Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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Sometimes recipes come about in different ways and for different reasons. Some arrive out of necessity, some out of cravings, some due to lack of, or excess of, ingredients. Some are inspired by a certain ingredient, and some come from dreams. The Shrimp Napoli is one of those dishes. It is one of my signature dishes at La Bella, which means it is an original recipe I personally created. I was cooking one evening at the restaurant and surveying the ingredients on hand. I realized that there...
Many of you know after all these years of eating at La Bella Amore that I'm not Italian – I'm Irish. That said...lasagna was NOT a staple in my diet growing up. In fact I never tasted lasagna until I was about sixteen years old. Truth is, the only Italian dish I was fed growing up was spaghetti with homemade meat sauce. So yes, I did learn to make a great marinara early on, but that was the extent of my exposure to Italian food until I started dating my first husband. After we were married I f...
Let me introduce you to La Bella Amore's famous Chicken Parmesan. Oh, yeah...take a good long look. Here at La Bella we use boneless skinless chicken breast of the highest quality, which we hand fillet. Then we hand bread each piece after it's ordered and deep fry it. Now comes the magic, our delicious homemade zesty marinara sauce has a special place right between the freshly cooked chicken and a generous handful of the best whole milk mozzarella cheese we can buy. Now into our broiler for a...
Here at La Bella Amore Italian Bistro we are making our way through our seventh year in business at a swift pace. Having been here so long I’m always surprised when locals come in for the first time. Some of them didn’t even know we were here. So, here we are, at 209 S Green Street, conveniently located in the historic downtown Tehachapi area right next to The Hitching Post Theater. Stop by and discover La Bella Amore. We offer a full Italian menu of delicious homemade items all handcrafted fro...
Why is it so hard for us to accept those who are different from us? Are we afraid that if we accept them, we will become like them? If we accept same sex relationships does that mean we secretly want one for ourselves? If we help the homeless are we putting ourselves at risk of ending up in the same situation? If we embrace those from other nations are we acting against our own country? If we give to someone do we fear not having enough for ourselves? I don’t understand the small narrow m...
Our lives are so filled with distraction, and it doesn’t stop when we enter our cars. Today’s vehicles are equipped with communication centers, navigation systems, entertainment systems, and of course...our coveted cell phones. There are dings and beeps and lights and voices and maps and on and on. No wonder we are distracted. Over the last two weeks two people close to me have been involved in vehicle accidents, and I was nearly involved in one as well. All of those accidents have the same thin...
The year was 1976 and it was the bicentennial celebration, the United States of America was 200 years old. The young girl, only twelve, was fascinated by the big celebration in her small Oregon town. Sitting along the grass strip between the sidewalk and the street in front of the local grade school, she turned to her mother and announced with absolute confidence “I’m going to live to see the tricentennial”. Her mother laughed at her, saying “you know you will have to live to be 112 to see that?...
Here it is... June again, and here I was again – trying to think of a subject for my bi-monthly article in the Loop. While sitting here pondering subject matter to write about, I realized Father’s Day was once again right around the corner. In all my years of writing this column, I have never written about Father’s Day. There is a reason for this. You who regularly read my writings know that I generally write about things that are important to me or subjects that are close to my heart. Unfor...
Most of you who know me or have been to my restaurant are aware that I have a son who is active duty in the United States Air Force and has just re-enlisted for his third tour of duty. Due to the sensitive nature of his work I cannot mention his name nor include his photo in this article; however, that does not diminish my pride in him. When holidays like Memorial Day and Veterans Day come around each year I am especially proud of my son for his dedicated service to our country. When he was...
Ahhhhh, Mother’s Day is here again, the one day a year when we celebrate our mothers. Really…that’s all we get?... One Day? Well that’s better than zero days isn’t it. I think mothers should be celebrated every day – not just because I am one, but because they are the heroes of our lives from the beginning to the end. Whether we are talking about stay at home Moms or working moms, new moms or old moms... they are all heroes on a daily basis, doing the things no one else will do, the things no o...
Why is grace and forgiveness so easy to accept yet so hard to give? Ownership is perhaps the most important step in being forgiven. I’m not just talking about being forgiven by God, if you believe in Him. I’m talking about being forgiven by anyone: be it lovers, spouses, friends, children, neighbors, co-workers, parents, and yes – even ourselves. Now I know some of you are thinking, “What is she talking about now?” Well let me explain, I’m talking about owning your transgressions, whatever th...
Ahhhhh, the renewal of spring, don’t we all just love it! I’m back out on my beloved deck listening to the incessant chatter of at least a dozen varieties of birds mixed in with the hum of a leaf blower and the growl of a lawn mower. Spring is here and I love it. I’ve missed my deck; we had quite an affair going last year. I’d sneak out every morning to my special place with my steaming cup of coffee to greet the world in my favorite way. Every morning when I sit on my deck overlooking Stallio...
Stuff, junk, belongings, treasures, property, possessions... call it what you wish... but it’s just stuff, and we all have way too much of it. I do say we because I’m riding in the same boat with everyone else I mean really, we all have too much of it. For heaven’s sake, there are television shows dedicated to entertaining us by showcasing hoarders...how sad is that! That’s not the only industry related to our overwhelming need for stuff. The self storage industry is one of the fastest growing...
Well it’s happened; I’ve made it to the middle, the top of the hill, the big five-o. Today is my fiftieth birthday. It seems strange to say it out loud…or in my head for that matter. I was thinking yesterday, my last day of being forty-nine about the things I’ve learned in the last fifty years. Here are a few of them: Sometimes being friends is more important than being right. Possession really is 99% of the law. Life is better with a best friend. Money won’t make you happy and the overwhelm...
I'll be turning fifty while this issue of The Loop is on the news stands. The last half of my life is here whether I'm ready for it or not. Well... really it's more like the last third most likely since my family isn't known for its history making longevity. Instead of looking at the last half through melancholy glasses, I'm kind of excited about it. The first fifty years blazes by at an inconceivable speed, the speed of time; and, if I've learned anything, I've learned that the busier we are...
It was Geoffrey Chaucer, famed poet of the Middle Ages who first associated Valentine’s Day with romantic love in his book Parlement of Foules in the year 1382 with a poem written to honor the engagement anniversary of King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia. It’s a bit ironic that Chaucer was instrumental in creating our modern Valentine’s tradition by writing of a fictional tradition, and don’t we all just love irony! Charles, Duke of Orleans is responsible for the oldest surviving Valenti...
Well it’s happened, 2014 has swooped down and consumed 2013 with the voracious appetite that only time seems to possess. My friend April summed it up accurately in one sentence, “this year seemed to fly by so quickly yet drag on for an eternity”. 2013 wraps up my eighth year in the restaurant business and I’m looking forward to 2014 and the possibilities that come with the beginning of a new year...out with the old and in with the new as the saying goes. I wish for you all a fabulous 2014 fi...
If you're not gluten free these days you most likely know someone who is given the fact that nearly ten percent of the population has celiacs disease. Celiac disease is a condition that damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food that are important for staying healthy. The damage is due to a reaction to eating gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that for an Italian restaurant this is not...
