Fulton Stall Market...

First summer Fridaaaaay! :) Went to Fulton Stall Market w/ Julia and Jay. made a pit stop @ the Banh Mi food truck (separate post to follow).

There weren't that many vendors but not many greenmarkets will have 3 little kids play cello and violin so deftly and amusingly :D I was hoping for more offerings, though there was plenty of coverage in terms of greens, baked goods, cheeses, and seafood. I know this looks all fall-y but it was still tasty!

YAY. These eggs were huge--at least 30% bigger than the EXTRA LARGE eggs at the grocery store. Even those are rather big compared to the regular 'large' ones. Is it just me or is the naming convention a little off? Didn't buy any but was very tempted since I'm also sorta in a fritatta phase. MEHBEH next time.

Onto animals!...

Shore catch only had like 3 types of fish but they were purty and ...substantial looking! I have no idea what the fish were except one might've been flounder since it looked like the underside of what that just went thru the transformation! :) and Scaaaaaaallops! And some fish that was blue with yellow speckled dots!

My favesies was Sang Lee Farms--their asparagus was HUUUUGE but SWEET! and crisp, tasty, vibrant! Not to mention their various sauces--the pesto was "eh" since honestly after bringing back pesto from Liguria, Italy--it's a little hard to readjust my set point. Anyhoo--the ginger scallion dip was surprisingly addictive and "punchy'--u'd think ginger/scallion would be mild which in subtlety it is, but it's a damn good dip.

My only gripe is Sang Lee producs are a little expensive--except the asparagus was $4.50 a bunch and that was enough in one bunch as 2-3 bunches of regular asparagus! And purple asparagus! woohoo! The dips and pesto (which are the same size as those plastic containers of hummus) were $8.50 and $9.50 respectively. Yummay...but hell no I'm not paying that much for dip. :(

The goat cheese chevre and hot pepper jelly the Sang Lee table had out for tasting was REALLY GOOD. I like expanding my palate but hot pepper jam isn't exactly my cup of tea--but this was grrrrrrEAT! :) The goat cheese was milder and a bit creamier than what I identify with goat cheese, which I would suppose make it go even better with the jelly :) YUMMAY JELLAY!

This is from Breezy Hill Orchard & Knoll Crest Farms--which also had some bad ass apples. I'm partial to their Fuji since I usually prefer fuji and gala apples anywa. BUT, their wine sap was interesting. I forget what the third is.

The apples were smaller than I thought they'd be--I mean I tend to think farm fresh fruits and veggies would end up being smaller than the ish @ supermarkets--but given the ginormity (yes, ginormity :D) of the asparagus and tomatoes etc, I thought they'd at least be a little...bigger. These fit in your palm for the most part =/ Great texture tho!--one thing I dislike about apples sometimes is it has this..disintegrated papier mache feel to it. Dunno how else to describe it--but not crisp! And the supermarket ones are nowhere near crisp and well ripe like these!

Stony Hill Farm also had some tasty looking fruits. If u click on the photo u'll see one funky lookin' strawberry. Quirky! Me likes. Fairly certain this is also from Stony Hill. They also seemed to be purveyors of italian goods too--there was ur usual offering of Loacker sweets--but there were other biscottis I don't usually see around. Some were more breakfasty type like S'Doro's or whaver they are! EHHHH.

I didn't really care to take pics of the baked stuff but it looked pretty solid. *shrug*. Also ignored a good chunk of the cheese and the wine vendor. OH WELL. wasn't that interesting. There's a photo of Cupcake Express on my flickr but i don't really care about that!

Instead, here's a questionable picture of fresh mozarella cheese from Hoboken Farms, with purveyor of said cheese. hehe.

Julia and I also go the mozarella--while it was creamy and had that...mozarella musk to it, I might have to say the mozarella @ Whole Foods (whatever it is) might just be a bit better b/c the texture for the Hoboken one is a little firmer and smidge drier than I'd like. Good color tho!

Overall--not sure I'd make the trek all the way down to South Street Seaport so much--but def would come back if I was to hit up Water Taxi Beach and DEFINITELY for those damn apples and scallops and asparagus!! pretty much most of Sang Lee :P... and mozarella (maybe!)

Crawfish!...

I've had a thing for crawfish and crawfish boils for a while now--my bro has been doing them @ our house back in CA for some time but...now I've got the fevah, and the only cure is more cowbell! er...crawfishies!!! ^_^ woohoo!

