I, too, am feeling much better. Last weekend was a bit rough: I overdid it Saturday and my stomach rebelled all day Sunday and I couldn't sooth it with the calming fizz of a coca-cola and I was still really wanting the caffeine....and then Monday at the gym was a bit rough, too, but I'm feeling much better now. I still want coke, but I don't need it, although even Alan was advising me that it might not be a bad idea to post-pone the remainder of my observance of Lent until after the Rotary Show. So far, I'm holding steady at no caffeine of any kind, but next week is "hell week"* so we'll see how that goes.
Back to now and feeling good, though [she asserts, through clenched teeth from spending the last hour composing this post, trying to duplicate an earlier recipe search, and doing internet calisthenics just to upload two pictures].
Tonight, was my first evening spent actually at home with my family with no extra guests and no scheduled activities in, well, quite a while. Madeline and I went to the grocery store and bought what we needed for a nice family dinner. I'd been wavering between two different pasta dishes that I found on the Food Network site so I opted to make both for fun and variety and added difficulty (you know, like adding an extra revolution into your platform dive). We pan-fried some small steaks, threw together a salad, and spent most of our time on the pasta, dirtying as much cookware as possible (also worth more points).
Both recipes were from the adorable Giada de Laurentis (LOVE her!).
One was Penne a la Carbonara but we used orechiette aka "little round hat" pasta, for both dishes. I pretty much followed the recipe but cut it in half and skipped the parsley. It was predictably rich and creamy. The pancetta was nice and salty and super easy because I found some pre-cut in the gourmet deli section. James (my fellow alfredo lover) has a new favorite and already has dibs on leftovers tomorrow night.
The second was my favorite. It was so simple and so delicious! In fact, I didn't bother to print the recipe; I just watched the little video online and was able to wing it from memory. Now, I can't for the life of me find the video, but search-master Alan found the recipe for me here: Little Thimbles Sciue Sciue. The "thimbles" are the pasta she uses and "sciue sciue" (pronounced "shway shway") is a description of how free and easy it is to throw together. So easy I can recap it like this:
Cook the pasta al dente. Heat some olive oil in a large pan. Cook up some minced garlic. Dice tomatoes and cook with the garlic. Meanwhile, chop fresh basil and cube some fresh mozzarella.
When the pasta is done, drain it and toss with the tomatoes and garlic. Fold in mozzarella and basil. Serve immediately.
Not pictured, but also included in our good-for-us dinner: thin steaks with a little garlic, salt & pepper, spinach and mixed green salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, cheesy focaccia bread and chocolate soy milk. The whole meal was subtitled "it's good to try new things". The chocolate Silk elicited responses ranging from "Can I have some with breakfast, too?" (Jeremy) to "I tried something new; can I have regular chocolate milk now?" (James) to "I'll have the rest of his!" (Madeline).
By the time we finished cooking it was 7:30pm and by the time we'd eaten and cleared the table and I had thoroughly soaked the floor by the pot sink (more bonus points) it was past Jamie and Madeline's 8:30 bedtime so no movie night after all. But hey: I found some time to blog, for a change!
*"Hell week" is a common theatre term for the week prior to a show opening. Rehearsals are long, tempers are short, everything goes wrong and everyone's in a panic. And somehow, a sort of catharsis is achieved and it all comes together. Or so we desperately hope. No really, it's going to be a great show!
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