Pasta + Creativity

I am slowly building self esteem through carbohydrates. Here's a riddle: would you rather lose ten pounds or feel good about your current weight? I think the answer is the latter which is why shapewear exists and I once skipped a kickboxing class to go purchase some. Sadly, I am too weak for the flesh and organ-shifting necessary to make me look slightly thinner, that shit is hot and uncomfortable and I returned my future-corset after deciding I'm pretty much done with bras (would you rather pay money for bras that make your tits look great or feel good for zero dollars? Uh, duh)(everyone in this air conditioned library can probably see my nipples).

So perhaps the expense and time and sweat and potential chubbiness of making pasta is worth it for the pride. Because now I'm not just playing around with different dough textures, finding the right one for me as if I were dating looking for the one except less sad and more possible. Oh no. Now, I'm fucking with sauces.

On the night I decided to fuck with sauces, I made a gorgeous batch of fettucine.

I mean, come on.

Martha Stewart's pasta recipe is so easy it might be insider trading?

Having decided earlier that I would fuck with sauces, I walked down the hill to get a bottle of white wine for the base. While doing that and returning a library book, I high fived a man carrying a pizza in the middle of a dangerous crosswalk. Side note: if you know this man, please propose marriage to him on my behalf. Back up the hill, I treated myself to a La Croix to quench my hill-thirst and got to work chopping.

For vegetables/aromatics, I went with carrot, shallots, garlic and... lemongrass! Oh yeah, I was getting creative. I love bright, herby lemongrass in Thai food, so why not here? I sauteed those up, then added saffron threads, white wine and some old Parmesan rinds I had for richness. When the alcohol had cooked off, + butter and lemon. Finally, I had defrosted some langoustine tails from Trader Joe's, so I warmed those up (they're precooked) in the sauce right before I cooked my pasta.

My aromatics! 

As any creative person knows, self-editing is difficult, but crucial. While my pasta sauce was awesome, I think it would be way more awesome if, after cooking, I blended everything except the langoustines together to make it saucier instead of the warm salad I had going on. Maybe a touch of cream to help it stick together? But I will definitely be saucing without a recipe again soon, as it was surprisingly easy and way too much fun. Just like not wearing a bra!