6 large strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar
1 ounce chocolate, shaved

1. Combine cream, vanilla and sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
2. Place strawberries in a bowl, cover with whipped cream and top with chocolate shavings.

Makes 1 serving

8 ounces linguine
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 slices pancetta bacon, sliced
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
water
salt and pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a generous pinch of salt, then the linguine.
2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the pancetta. Reduce heat to low and cook until just browned.
3. When linguine is al dente, remove from the water (do not drain) and add it to the pancetta.
4. Whisk together egg yolks, parmesan and about 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
5. Mix the sauce into the linguine and bacon and season with salt, pepper and a light dash of nutmeg. Serve immediately.

Makes 2 servings

The best pasta I've ever had was when Shannon and I stopped at some place in Montreal where Dickens apparently penned the outline of A Tale of Two Cities. They served me some carbonara dish and it was the most delicious thing I've ever tasted. If I could match that in my own kitchen, I'd become fat and Italian. Instead, my pasta skills have waned miserably after low-carbing and I can barely make a pot of spaghetti to save my life.

I have made carbonara a few times in the past, but apparently I've never properly prepared it, since I've always thought it was nothing more than Alfredo Sauce with bacon. This is not so, because true carbonara is prepared with egg yolks and pasta water and not with cream. Now that I know this and have prepared otherwise, I will still continue to cook alfredo with bacon since that just seems so much easier.

My Linguine Carbonara may have failed slightly since I prepared it at 1 in the morning after a few drinks at a birthday party. Shannon and I both agreed it was "just okay". Carbonara and spaghetti appears to be the typical route to go, but since I had linguine in the cupboard and not spaghetti, I went the linguine route. My egg curdled slightly and threw off the sauce and it failed to have any sort of wow factor. Since the ingredients are so simple, I imagine my lack of carbonara skills attribute to the outcome and not the recipe itself. Not using pancetta and substituting it for American smoky bacon probably didn't help much either.

I assisted in a horrible black forest cake yesterday, for the birthday outing I briefly attended tonight. His girlfriend and I spent over 4 hours preparing this thing, only to end up with a lopsided and inedible cake separated by layers of whipped cream that was more like churned butter because it's been so ridiculously hot lately that I couldn't keep things could enough to whip up properly. I've never had a problem with whipped cream before! It was unreal. Anyhow, since I had some whipping cream leftover in the fridge and chocolate shavings we were going to garnish the cake with, I made Strawberries and whipped Cream for dessert tonight. Such a simple, yet delicious dessert.