There is nothing wrong with trying to make the good things in life even better. A good man is all good; a good man who makes me dinner, is another league. Forget iced coffee. Make iced espresso, and I am a coffee snob–I’m the first one to admit it–but I’m not saying you have to go out and buy one of those cadillac coffee machines that wakes you up, takes the curlers out of your hair, brushes your teeth for you, and then makes you a cup of coffee. They have been making espresso on the stove top in Italy (and a whole bunch of other countries) for as long as they have had stove tops, and there is nothing chi chi about it. You just have to get a little thing called a moka pot, fill the bottom part up with water, right to the bottom of the steam valve, drop the basket in there, fill that up with Lavazza or Illy right to the top, without packing it down, and then screw on the top part. Set it over a medium gas flame, or the equivalent for electric, and wait until the coffee bubbles out the tube, and fills up just below the pouring spout. Pour about TWO INCHES into your coffee cup, and if you take it, stir in the sugar. Let it sit for a few minutes to cool off, add loads of ice, and then organic milk, until it is a rich creamy mix.
For dinner, if you are going to have pasta, get yourself De Cecco. Prince, Ronzoni are fakes; you may as well make yourself a pasta milkshake.
Cook your pasta in plenty of salted water until it has plenty of life still in it. Use a little more than half a pound, and save some of the pasta’s cooking water. Drizzle a hot pan with beautiful olive oil and throw in about five whole cloves of garlic, each cut in half. Toss around until they are golden. Add some fresh mint and basil leaves. Let those go dark green, add a few red pepper flakes, and then about a cup of peas. Season with salt and pepper. As soon as the pasta is done, toss it with the peas, a spoonful of the reserved water, a drizzle of olive oil, and the best parmesan you can find. Dallop in some fresh ricotta and toss again, tasting for seasoning. Fresh lemon zest (no pith) is delicious in this. Serve right away.