reunited, and it feels so good.

in graduate school, i lived with 3 lovely people: lindsey, april, and hannah. we had not been together in years and so we organized a sleepover-reunion at my place this past saturday. of course, that meant that i had the opportunity to cook for everyone, in between the arm-wrestling and the discussions of sex and grammar.

we started with spring rolls in the backyard: rice paper skins full of bean vermecelli, cucumber, carrots, basil, and sunflower sprouts. a spicy peanut sauce made with chili oil. and of course, cocktails: whiskey sours made by lindsey with homemade ginger syrup and lemons.

we eventually needed more food, and while the girls munched on chips and hummus, i cooked a pasta dish with chickpeas and arugula. so easy for a group. i had found a recipe in the august issue of cooking light earlier that day. awesome.

1. cook pasta (i used a half-bag of the corn kind.)
2. in a pan, heat olive oil and add in chopped garlic (2-3 cloves) and crushed red pepper. when the garlic is browned, add in salt (1/2 tsp), tomatoes (2 cups chopped), and beans (i used one can of chickpeas, but you could use any white bean). cook for a couple of minutes.
3. toss pasta and tomato-bean mixture, with a little of the pasta water and a good handful of chopped arugula, a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice, and grated parmesan.
then there was more drinking. we finished most of the bottle of whiskey, in addition to a half-bottle of reyka vodka and an almost-full bottle of gin.

so, yes. we eventually went to sleep. i had been anticipating frying many eggs in the pan sunday morning, but my roommates were m.i.a. therefore, i only got to fry 4, not 6. that's ok, too.
we ate the eggs with fresh corn cut off the cob with butter and sea salt, in addition to carrots, cucumbers, sunflower-flax bread, and a baby plum.
(most photographs courtesy of hannah and her fancy camera.)