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.

Drama

I have a night to myself, and that is a good thing. I've been gone every night since.... sometime last week I think. I've been in this floaty mood, meandering from one room of my place to another. Doing dishes, watching food network, Family Guy and No Little House on the Prairie today...sad. I was reading and dosing off and then I felt this urge to bake something so I made brownies. Brownies from scratch with all the exact ingredients in my cupboard. So while i am waiting for the brownies to bake into their full goodness, I am watching the Real World. I haven't watched this show in years, but I am intrigued (and repulsed) with all the drama. I am in a pretty quiet place in my life as far as drama, and that is a good thing. But I have been there, drama over friends and boys, and thankfully I can hopefully say that my years of drama are over. I hope.

My brownies will soon be done, just in time to catch Rescue Me. Now fireman drama, that I can handle!

Fudgy Brownies:

1/2 cup butter

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1. In a med. saucepan melt butter and unsweetened chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; cool

2. Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan; set aside. Stir sugar into cooled chocolate mixture in saucepan. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating with a wooden spoon after each addition just until combined. Stir in the vanilla.

3. In a small bowl stir together the flour and baking soda. Add flour to the chocolate mixture; stir just until combined. Spread the batter in the prepared pan.

4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Cool on a wired rack.

Thoughts on Sept. 11...

So I was just thinking about where i was on Sept. 11th. It's hard to believe that it's already been 6 years. That day I was out running around Lake Como, training for a marathon. It was such a peaceful morning, quiet, and eerily silent. Maybe everyone else knew what was happening, and I was oblivious? I believe I was in a fight with a friend, so I was probably thinking about that and all the ramifications. As I made my way home I had no idea what was going on outside my little world. I took a shower and as I was putting on my makeup in front of the TV, reports were coming in about a plane hitting the first Twin Tower. Looking back I really just thought it was a pilot error and felt bad for all the people that died. Then, I watched as the second plane hit the tower. At that point it hit me what was going on, and I even remember saying out loud, "I think this is on purpose". I don't know if I was really in shock or disbelief, but as I watched the News progress and everything unfold, I just felt a sadness and a sense of loss. I had class that day at NWC so I went to school and everyone had the same questions and fears. How could this happen? I think I eventually left school, called my mom and went home. The one person I was truly worried about was my best friend Rachel (different Rachel from Jr. High BFF Rachel). I knew that she was in Boston, but I didn't know if she flew out that day. Thankfully she had made it the day before; on her way home to care for her ailing grandfather. That night I had no desire to talk to anyone, but Rachel. And I find that when I am stressed or in need of solitude I get in my car and drive. So I drove and talked with Rachel and we both just talked until there was nothing more to say. Such sad times, but I think it's good to remember.

Happy Birthday Mom

A shout out to my mom on her 53rd birthday. Happy birthday! (sorry this is a day late!)

Love you!

Highlights, Million $ Homes and BFF Wedding.

the girls + one

It is only Saturday night, but I feel like this is the weekend that never ends. On Friday, I went out to meet with Jaime and help highlight her hair. She pretty much had a system going and since i am not one for math, I couldn't keep her "every 3" pattern going. But somehow we managed to get her hair highlighted and looking beautiful! I am really disappointed that i didn't take more pics on Friday night, because it was really fun. After the highlighting episode, Jaime and i headed out to where Shannon works, as she was finishing her night at the golf course\restaurant. The three of us enjoyed a few drinks along with some snacks and talked for awhile until Cindy & Heather showed up. I hadn't seen Heather since we graduated high school over 12 years ago. It was great to see her, and she now has two beautiful children. Since we were already in Watertown the five of us now made our way to Riverside Bar and enjoyed quite a few laughs. I love a good girls night out! The highlight of the night was Shannon's outward disgust of the guys that walked in...ugghhh! And the the five of us having our own Sex in the City conversation. IF you have ever seen SITC, you know that Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda can have some pretty frank & explicit conversations about men & relationships, and that is just what we did; minus the Manolo Blahniks and swanky restaurants. We ended up staying at Riverside until they closed and then we all went our separate ways. I went back with Jaime and crashed until....





I got up this morning and went to my parent's house to spend the day with my mom. While I was waiting for her, I walked around the farm and took some pics...



Her birthday is tomorrow, but she wanted to go look at the Parade of Homes houses today. So we went around Orono and Minnetrista and looked at some very beautiful homes on Lake Minnetonka. I fell in love with the large kitchens and granite counter tops! Oh how very lovely!


After the Parade of Homes we went to eat and then we went to a wedding reception. My best friend Rachel from 5th Grade until 10th Grade was getting married. And although I do not see her all that often, she works at the restaurant my parents patron quite a bit. So they were invited to the reception and since I was home I went along. Which actually I was thinking about it on my drive home that Rachel and I met 20 years ago this week! We both were in Mr. Handgartner's 5th grade class back in 1987. She was new that year, and I remember thinking the minute that she walked into the room that she would be my best friend! And sure enough, that is exactly what happened. Rachel moved to a different school in 10th grade, and we lost touch for awhile. But its great to see her happy and doing well now. Here's to friends, old & new!

Bare Feet on Grass

I went to my parent's house today after work. My car needed to be worked on for an issue that was predicted would probably happen. Something with the wheel or axle... nevertheless,

it's fixed now and hopefully my little Subaru will keep moving along. While I was waiting,

I had a chance before the rain came to just walk through the grass with my bare feet. I thought I had better enjoy the feeling of grass between my toes before it was too late. It felt lovely. I know that the winter will soon be upon us, so I don't want to take these last few days of summer for granted. I captured a couple of pics of the last of the roses, and berries and tomatoes. And I watched as the rain clouds rolled in. I just needed to be outside and enjoy these fleeting moments, even though it is hot and sticky, I will soak it in before it is no more.