cooking corner: lentil pasta

i've never cooked lentils before...until today.

i have a new housemate who just moved in at the end of last week and she graciously cooked dinner for me yesterday, so i decided to return the favour and cook dinner for the two of us tonight. since she doesn't eat meat, i was originally going to make monterey beans and cheese, but when i went to my cupboard i realized i had no beans. nor did i have enough rice for the both of us.

what a fail.

anyway, i discovered a can of lentils i bought because i wanted to try my hand at cooking them and i decided that tonight would be the night. i looked up a recipe for lentil pasta online (since i happened to have pasta in my cupboard) and then i looked for the one that would be the easiest and most time efficient to cook. :P i eventually found one that matched my criteria although i modified it slightly since i didn't have all the ingredients and i was too lazy to go to the store, haha.

i started by chopping up an onion and tossing it into a small pot with extra virgin olive oil. then i added some dried sage and salt (no pepper because i didn't have any, oops) and then a can of tomatoes once the onions were browned. i then brought everything to a boil and then turned down the heat so it would simmer for about 20-30 mins. at some point during this time i opened my can of lentils and rinsed them out. once i decided the tomatoes were ready, i added the lentils to the little pot and let that cook for another few minutes. i then added the little pot to a bigger pot, which held pasta i had cooked while my tomatoes and lentils were cooking, and mixed everything together before serving.

i wasn't sure how it would turn out since i was missing some ingredients and since tonight was the first time cooking lentils. fortunately it was a success and actually quite good if i dare say so myself, haha. and it was so easy to make! yes, i think i'll have to try this recipe again sometime. :)

o n e

we have exactly one month to go before our big day! :D things are continuing to come together as we start tying up loose ends in preparation for our wedding! i gotta say, FH has been nothing short of amazing throughout the whole process - he has been so supportive of me being back at school and not in toronto, and he really stepped up and has done a lot. i am so grateful and thankful for him, and i can't wait for him to go from future hubby to hubby. :)
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for more details and updates, check out our wedding page.

hamilton, the place to be?

...ok, no i don't believe that statement for a second. BUT since coming to this town in september of 2009, i've randomly run into three people from my past. pretty crazy stuff. but even more crazy is how, upon reflection, each experience has gotten slightly more embarrassing each time. here's what i mean:

meeting #1: noob on campus
this one, being the first, wasn't actually that bad. it was my first day of orientation and i had no idea where i was going when i turned the corner and *BAM* there stood a friend i hadn't seen in literally 5 years. totally unexpected and i had no idea he was even at mac. anyway, i've since had dinner with him and his gf a couple times throughout the year, so that has been good. :)

meeting #2: elevator randoms
this time i was going to my friend's place to meet up with some mac friends for dinner. i got into the elevator and pressed PH and then a stranger came in with her head down. she looked kinda familiar but i was like, nahhh that can't be her, there's no way. well she raised her head and it turns out that it was her afterall. haven't seen her in 5 years either so it was nice chatting with her a little bit after getting off the elevator. too bad this was during the brutal heat wave that hit hamilton, so i was sweating like a pig the whole time. plus i had just power walked to my friend's building since i thought i was running late. lovely. i'm surprised sweat wasn't dripping off my face and onto the elevator floor. hahaa. gross.

meeting #3: hospital cafeteria cougher
so today i ran into the third person - someone i used to go to high school with who apparently just started her first day of residency at the hospital i'm doing my placement at. totally random! too bad i was still recovering from this mother of a cough i've been trying to battle with for the last week or so and with every word i said a coughing fit started. i literally coughed like a maniac while she stood there trying to get words in edgewise. i also tried to cough into my elbow, but i mean that only works for so long. ah well, i'm sure she found it lovely and i'm sure the rest of hospital thought my coughing fits throughout the day were endearing as well.

hmm, i can only imagine what the next random meeting will be: bathroom stall with a broken lock? gahhhh.