Category — Krembs’ Food

Last night I decided to make pasta for the fam–this is something I rarely do since I don’t eat pasta all that much, but every now and then it’s good to make an exception.

First, I left school promptly at 3:45. Now that the sun is out, this dismissal time is such a treat. Once home, I surrounded myself with all my Italian cookbooks, but I couldn’t find the recipe. I knew it was “matriciana” something. Finally I found the proper name of the recipe–Amatriciana coming from the northern Italian town of Amatrice. It was at this time that I went to my all time favorite online recipe depository: Tastespotting.com.

I checked out a couple of variations of this yummy bacon and tomato based sauce, but I settled on Poco-Cocoa’s and read through her variation.  (That’s the great thing about Tastespotting; it links you to other fantastic bloggers.  Poco-Cocoa’s one of them!)  I took one look at her photo and knew I wanted to make what she had for dinner!

After reading how she made it and drooling over her photo (as seen up above), I headed across the street to the market.  I couldn’t find bucatini, so I settled on regine.  (I would not use regine noodles again–they are so stiff and worm like.  They ended up bouncing all over our plates.)

Since I read it once, I didn’t follow Poco-Cocoa’s recipe exactly. Here’s what I did.

1. With scissors cut up a package of bacon and start frying;
2. Halve 2 cups cherry tomatoes;
3. Dice one onion;
4. Prepare some garlic (to your preference–I used four small cloves);
5. Once the bacon’s about half way cooked you can add the onion;
6. A few more minutes later, add the garlic;
7. When the onion is soft and starting to brown and the bacon is cooked through, add the cherry tomato tools;
8. Go to the fridge and look for some leftover white wine–I think about 1/2 cup was added;
9. Just keep simmering for awhile and then you can turn off the stove;
10. When you’re ready for dinner, boil some water and put in the desired amount of noodles. I used 3/4 a package of pasta.  Although typically this pasta is served with bucatini (a real thin long tubed pasta, any pasta will do;
11. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh cut parsley.

Buon appetito!

On Sunday Jane, Phil, Debbie, and Poppy joined us for the evening. It had been a while since we’d seen our Ven friends. Life gets so busy all of a sudden. It was great fun to catch up with them.

This is Leo's new puppy, Poppy.

Debbie's glowing!

And Phil's savin' some chocolate for later!

The kids were fully satiated with sugar!

Check out our young man and his skill at eating Chinese noodles!

(Please don’t pay attention to all the noodles covering the table. Actually, according to Chinese dining etiquette, a dirty table is a good sign….;)

A few summers ago, my sister, Mary Margaret, made some Broccoli Blast.  This has got to be by far the easiest while tastiest little appetizer every made!

1. Chop up some broccoli (adjust the amount for the group your feeding) leaving  a bit of the stems for easy eating later on.
2. Broil for about five minutes give or take a few.  You actually want the broccoli to look charred a bit.  Believe me–it will taste great.  It turns smokey.
3. In a bowl drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and red chili flakes.  
4. Serve as is and listen to the oohs and ahhs.  

See, easy!  This dish may also be done with cauliflower–or mix the two for a contrast in veggies.

This year, we got an unexpected day off on Holi. We were supposed to have school today, but at the last minute they gave us a free day. We hadn’t planned to go to any parties, so we didn’t celebrate in true form. We did make a Holi cake though. Check it out:

Here's the cake baked. It has Gems (India MM's) inside plus some swirled food coloring.

Here the cake is frosted and decorated with colorful sprinkles.

Here's the two kiddos enjoy a snack after some time at the pool. (I had a bite; it's really good!) We'll have cake for dessert too! Yummers!