Unorthodox Meals: Synchronistic Sundown Carbonara

Sometimes synchronicity hits it just right. This time it was in the case of a menu for a birthday boy who is a dear buddy of mine. I wanted to celebrate my friend with a handcrafted meal with a twist so I decided to whip up a new version of pasta carbonara utilizing the fava bean bounty that was in my fridge.  Not only did he let me know that carbonara was his favorite dish but he had been reading about fava beans lately in the LA Times and was curious to try them. He also mentioned that Zin was his favorite wine just as I had set out a bottle to breathe on my countertop. I knew the meal would be a hit.

We started the evening with a walk to the beach to do a little sunset meditation session together while the cream, eggs and butter settled to room temperature. We also let a pan sit in a 250-degree oven filled with a cup of oregano sautéed fava beans and half a cup of organic green peas to warm. Letting the pressures of the day slip from our shoulders, we breathed ourselves into a state of peace and then watched the seagulls gliding on the wind and diving into the ocean to procure their own fish suppers.

Once back at home I fried up a pound of bacon, cooked a pound of whole wheat pasta and whipped together four large eggs and a fourth cup of cream. Just as I was turning on my classical music station, my friend requested Mozart, and that was what came on next! The evening was hitting all the marks in a magical fashion.

While the pasta cooked, we enjoyed a plate of bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Once the pasta was done, I chopped the bacon into bits and minced a fourth cup of fresh parsley.

The finale came by mixing together the cooked pasta with the fava beans, peas, parsley, bacon and egg/cream mixture until all well blended and coated. Then I mixed in half a cup of freshly, grated parmesan to seal the deal and a pinch of salt and pepper.

The indulgent and creamy dish hit the right notes as we listened to more classical music and discussed our intentions for the next year of our lives. Learning to take notes from the evening’s synchronicity, we decided that our goals for the next twelve months would be to follow our own inner bliss and craft our lives more in line with our own inner synchronicities. We would start to pay special attention to the signs and opportunities that came our way and would use our voices to procure that which we truly want in our lives.

In honor of the power of our voices, we ate a dessert designed to open and invigorate the throat: dried figs dipped into fresh mint infused honey!