Quick dinner pastas

We're back in the grind. Vacation is over meaning it's back to cooking daily and the excuse of being lazy is no longer plausible. I was in a funk the last month. I had no energy or creativity to come up with new ideas so I stuck to what I knew and made Filipino food after Filipino food. It's comforting, it's home, it's what I know, but my creative juices weren't flowing.

I've had a lot of coffee the past 2 days. It's a good sign, really. It means I'm back to making quick meals.

This was my quick less than 20 minutes dinner.

Calamari Linguine

Ingredients:
2 cups worth sliced calamari (I just buy the frozen kind)
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic, minced (or I used Tastefully Simple's garlic garlic)
1/2 tsp red chili pepper flakes, or more if you want it hotter
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 meyer lemon, zested and juiced
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
salt to taste
1 package linguine, cooked according to directions, 2 cups of cooking liquid reserved

Cook your pasta according to directions. But seriously, you can cook your pasta while you're making the "sauce" because they'll be done in about the same amount of time.

In a sautee pan heated to medium heat, add your red chili pepper flakes, lemon zest and garlic. Lightly sautee for about a minute, then add your calamari plus 2 teaspoons of salt. I rinse mine first before I add it, Make sure you drain most of the water before you add it. Then add the juice of the lemon and continue cooking until you see the edges of the calamari curl a little, about 2-4 minutes. You don't want to overcook it because calamari tends to get tough. I used garlic garlic which I got from a party I went to, but fresh garlic works.

Add the pasta once the calamari is cooked. Follow with the cheese then combine everything together. Adjust your salt if it needed and if the pasta seems dry, add 1 cup at a time of pasta water. Finish it off with the cilantro, serve right away.

Photo uh, every 3 days

Well I'm already off to a fantastic start. I'm posting photos every 3 days now.

Day 2 was a short but sweet visit by E's godmother and her fiancé.

 Day 3 was a photo taken while hanging out in our front yard, soaking up some beautiful spring sun rays.

Day 4 is lounging down and watching TV in mom and dad's bedroom after a very exhausting park day.

Photo a day project

I'm debating starting a photo a day on Elliott. I've been ooh-ing and ahh-ing on Kerianne Brown's Photos lately. I've been in so much awe on how much she's done with natural lighting. I'm currently in the process of just gearing up my studio and well, the money isn't rolling in as quickly as I would want it, so buying gear wouldn't be so wise right now. I'd love to invest in strobe and the whats-its of photography later on down the line, but these are all the arms I have and I feel like I've always had a good knack with natural lighting.

I'm still understanding my new camera which I'm so in love with. I needed a project and a lot of people have been doing these a photo a day projects. It seems to be too much work but I need a challenge. So this is me testing it. Testing, testing--- is this mic on? So Day 1--- it's cloudy and crappy outside. A complete turn around on how yesterday looked which was 82 degrees and a dream weather for anyone that wishes to come to California. My son woke up at 6:30 today as oppose to his 8:30 schedule, and all he wants to play with is his new Toyota matchbox car.

Happy weekend everyone. I'm braving taking my child to the movies for the first time today. I'm armed with cash for popcorn. I got this.