Cook Street and Pasta Carbonara

Dave and I got a great gift from his parents for Christmas in 2009. Two gift cards to Cook Street here in Denver. If you have not had the chance to go I want to tell you to schedule a class NOW! Perhaps we can get the Mile High Mama's to have one of our Mother's nights out there! Great idea right?



After month's of looking at classes, etc, we finally decided on Pasta, Pasta, Pasta class because we were going to learn how to make our own pasta. Romantic date night with a meal handmade by us... pretty cool concept right?



It is....



So we showed up and the class holds approximately 24 people. Couples, friends, singletons, pretty much everyone that is looking for a night out and learning something new. We got there around 7pm, got something to drink, an antipasto plate to tide us over and very cool people watching.



After filling out a disclaimer "If you burn yourself... it's not our fault", we settle in with our table neighbors and then onto Chef teaching us about Pasta.



It was hands on, an egg, some flour and tons of stirring. Then kneading it (LOTS of kneading), wine and meeting new people. By the end we learned to make Classic Pasta Carbonara, Penne Pasta with Sausage, Garlic and Tomato and finally a chocolate Pasta with Raspberry Coulis.



So... I'm gonna share the Classic Pasta Carbonara with you, sounds fab right??
I did do some modifications to it.

Classic Pasta Carbonara

2 servings of spaghetti or linguine noodles
2 egg yolks
Heavy cream (slightly less cream than egg yolk)
1 tablespoon of oil (I like to use the pancetta oil)
Splash of white wine (if you won't drink it, don't cook with it)

Topping:
2 oz pancetta
Romano cheese grated
Parsely (finely chopped)

Cook the noodles

• While the noodles are cooking put two egg yolks and heavy cream into the bowl, beat, then add cheese, parsley, salt and pepper, set aside
  
• Cook the butter and olive oil until the butter has melted, add pancetta and cook fully. Add white wine and reduce completely, remove from heat.

When ready to serve, add hot pasta to bowl with egg yolks and cheese mixture. Toss to coat well and add pancetta. Adjust seasonings and serve immediately, garnish with grated cheese and plenty of pepper.

Wordless Wednesday - Cooking Class Date Night

What 30-something parents do on a Tuesday night!

Come back on Sunday for more photos, recipes and a run down of our amazing date night.

Go ahead and visit 5 Minutes for Mom to link up to other Wordless Wednesdays.

Project 52: Week 7 - Romancing the Space

~Sorry I am so late on this one! Promise I’ll try and stay on top of it every Tuesday!~

Valentine’s weekend was the start of our date night this past week.

We took off Friday the 12^th and spent the day trying to pull out of “missed expectations” in a funk. But we went to Lowe’s, grabbed some paint, some colors for the exterior of the house and got settled into our night at home.

What I wanted for Valentine’s Day was to get the master bedroom done. I have had this Zen romantic room in mind and the start was removing the past. Dave got started before me…. He got the bed out of the room, old pictures and mirror off the wall before patching holes and sanding. The “accent” wall was done when I got back from driving my kids to their father’s house.

~Last Valentines Day~

Then we started painting together and talking… the talking was the most important part for us. We talked, painted… sometimes each other and thoroughly cleaned the room. The carpets got vacuumed, old books and picture frames removed and suddenly. It was done.

~Valentines 2010~

The room was clean, the walls were painted and perfect, it felt like a new space. “OUR” space.

I can’t tell you how awesome date night was for us… now, we went right to sleep in an exhausted stupor, however waking up and curling around one another was so nice Saturday morning. We have a ‘clean’ space, the energy has changed, we are sleeping better and the romantic feeling is palpable.

Lesson #7: Make a space that is for both of you. One that you can lie down in, relax and enjoy the energy.

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Have you joined in the Project 52: Date Nights challenge?

Project 52: Week 6

2074

Two Thousand Seventy Four is the amount of date nights you will have if you have 40 years left of your life together and date once a week.

Doesn’t seem like a lot does it?

Having a fiery personality can put a damper on things sometimes, I get hot about a topic, then I make things not as enjoyable for date nights. Dave and I had a rough week, therefore date night was a little off.

Why?

I have no idea.

How petty and childish is it that I don’t remember.

So Dave wrote on his Facebook about a “wasted night” and then wrote 2074.

After I questioned him about it a few days later, he told me.

“2074 is the amount of date nights we have left”

40 years together…

2074 date nights to make special

2074 date nights that will be weekly offers to each other.

Last week was a wash on date night, we had kids, we had issues… we spent 3am-8am in bed talking Saturday night. That was our date “morning”…. We had each other…we napped for about 30 minutes before dating the kids on Saturday at the Arvada chocolate festival.

From now on, I won’t waste another date night… we deserve the best 2074… I’ll tell you how we are doing in 2050.

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Have you joined in the Project 52: Date Nights challenge?

