Pasta Al Fumo

When I was a junior in college, I spent a semester studying Art in Cortona, Italy. It was magical -- the food, the wine, the culture... it was inspiring! I painted or took classes during the week, traveled on the weekends, and spent most evenings enjoying the nightlife of a small Tuscan town. I have such fond memories of my time in Italy and would love to return someday. Until then, it's always fun to relive the memories by looking at pictures and, sometimes, trying to recreate the extended, casual dinners we enjoyed on those beautiful Italian nights.

As part of the program I attended  with UGA, we dined most evenings as a large group at a local restaurant called Tonino's. The food was always delicious, and one of my favorite meals they prepared was a Pasta al Fumo ("Smoked Pasta"). A brief internet search turned up this recipe from that very same restaurant! I'm sure the original Italian ingredients make for a better dish, but these American substitutions seemed to work pretty well.

Pasta al Fumo

Serves 4

Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 whole garlic cloves 
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1/2 lb. Bacon
• 1/4 cup fresh heavy cream
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup Fresh milk
• 3 T cream cheese
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1.5 oz Vodka
• Pasta of choice (we use penne or farfalle, about 8 oz)

Directions

• Add two tablespoons of olive oil to the pan with whole garlic and rosemary. Sauté until fragrant.
• Add bacon and fry until completely cooked. Drain fat.
• Return pan to stove and add vodka -- stir with caution.
• Remove garlic and rosemary from the pan
• Add cream and stir. Add tomato sauce slowly -- the sauce should be a light pink, don't add too much tomato.
• Add milk and cream cheese. Stir with a whisk to blend. Add more tomato sauce if necessary. Add red pepper flakes (you can leave these out or reduce amount if you prefer less spicy)
• Cook for several minutes to blend flavors, salt to taste.
• Serve with freshly cooked pasta, top with parmesan or pecorino cheese, and fresh basil

Enjoy!

Hello, June!

June is here, spring is in full swing (except for the 55 degrees yesterday...we'll ignore that) and it is glorious! It is these kinds of days that I find myself longing for in the dead of winter. Yet, somehow, once spring and summer arrive, it feels so easy to take for granted the beautiful colors of the flowers, the green leaves, the blue sky, and the balmy temperatures. It becomes a given that we will wake up to the sun shining, the breeze blowing and a new day full of possibility. But instead of taking it for granted, this is something for which we must constantly be grateful, reminded every single moment of the beautiful life we've been given by grace. Gratitude is a never-ending pursuit that can be easy to forget.

It is most difficult to find gratitude in the busy days when one thing after another seems to be going wrong, and all I want to do at the end of the day is whine about it or surrender to sleep and forget it all happened. But those are the days we are called to enjoy, to stop and savor the moments -- even the challenging ones. To say "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!" That was my favorite song in preschool and I still sing it to Cormac most days, as much a reminder to him as myself to thank God for everything He has given us, because each day is a gift. I usually follow that song with "Rise and shine, and give God the glory"! Another simple reminder to serve God with our days and remember our call to glorify Him in each task.

So, let's kick off June with that thought and some pretty calendars to remind us of the beauty all around. I took this photo of the beautiful peonies blooming in our yard and it turned out to be a fantastic  inspiration for this month's calendar, as well as an art print for the latest Minted Design Challenge (check it out here)!

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Photography: Margaret McCarthy

Fonts: Serious Sally, Didot

Spring Cleaning Challenge

Photo by PopSugar

Spring is officially upon us! Which means that Spring Cleaning shall commence... ish. It takes a lot these days for me to gear up for a heavy-duty deep cleaning. Since our living quarters expanded from a 2-bedroom apartment to a 4-bedroom/3-bath house last year, I find myself approaching cleaning from a much more piecemeal perspective. One bathroom at a time is good. One clean bathroom plus vacuuming one level is great. And that's about where I run out of time. With a clamoring 1-year-old and a never-ending list of work projects (not complaining on either fronts, just prioritizing), cleaning usually gets shoved to the end of the line.

And I'm really OK with that. I want my home to be clean(ish) and (mostly) presentable, but I don't need it to look like a magazine. Although sometimes I daydream about living in a home that looks like a Pottery Bar catalog, I'd rather my guests know that our home is lived in. But there are definitely ways to make keeping it clean/presentable a little easier on a daily basis. Enter: The De-Clutter Challenge. I'm not a neat-freak, by any means, so clutter does tend to accumulate. Usually papers, magazines, bits of marketing collateral that I want to save for future reference... things that, in this digital age, don't really need to be retained. I do have a sentimental streak and find that some things are harder to part with than others. But, at the end of the day, if it's not getting used or making my life easier... it probably needs to go.

So, here's my challenge: take the next 30 days to de-clutter our house, one room at a time. Find a place for everything and put everything in its place. I've put together an outline of the rooms/sections of our home that will be addressed. Some portions of the house will definitely take longer (read: kitchen), so although the list only includes 20 items, I'm pretty sure it will take me the full 30 days. I've actually already started the challenge (I'm about 5 days in) and have made quick work of some of the smaller areas of our home. Here are some guidelines I'm giving myself for the challenge...

1. Start small.

Work in small, manageable sections and stop when you feel overwhelmed. I usually only have 20-30 minutes to spare at any given time, so it may take a day or two to finish certain rooms on my list (read: Kitchen! when did we get so many random cooking utensils?)

2. Be prepared (see graphic above)

For each room, have a trash bag handy as well as a basket or box for items that need to be sold/donated, sorted, or placed in another location. Part of the de-cluttering process involves determined the purpose/use of an object and assigning it a "home" within your house. Once you've decided where that item should live, you just have to make sure it stays there or gets returned after each use (remember: a place for everything and everything in its place). And don't rule out the possibility of selling an item you don't use! Just because it doesn't fit into your life, doesn't mean it has to be donated. You might be able to make a little $$ on this de-cluttering process.

3. When in doubt: take a photo, then toss it.

This primarily refers to items that I may feel sentimental about. I used this technique a little bit when we were moving out of our Chicago apartment. I find a stash of childhood toys with vivid memories which I had obviously kept for sentimental value. But I didn't use them, they were dirty and probably wouldn't get used by my children... so I snapped some photos on my iPhone and bid them a fond farewell. This way, the memories live on but the clutter does not. Maybe one of these days I'll post some of these photos... there may have been an old My Little Pony involved. ;)

I'v create a custom list to reference for de-cluttering my own home (sorted by various rooms), but if you're looking for somewhere to start, check out this 30-day list from PopSugar. So far, I've been pretty good about taking on a single room per day...once I get to the kitchen/pantry/refrigerator it might be a full weekend project. I'm actually enjoying the process and looking forward to having a cleaner, clutter-free home once it's done!