Sunday, January 11, 2026

New Book - Venice by Bellino

 



Author DANIEL BELLINO ZWICKE

VENICE 1995


Author DANIEL BELLINO ZWICKE - NEW BOOK on VENICE

I am currently working on a new book - working title is "My VENICE," but this might change. It is a Travel Guide - Cookbook of the World's most Enchanting City - VENICE, Italy. 

It will be a unique take on Venice, that is mine. It will lead the reader on a special journey designed for that person to get the best and most out of Venice, and to help avoid the crowds, of which can put a damper on things, "so to say." Daniel has been going to Venice since 1985. He created the First ever Venetian Wine Bar (Bacaro) ever to exist in The United States, and knows more than probably 99.9% of America's population, when it comes to Venice, its history, wine bars, food, and ritual of Venice.

The book will be filled with travel and cultural info of Venice, including : Where to Stay (hotels), where and what to eat - trattorias, restaurants & wine bars, sights to see, history and commentary, as well as recipes of Venice's most popular dishes and cocktails, with stories and history of these subjects.

The book is expected to be released (Published) in September of 2026.


January 4, 2026













The PIAZZETTA

VENICE





VENICE BOOK by Bellino - Coming September 2026


Daniel Bellino Zwicke has written a book that features Venice as a destination in his book ITALIAN FOOD & TRAVEL - Rome Venice & ?

Available Book Featuring Venice - ITALIAN FOOD & TRAVELS - ROME VENICE PIZZA PASTA & ? Travel Guide - Cookbook - Amazon.com This book draws on the author's extensive travel experiences and includes content related to Venice, Rome, and other Italian cities.
The author is a well-regarded food and wine professional who created America's first Venetian wine bar, "Bar Cichetti," and his insights include details about exploring traditional Venetian wine bars, known as bacari.
It is available for purchase on AMAZON.com and other retailers. 
FORTHCOMING BOOK
Daniel Bellino Zwicke is currently working on a new book exclusively about Venice. Information and snippets are posted on his personal website under the tag "My Venice". 

  • OTHER NOTABLE WORKS
  • While not specifically about Venice, Bellino Zwicke is a prolific author of Italian cookbooks and travel guides. 
Sunday Sauce: When Italian-Americans Cook
  • Positano The Amalfi Coast Cookbook: Travel Guide
  • The Feast of The 7 Fish / Italian Fish & Seafood Cooking 
  • These and his other works are also available for purchase through major retailers like AMAZON.com








ITALIAN FOO & TRAVEL

"ROME VENICE PIZZA PASTA & ?

TRAVEL GUIDE - COOKBOOK

Daniel Bellino Zwicke







"LOOK For VENICE - TRAVEL GUIDE COOKBOOK"

Daniel Bellino Zwicke

COMING SEPTEMBER 2026






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Sunday, January 4, 2026

Frank Sinatra and The Mafia

 



SINATRA And The MAFIA MURDERS






Drawing on recently released secret files, an astonishing look at the extent to which Frank Sinatra's life and career were inextricably linked with the Mafia, and how a number of innocent people died, simply because they knew Sinatra, or had upset him.

It was said of the young Frank Sinatra that he came across as ‘St Francis of Assisi with a shoulder holster’. In Frank Sinatra and the Mafia Murders, Mike Rothmiller and Douglas Thompson draw on previously secret Los Angeles Police intelligence files, a cache of FBI documents released to the authors in 2021 and extensive interviews with prime sources, including many who worked with Frank Sinatra and many more who tracked his long and fatal association with the American Mafia, notably his ongoing connection, after his original godfather was assassinated: Sam ‘Momo’ Giancana, who shared a lover with President John F. Kennedy.

Sixteen days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy on 30 November 1963, nineteen-year-old Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped at gunpoint from his hotel room in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. A $240,000 ransom was demanded from his father. While the FBI and Nevada and California law-enforcement agencies sprang into action, Frank secretly contacted his Mafia friends for help. The Mafia believed they could free young Frank much more quickly through their underworld connections. Some of those they questioned died.

