Well, dern....

Well dern, I have run out of my space quota on Blogger. 


I have been planning a move for a while with the help of a smart pal and instead of paying for more space....


Please follow me at my new address:

BLACKBIRD IDEAS

or 

www.blackbirdideas.wordpress.com

(of course instead of wordpress I typed blogspot... geez... itll take me a while to get used to!)

If you have blackbird ideas bookmarked, please update your bookmark. If I am on your favorite (Golly, thanks!) please update your favorites. 

Sunday Supper: Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara is one of my favorite quick dishes. Its delicious. And we always seem to make it when we are exhausted.

Bf and I just returned from our awesome weekend in Charlotte, NC with our buddies and we were wiped. We went straight to PUBLIX and I just wanted a one dish, super delicious, easy to make dish.

Here is all we needed: (I love recipes with a few ingredients... I have also made this before so I had some of the supplies already)

2 eags/eggs

1 package of Buitoni noodles. You can use any kind (fettucini, spaghetti, etc... I prefer a thicker noodle)

Pancetta

fresh Pecorino cheese

fresh Parmesan cheese

fresh basil leaves

Black pepper

Procedures (Sounds doctorial... ooo... thats def a made up word)

Crack your eggs into a bowl

Grate about a 1/2 a cup of Pecorino into the egg bowl

Grate 1/2 a cup of Parmesan cheese into egg bowl as well

And whisk

Do you ever go to the grocery store with a plan and then totally forget a main ingredient? Well, thats what I did. The Pancetta makes this dish and I forgot it. I thought "FINE! I'll just make plain ol' spaghetti. WAAAHHH!!!" and then I looked in my fridge and realized I had bacon. Crisis averted. But if you can get/remember Pancetta, then definitely get that.

So, I chopped up my bacon.

and tossed it in my heated up pan

Meanwhile, I boiled some water for my noodles

Continue to move the bacon around the pan to get the pan nice and greased up

I then added some French Sea Salt (My homeland!) to my pot of water. I love this salt! Bf's mama brought it back for him from Paris a few weeks ago and I have made it my best friend. She brought me these great caramels that I have been rationing out since. So delish.

This is the secret weapon in my opinion. Fresh pasta! I have never gone back to dried pasta since having Buitoni a year or so ago.

I got Fettucini noodles, but you can get any kind really. I just love large flat noodles.

Into the boiling water they go.

They boil for just 3 minutes then drain.

I ALWAYS forget this part (hence no pic because I forgot tonight). RESERVE ABOUT A CUP OF THE WATER FROM THE NOODLES. Its not a make-or-breaker, but it is better with. 

Then, over a medium hot stove, dump your noodles into the bacon/pancetta pan. 

And mix

Remove from the heat and pour your reserved eag/egg mixture into your noodles and bacon

Crack more pepper than you would think you'd need into your dish. I swear, the pepper IS the make-or-breaker in this dish!

Continue to mix your noodle mixture. I recommend tongs as your tool of choice for this.

Then, tear up some fresh basil leaves. I made bf run to our garden last second to grab these leaves. They are sooooo much smaller than they were in the summer. I think I am going to have to move my basil plants inside and hope they make it. I love them too much..

Serve your Carbonara into some nice large bowls and sprinkle with the freshly ripped basil. 

YUM!

I am such a "lets have an appetizer, dinner, and after dinner drink girl" but this dish is great alllll on its own. I always at least make a salad to go along with dinner, but I just love this all by itself. It also helps me eat slower since this is it.

Seriously one of my all time favorite meals and like most carbonaras it is not heavy. While there is bacon and its grease, there is no cream, which just makes it way lighter.

Yes, I cooked in a bathrobe and grandma slippers tonight. Halloween just wears me out. Hope everyone had a good halloween and had fun costumes!

Family Jewels

Yes, Family Jewels. Not like that. Like actual jewels or gems. 

You know my hutch that I am in love with? Well, we just got a new addition to the family! I brought this baby home last week. Unfortunately I have not set her up yet. I just don't know where she would look best... but I am lookin'!

My birthday was back in August. My aunt had sent me a gift, to my parents house, and I finally (I have been waiting forever!) got to get it when I went home last weekend. My aunt got this ring for Christmas when she was a kid. It has a terrible story behind it how my mother called it ugly (common sibling jealousy) but I think this awesome vintage tree ring is beautiful. 

