Rigatoni alla Boscaiola

I was craving a pasta with Italian sausage and was searching for a recipe.  I found a this one that sounded tasty in one of Lidia Bastianich's cookbooks.

I used a mix of shiitake, crimini and button mushrooms. The cream and parmigiano-reggiano added a nice richness to the sauce. This is a really easy pasta dish and one that I will definitely make again. 

Buon Appetito! 

More Campari!

Here is another yummy cocktail made with Campari.  Mix 1.5 ounces of campari with the juice of half a pink grapefruit, stir it over ice, and top with sparkling water.  Ta Da!  The flavor is amazing - bitter yet sweet with a little fizz.  A perfect summer cocktail!  Cin Cin!

Campari & Orange

I am a HUGE fan of Campari! A Negroni (Campari, Gin and Vermouth) is one of my favorite cocktails out there. Campari is a bitters and aperitf made from the infusion of herbs and fruit in alcohol and water. It has a very distinct flavor that people either love or hate. And I personally LOVE it!  Now that Spring is here and the weather is getting nice outside, I love to drink Campari & Orange. All it is is a little Campari, a little orange juice, and a little Pellegrino served over ice. It tastes a little like grapefruit juice with an herby kick...YUM! And if you buy the Campari and decide you don't care for the taste, send it to me and I'll take care of it ;)

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

It's been a while, sorry folks! I have lots of stuff to post; a folder full of photos and recipe notes. I've just been busy, or lazy... or both. Probably just hibernating, like I do in the winter.

Siobhan sent me lots of fun Irish quotes earlier today, including this one: I'm troubled, I'm dissatisfied. I'm Irish. So there! That's my excuse for not blogging for a while.

But what better way to get back into it than by sharing with you this delicious I MEAN DELICIOUS chocolate stout cake that I made?? Yesterday I was at my studio and snow was coming down. It always seems to snow on or around St. Patrick's day here, which always freaks me out. I guess being from southern California it will always strike me as completely bizarre. Anyway, I was all, I can't paint right now, I really need to bake something chocolatey. You can ask Jimmy, I believe those were my exact words. So I came home and made this:

It's made with chocolate and stout! And in case you haven't guessed already, I'm having a Guinness while I type this! My cake didn't come clean out of the bundt pan as you can maybe see, but guess what! Who cares! I decorated that s**t anyway. Also, I used this year's Christmas sprinkles! Yeah, those are xmas trees making that shamrock! Here's the recipe, from the wonderful Smitten Kitchen blog.

Here's another quote Sio sent me: St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time... a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic! Cheers to that. 

Happy St. Patricks Day!! 

xo ~Shauna :)