Nine In The Afternoon

the weatherman predicts that it'll still be raining for quite a while.
guess he's wrong. it didn't rain yesterday and neither did it today (:

the skies are all blue and pretty today.
it's so fitting, like it's only right i should have closure to certain things. and dwelling on some things which are not meant to be, are probably just a waste of time. yes, i think i should finally feel at ease.

the holidays have been passing by real fast. three weeks, yeah?
i sleep in till it's late, if not till the afternoons. and the internet have mostly been my source of amusement (: a couple of old DVDs at home are good too (: i've also got a new laptop that's a blazing red in colour, keeping me accompany in bed during the past rainy days. yay! and the whole trouble about finally deciding which direction to head after life in a polytechnic..

a few books i'm just getting into these days.

getting the chance to go the library and borrow those much-wanted cookbooks by Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, that i have been wanting to read for so long, is just a liberation really. i always missed trips to the neighbourhood library when life gets so busy and i don't have the time to read. browsing through all the delicious recipes now sets me off to a "i-shall-cook-up-a-big-feast-by-using-up-everything-in-my-kitchen" kind of mood.

and i made dinner just the other night; baked pasta for the first time!
i jot down the recipe when Jamie Oliver made an appearance on The Martha Stewart Show and did a demonstration of one of his italian pasta recipe from "Jamie's Italy".

i forgot all about pictures because i was a little too occupied with making dinner right, but so here's only a few.

the pasta getting baked in the oven as the cheese is melting.

i used those bow-tie shaped pasta, called farfalle instead the shell-shaped ones the recipe used. the recipe also recommended 2 types of cheese but i only used mozzarella. from my brother's feedback, more cheese (meaning quantity), would have made it better.

and when it's done! (:
the farfalle pasta start to look like baby crocodile's feet sticking out of the melted cheese the more i look at them :D (refer to the pasta in the oven to see my point of amusement. haha.)

my family loved it. i thought the portion i made was too litte for 4 servings. but then again, maybe i was hungry. my mom even asked if i could do it again for her another time (: i'm gonna try it again exactly how like the recipe states next time, layering the cheese, the pasta and sauce in the dish before i bake it. but in all, it was really easy and took less than 45 minutes. so worth trying ((:

more expeditions in baking to come, hopefully! (: although i'll be starting work real soon, at a restaurant in town as a part-time wait staff. just trying to learn as much about the restaurant and foodservice business while i can (: wish me luck!