My birthday has once again come and gone, but the celebration isn’t over yet kids. I plan on going ballz to the wall this weekend come hell or high water. This past weekend was just the calm before the storm. I spent a relaxing 24 hours (… yeah, you heard me; 24 hours) in a cabin in the woods with my boyfriend and cat. It was perfect, despite being about 48 hours too short. The hot tub, the solitude, and the snow that fell Sunday night was perfect – I finally got some snow, on my birthday no less 🙂 I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect night in.
The house came equipped with a grill and some sort of outdoor fire pit decorative thing, which miraculously kept burning even throughout the snowfall. We did groceries at the local Shop Rite grocery store, and they had a surprisingly good seafood section – the scallops were way better than the ones I get at my local ratchet market here in Brooklyn, and the fish was also excellent on the grill:
It truly sucks to be back in the city and back to work after such a short respite. I think I need at least a full week off to feel fully refreshed, and even that will be cutting it short (I think I am just not suited to working a 9-5, Monday thru Friday corporate job, if I’m to be completely honest…). I went to sleep at like 9:30pm last night watching At Eternity’s Gate (the new-ish Willem Dafoe movie wherein he plays van Gogh), but I still woke up absolutely exhausted and in need of at least 3 more hours of sleep this morning. I hate falling asleep before 11pm because I feel like I am wasting precious non-work hours. I am also upset that I missed the end of the movie, since it was right up my ally and I was really enjoying it. Willem Dafoe and van Gogh – two of my favorites… what’s not to love?! I will finish it tonight, if the rental is still available.
Tomorrow is already Wednesday, but the weekend feels so very far away. I guess you’ll have that when you live for the weekends. Last night upon returning to NYC, I was just too tired to do groceries and cook, so I ordered an eggplant parm hero and fries. What a way to start the week and celebrate a birthday. Anyhow, here is the recipe for the scallop pasta pictured above!
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 lb. of wild-caught sea scallops (fresh or frozen is fine)
- 2 lemons
- 4 TBS. (1/2 stick) butter
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 4 cloves fresh, finely minced garlic
- 2 TBS. finely chopped, fresh parsley (plus more to garnish… which I failed to do as seen above)
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 box of linguine (or fettuccine, or spaghetti…)
DIRECTIONS:
- Put a large pot of heavily-salted water on high heat (for the pasta) to bring to a boil, while you prepare the scallops.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter and about 2 TBS. of the olive oil together, over low heat.
- Add in the minced garlic and cook over low heat for about 2 minutes, being careful not to burn.
- Add in the scallops and raise the heat to medium.
- Cook the scallops for about 3 minutes on each side – I suggest flipping each scallop only once.
- After the scallops are cooked through (I suggest taking one out and cutting in half to try), add in the salt, pepper, dried oregano and dried basil and squeeze in the juice from one lemon.
- Once the pasta water has come to a rolling boil, add in the box of pasta and cook until al dente.
- Drain the pasta and add into the saucepan with the scallops.
- Add in the rest of the olive oil, along with the freshly chopped parsley, more pepper, and the juice of the second lemon and stir/toss together all ingredients.
- Add a garnish of fresh parsley to serve.
#basicbitch
The High Heeled C*ntessa 