Pasta with shrimps and a little story
“The moisture on the walls slowly dripped down, leaving a glistening trail behind. Every now and then a drop hit the floor, making a soft noise in otherwise silent and dark hallways. Throughout the underground vaults there was a weird kind of mist. A mist that seemed to radiate a faint smell of decay. Despite being so deep underground there was a noticeable draft and she shiffered involuntarily. The beam of the flashlight she brought down with her had seemed so bright when she was still above ground but here, most of the light seemed to be absorbed by that same strange mist and the surrounding darkness. The small lightbundel that remained was barely enough to see where she could plant her feet.
Large cobwebs were everywhere and every now and then a sticky thread would get lodged on her face or hair. Absentmindedly she wondered how those spiders would survive so deep below ground. There seemed to be no other life form and even the webs were hanging there empty and useless. Far of in the distance there was a faint light shimmering and she used that as a beaken to guide her. She had no idea if she would find her target there or if it would even be here but the light, at least, gave her the idea that something should be. The further she proceeded the colder the flow of air became and she was glad she had put on a thick sweater. Despite the cold draft and despite the damp mist she started sweating….”
No don’t worry I have not lost my mind… That is the beginning of ‘Rainbow House’ a horror story I wrote somewhere in my twenties or maybe I even started before that. I thought I had lost the entire story or at least the digital version, but because of the writing we did in Plate2Page I started searching and I found it! It was somewhere on one of the harddrives. Safely tucked away in a document folder I hadn’t looked at for ages. I even decided I would be printing this in hardcopy as it’s a fun reminder of what I used to do.. 
When I wrote this (still on a DOS computer with Wordperfect!! Yes, I am THAT old! lol…) there was no such thing as selfpublishing like Blurb or Lulu and apart from printing out all the
pages there was no way you could ever print your own book. But yesterday I quickly changed the format from A4 to A5, made it into a PDF, uploaded the thing to Lulu and ordered the book. Yes, all 568 pages of Rainbow House will be in my bookshelf… It’s in Dutch by the way, so this is translated but it would not seriously interested anyone other then myself. It’s a shaky narrative at best as the story is written in a time period of about 10 to 15 years and changed so many times in between I honestly don’t know what it’s about anymore. Well vaguely; it’s about 3 girls living in this old house (Rainbow House) in the South of England and they find large vaults under the house and guess what…? Something else lives there too… Whoohoo… Haha… Anyway, just thought it was fun to mention. But now on to more pressing matters and this delicious recipe I wanted to share with you today…
The original recipe is from Donna Hay’s magazine but it’s slightly changed..
Pasta with shrimps and cucumber
Yield: 2
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 20 min
Ingredients:
- 200 gr rigatoni pasta
- 200 gr cooked prawns, peeled
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp of lemon juice
- 1/2 tbs of lemon zest
- 1 clove of garlic crused
- 70 gr natural yogurt
- 25 gr rocketcress
Directions:
- Cook the pasta in a large pan with salted boiling water for 10-12 minutes or until al dente. Drain and return to the pan with the prawns and cucumber and toss to combine.
- Put the yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest and garlic in a bowl and mix to combine.
- Pour the yogurtmixture over the pasta and toss well.
- Top with the rocketcress to serve.
Adapted from Donna Hay
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
Horror stories?? OMG! Now I would not have put you into that category or style! Wait till I tell Jeanne and Jamie! HAHAHA! They will follow you with the post-its from doom! The pasta is definitely not from a horror story – lovely and fresh!
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Simone (junglefrog) — June 29th, 2011 at 11:05
Haha.. well remember I wrote this 20 years or so ago!!
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I love horror stories and yours seem to be not bad at all. Hey you were only 20! Great to know that you have found it again.
That pasta dish is magnificent! So summery, flavorful and enjoyable.
Cheers,
Rosa
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mmmh I love that pasta! great photos too!
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I used to love horror when I was younger. Until I had children. Somehow, don’t know if it’s because of the hormones or something else, since then I just can’t read or watch horror anymore. I turned into a big whimp!
The pasta looks delicious!
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Simone (junglefrog) — July 1st, 2011 at 12:31
Haha… I actually think that thrillers are scarier then horrormovies!
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I love horror stories too! I remember I watched The Exorcist alone.. wow..that was years ago
Anyway I love your simple pasta
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Simone (junglefrog) — July 1st, 2011 at 12:30
I still think the exorcist is one of the scariest movies out there and I would never watch it alone!
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really?? you’ve written a horror story? I’ve written some romance stories back in highschool!!!
I love how this pasta dish looks!
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Simone (junglefrog) — July 1st, 2011 at 12:28
O I would love to read some of your romance stories too…
Maybe it’s a thing we do in puberty…
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I didn’t know you used to write fiction! I’m terrified of horror in general, but maybe writing it would help me deal with it better, heh. I enjoyed that passage, you set the mood quite well!
Well, that pasta is clearly not “horrific”, quite the contrary! Love shrimp!
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Simone (junglefrog) — July 1st, 2011 at 12:29
I used to hate horror.. Or let me put it differently; I hated to look at horror movies but I’ve always loved reading them. When I met Tom I would not watch any movie but over time I’ve gotten used to the blood and gore..lol.. I actually find thrillers in general more scary then horror movies (which seem to be an exaggeration most of the time anyway!
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Lovely dish and presentation but what’s really exciting is being able to locate and reclaim your former work.
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Simone (junglefrog) — July 1st, 2011 at 12:29
Yes, while it is not the best piece of work I did spend ages writing it so I thought it was great that I found it again!
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I love when I discover other than culinary talents
In the begining I thought(not knowing it was a story written before) you are going for a meal somewhere:)
Well done ..pasta is yummi;)
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Simone (junglefrog) — July 1st, 2011 at 12:30
Haha… well it could easily be a food story too!
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You’re quite the writer Simone! And quite the pasta cook too! Love the addition of cucumbers here.
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Simone (junglefrog) — July 1st, 2011 at 12:31
Thanks Peter…
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Hi Simone
I hope you don’t mind me posting this. I noticed your pasta and shrimp recipe and I thought its simplicity really reflected the To-Tuscany Foodie Blogger Competition:
http://www.to-tuscany.com/reach-tuscany/foodie-blogger-competition/
There’s a chance to win a week in a Tuscany Villa and £150 towards flights if you have the time to enter. Plus there’s also a runners up prize draw for everyone who enters!
I hope you can enter!
Best of luck,
Rebecca
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