- “That’s The Way” by Jimmy Page and Robert Planet

- Galadriel, The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

This takes literally 15 minutes to make from start to finish and is one of my favorite quick-fix meals.

In its simplest form, you’ll just need pasta and some sausages of your choice. I like angel hair and spicy Italian (more on this below).

Put a pot of water on the boil and salt it heavily.
Take your sausage and make a slit right down the length of it, pull out the meat and roughly chop it up. Discard skins.
When water is boiling, cook your pasta. If you’re using dried angel hair, it takes no more than 3.5 minutes.
Put a pan on the stove and heat with a little olive oil.
Fry the sausage meat until cooked. I like mine with edges a little burnt.
By this time, the pasta should be slightly under-cooked. Test it and if you’re happy, drain while reserving a bit of the cooking water then put your pasta straight into the pan with the sausage.
Give it a quick toss and if it looks good, turn off the heat and serve. If it looks a little dry, introduce a bit of the pasta water to loosen them up.
Eat.

This dish works because angel hair takes half the time to cook compared to other types of pasta. And the spicy Italian sausages contain all the flavor you need. There’s no real need to add anything else.

I left this as “naked” because it’s a great canvas to build on, should you need to impress someone. You could always throw in some garlic and red chili flakes, and you can top it with a dash of balsamic vinegar or a squeeze of lemon juice. You could also top it with some fried bread crumbs with herbs or add some toasted pine nuts into the mix or do a butter+white wine (or vodka!) combo to give it a bit of a sauce. Still, it wouldn’t take much longer to complete.

Enjoy.

So cute, my mum is.

If you ever had a beagle, you’ll know those eyes. Especially when you’re minding your own business, just having a meal at the table.

Don’t fall for that. The leading cause of obesity in dogs is their owners’ inability to differentiate greed from hunger.

Look away… if you can.

(Quote from Maria Robinson)

Ivan’s last day at work today and his wife baked us a lovely cake (as above). If you have never heard of Crummb, well you must check it out. Pau Lin is a brilliant baker and the cakes are simply delicious.

Ivan, take care my friend. I hope you’ll find what you’re looking for. God bless.

冠英, 再见了。

On the 8th November 2011, my mama sent her first email.

Of course, only an iPad was simple enough for this 73 year old woman who never formally learnt english.

I’m so proud of her and I hope this marks her first step into this digital age.

(And no, there was no massage involved. That’ll just be weird.)