Update #3- Disaster!

In the almost 3 years that my sexy husband and I have been married and in the many previous years of occasional cooking I've NEVER had to throw food away because it was unpalatable (I almost had to throw away some delicious meatballs that I made for a high school boyfriend because I left the plastic wrap on them in the oven...but that was different)...until last night. Please, I beg of you...do NOT try the eggs poached in red wine.

I must confess that I've never poached eggs before. Once, the summer between seventh and eighth grade, I ate poached eggs. But I've never actually made them. So I can't guarantee that I poached the eggs correctly. Nasty purplish, shrivelled up eggs whites were floating everywhere. That doesn't seem right to me. But it doesn't matter because both my sexy husband and I agreed that it was no good and that under no circumstances could eggs poached in red wine be good.

Good thing the night wasn't totally lost. In addition to the eggs, I made Spaghetti with Pear and Walnut Sauce. Last time I made this dish I followed the recipe as closely as possible (without using blue cheese...which my sexy husband hates). Although it tasted very good, the presentation was off. I changed the recipe a bit this time (somewhat out of necessity as I was missing a few ingredients that turned out to be unnecessary), and it both tasted better and looked more beautiful. I'll give you my version, but the original comes from "Cookshelf Vegetarian" by Jenny Stacey.
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Spaghetti with pears and walnuts (I don't really make a sauce)

8 oz angel hair pasta

2 small ripe pears, peeled and sliced thinly

2/3 white wine...something light and fruity but not sweet (I used Target's Pinot Grigio wine cube)

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, quartered and sliced

1 garlic clove

1/2 c fontina cheese, cut into small cubes

Fontina cheese is a specialty cheese, so it could be a bit expensive. It's semi-soft with a really smooth texture and flavor that finishes with a slight tangyness. If you want to substitute, I'd probably go with a soft swiss...but as I indicated earlier, the recipe originally called for blue cheese so something stronger would probably work as well.

1/2 c walnut halves, approximately

chopped fresh oregano to generously garnish


Put the water for the pasta on to boil.
Meanwine gently cook the pear slices in the white wine (Keep the heat pretty low. You don't want them to turn into mushy pear-wine sauce) and saute the onions and garlic in butter and
oil (you want the onions to get really soft and sweet).

When the pears and onion mixture are almost finished cook the angel hair pasta (it should only take 3- 4 minutes).

When the pasta is done, you can build the dish in layers...first a handful of hot pasta, then cheese cubes, then onion mixture, then pears (removed from wine with a slotted spoon), then walnuts
and oregano...with salt, black pepper and a few teaspoons (per plate) of the
wine from the pears over the top to finish it off.
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Should I say "yumm-o?" Probably not, but it's good...and quick...and impressive.:) I'd serve it to you if you came to my house, just not paired with eggs poached in red wine.