Pasta Puscanetta

My friends were so impressed with my pasta sauce that I made on Valentine's Day that I had several requests for the recipe. I will say that it is one of the easiest Italian dishes I have ever made, and definitely a quick and delicious sauce.

To make the sauce you will need the following:

• 8 vine riped tomatoes, chopped
• 5 anchovies, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp. tomato-basil paste 
• 25 Greek olives (pitted), coarsely chopped
• 3 tbsp. capers 
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper, to taste

The preparation for the sauce took about 20 minutes, and the cooking time is approximately 20 minutes for a total of 40 minutes.

To prepare the sauce you need to:

1. Saute minced garlic in a saucepan with olive oil on medium-low heat until the garlic is golden-brown in color.
2. In a food processor, combine chopped tomatoes with anchovies and pulse until you have a "coarse" sauce. (You want to texture to your sauce, rather than something that looks like a smoothie.)
3. Combine tomato-anchovy sauce into saucepan with garlic and reduce to low heat. Cook for approximately 10 minutes, stirring occassionally.
4. Add olives, capers, and crushed red pepper to the sauce. Cook for another 10 minutes on low heat making sure to stir occassionally.
5. Spoon sauce over cooked pasta of your choice. (You will need about half the regular amount of sauce as you would need if you used marinara sauce). 

I paired my pasta dish with a mixed green salad with homemade salad dressing (dark cherry balsamic vinegar and olive oil). Of course the dish made an ever better accompaniment to the dessert my friend brought to dinner: tiramisu from Corbo's Bakery in Little Italy.

Side Note: I will mention that Pasta Puscanetta is Italian for "pasta of the whore" and it was a southern Italian dish invited sometime in the mid-20th century. Depending on who you talk to, it was made by Sandro Petti, a famous restauranteur in Italy in 1950's, for late night guests who were hungry. When he informed his guests that he was low on ingredients he customers replied, "Facci una puttanata qualsiasi". Which translates to, "Any kind of garbage will do." The word puttanata (worthless/garbage) is derived from the word puttana which means "whore". Other stories, claim the pasta was a quick dish made for whores in the red light district who were hungry between customers, and therefore is how it got it named. Either way, "whore's pasta" is a nice way to celebrate Valentine's Day, non credi?

Sweetness of Friendship

"In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed." -Kahlil Gibran

This time of year is always tough for single people. First we have the Christmas holidays were we are bombarded by questions from relatives at dinners about our single status, inundated with cheesy jewelry commercials, and forgotten by our married friends who have special evenings planned with spouses. Then we head into New Years where we find ourselves alone at midnight with no kiss and finally Valentine's Day where the world treats us like we have leprosy.

Needless to say, it is the time of year that I dread. While I wish to find love, it is not so much the lack of love that is hard to bear. It is the idea, that we still live in a world where the idea of a single woman falls into two categories: the woman who become cat ladies and the spurned bitter women who fucked up their chance at love. I find myself at times torn between the adulation of being single and the pitying looks of people who can't quite figure out why I am alone.

This year, I expected to spend Valentine's alone. Sipping wine and watching a marathon of Downton Abbey. Instead, I found out that not only did other friends detest the holiday, but actually wanted to do something not focused on the commercial aspect of the holiday.

So for the first time ever, I hosted a dinner consisting of myself, another single girlfriend, and my married friends from college. I cooked dinner, my friends brought dessert, and we drank wine. And it was one of the moments, where I just wished I could bottle the moment. I stood in the kitchen washing dishes with the sound of laughter trinkling from the other room, and found myself thanking God with tears in my eyes for such good friends.

You see, my friends have kept me sane. They bring me back from the brink, and remind me daily that while I have not yet found love, I am capable of loving. Despite what has happened in the past, I would not trade that
night or the friends in my life for anything. I would trade any man in the world, for what I was feeling in that moment.....unconditional love.

