Seafood & Pasta. A perfect marriage of flavors. I am always searching and experimenting with pasta dishes. I adore seafood & LOVE pasta, so for me it’s a natural combination. This dish has a unexpected little kick to it from the red pepper flakes. It’s a medley of textures and flavors that explode in your mouth.

Again, timing is so important with this dish, if you take a little time and prep your ingredients & have everything handy you’ll be fine. It’s a crowd pleaser & is super quick & easy to make! I like to buy bags of frozen shrimp & have them handy in my freezer (watch for those buy 1 get 1 free specials!). Be careful when cooking your shrimp. Don’t overcook them. When they are pink & become a “C” shape they are done! If they become an “O” shape they’re overcooked & will be chewy & tough (and you don’t want that).

Add a glass of the remaining Chardonnay & Enjoy!

• Linguine con Gamberetti (Shrimp)
• 1 box Linguine – organic duram semolina
• 1/2 stick of unsalted real butter
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 small – medium shallots – minced (If you don’t have shallots you can use 1 small onion)
• 3-4 cloves of fresh garlic – minced
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (if you like spicy add a little more, if you don’t like spicy leave it out!)
• 1 bag of medium to large shrimp – peeled
• Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine – I use Chardonnay
• 1 lemon – juiced
• Fresh parmigiano regiano for garnishing (but it is better without it)
• 1 or 2 TJ’s fire roasted red peppers, roughly cut

Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil, generously season the water with kosher salt. Add pasta & stir to make sure the pasta separates. Cook for about 8-10 minutes until pasta is al dente. Before you drain your pasta, Reserve one ladel of the spaghetti water. Drain the pasta. WHILE the pasta is cooking, in a large pan melt 1/2 of the butter & 1/2 of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots, garlic, & red pepper flakes until the shallots are translucent, about 3 – 4 minutes. Be careful not to burn your garlic. Season the shrimp with s/p; add them to the pan and cook until they have turned pink and have a “C” shape to them, this only takes about 2 – 3 minutes. Be careful NOT to overcook your shrimp. Remove the shrimp from the pan; Place them into your large serving bowl, set aside and keep warm. Add wine & lemon juice & bring to a boil. Add the remainder of butter and & olive oil. Return the shrimp to the pan along with the cooked pasta. Stir well & season with salt and pepper. If pasta is took thick, thin out with some of your reserved pasta water. Drizzle over a bit more olive oil, garnish with parsley & parmesan cheese (ON THE SIDE).

Buon Appetito!

This is both a post of my cute new kitty and a test of the “Post by email” system for my friend Jenny. There are several different post by email systems available for wordpress but this one is the simplest – it is giving me a bit of trouble on one of my client sites but other than that it has worked flawlessly for a number of clients and I think it will serve her awesomely on her upcoming trip… Simple take a photo with your iPhone, then email it to a special address with a subject that will become the post title and some text in the body, with the image, which, of course, becomes the body of the post…

But then again I had it 20 years ago in San Francisco before it started getting mass distributed around the world. It was a large shop and i think factory too, down by Fisherman’s Wharf. I went there a couple of times and sent home all kinds chocolate, hot cocoa and candies from there. I remember being really impressed but not so much any more… Eating the dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds right now and it does not compare to Chocolove on any scale… Not nearly as good as i remember or as Chocolove is…

Ever had Chocolove chocolates? No? They are a rather thick, high quality candy bar that is not cheap but is worth every penny…

A favorite of mine since i was a kid and more than likely because its a submarine movie – Ice Station Zebra was , I think, The first time I noticed a chronograph watch in a movie.

 

Now this little rant is not meant to do anything real useful except hopefully inspire some folks in the watch forum to find out what the deal was with the chronograph watch worn by seemingly all the officers in the movie which i think is incorrect for the US Navy at this time. We all know that rolex was making their “Submariner” watch at this time but that was not necessarily issued to submariners by the navy as they dont traditionally leave the submarine and go deep under water.

 

So i am still trying to figure out what kind of watch this is. I have seen the question asked a couple of times on the various watch forums with no real answer – “Bulova” and Whittanuer both get thrown around but no photo examples of something like this are posted.

