales go directly towards ending hunger locally and globally.

The event supports one of Julia's favorite charities, Share Our Strength, and it's coming to Boston on April 6, and to many other cities throughout the year. Even if you can't attend, you can always donate or volunteer for Share or Strength or other hunger-fighting organizations in your area. Perhaps we'll see you there.

Well, not exactly, but I was pleased to note that last week the House and Senate overturned the Governor's veto on a bill that - among other things - allows restaurants to re-cork wine so that diners can take unfinished bottles home.

A word of warning to partial bottle drinkers: not every restaurant has yet acquired the necessary equipment for officially re-corking and sealing the bottle to prevent you getting busted for carrying an open container. Ask before you order that extra bottle for later!

So it falls to me to write up the second half of our New Year's double-apping, since Julia is off to Arizona and New Mexico for some top-secret talks about a cooking school.

When we last left off, we were watching the early fireworks over the Boston Common. Fireworks make me hungry, so we headed over to Via Matta for another glass of wine, another bite to eat, and as it turned out, another Random App.

Via Matta (doesn't that mean “Crazy Street”?) is a regional Italian restaurant by Michael “Radius” Schlow, whom we spotted briefly at the other end of the bar. There was a mixed crowd of revelers, many dressed up for even more exclusive events towards midnight. We settled at the bar and Patty cheerfully brought us glasses of Julia's usual Pinot Grigio and my not atypical Montalicino as we perused the menu and searched for likely App recipients.

The menu uses an entertaining mix of Italian and English words and grammar. I ordered “Tortelli with duck con zucca e rosmarino” because duck is one of my favorite things to eat, and because zucca is a word that, thanks to Roberto Begnini in Night on Earth, always makes me smile. It means pumpkin. Julia had a linguine with clams dish, and Patty kindly accommodated us with half orders of each. The pastas were both superb, but the tortelli was the clear winner – larger than expected chunks of duck with well-seasoned cubes of pumpkin complemented the tender dumplings in any language.

When the couple to our left paid their bill and headed for the door, I thought, whoever sits there next is getting a pleasant surprise tonight. When two fashionable women, mother and daughter, sat down, Julia looked at me and I looked back, and we called Patty over. It didn't take long to decide, they should get something sophisticated, something uncommon – the burrata, a sort of super fresh, almost premature mozzarella with cream, was the clear choice.

And it was well-received. Our grateful neighbors at the bar were actually neighbors of and regulars at Via Matta; they have the fortune of working nearby in fashionable shops and dropping in regularly. As you would expect at Via Matta, they were sophisticated travelers and had lived in Italy. We chatted about Random Apps and about the dangers of driving and skiing in Europe vs. New England.

That seemed like a fine finish to the year and we were about to leave when the kitchen sent out dessert, a delight called “Mascarporeos.” Brilliant in its simplicity and richness, the mascarporeo is a half-dozen dark chocolate biscuits and a demitasse cup full of a mascarpone cream mixture. This is what oreos hope to be reincarnated as, a sublime DIY sandwich cookie.

I hope we can all achieve this in the year ahead, to make something fresh and transcendent from what's around us. Happy new year.