I was in a culinary mood yesterday, and wanted to surprise the hubby with a dinner meal that wasn't fried or grilled for a change. Called up Peachy for a quick pasta recipe, and she texted in a deceptively simple, 15-minute Carbonara variation. For those who may not know it, I am of that breed of homemaker that lives by the earth-shaking words: If you can read, you can cook. Well, tiny as my fone's screen is, I could certainly still read her instructions. I just kept piling all the ingredients into the pan as she directed, without knowing what this thing was supposed to look or taste like. I had my doubts at first. Why so much bell pepper? And did I really have to fry real bacon? Wouldn't bacon bits do? And does half a cup mean half of a teacup, or a coffee mug? (As you can see, my stint at Le Cordon Bleu was but a dream sequence in my life, hehe.) Well, suffice it to say, the 15-minute dish was accomplished in...less than two hours, was served and pronounced a delightful success by my tired, but appreciative husband. (Thanks, Peach!) I am actually excited to finish off the portion I set aside for my lunch today.

Coincidentally, I picked up a book from my shelf (I read two, three books at a time -- don't ask me why) today and opened to this page. See what you come up with with this recipe. Haha.

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poisoned entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweltered venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravined salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digged in' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silvered in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-delivered by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good. (see, al dente!)

MACBETH, Shakespeare - Act 4, Scene 1