Oh Marc!

I love marc jacobs just as obsessively as the next fashion junkie does, but really marc, what's up with these shoes???

Speaking of obsessions, I am obsessed with pasta right now! It's friday night and i need a night to do nothing...but first I needed to eat. So I invented and made a delicious pasta with shrimp & artichokes. Recipe follows. Now I am going to watch a movie and then listen to Feist sing me to sleep... http://www.myspace.com/feist

Pasta w\ Shrimp & Artichokes
serves 1-2 (depending on how hungry you are!)

1\2 lb Thin Spaghetti
2 Tbls Olive Oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot minced
handfull of shrimp
5 marinated artichoke hearts
1\2 cup parm cheese grated
3 Tbls Milk
1 Tbls Creme Fraiche
course ground pepper
crushed red pepper flakes
2 Tbls Flat Leaf Parsley Chopped

1) Bring water to a boil and flavor with salt. Add spaghetti and boil until done.
2) Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, heat oil, garlic and shallots until tender. Add shrimp and cook until pink. Stir in artichokes.
3) In a small bowl whisk parm cheese, milk & creme fraiche
4) Drain pasta and add to the pan. Mix pasta with shrimp and turn off heat. Add the cheese mixture and whisk until combined. Add black pepper and crushed red pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley.
Go bananas!

Carbonara and Good Friends

Last night I had such a nice night with my good friends Bonnie & Tabitha. What a blessing it is to have friends you can just be you when you are together. I am thankful for these moments and I hope there will be many more in the future.


Spaghetti alla Carbonara

1 pound dry spaghetti
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces pancetta or slab bacon, cubed or sliced into small strips
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large eggs
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving
Freshly ground black pepper
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1)Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.

2)Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al dente.") Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.

3)Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the pancetta and saute for about 3 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to soften.

4)Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon fat. Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the spaghetti carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass more cheese around the table.