Spring updates

Had my dear friend Tiff over for dinner tonight and we had a lovely meal together :)

For my birthday (last Monday) she gave me this lovely succulent plant, which I used as our centerpiece. But since we are both lacking in the green-thumb department and didn't know that succulents required such specific care, it's kind of dying. One website I looked up said that it didn't require too much water, but not to assume that it didn't need enough water. What does that even mean? I'm sad.




A new recipe I tested out :). I've made it a couple times in the past week and it's gotten good reviews! Scroll down for the recipe ;). (I used magazine catalogs for table settings if you're wondering what those sheets are)


Ghetto but delicious. I know, I know.


I made mushroom canapes, the pasta and she brought strawberry-walnut-lots-of-other-wonderful-things salad :).

And before I leave....
a little hint of where I went on Saturday for my birthday. Can you guess where it is? :)



----------------------
parsnip and pancetta tagliatelle with parmesan and butter
(from jamie oliver)

*i used bacon instead of pancetta because that's what i had and i'm a poor college student. i'm sure it'd taste better with pancetta though!

cast of characters:
(serves 4)
-- 12 slices of pancetta or bacon
-- 1 handful of fresh thyme (you can also use rosemary)
-- 4 good knobs of butter (i love that they say "knobs")
-- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
-- 2 parsnips, peeled, halved and finely sliced lengthways
-- dried tagliatelle
-- 3 good handfuls of grated parmesan cheese
-- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper ( to season)

instructions:
1) in a non-stick frying pan, fry your pancetta/bacon and herbs in half the butter for 2-ish minutes
2) add the garlic and parsnips
3) cook for a further 3 minutes on a medium heat, until the pancetta is slightly golden and the parsnips have softened
4) cook your pasta to your liking, drain, and reserve a little cooking water ( i forgot to do the latter part but it still turned out well!)
5) mix the pasta with the parsnips and pancetta and stir in the rest of your butter and the parmesan, adding a little of the cooking water to loosen the mixture and make it creamy and shiny
6) season!

the parsnips and bacon are a wonderful sweet-salty combo :). tell me how it goes!