a father's day

this is a late entry (i have been very delayed on the actual occurrences of these entries)


so i have been trying this summer to start cooking again and to learn new recipes. this will hopefully better equip me for apartment style life next year when i will have to cook on my own (and for my apartment mates :)). i am having a lot of fun strolling through book store aisles and looking for new cookbooks browsing and finding meals that interest me. i especially have the biggest love for giada who happens to specialize in italian food (very popular on the food network). all her recipes are simple, fresh, and easy; everything seems simple enough that it would not require hours and hours of intensive labor to make.

normally for father's day, knowing that my dad also has a passion for cooking and eating, i always end up going to williams sonoma and buying cookbooks/utensils that he usually ends up never using. the funny thing is, i always just take the books to my room and use them; ironically enough for this father's day meal, i used the books i had bought for him on those previous father's day. i knew italian was the way to go; an instant pleaser for all family members.

i enlisted the help of my little sister. call her sous-chef laura! after gracing through the cookbooks and selecting an appetizer and main course to work from, my sister and i took a trip to the local grocery store. i originally planned for laura to make the entire desert all by herself, but realize this would be a little too much food (especially since our mom bought a million pasties the day before) so we planned to make eggplant pasta and a nice citrus vinagrette salad.

the overall creation of these two dishes were not that hard. for the salad, i thought making the parmesan crisp was the most fun; and it also turned out delicious! i cannot believe how simple it is too make and how tasty it turned out! you just shave a lot of fresh parmesan and put them in clumps in the oven! (oh and don't forget the cracked black pepper) laura took care of the vinagrette while i handled the pasta. in the end, it was all pretty delicious. i am a firm believer that all home cooked meals are always delicious (well, for the most part).. its always such a work out cutting and slaving over dishes; all in all, putting your heart and soul into it...

and that is exactly what i wanted to give to my dad on father's day.

i should probably do this more often.