Very much into eating seasonal and I hope to sweet jebus that it's crawfish season--sorta. Summer...boiling...i dunno. BUT it's here!! This wkd I went with Albee to the Ninth Ave International Food Festival in midtown--just a glorified street fair, but a couple more cuisines than usually at these things. The only place that had the crawfish was the Delta Grill booth (also based in midtown, 48th & 9th ave). WEEEEE!!

Nummy num num. There was rice and...i don't know to be honest I didn't pay attention. There was jambalaya--the pic abouve is of the sausage, rice, crawfish boil, and crawfish etouffee--which I must try for another time b/c me likes etouffee and that whole smother everything over rice concept :)
There were 2-3 carribean food joints that were pretty good--I wanted to try some conch fritters but 1. you know it's not fresh conch, and 2. it wasn't ready yet :P. Didn't pay attention to where I got this from :(

This was the oxtail & rice we had--complete w/ plaintains and some pickled cabbage-y stuff that was...decent. I thought the oxtail should've been more tender and be of the "fall off the bone" kind of texture and yumminess but alas. The sauce itself was pretty good--but I think had the oxtail been simmered longer that sauce would've had a creamier consistency and more intense flavor as well. Can't complain tho! mmmmm nummy nummaaaay. Plaintains were simple--i think just sauteed with some garlic and that was it!

BACK TO CRAWFISHIES!!

This makes is evocative of some...great crawfish battle that seems to have transpired--a la the Zach Snyder film 300. Except u know--instead of Spartans, these little critters tried to fend off the mighty hordes and dieeeeeeeeeeed! Their teeny little carcasses stacked up in the wake of the most nom-able epicurean war.

Also makes me want to quote Braveheart :D HEhehehehehe...

"Make haste, Dilios! Back to Spartaaaaaa!" ......................"Okieeeeeeeees!"

All right--one more with a caption and whatnot cuz...it's fun to play with your food and I was far too behaved as a wee littl'un to have used or fathomed making my critters prance and speak with accents--or switch nationalities and storyline mid-food-'n-play :P...

"Mah nem eez Claude! I am ze damn crawfeesh! Un'and meeh! Zut alors stoopeet countrayman! I am go-eeng to keel you! Mon dieu you ahr 'eartless, I am how you sey...veray deddd!!"

:D I haven't been much of a fan of sucking on the crawfish brains but--I get it for the most part. It's the juiciest bits and soaked up most of the seasoning during simmering...that and dammit if u're paying that much for boil and let's be honest, the damn tail meat is meager in terms of shell/mass to meat ratio, you bettah make the most of its bits to make it worth it!!!

How might one--"de-husk" a crawfish, per se? Wellssssss....I like to pinch it lengthwise and crack the shell along its back. Then I hold it with its underbelly towards me then I splay it backwards...against that initial cracking if u will. This then thrusts the tail meat out in tact as u peel back the broken swimmerettes and all!

et voila! ze crawfeesh! eet eez ready for ze consumption!

And that's not grease btw--it's just how the seasoning stains your hand a bit cuz you hafta get all up in the crawfishies and dismantle them and all.

That was pretty much it :) Albee wasn't much a fan but ohhhh I still am. Unlike with ramps, my singular fixation with crawfish has not waned (and far from abruptly :P).

Oh...and we had "the best cannoli" from the Fortunato bros (which I hafta say...is pretty damn good). Not too sweet, had some mini chocolate nibs inside.

I def prefer this over Ferrara's cannoli's since F-bros' are made with ricotta! Hate the pastry cream filling otherwise!! booo! Also had some forgettable greek sweet, and savory pastries which were soggy and cold (and a bit bland) from...wherever. WHATEVER. :)

Ramps Rampage at Craftbar!...

This past Sunday, after a very very long work week, and...very long couple weeks of feenin' for ramps--I overloaded w/ RAMPS(!) @ Craftbar with Albee. Actually, I debated getting the chicken pate & ramps sammich @ Num Pang, then ramps on the menu at Mas, Savoy, Lupa, Otto (ramps pizza!), Bar Artisanal (white asparagus + bottarga with RAMPS! ), Beppe, A Voce, and Spotted Pig (RAMP SOUP! TEEE!! and ramps w/ fried duck egg!) and anywhere I could google ramps on the menu to my heart/stomach's desire. Back Forty in the EV should have it--as should a lot of restos in the city this season. Ramps are wild leeks that are like if Onion and Garlic married--or rather, had an orgy with lots of onions and lots of garlic :D

Albee & I settled on Craftbar b/c they were open on a Sunday, had a seasonal (and appetizing) menu, was close by, and...hearty-seeming meal to be had :) To start of with--desserts!! The mint ice cream on my brownie was DIVINE b/c it didn't taste minty--it tasted mint-leaf-y! Made me as delighted as I was to have culantro/long coriander! SO refreshing, SUCH a better version of 'mint' compared to the processed, saccharine mintiness. I def can see how people might prefer 'mint' to be a more tactile/taste-buds tingling experience but this is FLAVOR! and REFRESHMENT! not...slapping your tongue around a bit trying to get a sensation.

