Recipe: Pasta with goat cheese and asparagus

Shake things up at your next Wednesday Spaghetti with this super-easy, but really tasty, pasta recipe.

Pasta with goat cheese and asparagus
1 lb. spiral pasta
4 oz. log of fresh goat cheese
1 bunch of asparagus, cut into pieces about 2 in. long
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 or 2 cups fresh chopped basil
olive oil
salt
pepper

1. Boil the pasta for about four minutes, adding a few dashes of salt after the first minute or two.
2. Add the cut asparagus to the boiling noodles and allow the pot to boil another two or three minutes. (The asparagus should be tender but still firm.)
3. Drain the pasta and asparagus together, reserving one cup of pasta water.
4. Meanwhile, combine olive oil, lemon peel, basil and cheese in a large bowl, breaking up the goat cheese as you put it in.
   
5. Add hot pasta and asparagus to bowl, along with a couple slashes of the pasta water. Toss until smoothly combined, adding more pasta water if needed.
   
6. Season generously with salt and pepper.
   

No more excuses!

There are a million excuses for losing touch with your friends. “I’m too busy.” “We’re on different schedules.” “We live too far apart.”

Wednesday Spaghetti seeks to put an end to these excuses and to bring friends together over a nice, warm meal. What a simple, yet novel concept!

Since I can rarely make it up to Philly for Wednesday Spaghetti at Lora’s house, I started my own tradition called “Scrumptious Saturday!” My dinners differ from the original Wednesday Spaghetti idea in that I do Saturdays instead of Wednesdays since I don’t get home until 6:30 p.m. on the weekdays, and I don’t serve pasta. Instead, I cook a meal based on a theme that I choose.

Cooking is a passion of mine, so I love having an excuse to spend all day in the kitchen and to try new recipes. Jack usually serves as my “Sioux chef,” so cooking gives us an opportunity to spend some quality time together.

Also, having a weekly “dinner party” motivates me to keep my house clean. It’s not a feeling of obligation. I know my friends don’t care if there’s cat hair on the stairs or a pile of dirty towels outside the bathroom. It’s just that I want my house to be a comfortable and cozy place, especially when I’m opening my home to friends.

My first ever Scrumptious Saturday! had an Israeli theme. I made falafel and hummus from scratch, as well as Israeli salad, sour cabbage and labenah. I spent a total of 8 hours in the kitchen that day! Christine and Emily, new friends from my trip to Israel, and Alena, a friend since childhood, joined me for dinner that night. Alena brought her husband Melvin and little Andy, their toddler son. Andy wasn’t up for the Middle Eastern food, but Melvin certainly put a hurtin’ on the labenah!

Perhaps even more popular was taco night. I scoured the local Hispanic shops for hand-made tortillas. I made pineapple salsa, molidos, gallo pinto and mojitos using the mint from my herb garden. My friends Natasha, Kaki and Eddie hit it off, which was nice. Eddie brought her two little ones, Sofia and Isabel. Isa crawled around on the floor, while Sofia “watered” the papier-mâché Mexican flower I had given her to play with.

The past three Scrumptious Saturdays were part of my month-long birthday celebration. (Yes, I get a whole month!) The first weekend, Lauren and Matt, a couple of my Philly friends,came to Charm City to help me celebrate. I didn’t make dinner since it was my birthday, but we did plenty of drinking! Lauren, Matt, Jack and I hung out until the wee hours of the morning talking about the past, present and future.

The next Saturday, Kaki, Emily and Christine met me at Dukem, an Ethiopian restaurant in downtown Baltimore. We tried Ethiopian beer and ordered from a menu we couldn’t decipher. It was so much fun! We ate with our hands and speculated about which dish was which.

Lora and Nadine came down from Philly last Saturday for the final b-day celebration. My friend Monica also joined us. I didn’t make an elaborate meal—just a salad with strawberries, walnuts and feta cheese. We drank gin with lemonade and chatted while sitting around my dinner table. Then we went to “the bar” and had some more cocktails and good conversation. I hadn’t seen Nadine in three years, so it was nice to catch up. Monica headed home around midnight, and the three of us girls stayed up chatting until almost four in the morning. The next day, Nadine went home and Lora and I walked to Fells Point for brunch. We talked about everything and nothing all at once. That’s the beauty of good friends. You can go from serious to silly and from meaningless to deep conversations. You can be open and honest and can pick up right where you left off, no matter how much time has passed.

Scrumptious Saturday!

