to counteract all the cookies i've been eating: vegetables!

i love to cook - and it doesn't all stem from my love of eating (though that is certainly a good reason to cook).  some days i only want to heat up a frozen pizza, but other days i want to cook, to chop and stir and boil and bake and compose.  in december i didn't really make a lot of time for cooking, and i'm trying to remedy that in january.  the cold weather helps - it is comforting to be in a warm kitchen.

since i am only cooking for one person, i often have to/get to eat a meal for several days...so i'd better LIKE what i cook.  for christmas, dad bought me the cookbook chez panisse vegetables, by alice waters.  it is arranged by vegetable, and gives a couple pages of information on each vegetable before giving you recipes.  earlier in the week i was in the mood to make pasta, and the index led me to asparagus and onions with whole wheat linguine.  i'm going to be honest: whole wheat pasta scares me.  i don't think it tastes as good as regular pasta, and i always imagine it to be tougher than regular pasta.  but i made it, and it turned out really well - i may be converted.  the recipe is sauteed asparagus and onions and garlic, to which vegetable broth (and butter - yum) is added.  you pour the sauce over the cooked linguine and squeeze lemon on it, and then add some ricotta.  it was SO GOOD.  it's not a super thick sauce, but that's good - in the bowl, the noodles sit in the broth and are flavored by it.  it works.  i made enough for what i considered to be two portions.  and then i ate it all.  oops.

(note the creamy delciousness on the sides of the bowl that indicate that this is my second helping.)

now i need to make lunch, because i am hungry just thinking about how good this meal was...