8 is great

 Our lovely Nic turned 8 years old today! 
Nic was overjoyed with the day - loving (most) every moment of it. Homework was made (a little) more tolerable when he was able to read one of his new books. 

I met Nic for lunch at school and brought him a Spanakopita and Lemon Bar from Chef Nancy's. I dropped off some treats to share with his classmates (boring pre-made chocolate bars to deal with school's new no-home-made/must-be-labelled/allergy-free policy).

As per his request, I made Nic spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Paul made a spectacular layer cake with lime and lemon layers sandwiched with fresh cream and lemon curd.

What a big handsome boy he is now. I had a giggle after finding this movie of him recently. He looked like a real wheeler-and-dealer at almost 15 months... speaking Nicolese of course. 

Spaghetti for Summer

One of those evenings with absolutely no idea what to prepare for dinner. Spaghetti-loving son mentioned pasta, I'd just picked some basil from the garden, and we did have some fresh tomatoes... off to the The Silver Spoon for one of the easiest dishes ever. 

I gave Paul the Silver Spoon cookbook a zillion years ago. It is the ultimate Italian cookbook. We haven't used it to its full potential, but have had some brilliant pasta dishes from it. 

Here is the recipe as it (mostly) appears in the book... 

RAW TOMATO SPAGHETTI 
Ingredients: 
500g ripe vine tomatoes, peeled seeded and chopped
4 tbsp Olive Oil 
10 fresh Basil leaves, chopped
2 cloves Garlic, cut in half
350g / box of Spaghetti 

Method: 
Put tomatoes in a bowl with oil, basil and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well and put aside for 30 minutes to allow flavors to develop. Discard garlic before adding tomatoes to pasta. 
Cook pasta until al dente. Drain spaghetti. Mix through tomato mix and serve at once. 

Notes: 

This dish is nicer using a white wheat spaghetti. The flavors are delicate and I don't feel are robust enough to suit wholemeal pasta.