Ho Hum

This weather is stupid. How am I suppose to find the motivation to get out of bed in the mornings when it's so glum and dreary out? I wish the sun would just come out already and get over this whole May-Grey/June-Gloom complex. At least Fred feels my pain.



Let's see, it's been a while since I last posted. I'll try to give an update on whatever I can remember doing. On Sunday, I made lentil soup which I had been meaning to do ever since my mom randomly pawned off two packets of lentils on me the last time she was visiting. Considering the woman never cooks anything other than Asian food, I have no idea where she came across lentils. I won't bother posting the recipe as it's hard for me to get particularly excited about lentil soup but all I'll say is it was hearty and healthy.



In comparison, the baked lemon pasta I made last night was quite delicious and exciting. The dish was super simple and flavorful. Definitely the type of recipe you loosely follow and tweak to your delight. Instead of sour cream, I used heavy cream since I had it in the fridge. Mmmm healthy right? By the way I found this recipe on a food blog that I'm now hooked on. Beautiful pictures and yummy looking food. Love it.



Baked Lemon Pasta
Courtesy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks
1 pound thin spaghetti
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
2 cups sour cream
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste if desired
Plenty of grated Parmesan cheese
Flat leaf parsley, chopped
Extra lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.

In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT. When butter is melted, add minced garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat. Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary.

Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish. Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.) When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top.

Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley. Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end. Serve with crusty French bread and a simple green salad.

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Lastly on the garden front, I manically decided to pull back part of the gravel pathway in an attempt to dig up a vegetable bed. I had originally postponed this project but then my mom gave me the black corinth plant which would have a perfect home at the back corner of the bed (good sun, neighboring trees that the vines could climb). Anyway, I dove right in. Once I peeled back the gravel and plastic tarp underneath, I was confronted by the hardest ground on this side of the Pacific. Not to mention, it's riddled with tree roots. I'm talking intense tree roots. Oh boy. After soaking the area with water repeatedly, the soil has loosened up just bit and we've been able to slowly chisel away at it with a little 3 pronged hand tool. Slowly. Painfully. One day, I'll have a hole big enough for my corinth plant. On that day, I will have the right arm of a body builder.


By the way I never got a chance to post about the ladies ceramic painting event a couple of weeks ago. It was super fun and a nice break from the usual activities. I painted a flower pot (surprise) and it came out pretty well. Can't wait to go over to everyone else's place and see their pieces after they were fired! After this small exploration of my creative side, I started a pastel drawing over the weekend of calla lilies from my garden. More on that later.