It’s been a while—so long that when I logged into WordPress there were seven updates waiting. How did that happen?
The good news is I’m officially back in Southern California. I moved over the past week and I’m slowly turning a house into a home. I even had to make my first “grown-up” purchases: a refrigerator and a couch. Buying a refrigerator turned out to be much simpler than selecting a couch.
Refrigerator shopping was easy because our kitchen had a very small allotted space and only three models fit. We chose the most affordable option—wedding bills and student loans make sensible choices necessary.
Couch shopping was the opposite. We found a mix-and-match set advertised for $1,099 and picked a configuration we liked. When we went to buy it, the store refused to honor the advertised price, saying the piece we chose shouldn’t have been included in the ad.
After several days of emails and phone calls to corporate, messages through their Twitter and Facebook accounts, and a complaint to the Better Business Bureau, we finally received a call saying they would honor the advertisement. I don’t understand why they didn’t do that from the start.
They even left the ad up for days after the incident, which makes no sense. You’d think a company would correct an error to prevent another customer from going through the same problem. Instead, they took their chances—bold, if not a little reckless.
Anyway, we finally bought both the couch and the refrigerator and now we’re waiting for delivery of all the pieces so we don’t have to sleep on the floor anymore. We’re also still waiting on our mattress. I don’t mind the floor, but my partner absolutely hates it.
I haven’t cooked in the new kitchen yet because we spent the first three days without a fridge. Now that the refrigerator is in, I still need to go grocery shopping to stock it. Ah, the little hassles of moving.
It didn’t help that it was 104 degrees the day we moved in. Goodness, LA summer.
I’m craving a home-cooked meal. We ate out for every meal the past few days because we had no fridge, and while that sounds luxurious, it gets old fast.
Even a simple pasta dish sounds perfect right now—as long as it’s made in my own kitchen.
This lemon pasta was easy to make and full of bright lemon flavor. The spinach and roma tomatoes added color to the otherwise pale dish, and the chicken made it satisfying.
from the recipe crayon box
Serving Size: 4
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb angel hair pasta
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp crushed red pepper
- Perfect Chicken, cut into chunks
- 2 lemons, zested and juiced
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup Parmesan, grated or shredded
- 1 cup baby spinach, stems removed
- 1/2 cup roma plum tomatoes, halved
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Directions
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain, reserving 2–3 tablespoons of the pasta water.
- In a large skillet over low heat, warm the olive oil with the garlic and crushed red pepper until the oil sizzles, about 7–10 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice, heavy cream, and reserved pasta water to the garlic oil. Cook over medium-low heat until it begins to bubble gently.
- Toss in the pasta, lemon zest, and 3/4 cup Parmesan, mixing for a minute or two to coat the pasta in the sauce.
- Add the chicken, spinach, and tomatoes; mix until evenly combined. Top with the remaining cheese and serve.