Evening Folks,

We had a quiet lazy day today. Getting the butterflies feeling as another day draws closer to Tuesday. My sleep pattern has gone to pot as I am just up from a nap from 5pm. Mind you I did not get to bed till the wee hours of the morning and got up at 9am today. The "sharp tingling to cold" side effect of the chemo is almost gone by now. I am feeling near enough normal now. Just need to get my sleeping pattern in check now.
Elaine went to visit a friend today, Finola. Finola has a nursing background, so Elaine had asked her about the two dead arms feeling during the night. She said that it was quite normal for this during chemo as the arms are the last place for the drugs to reside in the body. Another wee nugget of information to tuck away.

Anyway I have nothing much to add on the cancer front until Tuesday so here is a recipe for Pasta alla Carbonara. I had promised a neighbour of ours this recipe ages ago. So here goes If you click on the link below it will give you the original recipe.

Pasta alla Carbonara

Serves about 4 adults

Ingredients.

10-15 Strips of back bacon. If using strip bacon 20-25 strips. I like to mix different smoke bacon together for this.
1 medium container of closed cup mushroom. About 15-20 medium small to medium size ones. Again here I like to mix and match different type of close cup mushrooms.
1 large Spanish onion. (the really big ones)
1 tablespoon of Dried Basil
1 tablespoon of Dried Parsley (If using fresh parsley used a couple of bushels)
1 tablespoon of Dried Oregano
3-4 cloves of garlic
Sprinkle of nutmeg.
1 Vegetable stock cube.
1 large pot of single or double cream.
Some self raising floor. 2-3-4 table spoon
Some sugar.
750ml of full fat milk. Can use semi-skimmed but do not use the fat free version.
Pasta of your choice.

Preparation.

Wash the mushrooms with cold water and leave to dry for 30 Min's.
Peel and slice the onions and garlic.
Cut the rind off the bacon if there are rinds on them. Set that aside and I will instruct how to make a garnish with it. Cut the bacon into thick strips about 1cm wide. Set some aside for this if making a garnish later especially the fatty bits.
Cut the stalk of the mushroom to the same level of the cup. IE make the bottom of the mushrooms flat. Don't extract it totally. Slice the mushrooms into the 1cm slices.

Cooking.

In a large pot add some olive oil and cook the garlic and onion until the onion is soft. Do not brown. Then add the bacon and cook till the bacon is edible. Reduce the heat. Add the parsley, oregano, basil and nutmeg. Stir the mixture about for 10 mins. Add the vegetable stock cube and milk. Increase the heat slightly. Cook until the milk is boiled. Again reduce the heat slightly and add the mushrooms. Cook the mixture until the mushrooms have started to shrink. Remove the pot from the heat for 1-2hours.
After 1-2 hours stir in the self raising flour. This is used to thicken the sauce. To be honest I can't remember how much I added in the past. The golden rule is not to add the floor to a hot mixture as it creates lumps of floor. But the chances of this are reduced greatly when using self raising floor. So once the floor is added put it back on a medium heat again to thicken the sauce. At this point start boiling water for cooking the pasta in another pot. Then cool the pasta. Once sauce has thickened to the way you like it. Stir in the pot of cream and add some sugar to taste. Once you are happy with the taste and thickness you can then add the sauce to the pasta.

For the garnish. Cut the rind into small pieces about 1 cm long. Slowing fry this and some bacon strips in the olive oil until the bacon is rind and bacon are crispy. Strain the bacon and rind on some kitchen roll to remove any excess oil. Sprinkle some of this garnish on top of the pasta before serving.


Thats all for now,

Nite all,

Sai