Rating: 💋 💋 💋 💋
My sister Reilly graduated from high school a week ago! I am very proud of her and wanted to share a fun night we had recently.
The night started off well. Reilly loves pasta more than any other food group, and my mom made us Pasta Primavera for a Sunday dinner. I recently wrote about this recipe in an article linked here. It is one of my favorite dishes of all time. The garlicky pesto, bursting hot tomatoes, and olives create a lovely Mediterranean dish. Avocado and fresh chicken add a lot of flavor oomph, taking it to a new level of greatness.
Pasta Primavera
Serves: 6 Time: 35-40 minutes
Ingredients: - 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - extra virgin olive oil - salt - freshly ground black pepper - 1 1/2 1b. cavatappi - 2 small - medium mozzarella balls, cubed - 2 pts. Campari tomatoes, halved - 2 avocados, diced - 6 oz. can medium pitted black olives - 12 oz. jar quartered and marinated artichoke hearts, chopped fine - 2 - 3 jars (8 oz. each) basil pesto Prepare:
- Rub chicken with olive oil, salt, and pepper. In a large pan over medium heat, sauté chicken for 15 minutes on each side. (Alternately, preheat oven to 375 F. and roast chicken for 30 minutes.) - Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. - Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat, and cook pasta al dente, 10 - 12 minutes. Drain pasta; add mozzarella, chicken, tomatoes, avocado, olives, artichokes, and pesto. Mix well. Serve hot with freshly ground pepper.
On to dessert! Earlier that week, I had snagged Reilly takeout crab fries with cheese sauce, and in return she promised to make me a decadent sundae. I honestly would have gotten her the crab fries for nothing, but Reilly loves making sundaes. She is really good at it too. I told her to not go crazy so I only got two flavors, whipped cream, chocolate syrup from a gasping bottle, and rainbow sprinkles. I drew the line at cookie crumbs. Peanut butter and mint chocolate chip are two of my favorite flavors from the standard canon so she went with those - delicious! My mom's homemade ice cream is so creamy and flavorful it takes any sundae up at least ten notches. Add in Reilly's sundae artistry and I am in heaven.
While we enjoyed our dessert, we watched The Sandlot, one of my favorite movies of all time. I studied film so you should take my opinion as the cinematic standard. Perhaps. Lol. It is kind of funny that one of my favorite movies is about baseball, considering I am not a huge sports person. I mean, I enjoyed going to Phillies games growing up and I had a crush on Chase Utley during their World Series era, but I don't actually understand the more intricate rules. I’m not gonna lie to be cool. I don’t understand. I love the Phillies though and I think baseball is a great sport. As a kid, watching The Sandlot was the most athletic I got, gym class (shudders violently) included. Of course I had a crush on Benny - who didn’t? He’s gorgeous. I loved Michael Squince Palledorous though. My five-year old self was completely taken in by his charm. I mean, that kid is the man! As a little girl I idolized Wendy Peffercorn for this very reason. Squince is and always will be my favorite baseball player. Put him in the hall of fame!!
On another note, I have not gotten to do a Naked Wines review in a hot minute, but we are back this week with a review of Ayikoshi Moscato. Going into this, I confess, I was not thrilled. Moscato has such a bad reputation for being sickly sweet. Then again, I have a huge sweet tooth, so I hoped it would be okay. I popped open the bottle and a sugary apple-mango scent wafted out. Interesting. My first sip confirmed that it tasted just as it smelled. This was okay for one sip, but it quickly turned. Waaaayyyyyy too syrupy sweet. The scent reminded me of the cafeteria in the Punta Cana resort my senior class stayed at for our spring break. This means that it smelled like the cafeteria that gave me food poisoning. I made the most of my trip, dancing on the top stage at Coco Bongo, getting a tan, and powering through a boat cruise despite my sickness, but I do not want anything that reminds me of that disgusting fare. Merely opening up this bottle of wine conjured up instant nausea so, no. This Ayikoshi Moscato is not even close to a winner.
Finishing off where I started, congratulations to Reilly! She made the most of her high school experience in spite of the unexpected ending to her senior year, and she did it all with such class. While her graduation was certainly like no other, with a ten minute drive-thru time slot and a 'Class of 2020' mask as her senior gift, I was so happy to drive through it alongside her. She accomplished so much in her four years and I cannot wait to see what comes next for her!
XX,
MK
