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What happens when your parents’ boiler busts and destroys your mom’s china cabinet?

Well if you are my dad you try to fix it and move it to a new “safer” location. If you are my brother you use the new empty space for a bigger TV after debating it the right size with the rest of the family. If you are me you try to talk your mother into replacing it with a solid wood vintage piece that will last longer than anything that can be bought today.

And if you are my guy? Well you buy one and give it to her as a gift.

Look are what he bought today

It’s solid wood handcrafted and the perfect size. It’s not that old but it is a quality piece.

So what do you think? Think she would like it? He’s going to surprise her on Friday.

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New York schools are closed today. We are expecting 18in of snow. Will we get it? Probably not. A week ago when DC got hit they said we would get 6-12in. how much did we get? zero. I should take this one more serious. Yesterday my postman said he wouldn’t pick up – snow day.

But of course I didn’t. I decided like any good NY to do all my errands before the snow got deep.

I walked to the bank, CLOSED – Snow day. In fact everything was closed except food places. That was the first time since 1996 that NY partly shut down because of snow. It was the first time I can remember it shutting BEFORE a blizzard.

Snow just getting started

These were taken early in the day.

Update : It snowed all day and all night. NY was open for business and back to school the next morning.

Coolest thing? the photos you see above were taken with my phone and cropped down to less than half their original size.

Uncool – my guy says I don’t need a camera with a phone like that. So much for my valentine day gift.

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You can make rum buttered scallops over any pasta but lemon pepper makes a great contrast to the sweet buttery taste.

What you need to buy -

Lemon pepper pasta. :

I like Trader Joes. Pappardelle you can’t miss the lemon or pepper it makes a wonde rful surface of the butter. or Ronzoni makes a lemon pepper angel hair which gives a more subtle flavor. Either is fine.

Butter:

of course real butter, good butter is best, while you can use margarine it will make your pasta and scallops oily instead of the buttery goodness we are looking for.

Scallops:

Make sure they are as fresh as possible (of course). Scallops can be eaten when cooked to medium, some even eat them raw but to not get sick the scallops need to be as fresh as you can get. 1 1/2 pounds to 2 pounds.

Rum:

When cooking with liquor always choose a quality that you can drink. It makes the food taste better. Cooking a bad quality liquor will not make it taste any better. Choose what ever rum you would like. I like bacardi but that’s just me.

Optional – Bacon.

~

I don’t use measurements.  I will include approx amounts for 4 , adjust to your own tastes

Ok start preparing the pasta as the package indicates. I use  1 package of  the TJ pasta or 1/2 of the ronzini box. Al Dente preferred or Med please.

opt – If you have chosen to add bacon this is a good time to cook it. Take a large frying pan and brown 4-5 slices of bacon. cut into 1 in pieces. If your bacon is frozen don’t worry just cook it first then cut. Remove bacon from pan. let drain. You can now cook the scallops in the bacon grease or clean the pan and add butter. don’t do both. While it will be tasty it is just too much grease.

After the pasta is done- drain the water. I know that many people like to rinse their pasta but this makes no sense unless you are making salad.  Now that your pot is empty put 2 pats of butter in the pot (burner should be off). The heat of the already hot pot should melt the butter. add pasta back to the pot and mix until the pasta is coated in the butter. This will keep the pasta separated and warm while you cook the scallops.Its also the reason to make it al dente or med. because pasta will continue to cook with it’s internal heat.

If you haven’t chosen bacon then heat up a large frying pan.  add 2 pats of butter or enough to coat the bottom of the pan. The butter should be very hot. sizzling and add scallops.  Once you put the scallops in. Scallops take no time at all

to cook. if they are over cooked then they will get rubbery. Their thickness determines how long they should cook.

note: if you have never cooked scallops. leave lots of space in between the scallops and DO NOT stir or mix. Just place them in the pan and let them sit. you can lift one to check the bottoms after 1 min (for large) and keep checking periodically. If you stir them or they are too close together then instead of searing they will steam. Increasing chances of over cooking.

The scallops should look  just change color before turning them to the other side. (DO NOT turn golden brown) cook the other side the same then remove scallops from the pan. It is easy to over cook scallops that’s why you have to remove the scallops before reducing the rum.

keep the pan hot and add 2  shot glasses of rum or just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. you want the  rum to start reducing

Plate buttered pasta.

Rum should be sizzling and steaming. once the rum is reduced add the partly cooked scallops to the hot pan. (bacon too) let the scallops sear on each side in the rum now you are looking for that  golden brown color. scallops should be springy if they are firm they are over cooked. put scallops (and bacon) on top of pasta. you can also add the buttery rum liquid. Serve immediately.

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The Venus Erotic ring is one of my clients favorites.

In the past is was available only in 6 1/2 after receiving request for different sizes it is now it is available in 6 1/2, 7 1/2, 7 3/4 and 9

Sold at here @ Bliss St the full website – or- Sacred Urban @ etsy -or- SacredUrban @ 1000markets

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