Recipe of the Week: Pasta or Notpasta with a Goat Cheese Sauce

Are you busy? Tired? Run down? Are you dreaming of lazy conversations in outside cafes surrounded by a language you don't speak? What about a bonfire completely fueled by the pages of your useless and exorbitantly priced textbooks? Weird. Me, too.

So, in this haze of schoolworkteachhomeworkstressschoolworkwork, this is a comforting little dish that can be whipped up in the time it takes to boil water. Or plot an escape plan.

Pasta or Notpasta with a Goat Cheese Sauce
Serves 4 regular folks, or 2 Americans
Ingredients:
16 oz. of your favorite pasta or notpasta (i.e. gluten-free)
1 1/2 c of goat cheese, crumbled
1/4 c shredded Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
handful of shelled pistachios
sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil
extra virgin olive oil.

Get a big pot of generously salted water boiling on the stove. Once it's at a rolling boil, add all of the pasta and give it a stir to make sure none of the pasta have stuck to the bottom of your pot. Boil as per the package instructions until al dente.

Reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water and drain the rest. Put the pasta back in the pot with the reserved pasta water, the goat cheese crumbles, shredded Parmesan, and freshly ground black pepper. Stir well until the cheese is all saucy and melty.

Portion into bowls and add a squidge of extra virgin olive oil, another grinding of black pepper, a spoonful of sun-dried tomatoes, a few shelled pistachios, and a sprinkling of some more Parmesan cheese.

Don't worry about the dishes, just enjoy!

A Vacation Would Be Nice

I'm going on my second day of teaching.
I'm teaching a lesson on substance abuse that is so watered down and innocuous
these kids called my bluff right away.

So I'm taking a cue from all the other teachers these kids have:
I'm on mental vacation today.

I'll be listening to the waves tease the beach and
Shug burning slowly in the sun.
(We put sunblock on, I swear!)

I'm pretty sure wine is a part of my vacay, too.

Where the Wild Things Were

Yes, we FINALLY got to see a canon of my pre-school existence. And, of course, I was let down.

Big surprise, right? But in all honesty, I tried sososo to not have any lofty expectations going into the theatre. Readying a TEN SENTENCE book for the screen is no small feat. Spike Jones even shrugged off the task a few times before buckling down with Maurice Sendak (the author) to make the movie. I would have passed on this project, too. Why? Well, here's the original text:

"The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another. His mother called him "WILD THING!" and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!" so he was sent to bed without eating anything. That very night in Max's room a forest grew and grew- and grew until his ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world all around and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max and he sailed off through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are. And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws- till Max said "BE STILL!" and tamed them with a magic trick of staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all and made him king of all wild things. "And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!" "Now stop!" Max said and sent the wild things off to bed without their supper. And Max the king of all wild things was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all. Then all around from far away across the world he smelled good things to eat so he gave up being king of where the wild things are. But the wild things cried, "Oh please don't go- we'll eat you up- we love you so!" And Max said, "No!" The wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye and sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night of his very own room where he found his supper waiting for him- and it was still hot."

It's kinda ok, but without the amazing illustrations it's just another kid's story without the dumb "hidden morals" (I'm looking at YOU Hansel and Gretl, thanks for scaring the crap out of me!). You also are taking holy words to kids everywhere that had imagined and dreamed up poly-plots, sequels, prequels, and subtext to this amazing and vague little story and make it into a movie for the masses. Touching this with a film is a very, very, very difficult thing to take on.

I really felt like I was watching two movies simultaneously. The A-MAZ-ING wild things truly had me in goosebumps. Seeing these beasts that I had loved so dearly and shared so many bedtime stories with move, and talk, and roooooar was thrilling! And maybe that's the problem. I had such a visceral and emotional response just to the damn previews for this movie, a feature length endeavor just couldn't hold up. And, as expected, the dark plot was also much to rickety to support these wild things in their wild rumpus.

But, go see this movie. Seeing the wild things in "real life" makes it worth it. Let me know what you think!

I forgot to sleep in!

Drat.
Well, at least Ruby got some extra zzz's.
Have a lazy Sunday!

Happy Halloweeen!

A Boston Sashimi.
I promise Ruby doesn't have to dress up as anything this year!
She'd be pissed!

Have fun today!

Christmas Lists Start NOW

Yes, yes, and yes.
Thankyouverymuch.


Oh.
And happy Friday!

Recipe of the Week: Butternut Squash Risotto That's So Not Scary

Sunday turned out to be a "best" day. "Best" because Shug and I started the day with a cup of coffee with our friends from McCall, Idaho that had trekked to SLC for some sushi, a Schwinn, and haunted houses. After that we met up for brunch at Oasis Cafe with one of my bestests - 11, her lil' sis, and 11's most excellent BF. We had amazing food and even better conversation. I always forget how much I like my friends when I'm in school!

The day was lovely, so Shug and I took Punky Rubester on a walk and were famished when we got back home. I had a butternut squash lying around along with some white wine that needed drinking. This is the dinner we got out of it! We had the risotto with some fresh greens, steamed broccoli, and crusty french bread for dipping...

Butternut Squash Risotto
Serves 4
Ingredients:
One 2 lb. butternut squash, cut in half and cleaned out
3 T extra virgin olive oil
one yellow onion, peeled and diced
1 cup arborio rice
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock, warming in saucepan
1/2 white wine
1 t rubbed dry sage
1/2 t rubbed saffron threads
1/2 cup shredded parmesean or asiago cheese (we like the asiago!)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and plop the cleaned squash face down on a cookie sheet prepped with 1 T of the extra virgin olive oil. Let that bake for about 45 minutes to an hour, or when the skin is easily pierced with a knife. Remove from oven and let cool a little.

In a large skillet or saute pan, heat the remainder of the olive oil. Add the diced onion and saute until translucent. Add the rubbed sage and saffron, cook for one minute and then add your rice. Saute until the grains become translucent, as well. Then start scooping your butternut squash out and into the pan. Mush it around so it's well incorporated.

Deglaze the pan with the 1/2 cup white wine. Be sure to pour yourself a glass, too, because some serious stirring is about to go down. Add 1/2 cup of hot stock and stirstirstir until it's absorbed. Keep this up until all the stock is gonzo. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Add the shredded cheese. Stir some more!

Serve in bowls with another grinding of pepper, a squidge of olive oil, and some cheese sprinkled on top. Your should be finished with your glass of wine, so get a refill and enjoy!