BUT--this is actually the pistachio 'sorbet' :) Very VERY pistachio-y in that it tastes like actual roasted pistachios! And (as much as I like the pistachio spumoni @ Spumoni Gardens) incomparable to the unholy fluorescent green and fake pistachio flavoring to most ice creams--except the Haagen Daaz pistachio is actually pretty damn tasty but it tastes more like pistachio cookie than quintessence of the pistachio nut itself! My mint ice cream & brownie to punctuate this entry latah...

First...pork shoulder w/ tomato molasses and RAMPS MARMALADE! and then hamachi w/ pineapple puree and RAMPS!

Then for entrees--Albee and i got MORE RAMPS! :) We split the Tagliatelle w/ tomato ragout and RAMPS! See that sprig pulled up to the corner? That's a limp but roasted ramp :) TEEHEE! Isolated just for you ;P

Very simple dish--tomato ragout had deep flavors (obviously had a lot of time to reduce--*ahem-popupshopinwilliamsburgwhoneedstolearnthisidea!*). LOVE a tasty roasted/super reduced, well seasoned (as in lightly) tomato (whole tomaters methinks--and totally not overpoweringly dense tomato-y flavor either).

And also split the casunziei (kah-soon-zee-ay) which is a stuffed half moon pasta with BEETS(!), grana padano cheese, ricotta, brown butter, spinach, and pooppy seeds.

If they had RAMPS ice cream I'd totally eat that--I had garlic ice cream @ The Stinkin' Rose in LA and fundamentally ramps is...wild leeks with a more spring-onion-y look...AND is sweet-ish in pickled form so I'd see that as a tasty possibility ^_^. Brownie was nice, whip cream was light! MINT ICE CREAM IS SO MINT-LEAFY!! It was like eating a real leaf minus the cellulose and chewing :D So subtle, delightfully airy ^_^ Happy happy. (tewtally elevates the idea of brownie a la mode as some pedestrian diner-food or playdate with rugrats kinda thing!--for certain, the ice cream is made fresh, all natural in the BEST of the word as opposed to...super-ascetic-granola-birkenstocks-recycled-plastics way. Respecting the ingredients!)

I heart Ramps!! Must go to union square market...buy...ramps...now! YARG!

Bếp pop-up shop...

Mondays @ Simple Cafe on S.3rd st & Bedford in b-burg, BK. One of my friend majorly panned this place for the Pho so I had lowered expectations going in--I figured since it was a pop-up shop that's managed to be around longer than most people thought it would be AND hopefully since it *has* had more time on the block then things theoretically would've been tweaked with continued customer feedback...that mehbeh it wouldn't be so bad, eh?

EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. That's pretty much how I would sum up eatin' @ Bếp. not "eh." but "EHHHHH." with maybe a shoulder shrug held for about 5 seconds in addendum. Followed with a crooked turn of the cheek kind of "eh" smirk. This be the crew. Long bench tables, small slate chalk board for specials menu. Small print-out menu w/ commie looking font and a star. Comrades, COMMENCE!

I'll start off with the best thing of the entire meal (the only palatable thing!)--THE FLAN! :)

I lurves me some flan--and the firmer it is the better. Not...too fond of the custard-y texture, it's not what I grew up with. That, and the custardy texture creeps me out. Could've used a little more carmelization to amp up the sugar/smokey top AND would've added a little more depth and viscosity to the subsequent sauce. A little strong in the coconutty flavor which is a little strange but totes mcgoats fine by me! :) Not THE best, but better than lots I've had in the city. Doesn't compare to Bar Bao's pandan flan with the other ish--but the highlight of Bếp.

