John Palmisano

I just finished Mathew Ferrara's blog about lock boxes Are you Cheating your Sellers by using a Lockbox?. As I went through the comments, I came across many about agents not returning calls. I have to agree with that one. One day, I called 8 listings for showing instructions and I received one call back. Well actually I called her back and she picked up the phone. Agents, do you realize how stupid we look when we need to tell our clients that we did not receive any call backs. I know some agents have contracts on properties and have not changed the listing on the MLS, but please call back and let the buyer's agent know! Look, if you want to know why people look at us as USED CAR SALESPEOPLE, in my opinion, this is one reason. When you do not call back an agent when they are calling for showing instructions, then you make us all look bad. Some of us need to raise the bar on how we conduct business.

OK, so I read Neal Blooms potato Pancake recipe for Chanukah. I thought I would give you my home made Manicotti recipe for the Holidays. This is my first post on my Active Rain Blog. I thought this might be a little weird to have as a first post, but why not. This is a family tradition for Christmas Day, and was a welcomed relief when I was a kid, since Christmas Eve was only fish. They are little bit of work, but definitely worth it.

Manicotti Shells:

In a blender mix 2 cups of flour, 1.5 cups of water, 1/2 cup of milk, 2 eggs, and salt.

Blend the mixture together and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Use a 6 inch frying pan sprayed with Pam. Heat the pan, and after pouring the batter in swirl the batter around the pan to make the shell as thin as possible. You will see when the shell is ready, at that point turn the pan over onto a table cloth. Repeat process.

Filling:

2 pounds of ricotta

2 eggs

1 cup grated Romano, or Parmesan cheese

1 package of Mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup of parsley.

pepper to taste.

At this point you can also add anything you like. Spinach would be a good example. I usually leave it plain cheese.

Fill each shell with a tablespoon of mixture. Make sure the shell is cool or the mixture could sour. Try to not over fill since the cheese will melt and too much mixture will spill out of the shell when cooking. Roll the shell to close it.

Now in a deep pan, pour some cool sauce on the bottom and put the shells into the pan. Make sure the sauce is room temperature, so you do not sour the cheese. Pour a little sauce over each shell and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. For better presentation for the table put the oven on Broil for the last 2-3 minutes of cooking, and try to burn the cheese on top.

Well I hope you like the recipe. Mangia! (eat in Italian)

A little trivia:

I know everyone calls macaroni pasta, but there is a difference. Not all macaroni is pasta, and not all pasta is macaroni. As a kid we always called it macaroni.

What is the difference between pasta and macaroni?

Pasta is anything made with eggs,like the shells above, and macaroni is flour and water.

Happy Holidays everyone.

John Palmisano

Keller Williams Weston, FL