This is my second time making this recipe, and both times I’ve declared it’s maybe my favorite pasta recipe.

The original recipe calls for snail shaped pasta. Unfortunately, the grocery stores we go to have a limited array of pastas, last time we went with some sort of snail shaped we found, but this time we went with a trottole. We thought it would absorb the sauce well, but I’d say it was better with shells like it is supposed to be. It was still good, but go for the shells if you’re making this for company. It will look less like hamburger helper.

Mushroom Marsala Pasta with Artichokes
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Giada De Laurentiis)
Serves 4-6

3 tb olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 pound mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned and chopped into small bits (I’ve tried it with creminis and baby bellas, both were great.)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus 1 tablespoon for pasta water
1 cup dry Marsala wine
1 pound pasta, thimble-shaped or snail-shaped (or really, whatever you want)
1/2 pound frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Place the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for one minute. Add the mushrooms and one teaspoon of the salt. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until all the moisture has evaporated and the mushrooms have cooked down. Both recipes say it takes 10 minutes or LESS. Maybe I have a much less powerful stove or something, but both times I’ve cooked this, it’s taken much longer! For me, it wasn’t fully evaporated for about 20 minutes.  Add the Marsala and continue cooking until almost all the wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Stir in remaining salt. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and add it into the mushrooms, Marsala and onions. Add the artichoke hearts, Parmesan and cream and cook until the artichokes are heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and pepper, then season to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

I want sooo badly to have a black bathroom. But sadly, I think that’ll be a dream made true when we’re in our future house that we own. Gideon is probably not into the idea of painting anything else. UGH.

Until then, I can swoon and dream.

I guess it’s just because black and white looks perfect and toilets and sinks are usually white so therefore black looks best with the white? Yeah. Pretty.

(images clockwise: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 )

My temporary bathroom at my dad’s house (while I temporarily lived with him again while I had a temporary mid-century life crisis) was in desperate need of a dark coat of paint.

I went with a dark navy, but bathrooms look so much better dark! Why doesn’t everyone darken their bathroom?!

Ever since we removed our tiny tv from the kitchen counter, we have a lot more space on there. When there is space, I fill. I decided to buy this super crappy frame for $8 at CVS.

I cut the matte to make one large opening.

Then I busted out my old watercolors from the closet and painted a couple girls faces, but decided to just stick with an eye. Does it look a little Nagel-inspired?

Then I broke for lunch. Bagel with basil and tomatoes. So good.

It took me about 25 minutes to cut the matte and do the painting. And now we have a little painting our kitchen counter! YAY!

I really don’t make soup, but now that we own soup crocks, we gotta start making soups! I read this recipe in Bon Appetite at the hair salon and took a picture of it with my cell phone.

The recipe was for four servings. I will usually keep the recipe as is, but french onion soup leftovers sound whack. So I may have messed this up. Also, you have to caramelize the onions for 15 minutes, stirring the whole time. Longest 15 minutes of your life. I don’t know how the danger dog ladies do it at 2am.

I don’t know if you’re supposed to fill the soup crock with bread completely so that the cheese doesn’t sink to the bottom and actually bubbles on top, but the recipe didn’t have photos so who knows!

Classic French Onion Soup (serves two!)

1 medium onion, chopped (I kept them thick)
half a tbsp of unsalted butter
half a tbsp brandy
2 cups high quality, low sodium beef stock
1/2 cup grated gruyere
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4-6 1/2″ thick slices baguette, cut to fit soup crocks

Preheat oven to 450. Cook onions in a skillet over high heat, stirring constantly until soft and caramelized, about 15 minutes. Add butter and toss with the onions to coat. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the brandy.

Return to heat and cook until absorbed, about 30 seconds. Add beef stock and bring to simmer. Here is where we decided it didn’t look like enough soup so we added another 3/4 cup. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper. Place the crocks or ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet. Divide soup, top each with 2-3 slices of bread. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese on each.

Cook for about 4 minutes, until the cheese is browned and bubbly. Or in my case, not. Either way, it’ll be delish.