Revealed here as never before is the extent to which Sinatra was adopted by the Mafia. They promoted his career and ‘watched his back’ and, in return, Sinatra danced to their tune.  New information disclosed here shows that Sinatra also offered to spy for the CIA. Inside sources say Sinatra wanted the CIA to intercede to stop an investigation into his gaming licence in Las Vegas. But the CIA declined because they were already working with the Mob and were concerned Sinatra would learn of the Mafia’s connection to the CIA and leak it.









The BEST SINATRA COOKBOOK EVER !!!



"SINATRA SAUCE"

aka The SINATRA COOKBOOK

COOK & EAT LIKE FRANK

His FAVORITE ITALIAN RECIPES

And MORE ...




SINATRA SAUCE “Music Meatballs & Merriment”

Daniel Bellino Zwicke


Sinatra Sauce "Music Metaballs & Merriment" and Living The Good Life. "Like Frank" .. Yes, it's about Frank. That is one Francis Albert Sinatra, the Greatest Singer of The 20th Century, and Icon of American, especially of the Italian-American Enclave in America. Frank Sinatra was many things, first and foremost a Great Italian-American singer, Love & Adored by Millions. Mr. Sinatra was also an actor, citizen, and Entertainer Par Excellence. Yes this book is about those things, Frank Sinatra : the incomparable singer, actor, recording artist, Teen Idol of the 1940s, philanthropist, and Las Vegas & Nightclub Entertainer. He was like no other, Sinatra was one-of-a- kind, and he had a lust for life, “Hanging with Friends,” - sipping cocktails, with good food, and making good times. That's what this book is about, Frank Sinatra, eating (Italian Food), enjoying a cocktail or two, and the company of family and friends. Yes, Frank Sinatra lived life to its fullest. He wouldn't have it any other way, but "His Way." 

This book “Inspires” and gives you the tools to live out your Sinatra Dreams. You can make it reality, with recipes of Frank’s Favorite Italian Foods, Pasta, Meatballs, Posillipo, Eggplant Parm and more. Eating, drinking, and having good times, all the time as Frank did. Meals with friends and family. Meals you can cook, with recipes in this book. The info and recipes are all here in Sinatra Sauce. Read it, put on some Sinatra (music), cook, eat, and create memorable times at the table, just like Frank. That’s what this book is about: Sinatra, Family, Friends, and Good Times. “The Best is Yet to Come”

Visit SINATRA SAUCE - The Website @ https://sinatrasauce.com

Author Daniel Bellino Zwicke is a lifelong Sinatra fan. He is a Best Selling author, who lives and writes in New York’s Greenwich Village. Daniel is currently working on several other projects. He has authored : Sunday Sauce, La Tavola, Mangia Italiano, Grandma Bellino’s Cookbook, Segreto Italiano, and Positano The Amalfi Coast - Travel Guide / Cookbook.

Recipes :

SINATRA TOMATO SAUCE

DOLLY'S MEATBALLS

EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA

CAPONATA

ARTICHOKES SICILIAN STYLE

ARANCINI (Sicilian Rice Balls)

MINESTRONE alla DOLLY

DINO'S PASTA FAZOOL

MACCHERONI al FORNO

SICILIAN LASAGNA

CHICKEN VESUVIO

VEAL MARSALA

STEAK - SINATRA'S WAY

MARTY'S SICILIAN MEATLOAF

FRANK'S ITALIAN CHEESECAKE

REGINELLA SICILIAN COOKIES

And Much More !!!


AMAZON.com









SINATRA

The CHAIRMAN

James Kaplan




"SINATRA" The CHAIRMAN

James Kaplan


Just in time for the Chairman’s centennial, the endlessly absorbing sequel to James Kaplan’s bestselling Frank: The Voice—which completes the definitive biography that Frank Sinatra, justly termed the “Entertainer of the Century,” deserves and requires. Like Peter Guralnick on Elvis, Kaplan goes behind the legend to give us the man in full, in his many guises and aspects: peerless singer, (sometimes) accomplished actor, business mogul, tireless lover, and associate of the powerful and infamous.

