Our Favorite Pasta

When I went to school in England, my friends and I took a side trip to stay in Juan Les Pins, France, (near Nice). This is where this pasta dish started and I've changed and adapted it since. I called it my "Juan Les Pins Pasta" recipe and that's what I jotted down on note paper, brought back with me and is still in my recipe book to this day. One our friends that traveled with us was an aspiring chef and even had his own college cooking show so he would go out and buy great fresh ingredients to cook us wonderful meals in the apartment we rented. Now, it's a favorite of ours and when I ask my husband what he would like for a special meal, this is the usual request. It's an easy pasta dish with penne pasta (or sometimes rigatoni), a tomato sauce with Italian sausage and sprinkled with fresh grated parmigiana reggiano cheese. Last time I made steamed broccoli to have on the side and we always have some buttery garlic bread to dip in the sauce. It's fantastic with a glass of red wine and we enjoyed it with Cabernet last weekend.

A (Pretty) Good Latte

I went to Mary Ann's Chocolates today in East Grand Rapids to pick up a few treats. I was delighted when they handed me my vanilla latte to see it had this pretty fern design they put on the top. Most places just froth the milk, pour it in and hand it over, but they actually took the time to finish it off with flair. It's not only pretty, but it's the best latte I've had in a while. Now that I'm back home and Audrey is napping, I'm going to sit in front of the fire with my book, enjoy my chocolate truffle I got there and finish my latte.