New experiments in the garden

After the bad winter, some of my plants died, especially the ones that were in the "famous" sockerlåda. Nothing to do there, even though I could have spent some time trying to resurrect what was left over of the plants I had there, considering that they were mainly herbs.

So, I have now refreshed the "collection" planting something new and experimenting with some news.
We have now a plant of chilli (hopefully more spice than the ones planted last year), a physalis (I wonder how this will turn out), rosemary and sage coming from my parents vegetable garden.

The stones are an attempt to see if Romeo will let those poor herbs be in peace :-)

Pasta with asparagus and squash

This is a really nice "spring" pasta that doesn't take too long to be prepared and that gives some satisfaction also when served to guests.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

• 400 gr green asparagus
• 1 onion
• 3 spoons of olive oil
• 100 gr of bacon (in cubes or in small slices)
• grated parmesan
• About 400 gr of pasta
• salt & pepper
• A medium size squash

Dice the asparagus, leaving the tops untouched and put them aside, after having washed them and peeled the bottom from the hardest parts.

Dice also the squash into small cubes, after washing it and having removed the ends.

Finely chop the onion.

In a pan, warm the olive oil and slightly brown the onion.

Raise the temperature and cook the asparagus for few minutes.

Then, add the squash as well, sink the temperature a little after few minutes and season it with salt and pepper. I usually then cover it with a lid and lower the temperature so that the vegetables cook a bit faster (about 10-15 minutes)

In the meanwhile, in another pan, brown the bacon (without oil). I like to have it a bit crunchy, so I let it cook until I reach that consistency.

When the vegetables are ready (both asparagus and squash should be tender) add the bacon to them.

Mix well and see if you need to season it more.
It is now time to cook the pasta, when it is ready and drained add it to the vegetables and let it slightly fry  all together.
Serve it and add the grated parmesan on top!

The arrival of Isabella

It didn't take too long for Isabella to realize which day she was supposed to come. Everything did start according to plan, but then took a little bit too much time, so at the end, she arrived with one day of delay.

Now, it is time to adjust and learn about each other and of course, also wear all those pretty clothes we bought and got :)

As symbol for our little daughter, I got this wonderful jewel from Mattias. It does shine :)