Walking in a Winter Wonderland

"Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? 

In the lane, snow is glistening. 

A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, 

Walking in a winter wonderland."

Just kidding, I'm not still singing Christmas songs. I promise. October through January was full of enough Christmas music to last the year, even more me. For the past 3 years, Nhan and I have hosted our residency program's annual Unofficial Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. Cramming 30-40 residents into our house for a potluck, fun holiday drinks, white elephant, christmas karaoke and the whole shebang leaves us swearing off hosting ever again, yet somehow when Christmas rolls around the following year, we never learn our lesson. And what is a party at the Vuongs' without a dessert spread? Last year, we did a Smore's Bar, but this year we decided to do a little less fire, a little more snow--Winter Wonderland to be more specific. 

Shrimp Linguini in Garlic White Wine Sauce

While this recipe can be done with any type of linguini, what made it truly stand out was the squid ink pasta we picked up at the farmer's market in Little Italy in San Diego. The first time I had squid ink pasta was at La Viola in Philadelphia. I wasn't really sure what I had gotten myself into, especially since I am not the biggest fan of squid to begin with. But I was pleasantly surprised that squid ink pasta doesn't taste like squid at all! If someone was to perform a blindfolded taste test, I don't think I'd really be able to tell the difference between this and regular pasta. Rather, it's the beautiful silky black color that gives it definition.