Eat. Sleep. Design. And Repeat.

----- Let's Eat not Design -----

Long time no write readers (silent applause). It's okay, I made you a dish to replenish your taste buds for your mind, and stomach. I've come to a point where I ran out of things to write, and because summer facilitates the laziness so well. Anyway, less design and more eating in this post today. I conjured up a delightful dish of pasta with ingredients I already had in stock.

Cooking is like designing. First, you brainstorm what to make and what you have in hand to work with. Second, you start executing the concept and process. Third, the finish and presentation. I opened my fridge I found goat cheese, Italian sausages, fresh basil, red onion and some tomatoes. Then the penne from my pantry, and here is how they met each other:

- 2 medium tomatoes — diced

- 3 sun-dried tomatoes — sliced into thin stripes

- half red onion — diced

- 1/4 cup of basil — chopped

- 2 gloves of garlic — chopped

- 1 Italian sausage (hot or mild)

- goat cheese

- 2 cups of Penne -

- tsp. of dried oregano 

- tbsp of red wine

- 2 tbsp of cooking oil

- black pepper and salt

1. Boil water at medium heat, add salt and pasta; stir occasionally. Ready when its al dente. Drain and set aside. (save pasta water if your sauce needs it)

2. Meanwhile at the same time, prep all the ingredients. Peel the skin off the sausage by making a short incision. Next, roll the meat into gumball sized meatballs. 

3. Heat pan with oil. Add garlic, onion, sun-dried tomatoes until lightly browned. Put tomatoes and red wine, and oregano;  stir for 30 seconds. Add sausages. 

4. Once the sausages are cooked (they will feel firm), season to taste with pepper and salt. Stir in a tablespoon full of goat cheese; it helps thicken the sauce.

5. Add the penne; sprinkle basil and mix until all ingredients are well blended. 

6. Garnish with goat cheese and basil.

7. Done.

Italians and Chinese are quite similar. They're loud when they're angry—and happy. Adult children are still acceptable to live with their parents. Family is large and important; weddings go big or nothing at all, and we love our food; it's always about the food. Which is why both cultures share similar taste buds. Sometimes a risotto is 2 cups of water away from being congee; our noodles are pasta's grandparents; cannoli is sexed up egg roll. See the similarities? The point is pasta can be dressed up like a congee or a plate of lo mein; it's just the foundation, you can dress it up any way you want.

Buon Appetito! 食飯啦...!! (how my family howls dinnertime )