Coffee, Ham Sandwiches, And Moi

My life has become so damn boring lately that I'm even tired of myself.  

The highlight of my last week was making and eating brownies with a salted carmel frosting.  Of course I ate too much and felt sick for the rest of the day, until I took a nap and then made chicken and noodles.  That was Saturday.  

By Sunday night, I felt revived enough (and the sugar had all left my body) to eat another big chunk of the brownies.  They still tasted awesome, and I have decided that I have not lived until last Saturday, when I made that salted carmel frosting.  

Now it's Thursday night; I have tomorrow off but have to spend it sitting at the hospital waiting for my Mom to have a special experience with a scope in a special place. This will be optimum reading time, since I have no idea how long it will take, and don't want to leave and come back in case something weird happens.  Nook will be fully charged and a back up book will be in my purse.  

I talked in my last post about reading off the shelves at home, and rewarding myself with a $5 deposit in my trip fund for every book I read that I already have at home sitting on my shelves.  Well, I'm up $5!  Finished a wonderful book and found the letter  from the publisher in the ARC I had on the shelf--and it was dated February 2011.  So yes, I had that book on my shelf for a year.  So long that it originally came out in hardcover, and now the paperback is coming out in a few weeks.  Oops.  (BTW, ARC means advance reader's copy.  Usually a paperback version of the book that's coming out in hardcover.)

But this has fired me up!  Bud was laughing at me last night as I prowled from bookcase to bookcase, perusing the titles and trying to figure out what to read next.  Like I don't already have 4 books started.  Now I'll have 5.  

And since tonight I'm going to be lying on the couch, reading away, I though I would include a recipe for a super easy dinner that Bud calls "Breadcrumb Pasta". I made it last night for supper cause I wanted some comfort food, and after a busy day at work it is a no brainer for a quick meal.  I calculated a rough estimate of how much it cost to make, and I came in at around $5 for both Bud and I to eat a huge pan of it.  I substitute deli ham for the proscuitto, since it's so horribly expensive.  I bought enough ham to make myself a few sandwiches and have enough left over for homemade pizza on Friday night.  Here's the recipe, courtesy of Giada de Laurentiis:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/orecchiette-with-toasted-breadcrumbs-recipe/index.html

Oh--another thing:  I cut down on the olive oil a bit, and keep back a cup of the pasta water just in case the pasta gets a bit dry when you're mixing it together.  I also toss the ham into the breadcrumbs while they're toasting so it warms up.

I usually roast broccoli to have with this, too.  

There's always enough left over for Bud to have for lunch the next day.  This is how much I love this man--I give up this highly addictive pasta dish for his lunch.  Sad clown face for me!