Project 52: Week 4

Date night this week got a little catty-wompus. Once a month we have his son all weekend long. That makes date night a little different for us.

Friday night, we had no plans except to relax, and that is just what we all did. Jake and I played a little on the computer, Dave and I did a little talking… it was nice and quiet.

It was decided that Saturday we would go to swim practice for his son in the morning, and then the afternoon was open. Swim practice was fun, we messed around on our Blackberry’s and watched Jake swim. Then… hopped into the car and headed off to see his parents for the afternoon. It was unplanned and only supposed to last a few hours.



We stayed until dark, drinking coffee, eating and talking. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to spend a date night, learning to love like your parents do. Dave’s parents have a love story that has “torrid affair” written all over it… and I find that to be blissfully romantic and very fitting for the two of them.

I adore his Mom and Dad, they are a really cute couple that tease one another, do things together and have learned how to try and make each other happy, even when things don’t go as you would like.

Date Night #4 lesson: Learn to love like the people you respect, because one day... “YOU” will be the one someone respects.

Funny fact about today….. It’s been a year since I wrote about meeting his parents for the first time.

Wanna read it??

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Have you joined in the Project 52: Date Nights challenge?

Come with us and exercise your heart!

Project 52: Week 2

This is Week 2 of the Project 52: Grill and Games

We headed into date night with a slight discomfort after a misunderstanding Thursday evening. Small texts throughout the day as we worked through out ideas, because regardless of how we felt, we both knew we couldn’t let this date night pass us by. Lesson #1: Don’t sweat the small stuff.

We agreed on dinner and board games, a contribution from both sides. Dave swung by the store for Scrabble, Boggle and compilation of chess, checkers, etc.

We had brauts, veggies and rolls on the grill for dinner before sprawling out on the floor with Scrabble and the various letters strewn out before us. I’d only played Scrabble once however the rules were fairly simple. We turned on some dance music, pulled some pillows under us and played. It was fun, calming and kept my mind quiet for a while.

It was nice to play games with Dave. He is a competitive person and I wasn’t sure how good of a winner or worse, a loser he was, since we had never played more than Wii together. We both enjoyed it and ended up fairly neck and neck by the end.

The winner? All of us, we discussed more games we want, and out of this came Wednesday game night with the teens. (This Wednesday- Joey and Dave will be playing chess together and the girls and I will be playing Scrabble.) When the kids get older, there will be a puzzle out on a table, so randomly people can walk by and put a piece or two in. Lesson #2: Kids need date nights too.

It was a quiet date night for us, however we had no kids, went to bed late and only got out of bed on Saturday to make breakfast. We knew not to fight that night; we knew not to let anything get in the way of the precious time we have together.

How about you? Did you do a date night this past week?

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Have you joined in the Project 52: Date Nights challenge?

Come with us and exercise your heart!

Project 52: Date Nights

I remember when we first met we dated every Wednesday and Friday night.

After work I would touch up my make up, straighten my clothes and spray a pretty scent over my neck.

When I got to his house we would do this funny little dance as we once again would get used to each other’s company. A touch here, a laugh there and finally we’d fall into one another’s company like two souls who’ve missed out on air our whole lives.

When we moved in together those moments became a bit rarer and though we have always done a date night, they became only Fridays and many times nothing more than a quiet house without the kids.

We had decided this coming year we would alternate responsibility of the weekly date nights. They will alternate between staying in, cooking, seeing the town and hiding out with just us, some music and the glow of the TV (My favorite).

In my walk through the blogosphere I came across Simply Modern Mom. Tiffany started up a Project 52: Date Nights.

A promise to yourself, your significant other and the relationship you create together.

Once a week date nights. Stay in and watch movies, make a meal together and eat on the back deck, go to a local art opening, have a night on the town with the opera and a fancy dinner, something that you can do after the kids go to bed to rekindle your romance.

Care to join me on the same journey?

Have you committed to spending more time with your kids this year? How about to get a better job/more pay?

Why wouldn’t you commit to the person you are sleeping next to? You spend 6-8 hours a night enjoying the energy of them next to you… perhaps it’s about time we all fell in love all over again!

Head on over to Simply Modern Mom’s site, sign the “agreement” post it on the door to the bedroom/closet, in the kitchen, wherever you will both see it every day!

• Every Friday night from 5pm- we fall asleep. We have no kids on most Fridays and Saturdays, so this works best. It’s a benefit of blended families.
• Can’t do the same thing twice in one month.
• We will rotate being in charge of date nights on a weekly basisMust create a date-like atmosphere.
  
• No frumpy clothes or pajamas (Unless the date calls for this, ex: Movie and snuggle night: pjs necessary). Make it a special event. Mind the details. But most of all, keep it simple.
  
• We must take a picture of us on date night.
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Make a new step to exercise your heart.

Then come back here and visit me every week as I document our dates!