Here's the deal--everything was decent except one rather EPIC FAIL that supersedes any thought one might possibly have as to what epic fail could be. A NEW SET POINT FOR EPIC FAIL. But first some fairer foods:

There were a couple specials--the mango/red cabbage gỏi with shrimp and the shrimp chips, the flan--and something else but we got those 2. Something they could've done was squeezed the water out of the cabbage since it was shaved super finely and thus watered down the already sweeter fish sauce mix/dipping sauce as u people refer to it ;)

You can see here that everything's a little flaccid--even the damn shredded banana flower (brown stuff on top)! It SHOULD BE FRIED! and crispy! Adds a diff texture to the whole thing period! Limp limp limp! Julienne the salad! Shred it! not finely shave!! Or...just give it a good squeeze b/f u plate it dammit. Otherwise, not as crunchy either. Could've used a bit more straight up fish sauce (which was readily available in a squeeze bottle :) I couldn't identify the brand or type but it was less earthy and lighter with a smidge more tart-ness to it). Other than that, generally well received by the group--well as in "eh" well with an "all right this is doable" head nod, no head shake. :)

Consensus on the egg roll/spring roll was goodish. I got carried away breaking it apart to looka t the insides--looks like morel or some other mushroom was used instead of wood ear. I nitpick b/c wood ear has a diff texture and more flavorful factor to enhance the meat mix. Meat mix itself was too finely processed--didn't feel very meaty at all. Generally both this and the "summer roll" should've been a bit more robust and better tightly packed. Too much carrots in there given the ratio of meets to veg. The outside/roll part was I think the thin rice paper (same used for the summer roll) which isn't...the best but still actually made it better received than expected b/c the homies liked the diff texture it brought when it was fried. (a good chunk of us are from heavily asian-populated communities in California.)

Summer roll: pack it tighter, pack it it with equal meats--or rather, more proteins, period! Shrimp is aiites as well as a pork substitute (tenderloins slow cooked please!). I can't remember if this was the one with the wrong cut of meat or the pho. Probably the pho. Otherwise, the pleasant surprise about the summer roll was that it had the mint and other herbs in there--should've been better distributed and more amply so as discusseds in prior prior paragraph! Flaccid and under-fed looking rolls and anemic salads :P ALSO--there is NO SUCH THING AS SPRING/SUMMER ROLL. see endnote. -.-

Vermicelli with seared shortribs, egg roll, veg & 'dipping sauce'. Hard to really screw this up. THey didn't. But they didn't do much with it either. Again, things were weak in flavor, composition, substance. Not much to add to it. They ran out of the "Bún bò Huế " (Hue style noodle soup) which I was lookign forward to trying out b/c you don't see it on lotsa menus here AND it's actually pretty effin' delish to have sometimes--just manifests itself as a really specific craving b/c the taste and ingredients are quite distinctive from general Vietnamese seasoning and whatnot. WHATEVER. not on menu here anymore either. :( Back to the vermicelli. I give it a 6 outta 10. Given that everythign else hovers around 5/6...and ou of the entrees, this fairs much better than that wretched pho. -.-

So wretched I only want to show u part of it. jk :P Real pic following, but first just..focus on that broth. LOOK AT IT. It looks like..shit's emulsifying or...well, i dunno if u can really look that closely or discern but...the broth...looks like the meat particles/residuals are just floating around like a supersaturated solution. YES i used a chem ref BUT SERIOUSLY. Major sign that it's not simmered enough OR rather...I don't know what they could've done to muck this up but the broth has no depth, no body--not even comparable to CANNED CHICKEN BROTH or beef broth, let a lone pho broth. O.o

This was like--having the beef strips soak in hot water for an hour or something instead of the BONES. Did they not use the right bones? Was it not reduced enough? Simmered @ wrong temp so the flavor bits and whatnot didn't integrate into the broth as well? DID THEY USE WATER TO START WITH?! what is GOING ON?! It's really baffling b/c--i *never* would've expected the broth to be this wack. Not just wack--UNIDENTIFIABLE! I mean...canned chicken broth from Gristedes would've been a better and complementary substitute! The beef strips were "ehh." One of the cuts was wrong--I can't identify the diff cuts but one of the strips they used had tendon on it and was chewy/stiff and striated--it resembled more of the pork or beef cut that's usually slow-cooked in a crock pot, usually served a bit pink in the middle and sliced to use as stuffing in the "summer rolls". WHAT THE EFF?
the VERY VERY POSITIVE thing...(the only positive thing and could never actually redeem this damn pho AT ALL but does redeem the...intentions of the owner's/chefs)...is that they had mint leaves AND culantro!! CULANTRO!!!!!! ^_^ I love the smell of it, it MAKES the pho pho (er..not in this case but whatebbs.) They didn't plate a lot of bean sprouts either, but they had culantro!!! ^_^ Also known as long coriander and...a bunch of other names. It's vibrant, a little citrusy (but very very low note of citrus). Can't describe the taste--not that close to cilantro but that'll suffice. They were missing this other smooth leaved herb which I can't rememer the name of but it's in that trifecta of herbs w/ culantro and mint :D WEEEEE! thai basil? who knows.

