Bow-Tie Pasta with Tomato and Goat Cheese Cream Sauce

Ahhh... pasta. This ain't your mom's spaghetti. Not that there's anything wrong with your mom's spaghetti. I love making pasta. Not only is it easy, but I never make it the same way twice. There are so many variations out there.

I came across this one through my wife, Trisha. She saw this delicious treat out there in blog land and I thought, "Looks like another great experiment!"

It turns out, that this was very easy, quick, and pretty darn good. I had never thought of combining goat cheese with tomato soup for pasta sauce, but it actually turned out very well. The real surprise, however, was in the toasted pine nuts. They added a unique flavor that isn't typical of pasta and they really rounded out the whole dish. This recipe also calls for two tbsp. of white wine. You know what the best part about that is? You get to finish the rest of the bottle while you are cooking this dish!

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Bon apetite!

Ingredients
1 bag/box of Bow Tie pasta
1 cup frozen peas
4 tbsp. dry roasted pine nuts
1/2 tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/4 cups of tomato soup

1/1 cup of half and half
2 tbsp. dry white wine
6 tbsp. of creamy goat cheese

Directions
1. Cook pasta as normal. Add the peas to the water with 3 minutes left in cooking time.
2. While pasta is cooking, roast the pine nuts over medium heat in another pan until toasted and fragrant. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
3. In the same pan saute garlic with olive oil for a minute. Then stir in the soup, half and half, and white wine. Bring to a brisk simmer. Reduce heat and simmer for about 3 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.
4. Add cheese. Stir while it melts into sauce.
5. Add salt, pepper to taste.
6. Once pasta is done, drain it and toss the entire dish together.
7. Top with the pine nuts.

Enjoy!

Candy Bars

I ate some candy bars recently. They're kind of similar. It's Three Musketeers, Milky Way, and Snickers. I used to think that Snickers was the best and Three Musketeers was the worst because of how much junk is put in each one, but now I feel the opposite way - mainly because of the nougat part of the candy.

Snickers - This has peanuts and caramel on top, but it has the lowest quality nougat inside. Also most of the space in the candy bar is wasted with the peanuts.

Milky Way - The nougat in here is better than in the snickers, but I feel like the caramel is a waste of space.

Three Musketeers - This thing is all nougat. I know what I'm getting and I like it. Also, I like the name better than the other two candy bars I talked about here.

If I had a choice between all three candy bars, I would pick Three Musketeers nearly all the time. The other times I would pick snickers and milky way to remind myself of why I like Three Musketeers more.


Update: It has come to my attention that the name of the candy bar is actually "3 Musketeers" and not "Three Musketeers". Maybe I was just excited to spell out the number.

New York City Hotels video

New York City hotel rooms range widely in price. Certain times of year spent in New York City are understandably more expensive than others. Christmastime, for instance, is a popular New York City destination, with special holiday celebrations and productions taking place in and around Rockefeller Center and Manhattan shopping districts. Times of the year when wildly popular Broadway productions or Madison Square Garden and sports events take place, for instance, can drive up hotel room costs.

Bed and breakfast accomodations are another option for lodging New York City offers, and they can be found throughout the city. Options range from the traditional Victorian to the more modern, and all offer the "home away from home" atmosphere and neighborly feeling that may not be found in New York City hotel rooms.

New York City! What can be more ordinary, trite and simple. New York and Romance! These two notions are mutually exclusive! But, if to try your best, it is possible to find out even more than 5 romantic places of interest in New York. It is a subjunctive opinion; so, if you can propose something from you, go ahead!

Now, when you are not hungry anymore and will not be interesting in eating the next 2 or 3 hours, you can go directly to the Empire State Building. The building itself is not either very beautiful or historically significant, no! the only one thing, you can touch the skies and heavens from its roof! Its Observatory Deck was shown in a great number of movies; among them are Affair to Remember, King Kong, Sleepless in Seattle and many others. But be careful, it no use even try to get there on th 4th of February, when a lot of couples want to tell there such words as “I love you!”

The best $200 hotel in New York is in New Jersey—a one-stop, four-minute PATH ride or short Water Taxi ride from lower Manhattan. My room has water and city views (not all do, but my ultranice front-desk agent upgraded me because there was available space). The room is 400 feet, with low-key and sophisticated touches: a granite bathroom sink; a rather masculine taupe, brown, and gray color scheme; a good-size desk for working; and very upscale bedding—plus a spectacular view of the Woolworth Building.

