i found the recipe through the internet from allrecipes.com.  i read some suggestions and i altered the recipe a bit.  the whole meal (good for 10 ppl) cost about $30.

**photo soon to come**

ingredients:

1 pound dry ziti pasta

1 pound ground beef

2 (24oz each) bottles of classico sauce – tomato & basil

6 ounces of provolone cheese, sliced

14 oz of mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese, grated (i forgot to do this step)

1 1/2 cups of sour cream (next time i wanna try ricotta cheese, although the sour cream was fine)

small teaspoon of minced garlic

half of an onion, chopped

preparation:

preheat oven to 350 degrees

boil water then add pasta, a pinch of salt, and a bit of cooking oil (about 8 min)

cook ground beef until brown, add chopped onion and minced garlic

-add classico sauce and let simmer 15 minutes

butter 9×13 baking pan with pam (butter spray)

layer as following:

-1/2 of the ziti

-1/3 of the sauce mixture, stir pasta and sauce together

-provolone cheese

-sour cream (put in a ziplock back and snip a corner) or ricotta cheese

-remaining ziti

-1/3 sauce mixture

-mozzarella cheese

-topped with grated parmesan (i forgot this step but it still came out yummy)

cover baking pan in foil and leave in for 30 min or until cheeses are melted.

leave the last third of sauce on the side in case some people want theirs extra saucy

let it sit a few minutes to cool down

**more photos soon to come**

while robin and i cooked in her kitchen, the boys – jake and dino – just waited patiently (thank goodness!) and watched tv.  we didnt think it would take us so long to prepare the meal, and then we had to wait another 30min or so for the dishes to bake.  it was italian/carb night.  we had a full dish of lasagna, courtesy of robin, and a full dish of baked ziti, and a side of store bought garlic bread, along with some delicious wine, some vintage ale — and for jake, water and tea since the poor guy was sick.  dessert consisted of warm cinnabon.  YUMM!

dino got all excited because he wanted us to learn all these great dishes that he likes.  haha..  i guess it’s great to be a man.  we have a page full of dishes & desserts requested by him.  i guess the women will be getting together to learn new dishes while the men simply drink beer & wine and wait patiently for us to finish and later on critique us to help us make our dish better.

my baked ziti looked scrumptious!  i had a feeling while i was preparing it that it might be a little too dry.  i was right.  the flavor was great but it was a bit too dry and everyone agreed.  i should have followed my instincts and made extra sauce on the side in case of this situation.  oops.  from this cooking lesson, i will definitely add a lot more sauce.  other than that i think it came out terrific.   if i were to make this meal for just jake and i, i would probably cut the recipe in half – maybe even a third.  there was so much.  i would also make a side of salad and a few pieces of garlic bread.

i am so glad that we finally got together to do this.  i am also re-inspired to learn all the dishes i like, new dishes i want to try, dishes jake likes, and just learn to be comfortable in the kitchen.  i wanna be that woman who can cook anything, who can throw an awesome party and have delicious food that people will remember and want to know my secret recipe.  maybe i’m shooting a little too high, but hey..who knows?

now all i need is a super cute apron and a cute recipe box.  i have been looking for a few years now but i can’t seem to find the “right one.”  aprons-wise, i’ve found a couple of cute ones, but recipe boxes are so much harder.  i am really picky and it needs to be perfect.  i’m thinking of making one myself.  this baked ziti will be my first recipe in the box.  other than that, i really only now how to cook like 3-4 other dishes.

i also want to get a separate recipe box for baking!  i would love to learn how to make a cake from scratch, frosting from scratch, make cupcakes, make eclairs, make all kinds of desserts!  too bad my family has a history of diabetes, but really, who can resist the sweets?!?!  i have an insane sweet tooth! =P

there’s talk that we might prepare a “feast” during new years, but it’s not definite yet.  i am just happy that we finally got together and did it.  i hope tisay can make it next time and the three of us can get together at least once a month to do this.  i had so much fun!