     In 2010’s Frank: The Voice, James Kaplan, in rich, distinctive, compulsively readable prose, told the story of Frank Sinatra’s meteoric rise to fame, subsequent failures, and reinvention as a star of live performance and screen. The story of “Ol’ Blue Eyes” continues with Sinatra: The Chairman, picking up the day after he claimed his Academy Award in 1954 and had reestablished himself as the top recording artist. Sinatra’s life post-Oscar was astonishing in scope and achievement and, occasionally, scandal, including immortal recordings almost too numerous to count, affairs ditto, many memorable films (and more than a few stinkers), Rat Pack hijinks that mesmerized the world with their air of masculine privilege, and an intimate involvement at the intersection of politics and organized crime that continues to shock and astound with its hubris. James Kaplan has orchestrated the wildly disparate aspects of Frank Sinatra’s life and character into an American epic—a towering achievement in biography of a stature befitting its subject.








Friday, January 2, 2026

The Sinatra Cookbook

"SINATRA SAUCE" !!!





The SINATRA COOKBOOK

"SINATRA SAUCE"

COOK & EAT LIKE FRANK

His FAVORITE ITALIAN RECIPES

And MORE ...





The SINATRA COOKBOOK

"SINATRA SAUCE"




Sinatra Sauce "Music Metaballs & Merriment" and Living The Good Life. "Like Frank" .. Yes, it's about Frank. That is one Francis Albert Sinatra, the Greatest Singer of The 20th Century, and Icon of American, especially of the Italian-American Enclave in America. Frank Sinatra was many things, first and foremost a Great Italian-American singer, Love & Adored by Millions. Mr. Sinatra was also an actor, citizen, and Entertainer Par Excellence. Yes this book is about those things, Frank Sinatra : the incomparable singer, actor, recording artist, Teen Idol of the 1940s, philanthropist, and Las Vegas & Nightclub Entertainer. He was like no other, Sinatra was one-of-a- kind, and he had a lust for life, “Hanging with Friends,” - sipping cocktails, with good food, and making good times. That's what this book is about, Frank Sinatra, eating (Italian Food), enjoying a cocktail or two, and the company of family and friends. Yes, Frank Sinatra lived life to its fullest. He wouldn't have it any other way, but "His Way." 

This book “Inspires” and gives you the tools to live out your Sinatra Dreams. You can make it reality, with recipes of Frank’s Favorite Italian Foods, Pasta, Meatballs, Posillipo, Eggplant Parm and more. Eating, drinking, and having good times, all the time as Frank did. Meals with friends and family. Meals you can cook, with recipes in this book. The info and recipes are all here in Sinatra Sauce. Read it, put on some Sinatra (music), cook, eat, and create memorable times at the table, just like Frank. That’s what this book is about: Sinatra, Family, Friends, and Good Times. “The Best is Yet to Come”


Visit SINATRA SAUCE - The Website @ https://sinatrasauce.com


Author Daniel Bellino Zwicke is a lifelong Sinatra fan. He is a Best Selling author, who lives and writes in New York’s Greenwich Village. Daniel is currently working on several other projects. He has authored : Sunday Sauce, La Tavola, Mangia Italiano, Grandma Bellino’s Cookbook, Segreto Italiano, and Positano The Amalfi Coast - Travel Guide / Cookbook.


