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.
I'm not sure when it happened, but it happened. It hit me with a fervor I can't even begin to describe. The calm and soothing aroma of lavender filled my nose and wrapped me in a blanket of peace and happiness. But it didn't stop there. As soon as that delicate flavor danced across the tip of my tongue, it invaded mind. There it was--I had fallen in love. It developed into somewhat of an obsession, really. I became drawn towards anything and everything that had even the slightest hint of lavender. Just a touch of that floral note and I was sold. From chocolate lavender ice cream to lemon lavender short bread to lavender tea, I could not get enough. My latest discovery was honey lavender ice cream from Carmela, a tiny little ice cream shop in Pasadena. There on a belated Valentine's Day date with my (other) love, I was ecstatic to find that they offered this wonderful flavor and needless to say, I knew it was going to be my next project.
Who says s'mores are a campfire treat you can enjoy only in the Summer? Why not bring them indoors to have them year-round? For our annual ugly sweater party last weekend, I put together a s'more's bar to bring some warmth and fire to the table and some yummy marshmallow goodness to all our bellies. It was the perfect warm snack for a cold winter night, and especially festive with the twinkle lights to accompany--yes I am a sucker for twinkle lights. It also provided a great excuse to use a few of my dozen or so cake stands :)
Leaving for work at 5AM means getting a nice crisp wake up call by the 40 degree November weather -- cold but much preferred to the 90 F temperatures we had last month. This new chilly Fall weather makes me think of yellow leaves, reading books under a cozy blanket, hot chocolate by the fire place, and endless SOUP. Soup for lunch, soup for dinner, a different soup for every day of the week! My most recent soup craving was french onion soup, something rather hard to come by here in the Inland Empire. So I figured I would just have to make it myself.