"Slow-Cooker" Sweet Potato Red Curry

In my past cooking adventures, I have always been afraid to stretch too far out of the status quo when it comes to the famous "slow-cooker" crock-pot. I think I've made just about everything that everyone has had a million and one times at Super Bowl parties or other social gatherings where throwing something in a crock-pot and leaving it alone for six to eight hours is just a convenience. I have made the obligatory BBQ pork butt, chili con queso, traditional chili, beef stew, and frozen meatballs. These were all I really knew how to do with a slow-cooker, chiefly because they were intuitive and relatively error-proof (although I really did mess up a chili once because I forgot to drain the beans). Let's just say it wasn't "work-safe" to take for lunch.

But recently, my sister-in-law and her husband gave us a Vegetarian Slow Cooker recipe book for Christmas and I thought, "What the hay? Why not try one of the recipes?" To the naked eye, many recipes I find are quite complex and call for ingredients that are rare, costly, or just plain ridiculous. If you are like me, you don't just have garam masala and cardamom pods laying around your kitchen. However, several of the recipes in this particular book seemed appealing and were much more accessible to an untrained, accidental cook like me. There was one recipe that appealed to me and seemed simple enough to make while still preserving the intent of the "hassle-free" crock-pot.

It turns out, it was easy and delicious. I hope you can try it and enjoy it as much my wife and I did.

Ingredients
2 pounds small red or yellow potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces.
1 small bunch of green onions diced
1 green bell pepper diced
1 can of coconut milk (found in Asian aisle of grocery store)
5 tablespoons red curry paste
2 tablespoons brown sugar (or more if you want)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 large sweet potato (the orange kind)
1 cup frozen green peas
1 can of sliced water chestnuts
1/2 cup of unsalted cashews
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro for garnish
1 cup of water
Ground cayenne pepper

Steps
1. Wash red or yellow potatoes (peel if you want) and place them, along with onion, in the slow cooker. Do not put in sweet potatoes yet.
2. Mix the coconut milk, red curry paste, water, sugar, and soy sauce together and pour over potatoes.
3. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours or until potatoes are tender enough to poke with a fork.
4. Add the sweet potatoes, bell pepper, peas, and water chestnuts and cook for another 2 to 3 hours on low. Mix in cayenne pepper to your own personal heat preference.
5. To serve, sprinkle the cashews and cilantro on top and serve with white or brown rice.

Bon apetite! This also reheats very well. I would store the rice and curry in separate containers in the fridge.

Wisdom of the world - Week 133

Being heard

The whole family went out for a meal one evening. Menus were passed to all including Molly, the eight year old daughter. The conversation was an “adult” one so Molly sat ignored. When the waiter took orders, he came to Molly last.
“And what do you want?” he asked.
“A hot dog and a glass of lemonade,” she said.
“No”, said her grandmother,” “she’ll have the roast chicken dinner, carrots and mashed potatoes.”
“And milk to drink,” chimed in her father.
“Would you like ketchup or mustard on your hot dog?” asked the waiter as he walked away, taking the parents aback.
“Ketchup,” Molly called out. She turned to her family and added, “You know what? He thinks I’m real!”

Barcelona Hotels

In June and August 2008 (exact dates to be confirmed), music, dance and art lovers staying in Barcelona shouldn't miss "The Grec". This Barcelona festival offers a great mix of entertainment with music highlights. Each year the organisers suprise the international audience who attend the Barcelona Grec Art Festival by bringing up something new and completely different. That is why visiting "The Grec" is a unique experience every year.
As it attracts many tourists interested in the arts and is one the most important events in Barcelona's cultural calendar, you might want to consider accommodation offers of Barcelona hotels or Barcelona apartments for this amazing summer highlight.
Teatre Grec is a theatre in the Montjuïc Mountain, which was built in 1929 by the Catalan architect Ramon Reventós as the ancient Greece theatres due to the 1929 International Exhibition in Barcelona. Today its main use is in summer festivals like the internationally well-known Festival Grec de Barcelona.
Art and literature, flamenco and classical music, ... - there truly is something
There are 84 guestrooms at B-Hotel. Guestrooms have balconies. Bathrooms feature shower/tub combinations with handheld showerheads. They also offer phones, bidets, and complimentary toiletries. Guestrooms offer direct-dial phones and in-room safes (accommodate laptops). Televisions have cable channels. Air-conditioned rooms also include desks, minibars, remote lighting/drapery/curtain control, and electronic/magnetic keys. Guests may request irons/ironing boards, extra towels/bedding, and wake-up calls. Housekeeping is available. Cribs (infant beds) are available on request.

