Recipes :


SINATRA TOMATO SAUCE

DOLLY'S MEATBALLS

EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA

CAPONATA

ARTICHOKES SICILIAN STYLE

ARANCINI (Sicilian Rice Balls)

MINESTRONE alla DOLLY

DINO'S PASTA FAZOOL

MACCHERONI al FORNO

SICILIAN LASAGNA

CHICKEN VESUVIO

VEAL MARSALA

STEAK - SINATRA'S WAY

MARTY'S SICILIAN MEATLOAF

FRANK'S ITALIAN CHEESECAKE






A NON-ITALIAN RECIPE From The COOKBOOK

One of FRANK'S FAVORITES



BBQ RIBS

TWIN ANCHORS

FRANK SINATRA'S FAVORITE PLACE for RIBS


TWIN ANCHORS BBQ RIBS




Frank Sinatra loved Chicago. He performed there more than any other city in America, including Las Vegas. Frank had his favorite hangouts, and places to eat in Chicago. He ate many times at Twin Anchors Restaurant & Tavern, and he loved the Barbecued Ribs.


One visit to the Twin Anchors in the 1970s was described like this. “Frank Sinatra entertained a large group of friends at The Twin Anchors last night. The guestlist included ; Jilly Rizzo, football great Sid Luckman, Frank’s girlfriend Barbara Marx, comedian Pat Henry, composer Don Costas, Joey Bishop, and agent Mickey Houston. Frank’s order was Ribs, and keep them coming, he said. One of Mr. Sinatra’s bodyguards was positioned by the pay phone, preventing patrons from making calls that would cause a mob scene. Mr. Sinatra was very gracious about signing autographs, and was extremely generous with tipping everyone working his table, giving them $100 each.”




TWIN ANCHORS BBQ RIBS



BBQ SAUCE RECIPE :


2 & ½ cups Tomato Ketchup

½ cup Dark Molasses

⅓ cup Brown Sugar

4 tablespoons Soy Sauce

8 tablespoons Cider or Red Wine Vinegar

2 shot glasses of Jack Daniels Whiskey (Frank’s Fave)

1 teaspoon Salt.  1 tablespoon ground Black Pepper

1 Navel Orange



Place all the ingredients except the orange in a stainless steel pot.


Grated the Orange Skin into the pot. Juice the Orange and add to the pot. Cook at low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.


Turn off heat and let cool.


The RIBS


2 Racks Baby Back Ribs

½ teaspoon Salt, 2 tablespoons Sweet Paprika

1 tablespoon Dry Oregano


Mix above spices together. Sprinkle evenly on both sides of the two racks of ribs.


Turn oven on to 375 degrees.


Place the Ribs in a large baking pan with 1 cup of water.


Cover pan with aluminum foil.


Place the Ribs in the oven. Turn the heat down to 300 degrees, and bake ribs until tender. About 2 ½ hours


Remove ribs from the oven. Take foil off of the pan and discard.


Turn the oven up to 400 degrees.


Brush the top of the ribs with BBQ Sauce. Bake the ribs for 10 to 12 minutes.


Remove from the oven. Let Ribs rest for 8 minutes before serving.


Serve with a Corn Bread, Bake Potato or Cottage Fries on the side, and Enjoy as Frank did whenever he was in Chicago at the famed Twin Anchors Tavern. 



“Buon Appetito” !!!









FRANCIS ALBERT SINATRA




The SINATRA COOKBOOK







The SINATRA CELEBRITY COOKBOOK



The SINATRA CELEBRITY COOKBOOK

Barbara Frank Sinatra & Friends


"It's AMAZING HOW BAD This COOKBOOK IS" ???


IF YOU REALLY WANT to EAT LIKE SINATRA








 

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Big Lebowski Tacos and Burritos Recipes

 The BIG LEBOWSKI COOKBOOK




DUDES "CHILI CHEESE TACOS" !!!



BURRITOS & TACOS “DUDES WAY”


Burritos and Tacos. What the difference, some would ask? What’s the difference? Most know, as does The Dude, but in case you’re from Bum F_ck, Iowa, or you just don’t know, here goes. Well, they are both made from Tortillas that are made of either Corn or Flour. Dude usually prefers Flour Tortillas.  Tacos are a smaller Tortilla that are filled with various Meat, Vegetable, Fish, and or Poultry, or just about anything you want to throw in them. You fill the tortillas with your fillings of choice, fold in half and eat.


