Recipe: Peas in a Linguini Garden

There is this new 6-episode documentary series on Netflix called Chef's Table, and it is amazingly delicious! It follows these world-renowned chefs and tells their stories about how they made it into the foodie world.

Oops, I dropped the lemon tart

That is a dessert by an Italian 3-Michelin-starred chef. One night, his sous chef dropped one of the last two lemon tarts... and wanted to kill himself. Massimo was like, "Dude! Firstly, no need to overreact. And secondly, you're a freaking genius. Let's serve it like art!"*

*This quotation is my interpretation of what possibly happened. He's Italian and super creative and probably said something much cooler than that. 


So... I realize I'm more of a normal, everyday cook. I don't have training, the avant-garde mindset, or feel the need to redefine the traditional grandma's recipes. I kind of throw things together and hope it turns out ok. But I love food and I'm always trying to learn and improve on flavors and presentation. But really, I just want to make pretty and yummy foods for all my favorite people!

The other day, I was reading some Jamie Oliver recipes (you know: quick, fresh, wholesome) and came up with a pasta dish that I love, mainly because of the colors... and well, it tastes yummy too!

Let's call it, Peas in a Linguine Garden.

Prep time: 5 min | Cook time: 15 min | Serves: 6

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground Italian sausage
2 handfuls of grape tomatoes 
1/2 lb. green beans, mushrooms, etc.
1 bag frozen peas
1 box linguine pasta
1/2 lemon
optional: fresh grated Parmesan Reggiano to finish

Directions:
1.  Wash & prep veggies: half the grape tomatoes, half the mushrooms, trim green beans.
2.  Boil a pot of water and cook linguine until al dente. (Don't forget to add salt in the boiling water.)
3.  Meanwhile, heat EVOO in a pan and brown ground Italian sausage.
4.  Cook the bag of frozen peas according to instructions. (my $0.99 Publix frozen peas take ~5-6 minutes in the microwave so I throw those in about now).
5.  When the meat has barely any pink left, add veggies (green beans, mushrooms) and saute around.
6.  Add halved grape tomatoes and squeeze in lemon juice from 1/2 lemon. Let simmer for 3 minutes. Take off heat.
7.  When pasta is done, reserve a ladle of the pasta water before draining. Add to the sausage & veggies pan to make slightly more liquid.
8.  Plate: Pasta. Sausage and veggie topping. Grated cheese. Top with cooked peas.

When I went back for seconds, I realized that the husband doesn't love peas and I was going out of town the next day for a long weekend. So if I didn't want to throw away the peas, I'd have to finish them...

Hmm... I dunno, you think maybe I put too much?

#EatingOurWayThroughTaiwan

My husband and I both have family in Taiwan. After we got married, we wanted to visit the extended family there who weren't able to make the trip to Florida for our wedding.

The trip was planned around the our company's annual Shareholder Meeting in Taiwan, and we were able to persuade every single family member in the States to make the trip with us! Twelve people (my dad, my stepmom, my brother, my sister, her new husband, my aunt, my grandma, Jason's parents, his sister, and her husband) journeyed over from Orlando, Miami, Los Angeles, and Denver to meet up on the little island of Taiwan.

Both of our brother-in-laws had never been to Taiwan, so this was a perfect opportunity to experience the home country of what they married into... and eat the delicious Taiwanese food that we can never stop talking about. Nom nom nom!

It was basically a 2 week vacation + some family time + a little bit of work mixed in. Let's just say #eatingourwaythrutaiwan was our most used hashtag on Instagram...

    

This trip gave me some insight into how opportunistic we have it in the States. I never noticed how evident it still is today, but the majority of the Taiwanese are still very old-fashioned... the women are expected to be obedient and care for the household, the family inheritance often bypasses elder daughters and passes down to the first-born son, the ancestry tree only archives the marriages and kids of the sons, and it's rare to see women hold positions of power (though it does happen).

I'm grateful to have grown up in America, to have been encouraged to discover who I am as a person, and to be taught that my worth is the same as the person sitting next to me, regardless of gender. Of course, we're not entirely there yet, but I'm proud that a woman can become the President of the United States, and that we're evolving with the times, trying to put a woman on the $20 bill. 

On the flip side, growing up in old-fashioned Taiwan does have advantages. Kids seem to have a healthier, more wholesome childhood compared to those in America. They still fly kites every weekend, run around on the playground, and play games with other kiddies on streets. None of them are playing video games or watching TV shows on their smartphones. I really don't know how parents are able to raise privileged but well-rounded children... it must be the challenge of a lifetime, whew!