jake and i finally got our taxes done last week.  it took over a month to finally get it done.  last month i called two of my old employers because i never received my W2… i realized they had sent it to the old apartment number so i called both companies to get it sent again to the current address.  i then make an appointment with a tax preparer to get our taxes done in two weeks so that i wouldn’t have to worry about it later on.  a week and a half later, i only received one of them.  now i have to reschedule the appointment again.  i figured i’d give the second company another week before i call the company again.  that week comes along and still nothing shows up.  i call a number again and request another copy and they tell me it should arrive by the end of the week or the beginning of next week.  perfect. more waiting.   it arrives on monday.  i put it together with the rest of my taxes and realize…i called the wrong company!  it was the other company that hadn’t sent me the taxes.  great.  now i have to call the other company and the tax preparer again.  fcuk.  so i call the next day and get everything handled.  the company says it should arrive by the end of the week or the beginning of the next week.  grr.  so i make my appointment for the wednesday of next week.  monday come, no taxes.  i call on tuesday to see what happened and they tell me they sent it to the old apartment number again.  ridiculous.  i’ve told them numerous times what the new address is and they keep sending it to the old one.  fortunately, this time i was speaking to the right person.  she told me she would have it sent fedex overnight, depending if she got received it that day or the next – meaning i would get it either wednesday or thursday.  i call again on wednesday before i go to work and she tells me they were able to send it last night and it should arrive that day by 3.  thank goodness i made my appointment at 6pm!!  we barely made it!!  the good thing about all this was we got a lot more than what we expected.  heheh.  time to put that money towards debt, savings, and time to go to the doctors and register the doggies.  whew.  that was a complicated story.

another thing that has changed recently is the doggies sleeping arrangement.  out of the blue i suggested that the dogs should sleep in our room by the bed without the cages.  i had to push jake to let us try it.  he was afraid they might pee/poop in the middle of the night.  they actually did great.  it has been about 3-4 nights and they’ve still been really good.  i think they like it.  hehe..

lana’s first bday just passed on the 11th.  she had her bday party on the 10th at a park in irvine.  she was soo cute!  the food was delicious!  the cake was bomb!!  there was a layer of banana cake (my fave) and red velvet…also very yummy.  tara’s friend made the cake for lana.  it was a paul frank themed party so the cake was paul frank.  cute.  tara’s friend also makes the BEST little dessert.  she calls it “the food of the gods.”  it seriously is that good.  i told jake… even though i’m trying to watch what i eat…i want a box of those goodies for my bday.  seriously.  they are soo friggin good….so addicting…so so soo good.  unfortunately she didnt bring any that day.  i only tasted them when tara had a box during christmas.  yummm.   anyway, ana got tons of cool gifts but of course we gave her the coolest one of all.  hahhaha…just kidding.  we got her a hot pink atv.  she could play with that for years!  we’re grooming her to become wild and playful.. =)  i hope she likes it.

times are tough and we need to sacrifice pleasures.  we canceled of cable and dvr privileges.  now we’re stuck with basic cable and…..commercials.  =/  i find myself watching less tv – which is a good thing cuz i have time to do other things like clean and work out and read.  but still…i dont think i’ve ever not had cable.  it’s weird.  also…i’ve been spoiled by dvr.  i can watch what i want whenever i want.  now i have to surf through a few selected channels to find something amusing enough to watch and i have to either sit through commercials or wait til a commercial to get up and do a bathroom or snack break.  what a difficult world we live in.  hhahahah.  the upside to only having basic cable is i watch more news.  i feel more connected to what is going on in the world.  =)  …and maybe a little bit of maury.  hahah.

on the upside, celine, one of my fave cousins, has passed her exam.  she is officially a US RN! heheh.. so happy for her.  she’s been working hard for this and she deserves it.  it also means she gets to live here permanently.  i am soo happy.  more time to spend with her and the rest of the family.  i really wish tisay wasnt so far.  it would be so nice to spend a lot of time with tisay, robin, celine, and myself without worrying about the distance and time and such.  even i live far.  kinda sucks.  but the 4 of us are trying to get together soon to have a cooking session maybe once a month.  it was tisay’s idea which i absolutely love.

she suggested we get together and either teach the others hos to cook a dish or bring a new recipe and we all pitch in and try it.  one, we get to spend time together.  two, we get to gossip.  three, we get to learn how to cook new dishes and i’m sure our men would appreciated the variety and new things we are learning…cuz ahem… best way to a mans heart is through their stomach.  if only i knew how to cook more than two dishes.  this cooking session would help a lot.  it’s just too bad that jake and i have opposite taste buds.  i like alfredo, he likes meat sauce.  i like pasta and mexican food, he likes bbq and seafood.  ay yay yay.  but i’m sure there are some dishes that we can both agree on.  i am excited to learn.