The Arts Barcelona, or to give it its full name the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Arts Barcelona, overlooks the magnificent Port Olimpic and is an incredible sight in itself. With 5 different dining areas ranging from the ‘Chic informal’ Bites to the ‘Jacket and Tie’ Enoteca there is something for everyone’s tastes. Full housekeeping twice a day, babysitting on request and a complimentary overnight shoeshine and morning paper give the Arts an air of extravagance and the terraced gardens, outdoor swimming pool and numerous bars combine to make this a reassuringly expensive hotel to stay in during your trip to the beautiful Barcelona.

Opened in October 2005 in an old Philippine tobacco-company headquarters, the 169-room Hotel 1898 takes its name from the year the Philippines gained independence from Spain. This high-end hotel's old-fashioned approach to hospitality is an antidote to the overdesigned swarm of boutiques that have colonized the city in recent years; it attracts a fortysomething crowd that's in touch enough to want to be based in the center of town.
Catalan designer Rosa Rosselló's vision is firmly rooted in the 18th century, and draws on the building's original carved wood and plasterwork and evocative black-and-white photos of tobacco plantations. Rooms and corridors are striking in black, red, and green candy stripes; the best are the suites, which have private terraces, plunge pools, grass lawns, and views of the Ramblas from the hotel's perch on the Plaça Catalunya end of the street. Expansive views are also to be had on the roof terrace; it's an ideal spot for a glass of cava (Catalan sparkling wine) at sunset. In the basement, the guests-only spa revives the jet-lagged in a faux-Roman bathhouse with arched ceilings over a turquoise pool.



























Hotels in Barcelona Spain come in two, decidedly different, flavors. Hotels in the Ciutat Vella, mainly the Gothic Quarter and along La Rambla, are centrally located and convenient for sightseeing, though sometimes short on peace and quiet. Cheap hotels in Barcelona are generally found in and around this district. Beyond the Gothic Quarter, in the wider and cleaner streets of the Eixample neighborhood, travelers will find the nicest (and most expensive) Barcelona Spain hotel options. The Gracia district, though farther from the city center, offers a middle ground between the sometimes noisy Gothic Quarter and the four-star Barcelona hotel options in the Eixample district.

Radisson Hotel reviews

Glasgow is a revitalized city, perfect for a pleasure or business meeting. There are a fine array of shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs and nightclubs. Also if you love the football, Glasgow is home to the Celtic and Rangers football clubs. The Radisson Hotel is one of the finest four-star hotels in Glasgow. With its very modern design and very centrally location, it was awarded a gold award with the Green Tourism Business Scheme only, a couple of months after opening.
Located just three kilometres away from the city centre, the Radisson SAS Hotel & Spa Limerick is on the N18 Ennis Road leading to Shannon Airport and is easily accessible from European and transatlantic destinations.
Limerick, Ireland's third largest city boasts many excellent examples of medieval times with King John's Castle & St Mary's Cathedral.

Alongside the magnificent River Shannon, a short stroll to the city centre takes visitors to the fine Georgian avenues, pedestrian shopping areas and cosy side streets. Leading Irish and international designers sell their wares alongside antique shops and well-known department stores. A variety of restaurants, bars and night clubs offer live music. Museums, theatres and the University Concert Hall offer a wealth of cultural opportunities.

Limerick is also a haven for avid golfers with the Doonbeg, Lahinch, Dromoland and Shannon golf clubs just a short drive away from the hotel. There are a wide variety of tourist attractions such as Bunratty Castle and Limerick Racecourse that holds popular races throughout the year and are within easy driving distance from the hotel. Limerick is also famous for its sporting activities, such as rugby, hurling, golfing and fishing.

Radisson SAS Hotel & Spa, Limerick is Ideally located on the borders of counties Clare & Limerick the Radisson SAS Hotel and Spa, Limerick offers luxury accommodation, award winning restaurant, newly refurbished bars, conference/wedding facilities & Rain Spa and Wellness Clinic. Located just 3km from Limerick City, 5km from Bunratty Castle & 14km from Shannon Airport

Set on twenty acres of landscaped gardens the hotel offers luxury and elegance to the discerning traveller. The hotel also offers 154 superbly appointed bedrooms. All generously sized guest-rooms feature an individual temperature control panel, pay per view movies & radio channels, coffee/tea making facilities, luxury king or queen size beds dressed in Egyptian cotton linen, reading chair & lamps, manual personal mini-bar, personal coded safe, trouser press and complimentary WI-FI access, Spacious bathrooms include bath or power shower with hand held shower massage, sink/vanity, hair dryer and loudspeakers from TV/Radio system.