If this pho had a rating, it'd be negative 5. YES. B/c it's not even PHO. it makes no sense. maybe negative 2 for the inclusion of culantro :D All in all? everythign's a little too sterile, a little anemic, a little lacking in flavor. Would I go back? no. Would I if I was in Williamsburg for some reason on a monday? Maybe--if they had the flan and I had free reign of the fish sauce squirt bottle for teh rest of the stuff! :) Which--I also commend them for having the straight up fish sauce out on the table as a staple condiment :P And so, I leave you with a picture of my comrades--at least it was fun getting us all together on a bench. Very...pinko aesthetics no? Guess that's what they're going for--at least that was better executed than at Republic in Union Square!

--
(btw--highly vexing: there's no such thing as spring/summer rolls, we call it fried, or plain ol' translation as 'salad roll' which actually isn't even that close of a translation b/c "gỏi cuốn" means rolled salad-y thing that's shredded. "Gỏi" means a mix of shredded (usually) cabbage, maybe papaya, mehbeh carrots mixed in etc. most of the time with the fish sauce mix (with rice vinegar, garlic, lime juice, pickled jicama and carrot shreds--julienned for the most part), and sometimes with this vinegar mix with a bit of salt and pepper. Even effin' wiki refers to it as both--who the eff is responsible for this american etymology?!)

Tia Pol w/ the roomies!...

Good friday brunch @ tia pol :) i def don't eat around in my 'hood enough. Still haven't gone to Co. for pizza or John Dory for...welsh rarebit!! :P and other things of course hehe...

Got TONS of food--this is the fried artichoke hearts salad, the spanish version of bruschetta but with 3 diff spreads with saffron on it! ^_^, ham and bacalao croquetas, rice and squid ink--I'll show how you just how inky!!...later...hehe...but first...a preview of some tasty strangeness--Emily got the chorizo and chocolate crostini (essentially)...

The sangria @ Tia Pol is the best I've had in the city--nay in ...EVER. not boston, no CA, not...wherever else I've been granted I've still not been to spain :P or any major latin-american country. :P Really enjoyed the tortilla española! essenetially a fritatta with potatoes, onions, red peppers and some sauce that's just like the one in the patatas bravas....

I hafta say...the patatas bravas with paprika and whatever the heck that sauce was was friggin' TASTAAAAAAY. yes. tastay. not y. ay. Sop it up after everything is gone and ask for more bread tasty. The squid ink sauce was even super duper extra tasty compared to that!

Back to the...CHORIZO & CHOCOLATE!!!... :)

MY MY MY. super rich salty but then rich smooth bittersweet--and then...bread! I thought it was gonna be like a thin smear on the toast but NOoooOoo...whole slather! glorious! I like I like...(I couldn't decide to tempt you with that decadent shot in the beginning or the middle of the entry but...obviously one of them won out :P Pretty salty tho!! luv me some chorizo...

...but still not as much as the squid ink.. YUM. See?!?! inky inky goodness!! :D

MMMMmmm...so I still haven't posted my Rome foods or the rest of Sicily or Cinque Terre..or...Florence foods actually but we ate all the regional foods and I did get a chance to try the squid ink pasta in Palermo and it was so fresh and AWESOME b/c it was so gritty and inky and savory. However...this...squid ink, much smoother in texture and flavor (waaaay less fishy) and just...strangely enough, exponentially better (but maybe by like..squared instead of cubed :P). hehehehe

...One more of the patatas bravas "leftover" sauce :P. Cuz honestly--what's a tran post without half eaten, smeared, gloppy food that makes you wanna wipe it off with some napkins--or lick it off the screen?! Aioli...it's aioli..with...whatever in it they won't list on the website. BOO!! :)

Spaghetti Carbonara....a la tranio!....

I'z made two batches--but it'll just look like I magically turned snow peas into asparagus with a slight of hand. Because I am just THAT magical.

