April 06 » I'm so Full it's Hard to Breathe

To steal a quote from Del, "treacherous like Mussolini, but cooler than Fonzerelli eating fusilli." In this case, the subject would be the deliciousness of this dish. At this point I feel like making excuses for not blogging is akin to a literary cop-out when I've got nothing else on my mind to start an intro. I mean, look at this sad excuse for an intro, I'm writing about it being a cop-out which is nothing more than a meta-cop-out. And ...

June 30 » Baa Baa Black Sheep, Some Lamb Would Have Been Good

I know. Two pasta dishes in a week that are devilishly similar, yet deliciously different. What was that I was saying about less land-based mammal meat? Eh. Some ground lamb would have been amazing in this. But, alas. Julie is not a fan of it, and I like to make sure she's gonna eat dinner too. (I know! Not a fan of lamb? And to think I'm marrying her in twelve days!) The bounty of our farm share has finally starting paying off in things ...

June 19 » I can only hope that when our civilization is uncovered in a million years there are still hot dogs to eat

Seriously. That pasta? Up there? Totally made out of hot dogs. I'm not joking. It's 100% pure kosher franks. Also, I'm the fucking tooth fairy. Sadly this post is not about hot dogs. No wieners. No foot longs. No red hots. Nary a Weißwurst in sight. My kitchen is so casing-free it'd being even the most tenacious Teuton to tears. I mean, for Christ, there's not even any meat in that picture. I will even make the claim that not one. single. animal. died for ...

April 27 » It's imPASTABOWL

Girls? You think I'm sexy? You want to do me? Everyone loves a chubby dude! T-Minus eight days until I turn 30. I'll let that sink in a little. But mostly for me. Thirty. Just like a bad ABC sitcom. Alas on the upside: 1. Julie is still older than me. 2. Her mom and dad got me the pasta attachment for my kitchenaide Now ...

November 18 » T-Minus Four Days

We're off to a fantastic start so far. Two cuts (left hand thumb and index finger — they did a fantastic job sharpening my knives, by the way) and a burn, three inches down my left forearm (it's an oven thing.) I can't wait to see what the final tally is. And I also can't wait until I can start touch typing again. It's very difficult to use your middle finger to hit the keys your index finger is supposed to be hitting in addition to the keys its supposed to ...

November 14 » Pulling Mussels From a Shell

Sometimes it's nice when Julie isn't around for dinner. I get to make things like pork chops smothered in sauerkraut (that's actually for Saturday). Or I get to make shellfish. Like mussels in white wine sauce with linguini and barely cooked broccoli rabe. And god I love Mussels. And not necessarily these pythons to which my hands are attached (sorry I couldn't resist). Moules frites are my preferred way to eat these, but making french fries is a pain in the ass (and uses a lot ...

November 02 » 365 Days is a Long Time

First off, let me apologize for the lack of photos of the meal tonight. I didn't want to take photos because I didn't want to share with anyone; tonight was my anniversary with Julie so I made her a super nice meal. You will get to see the pie and the cat try to eat the chicken though. So for tonight I wanted to try to make something above and beyond my normal meals — and I'm not just talking about making a dessert (although I did!). Being that the cold ...

October 30 » Pasta with Turkey Ragú

Jet lag is a bitch. Two nights in a row not being able to go to sleep before two or three AM and then needing to be at work is a total pain in the ass, especially coming off the heels of a week long conference where you got used to being up until two AM west coast time. Why do you care? Because I'm tired. And when I'm tired it means something simple I can make with my eyes closed in 30 minutes including doing the prep and the dishes. It ...

October 16 » Leftovers Spaghetti

Tonight was one of my favorite things to cook: leftovers spaghetti. We had cauliflower, tomato sauce, chicken sausages and swiss chard still in the fridge from the night before. A quick stop at the supermarket on the way home got us some fennel, another onion, some artichoke hearts and a box of mezze-rigatone. Leftovers pastaSaúteed swiss chard Leftovers Pasta 1 bulb fennel, cut into batons1 medium white onion, frenchedleft-over cauliflowertomato sauce2 chicken sausages, slicedfour or five marinated artichoke hearts, well rinsed, chopped roughlyCouple of cloves of garlic, thinly sliced1 box ...