How many of us wait a life time for it? How many of us spend too many wasted years searching for it, and not realizing that the love we are looking for is already present in our lives?

I am trying harder in my life to savor the sweetness of friendship, and to find contentment in the hours spent with friends. To look forward to conversations about crazy family members over beer, or the joy of trying out a new recipe for friends coming over for dinner.

"Close friends contribute to our personal growth. They also contribute to our personal pleasure, making the music sound sweeter, the wine taste richer, the laughter ring louder because they are there." -Judith Voirst

Things That Make Me Happy

milk tea

springtime in Northeast Ohio

daydreaming on long runs

the Cleveland cultural scene (especially the art museum)

grocery shopping at the West Side Market

ocean waves

family time

the unconditional love of pets

adventures with friends, who have remained true

lazy Sundays in bed

Cleveland sports, especially when we are winning

travel adventures

the friendships I have made, near and far

coming home to Cleveland

having my own place again

Auld Lang Syne

During The New Year celebration many of us will be kicking back a few drinks before going arm-in-arm with strangers and friends alike as the ball drops in Time Square. As tradition dictates we will be swaying and singing along (whether we know the words or not) to the 1788 Scottish folk song, "Auld Lang Syne", which roughly translates to "a long time ago".

The sentimentality of the song invokes memories of friendlier times, and holidays surrounded by loved ones. Living in Korea and walking down the streets of Gangnam during New Year's, that song playing in a shop window brought tears to my eyes. The song reminded me of home, and how much things had changed in a year.

Not surprisingly, the songs reminiscence and longing is one reason why the song was banned from the battlefield in December 1862 by the Union Army. After a terrible loss in Fredricksburg, generals were afraid that the men would desert if memories of hearth and home were evoked by this poignant song. 

For the lonely, it can be a gut-wrenching reminder of what has been lost, or what has not yet been found. Simulataneously, it also the one song during the year when people freely embrace strangers and celebrate a moment of peace. Albeit, often as a result of too much bubbly. 

As Dave Tomar of the Huffington Post put it: "Even if you haven't a clue what it means, Auld Lang Syne evokes an undeniable sentimentality, a disorienting nostalgia, an instantaneous affection for the people around you at that exact moment; loved ones and strangers alike. A New Year stands before you, brimming with possibility. Whatever the hell that song is about, it makes you well up with a distinctly wintery kind of warmth."

This year, I will be ringing in the New Year again at my friends' house in Mogadore. While my friends have definitely fallen into the "old friends" category given the number of years since we left college, they have always been by my side. Whether I come alone (pretty much every year) or with someone else, I am always welcomed into their home to share Christmas Ale by their hearth. 

New Year's Eve is a night of possibility. A new year lies ahead, and the old year is behind you. Whether it was good or bad, it will soon become a part of the past, and the new year will soon become a part of the present. Everything is possible, and everything is yet to come.

Yet as Dave Tomar once again elegantly states, "This is the first song that we hear every single year. That's a huge responsibility. Even if it's just another date on the calendar to you, even if you don't really get hung up on the whole clean slate thing, even if you're kind of a bummer to those of us who like to make a big deal out of things, it's hard not to get swept up in the momentum of this song. It tells you everything you really need to know for the coming year: Stay close to the people who matter."

As "Auld Lang Syne" plays in the background or roars loudly from the mouth of the drunk next to you, the song reminds us of what is important, the people in our lives that love us. Perhaps you will be spend the night alone, but you will not be lonely forever. Even if you haven't found the one, your life is still full of the ones who do love and care about you. It should be enough, for you and for me to get through another year, no matter what it brings.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,

And surely I'll be mine!

And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes,

And pu'd the gowans fine;

But we've wandered mony a weary fit

Sin' auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidled i' the burn,

Frae morning sun till dine;

But seas between us braid hae roared

Sin' auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere,

And gie's a hand o' thine!

And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught

For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.