This was my fabulous second batch--with TWICE as much white wine, 30% more eggs, and loads more pecorino ^_^ I have to say tho, that extra white wine really does add a lot more depth to all these flavours and...yummaaaaaaaay. aaaaaaay. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

It's kind of...really about timing with carbonara. You should boil the water right before you cook the bacon and sautee the greens so that hopefully by the time you're sauteeing and it's going off the pan, the pasta is just a couple min away from being taken out. It's kind of like garlic & oil pasta but hopefully not THAT much oil to work with b/c....that's a whole lotta bacon fat and ur veggies are gonna be greasy--and if that coats ur pasta then it'll make it hard for the carbonara sauce to coat the linguini.

This be the pre-tossing and pre sauce--i'll write up the recipe below. Purty much what I like to do is cherry-pick from a handful of diff recipes and then fudge the amounts and (possibly throw in some fish sauce HEHEHE...*ahem*) modify i to my liking and...adventuresome. The prep pics and the one under is of the 1st batch--i think I actually thought "EFF IT!" to the wine in the first batch b/c I've neve really cooked with wine...that and I dunno...the wine I had was pretty random from Astor wine.

The big thing is NO CREAM. none none none. I think cream is gross but that's from...some bad experiences with cream growing up. Plus it's a little cheating no? I really don't think you should use parmesan cheese (SERIOUS) and never cream. Parmesan is just..overplayed and for the most part pales in comparison in terms of adding flavor.

* * * * * * * * *
SPAGHETTi CARBONARA
....w/ White Wine, Pecorino, Pine Nuts, Asparagus,
Pancetta, & Crushed Black Peppers!...

1 box of linguine (bigger surface area!)

1 bunch of asparagus (I might have split that half green & half white asparagus)

1/2 pound of bacon or pancetta

1-1.5 cups of white wine (cheap is fine, if not perfect. somethign tart and vibrant)

6-7 eggs (if it's the smaller eggs then yeh go w/ the extra)

1.5 cups of shaved/grated Pecorino cheese


a buttload of garlic :D

Prep the sauce stuffs first!!! So...crack all those eggs in a bowl, some seasoning (like fishsauce :D) if u please but REALLY sparingly b/c the pecorino packs a punch. Anyway--so the other recipes called for like 1/2 a cup but I kinda eyeballed it at first--then I thought OH WHAT THE HAY and poured in as I liked. I'm guestimating 1-1.5 cups of white wine :D. Now to balance that out, I ended up grating in more pecorino to balance it out and add more texture. Visually you'll know what you want in terms of viscosity so...do what u will. Black peppers, whisk whisk whisk.

Cut up asparagus into i guess..1-2cm chunks whatever u want. Slice up the bacon/pancetta/guanciale if u can get it into strips the width of your ring or pinky finger--throw it into the pan (no butter or oil). Render the fat blah blah--I tend to end up skimming out some fat cuz it's kinda...insane how much comes out. I use this to toast the pine nuts or whatever nuts you want. I had extra snow peas one night so I used that--but I def like the asparagus. Sautee either one (snow peas if u want more crunch) briefly in with the bacon. Needless to say there was a ton of garlic in there already--sometimes I end up using like...6-7 cloves. HEEHEH...*ahem*.

* * * * * * * * *

NOW--tricky part...per se. MAKE SURE THE PASTA IS STRAIGHT FROM THE POT and pretty damn hot (don't really rinse...just pull it out with that pronged pasta thing, quick couple flicks of the wrist to remove excess water and then straight into that pan with bacon & greens). You can see my pasta cover the bacon/greens bits but DON"T mix yet. Pour in the carbonara sauce--it's raw eggs so the hot pasta will cook it through--but I just put the whole thing on super low heat and constantly tossed and stired just to be sure.

* * * * * * * * *

It's like omelletes--u still want it a little runny. Otherwise it's like...scrambled eggs and spaghetti. NO. no no no no. :) Pine nuts in there, toss toss toss, chopped parsley for some color and some freshness. My version removes a lot of the pasta and overloads on the sauce b/c it's creamy and I wants creamy and a bigger sauce to spaghetti ratio!! 1lb pasta might be much. I think I might've just used 80% of the box. Again...lotsa eyeballin' :P

I'm tired. good luck. f*ck around with it! This is the basis for some bangin' carbonara. HONESTLY the pecorino (and EXTRA pecorino cheese :P) and extra white wine helps. I think I really lucked out that my white wine was pretty tart but still mild and bright. It was some cheap bottle from Astor wines. Sleepy time. PEACE.