I could write a whole post about this coin necklace. But I'm going to keep it short and with dry eyes I will say... I love it. It is my favorite piece of jewelry that I have ever had the pleasure to wear. 

Here's a gem: Me and My grandpaw, before was whisked off the the Racecar Hall of Fame (oooo....ah....). 

Hey! Who is that LOOKER? Are those chicken bangs? Bf asked who was the Asian in the picture.... 

Guess who!?!?! MEEEEE! In 3rd grade I think. Man, Nothing's changed. 

You may want to avert your eyes for this next one. They may have looked cute, but they were pure evil. Seriously, they cackled. 

Now, the beast... the solitary man... oh, wait. Its just my brother. Fierce. 

Look at the excitement on my sister, Emily's, face (on the right). Wooo... a born-to-be Cheerleader. And who is that Dweeb in the middle? Again, meeeeee! Yeah, we were quite the team. 

I think I rocked that Cheerleading costume for Halloween until it was nothing but threads. On that note....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Spooktacular Clues

Its that time again.... no not the gubernatorial election, Halloween. I feel like all year I think up costumes and then when Halloween comes, I draw an absolute blank. I can never think of anything! Its so frustrating. Last year was a great Halloween. We drove up to Charlotte, NC to hang with some college friends and had a blast. Our friends, Alex and Meredith had just gotten engaged and bought a house so it was a culmination of all these great events and Halloween. Bf and I were vampires (original, right?). Well, actually bf was a "redneck vampire" which was heeelarious. He had vampire teeth on his front teeth and a mullet. I was just a regular ol' vampire. 

There was such an amazing display of costumes. This is Andrew, as Superman (for the 10th year....seriously) and our friend Jessica, as Oprah. 

I do not look good in white vampire face paint. Yeeeeow! Talk about washed out. But behind Oprah, is Gayle, of course. That's Marina. I did not recognize her at all! She had tried to say hellot o me and I had given her the cold shoulder. Not only was that crazy rude of me, but her costume was THAT good!

The recently engaged, Meredith went as Bridezilla. She even had a choreographed dance to go along with a costume. She's a dancer. That's her way. 

Then there is ol' redneck vampire, Gayle, and the groom, Alex. He got so lucky with his costume. He only had to wear a tux. 

So, this year I had tons of ideas. We were to return to Charlotte, NC and I was ready! Then, I received a curveball from the hostess, Meredith. A THEME! And the theme was South of the Border. Of course I begin to think... taco? no. senorita? naw. flamenco dancer? nein. What on earth was I going to be?!?!?!

So, I thought... who loves Halloween more than anyone? My Mud (remember her house). We brainstormed on the phone for a while and played a few ideas back and forth. And finally... we got it!

I set to work. Here are some clues. 

Jewels, sequins, industrial fabric glue 

Some without-a-doubt South of the Border fangernails. Oooo. I have to say that I am most excited to wear these out of anything!

Some Über red lipstick. I read online that my costume person's favorite lipstick color was named "brick," so I went from there. 

Remember my dad and the wigs? Here is my wig. The lady at Annie's Wigs told me that I should color my hair this color. No way! Talk about looking deathly and pale! I wish that color looked good on me though. 

Then, my costume really needed something. A headset. 

 No, not a Taco Bell worker....

After my purchases, I lay out my outfit to take stock. 

I LOVE my bellbottom pants. They are sooo BELL! I just want to dance when I wear them. 

Looked a little bland. A little ho-hum.

Then I BA-BAMED these shoes out of my closet. These were one of the best purchases ever. I thought "I'll never wear them, but I must have them!" And I didn't wear them, for 4 years. Then, next thing you know, I went to a disco party. And now, they are perfect for my Halloween costume. Hurrah!

Still, I needed to add more! So I got out my trusty glue and some jewels and began the bejeweling process. I tried to cover up as much/many of the girly polkadots as I could. I needed pizzaz! 

The top looked so much more _____-like when I was finished. 

I can't wait for this weekend so that we can South of the Border it up in Charlotte! Check back next week, fingers crossed, for pictures. Hasta Luego!