THE FIRST MESS

How do you measure a life? In Trader Joe bags.

Especially useful when you're a tiny little Asian girl, and you've got two days to move out and move into your new place (because life looked at your planner and laughed).

But many, many, many Trader Joe bags later (and my roommate cooking me bombass barbecue beer chicken one night), I am finally all unpacked and able to cook! So what do I try? 

The recipe originally comes from White on Rice Couple, a blog I love and adore. I didn't really try to make it my own, besides going lighter on the fish sauce and heavier on the sriracha (which was also not homemade).

TOUCH AND GO

Pardon the poor quality of the photo. I got home late last night, after being stuck in traffic to and from Woodland Hills. Sometimes it sucks living on the Westside.

But last night turned into a thing of beauty, as my dinner alone turned into a group of four, sharing a beautiful pot of spaghetti and meatballs. It was easy. All the meatball recipes, perfect pasta tips, and so on in my brain just melded together, and dinner - wonderfully chewy spaghetti and the tenderest of meatballs - came together with no recipe. 

Total 180 from last month.

So instead of an actual recipe, today's post consists of links to other recipes and the whisper of encouragement for you to just let go. 

• Pasta tips:
• The water that the pasta will cook in needs to be as salty as the sea.
• When the pasta is a minute away from being totally perfect (aka al dente), drain it and then poor it in with the marinara sauce, then let it simmer its way to perfection.
• Want to make your own? Here.
• Marinara recipes:
• Trader Joe's, your bounty of marinara sauces never ceases to amaze me. (Yes, I cheated.)
• But here, a roasted tomato marinara sauce, and a "regular" marinara sauce.
• Meatball recipes:
• Fish sauce (just a smidge, though) really accentuates the flavor of the meat. (White on Rice taught me that trick!)
• Cheese, as well as ground pork, helps lighten the heaviness of ground beef and makes meatballs super tender. (Last night's balls had a combination of mozzarella and parmesan.)
• No Recipes' spaghetti + meatballs recipe? The love of my live... Next to E.

Now, go! Cook.

FIRST TASTE OF SUMMER + SUN

Rain's supposed to descend upon California tonight, but oh, the weather last week has been sunny, sunny, and sunnier... aka it was perfect weather to take advantage of our huge balcony and throw a nice little dinner.

E and I loved the quinoa + arugula salad from California Pizza Kitchen earlier this month, so we just tossed some arugula with one of our favorite quinoa recipes (which we had whipped up for our Super Tuesday super party). As if that weren't enough, we were inspired at Whole Foods to grab a few scallops too, which added that lovely touch of summer to our dinner.

Oh, rain -- I know that we need you, but we were also having such a lovely time with Mr. Sun. Please don't keep him away too long!

MMMMMMEZZE (and my recipe to job-hunting success)

Now that I have a full-time job, I can make this food porn a reality again. 

And yes, that's me bragging about finding a job within two weeks of graduating from college! My recipe? A lot, a lot of luck -- and an intense program of sending out at least five resumes every night, emailing alumni contacts (some randomly), hooking up to LinkedIn, etc. Also, I learned a lot, a lot about crafting my resume and catering to different employers.

All that said, the job market is so cruel. I can share my recipe for success, but you may find that there's more to it for you. Still, best wishes for anyone hunting for a job right now!

But rather than talk about the dismal job market, can I share with you some beautiful dishes from Mezze?

[ left: moroccan mint iced tea; right: farm egg shakshouka ]

[ left: hokkaido scallop; right: merguez sausage flatbread ]

[ left: hashweh risotto; right: chocolate mousse ]

SQUASH THAT IDEA

Apparently, I should have blogged this recipe yesterday when LA was rainy and cold and dreary. Today, it was 70 and sunny. Damn, the weather outsmarts me again!

But it's definitely still winter in the northern hemisphere, if not in California, and this recipe is just perfect for the colder months, especially since it can be summed up in two easy steps:

But seriously, here's the recipe for you!

OH FUDGE

You know what? I made fudge again, and again I forgot to take pics.

But hey, today, you get a lovely illustration of fudge (inspired by Erin Jang) AND the crappy photos AND the recipe.

BACON HOT DOG BITES

Did I promise a fudge recipe? Yes, I did. Then I saw the photos, which had all been taken on Instagram. Now I love Instagram, and it's a great quick fix, but it's not perfect. (Heck, look at the evidence above. I had my camera at my place, but not at my friend's place. Whoops.)

I said, Mmmm, NO. Plus, I have to make another batch this week, though, so there may be hope that I'll share this easy fudge recipe after all.

Instead, I hopped on over to the other side of the taste bud spectrum: salty, savory, delicious bacon hot dog bites with just a touch of sweetness in the form of brown sugar. Perfect for our first conference game win (basketball).