The watch itself has the early and classic “3”, “6” & “9” position chronograph face and a leather band – this shot is really the only one that shows that it has a “Pepsi” (Red and blue) bezel. (This officers watch has that bezel at least, cannot see it on any of the others as visibly).

I think it looks like a “Universal Genever Compax” but i cant find one with the pepsi bezel anywhere.

 

I am hoping to work on this a little more and then spread it around to some of the watch forums for feedback. Just sussing out the details here.

I know that no one really wants to hear about my lunch. Moo Goo Gai Pan and House Mai Fun from Dragon Jade – but it was really good – when it was fresh last night it was good too and no I didn’t eat the whole of two entrees by myself, I shared them. Anyways – i am posting this here because i am testing some facebook/wordpress and other social media sharing and i had to post a photo…

Seafood & Pasta. A perfect marriage of flavors. I am always searching and experimenting with pasta dishes. I adore seafood & LOVE pasta, so for me it’s a natural combination. This dish has a unexpected little kick to it from the red pepper flakes. It’s a medley of textures and flavors that explode in your mouth.

Again, timing is so important with this dish, if you take a little time and prep your ingredients & have everything handy you’ll be fine. It’s a crowd pleaser & is super quick & easy to make! I like to buy bags of frozen shrimp & have them handy in my freezer (watch for those buy 1 get 1 free specials!). Be careful when cooking your shrimp. Don’t overcook them. When they are pink & become a “C” shape they are done! If they become an “O” shape they’re overcooked & will be chewy & tough (and you don’t want that).

Add a glass of the remaining Chardonnay & Enjoy!

• Linguine con Gamberetti (Shrimp)
• 1 box Linguine – organic duram semolina
• 1/2 stick of unsalted real butter
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 small – medium shallots – minced (If you don’t have shallots you can use 1 small onion)
• 3-4 cloves of fresh garlic – minced
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (if you like spicy add a little more, if you don’t like spicy leave it out!)
• 1 bag of medium to large shrimp – peeled
• Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine – I use Chardonnay
• 1 lemon – juiced
• Fresh parmigiano regiano for garnishing (but it is better without it)
• 1 or 2 TJ’s fire roasted red peppers, roughly cut

Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil, generously season the water with kosher salt. Add pasta & stir to make sure the pasta separates. Cook for about 8-10 minutes until pasta is al dente. Before you drain your pasta, Reserve one ladel of the spaghetti water. Drain the pasta. WHILE the pasta is cooking, in a large pan melt 1/2 of the butter & 1/2 of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots, garlic, & red pepper flakes until the shallots are translucent, about 3 – 4 minutes. Be careful not to burn your garlic. Season the shrimp with s/p; add them to the pan and cook until they have turned pink and have a “C” shape to them, this only takes about 2 – 3 minutes. Be careful NOT to overcook your shrimp. Remove the shrimp from the pan; Place them into your large serving bowl, set aside and keep warm. Add wine & lemon juice & bring to a boil. Add the remainder of butter and & olive oil. Return the shrimp to the pan along with the cooked pasta. Stir well & season with salt and pepper. If pasta is took thick, thin out with some of your reserved pasta water. Drizzle over a bit more olive oil, garnish with parsley & parmesan cheese (ON THE SIDE).

Buon Appetito!

This is the beef deli sandwich from the Jasmine Deli in Minneapolis. Grilled beef, green peppers, carrots, and just a few jalapenos served on day old french bread. This lovely little sandwich is a combination of traditional Vietnamese cooking and the influence of French colonialism. There are a number of Vietnamese dishes that come with French bread but i really only like it with the sammy’s… My favorite is the Curry Mock Duck and I will get a shot the next time I have one.

Come to think of it, I can’t remember anyone having said that, but it seems like something someone who hasnt had tacos and watermelon would have said… AND yes it is a large taco and not a burrito.

I hate when i do this – i make a smmich and then decide i want soup. I mean not only is it on a croissant but its roast chicken and roast beef with swiss, lettuce and salsa and an awesome dijon mustard… I dont think i can resist the melon tho…

And for some reason i would rather have these – i dont get it… The gut wants what it wants…