that reminds me, i was hanging out with dino, robin, celine, and jake last friday and i think it was dino that brought this childhood game up : MASH.  do you guys remember that?  ollllldschool!  we went around the table playing it and when it came to the girls we played my longer version which included job positions for both yourself and the significant other, pets, where you live and where you have your honeymoon.  the last two was robin’s suggestion because she didnt want to do another category that dino suggested: sexual position – such a guy thing to suggest. hahaha.  it was fun.  there were other games that we played that you play during junior high.  brought back many memories.  there was also another game that robin remembered but we couldnt remember exactly how to play.  i am thinking of calling yasmin to see if she remembers.  i think i have the notebook of all these games somewhere in the garage of la palma or maybe even in fullerton.  i wonder if i can find it later when we go to la palma.  i need to find some protector sheets anyway for my emergency kit binder – which brings me to..

the emergency kit project.  i finally started on my emergency kit…somewhat.  but hey, it’s better than nothing.  i’ve started making copies of important documents like insurance and medical records and identity.  things like that.  i just need a few more copies of some other paperwork and also need to start packing the necessities for an emergency kit.  that’s another thing i plan to do with some of the tax return money we’re getting.  i’m wondering whether we should keep the bag near our door or in the car.  i’m thinking both but i’m just afraid..”what if our car gets stolen” even though i doubt that’ll ever happen..but still, you never know.  at the same time, what if the disaster happened while i was away from home?  i’m probably going to put it in both but i’ll put less information to lower the risk of someone stealing my identity because right now my whole life info is in that binder.

okay, it’s getting late.  i need to start getting ready.  celine’s mom is going back home tomorrow to the philippines.  we’re having a goodbye dinner at some really good restaurant supposedly.  i’ve never been there but the fambam has been raving about it.  can’t wait to try it.

we drove into the town center, as we enter i look to my right and the first thing i see is a noodle restaurant.  i didnt bother to look anywhere else so i asked dino “is it at that noodle place?’  dino looked at me like i was crazy and started laughing saying, “NO, it’s that TOFU place right next to it!!” there was a humongous sign right next to the noodle place with a gigantic TOFU written across.  i’m such a dork.  hahahah.  i’ve got serious tunnel vision.  oops.  so we go into the restaurant and the atmosphere is okay.  it was very oriental, but what stood out to me was their dishware.  they had real copper dishes, metals, etc.  even the chopsticks were made out of copper — they were so heavy!  it was pretty ghetto thought that they had tables share water and hot tea – both in a plastic container.  so when it seemed like we hadn’t touched our water they took it and brought it to a new table.  weird.

then the food started coming.  the rice was yummy.  the sides were pretty good.  i only had the seaweed paper and a bite of the fish.  the seaweed paper i devoured..kinda.. it’s been a long time since i’ve had it.  the fish….bleh.  then the korean bbq came on a hot plate.  the onions came freshly sliced but within a few minutes was carmelized….YUM!  the korean bbq was pretty amazing…makes me wanna go to a korean bbq place soon.  ahha.  the tofu finally came and it looked like soup.  then dino did his magic and added an egg and broke down the tofu, then mixing it all together.  i tried it and it was pretty good.  i wouldnt say it was amazing or that i would crave it but i would eat it if it was there.  it actually reminded me of a filipino dish.  i dont know what it is called but i will post the name when i find out.  so yah.  I HAD TOFU. unbelievable. afterwards, we had some ice cream.  it was pretty good….until i dropped it on my chest and lap.  ahhaha… typical, clumsy me.

because i am so picky, i think someone would have to really rave about a new dish for me to actually try it.  i am still cautious about trying new items because of past experiences.  so… do any of you like tofu?  are there any dishes that you rave about that you can suggest for picky me to try?  that reminds me.. tara (jake’s sister) took us to a cuban place in old town orange.  i forget the name, but i was scared the food was gonna be disgusting. i started seeing some food come out to other tables and they did not look appetizing.  we finally got our food…and i LOVED it!  it tasted really good.  i would mosdef go back again.  too bad jake didn’t like it. i’d have to find someone else to go with me. haha.

enjoy the pictures from the tofu place.