An attempt at Pasta Alfredo (Angel Hair)

I've been having a strange craving for pasta lately, ever since my cousin served up a simple but flavorful bowl of pasta the last time I visited her apartment (she sautéed a bit of pesto, tomatoes, baby portabellos and fresh torn basil leaves, and mixed it into cooked spaghetti). The thing is, I dislike having to cook something that only tastes great right after it is cooked. Graduate students like being able to cook and freeze for an entire week, and you can't freeze pasta.

But I'm on vacation right now, so I get to relax. I made this very simple dish in probably less than half an hour (I wouldn't really know, coz I don't look at the clock while I'm cooking, but Jeopardy was still on when I finished). Thanks to Frannie for the shrimp, because even if I overcooked them, they were still great.

A rough version of the recipe:

1. In a large pot, boil water for the angel hair. Angel hair cooks in a snap, so you want the water boiling when the sauce is about done. Add about a heaping tablespoon of coarse salt into the water to flavor the pasta.

2. Saute 2 shallots in about 5 or 6 tablespoons of butter until soft and translucent.

3. Add the cooked shrimp, saute for about half a minute, then add about half a cup of white wine (I had leftover chardonnay in the fridge). Let it reduce for a couple of minutes.

4. Add a cup of heavy cream (yes, I know, nakamamatay). Heat through, then turn the heat down to simmer. Season to taste with a bit of salt (not too much if you used salted butter) and freshly cracked black pepper.

5. Put about half the contents of a box of angel hair pasta into the pot of boiling water. This has to be watched carefully...you want to take out the pasta before it is fully cooked, so that you can continue cooking in the sauce. After about no more than 50 seconds in boiling water, take the pasta out and put it into the sauce. Mix well, so that the pasta is thoroughly coated in the sauce. You'll also find that the pasta will absorb some of the liquid in the sauce.

6. Remove from heat and serve immediately, with grated Parmesan on top.

I’m shipping up to Boston! (Woah-oh-oh!)

March 6, 2008 – I'm a sailor peg! And I lost my leg! Climbin up the topsails I lost my leg! I’m shipping up to Boston! (Woah-oh-oh!)

In spite of my relatively lengthy residence in the US, I’m really sorry to say that everything I know about Boston (Bahston) comes from Martin Scorsese and the Dropkick Murphys.

So when the opportunity to go to a conference in Boston presented itself, I jumped at the chance to go (I would do a little jig too, if I could). As the Chinatown bus was creeping up to New England, I was daydreaming of Celtic punk-rock, bagpipes and maybe my own Irish-American bad boy (well, technically, Leo Di Caprio is German-Italian, and that works too).

So, camera in hand, I started out to capture the edgy Gaelic grit that was Boston.

Wait a minute. Why does this place look like Washington D.C.?

This is a shot of Quincy Market.

Here is Roomie with Kevin Hagan White, who was mayor of Boston during the 1970s and was the one who revitalized the Faneuil Hall area of the city. He is currently suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Shots from the waterfront.

I think Paul Revere might be a little mad at me.

In all fairness, Roomie and I were tourists, and therefore had no intention of going down narrow side-streets and dark alleyways (and yes, there seem to be a lot of alleys in this city).

When I first planned this trip at the end of January, I asked Roomie if she wanted to make reservations at Blue Ginger. Blue Ginger is owned by Asian-fusion chef Ming Tsai, whose shows I followed on the Lifestyle network when I was still living in Manila. Roomie, needless to say, is a huge fan (see Roomie's post when she finally has the time to put it up). I had learned from previous experience that making dinner reservations at restaurants owned by Food Network Chefs can be a bit difficult to do on an impulse, and we really wanted to make sure we could eat there. Anyway, we didn’t really think that Ming would be around...

But he was, and I spotted him across the restaurant sometime during the appetizer course. Roomie, of course, had to ask our server if we could meet him, and Todd promised to put us on a list (but of course there is a list!) of guests who wanted to meet him. I could hear him two tables away talking to a couple of patrons, but I was basically distracted by the delicious rack of lamb with lemongrass and coconut milk sauce (it was ginormous! Roomie and I could have split it had we not restrained ourselves from eating in the afternoon).

It was in between the main course and dessert that I heard the familiar voice from the East meets West episodes I had seen back home. “Hi, I’m Ming,” he greeted while affably extending his hand.

I’m sure Roomie will give you all the details (and she has better pictures as well, once she put them up) once she gets the hyperventilating gets out of the way. I was glad to find that he was very chatty and down to earth. He made wonderful recommendations for dessert, and the coconut doughnuts with the pineapple curd and lime (I believe it was lime) sorbet blew my mind away.

Even better than le sucre, which had been first in my heart for the last two years.

All in all, the trip was well worth going up to Wellesley and getting stuck in suburbia while a huge rainstorm kicked up in Massachusetts. We got on that commuter train exhausted, and, thankfully, stuffed.

The next morning, I decided to chill (especially in the aftermath of spring forward). No shopping, no picture-taking, no walking around. An easy Sunday morning until Noel picked us up to have lunch at Cambridge with Tristan.

Now while I don’t have any pictures of Cambridge or Harvard, I liked the students-during-the-weekend vibe of the area. In fact, Tristan was so relaxed that I'm beginning to doubt that he was doing any actual studying there (joke only Tris)!

All good things come to an end, and it was finally time to drive back to the Bx. After the four-hour drive back (complete with off-key cover versions of U2, the Eagles and Bon Jovi), we decided to end the night in Chinatown with a good dose of roast duck. I'd like to apologize to Matt Damon as I've run out of time.

When it rains, it pours...

Today is one of those days when you go from one high to another. In between working on my paper, I stole a few moments to bond with my new best friend:

It's not very high-tech, and surely not high-end. But I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship (provided I don't lose this like I did the other one). The picture below is of a Thai elephant keychain (about an inch high and wide) that I took using the super macro feature of the camera. Pretty cool, huh.

While I was in school today, I learned that my dissertation proposal won me a financial award. While I am not a millionaire, the award will keep me fed and housed for the next school year (and ensure that Roomie will continue to have a Roomie).

Thank you, Lord, for good days like these.