Vodka Sauce and Table-Scapes

So... This week I created my first "tablescape."  Our dining room table has been naked since we moved in, and on Monday I was inspired to change that.  

Blue and white checker table cloth, white napkins, Crate-and-Barrel bowls, and simple wine glasses.  My favorite part is the centerpiece.  

We picked up this blue pitcher at a garage sale a few years back.  I went outside and snipped some forsythia from the huge, overgrown bushes in our yard.  It is the perfect touch!

Moving on to the food, which is why you are all here, of course.  

Vodka Sauce.  

The last time I made this recipe, I was in high school.  It was late at night and my best friend Kristie and I decided to make vodka sauce.  I think we were the only kids that sneaked liquor, not to drink, but to cook with.  Anyway, it was a disaster.  The original recipe called for canned tomatoes, which of course, we didn't have.  We took cherry tomatoes and tried to mush them up.  That didn't work, they just exploded everywhere.  Then, it seemed that I wrote the recipe down incorrectly.  The vodka measurement I wrote down was 2/c cup.  When we make it, we put in 2 cups.  FYI, that is a flammable amount of vodka.  The stove went up in flames.  Oops.  

Now, a decade later, I decided to re-attempt that very recipe.  

First, I melted down 2 tablespoons of butter.  Then, I had to figure out what 2/c cup was.  I settled on 1/2 cup.  

The rest of the recipe was easy.  I added in my tomato sauce and raw milk cream. 

I mixed it all together and added some salt. 

It was so yummy!  I poured it into a jar, and it is waiting to me mixed with rigatoni and peas!

...and don't worry, the cream in the measuring cup didn't go to waste.