Burritos are larger Tortillas, made mostly of Flour, but can be corn. Burritos can have the same multitude of ingredients, whatever the person making or eating the Burrito decides on. 


Where the Taco is filled with the ingredients and folded in half, a Burrito is packages to completely envelope the contents inside. The Burrito also may have rice inside, which Tacos usually do not have.


Also, one Burrito should be enough for a full serving, were as with Tacos you usually need Two or Three to make a meal and they may be of one, two, or three different types. Maybe; one Pork, one with Beef, and one Grilled Chicken Taco. On the Baja Peninsular in Mexico and in San Diego, California where the Dude, Donny, and Walter have been known to make many a road trip to, the Fish Taco “Rains Supreme” and is most popular in these areas. Yes the Dudes clunker was able to make it there and back, a number of times.


Yes, our hero “The Dude” really loves his Tacos and Burritos, most Los Angelinos (all Californians) do. Dude loves all kinds of Tacos and Burritos, filled with Chicken , Pork, Fish or what-not, and Dude eats all of them. But when it comes to eating Tacos and Burritos at home, most often with the Dude, they are Chili Cheese Tacos or Chili, Rice, Bean, and Cheese Burritos. The reason is simple. Dude loves making his Cowboy Chili, and once Dude has a batch made, it’s Chili and Cheese Burritos all the way. They’re easy, once Dude has his Chili that is.






DUDES "CHILI CHEESE QUESADILLAS"




DUDES CHILI CHEESE QUESADILLA

  Quesadillas are a great item to serve at a party, along with Guacamole, and perhaps some Chili con Carne or one of The Dudes favorite Chicken-Wings Recipes, as the main event. Dude often likes to make a Quesadilla and have it along with two Fried Eggs for breakfast or anytime of the day. “A great combo!” says ole Duder.

To make a Quesadilla, simply take one or more large flour tortillas, sprinkle grated Cheddar, Monterey Jack or some type Mexican Cheese over the top. Put some heated Chili on top of Cheese in spots here and there, not over the whole tortilla completely. Put on a sheet pan and heat in a 375 degree oven for about 6 minutes. Remove from oven, fold the Quesadilla in half so it is in the shape of a half circle. Place on cutting board and cut the Quesadilla into about 6 pie-shaped wedges. Serve immediately. 


Enjoy!







DUDES Got BURRITOS




GOT ANY KAHLUA ?



The BIG LEBOWSKI COOKBOOK

RECIPES - COWBOY  CHILI - TACOS - BURRITOS

STEAK - BURGERS - SOUPS

And MUCH MORE ....










GUACAMOLE 

"DUDES WAY"



GUACAMOLE “The Dudes Way”


Hey Man, it’s California, it’s LA, Dudes a slacker

Hippy.  Of course  he likes his  “Guac.” Dude got 

this  recipe from his buddy Juan.  And it’s a good 

one. Serve in a bowl at a party with Tortilla Chips,

or add to the filling of any type of Taco or Burrito 

you like.


INGREDIENTS:


1⁄2 cup  finely chopped white onion
2 Jalapeño Peppers, seeded and minced
2 tbsp. finely chopped Fresh Cilantro
Salt, a pinch
2 medium Hass Avocados
2 Plum Tomato, chopped to a medium dice


1.   Cut Avocados in half. Remove the pit. 

      Scoop out pulp and put into a medium 

      size glass mixing bowl.


2.    Mash avocado with a potato-masher or back 

       of a wooden spoon to break down the avocado.


3.    Add all remaining ingredients and mix with a

       wooden spoon.


4.    Serve with Tortilla Chips, and or use as an

       ingredient for Burritos & Tacos. And Enjoy!


Learn How to Make SINATRA SUNDAY SAUCE ITALIAN GRAVY

Sinatra n Sunday Sauce

               SINATRA & SUNDAY SAUCE ?                   Yes, they go together, Francis Albert Sinatra  & Sunday Sauce  ...