As some of you already know, I have decided to start a dinner group similar to Wednesday Spaghetti here in Baltimore. The first-ever Scrumptious Saturday was last night--you can read all about it on my blog, In So Many Words.

The Wednesday Spaghetti ladies are always welcome for Scrumptious Saturday! If any of you are ever in the Baltimore-area on a Saturday, stop in for a great meal and good company--you have an open invitation.

Cats (update)

Well, after much debate and opinions sought, I decided to adopt this sweet, little kitty.

Her name is Ethel (we'll change that). She is about 9 weeks old. She's not officially mine yet, but I am approved for adoption.

Thanks to everyone who gave input!

Cats

Fellow Wed-Spag Ladies, I need advice.

I am considering getting a second cat. I know many of you are "cat people," so I was hoping you could help me make a decision.

My current cat--also known as princess--is very sweet and loves to play, but I'm not sure how she'd feel about another critter in the house. Sometimes she seems lonely (like when I'm ignoring her to do dishes or something), and I think: "she needs a friend."

I love cats. More is always better. Well, maybe not MORE litter boxes and vet bills.

What to do? What to do?

Lying to children

Working for the world's largest-museum complex makes for great people watching. At lunchtime, I often sit outside on a wrought iron bench in the Castle's perfectly manicured gardens, just watching hordes of tourists go by and making observations.

Today a man, woman and two children walked by holding hands. The little girl looked trustingly at the man--I'll call him her father, for the sake of argument--and asked, "When did they come up with the idea to make the Smithsonian." Without blinking an eye, her father responded, "1874."

Close, but no cigar. The correct answer is 1846.

Parent's lying to children is not uncommon around here. In fact, The Washington Post wrote an article, "Father Knows Best?", earlier this year about parent's making up information in response to their kids' questions about objects on display at the Air and Space Museum.

I wonder how many lies my own parents told me. I never believed in the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus, but that's probably because I'm Jewish. I do however recall being told things like, "Quit making that face or it will get stuck that way" and "don't swallow your gum or it will stick to your insides."

What lies do you remember being told? Do you lie to your kids? Do you plan to lie when the "where do babies come from" question pops up?

Help! I'm a frizzy mess.

I'd like to ask you lovely ladies for some hair care advice.

When I came home from the salon last week, my hair was smooth and shiny. My newly cut layers fell around my face in a sultry, Victoria's Secret Angels kind of way. I tried to preserve this look as long as posisble, but eventually I had to wash my hair. (I won't tell you how many days I waited.)

Thanks to my serious lack of styling skills, my beautiful haircut is now a dull, flat, frizzy mess. Ok, it's not that bad. But I definitley need help.

I suck at blowing my hair out and need any tips you can offer. I think I need a new brush. I use the cheapest mousse I can find for blowdrying and Pantene heat protectant for flat ironing. I am considering buying curlers, but I don't know how to use them.

Please help!

Lora,

I'm sure I speak for the entire Wednesday Spaghetti crew when I say thank you for creating this blog. You are always so thoughtful!

Charm City

This weekend I discovered a fabulous little Italian deli in my neighborhood, and thanks to Di Pascale’s plump meatballs and garlicky gravy, I am finally ready to accept “Charm City” as my home.

When I first made the “big move” two years ago, I drove back to Philly almost every weekend. But, as gas prices started going up, my trips became less and less frequent.

At first, I desperately missed Philadelphia. I missed the way Philadelphia’s pedestrians politely ignore one another when passing on the street. I paid a couple of hefty traffic tickets for turning left on red and nearly caused accidents doing the “south Philly slide” through stop signs in Baltimore. Store clerks glared at me when I refused to engage in small talk. I cringed each time I heard a Baltimorean say “Bawdmore” or “Warsh.” I longed for hoagies with “gabagool” and “prociutt’” on fresh baked bread from Dinardo’s and hand-made “muzzarel” braids from Mancuso’s. Ahhh....

While I still have a special place in my heart for Philly, I think I am finally beginning to “adjust” to my new life in Bmore. I have learned to give a “nod” when I walk past someone on the street and to comment on the weather while the convenient store clerk rings up my purchase. I’ve really begun to appreciate Baltimore’s “small town, regular person” feel, and I love how unpretentious Baltimore’s nightlife scene is. (Even our martini bars aren’t snooty :) And, now that I’ve found Di Pascale’s Italian deli, I feel complete again. Funny how something so simple can make a person feel at home.