Pasta recipe – Farfalla Vongele (Clams and tomato pasta)

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Farfalla Vongele (Clams and tomato pasta) – Lilian

1 can Rex brand clams in water (you can find this in the section where they sell canned sardines in most supermarkets)
1/2 bottle of tomato based pasta sauce (I prefer any brand that is made in Italy)
A few pips of garlic
300 gm of pasta (can be any shape, spaghetti, linguine, farfalla, macaroni etc etc)

Boil pasta according to instruction. Usually, it is a teaspoon salt and two tablespoon of oil and a huge pot of water. When water is boiling, add pasta and cook for about 20 mins. Remove and leave aside, sprinkle some olive oil to prevent it sticking.

Saute the garlic with olive oil till soft (but do not let it brown). Pour in the clams with its juices, add the tomato pasta sauce and let it boil for a little while, add pasta and serve.

SPICY VERSION,
When saute-ing the garlic, add two dried chillies which you have flake (use your hands to break the dried chillies up and soak in hot water for a while to remove the seeds). You can also add a can of button mushroom that has been finely sliced to make the pasta more interesting. Add clam and tomato pasta sauce. Let it boil for a second, add pasta.

Dish up, sprinkle with lots of black pepper and chopped coriander leaves.

Alert on hand, foot and mouth disease – enterovirus 71 virus, or EV-71

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The Associated Press has released this news which I am sure all parents will want to know. There is currently an outbreak of the EV-71 in China on May 2008.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is a childhood illness found worldwide that spreads through contact with saliva, feces, fluid secreted from blisters or mucus from the nose and throat. Symptoms typically include fever, skin rashes and sores inside the mouth and on fingers and toes.

There is no vaccine or specific treatment, but most children affected by the disease typically recover quickly without problems.

However, EV-71 can result in a more serious form of the illness that can lead to paralysis, brain swelling or death. Many of the severe cases in China did not exhibit typical symptoms, and the children eventually died from respiratory problems, which kept Chinese experts puzzled about the cause of the outbreak, said Hans Troedsson, WHO country representative.

So dear parents, please watch out for the symptoms as our neighbouring country, Singapore too has witnessed an increase in HFMD.

Infections also continue to rise in Singapore, which has reported more than 9,000 cases this year, with EV-71 found in 25 percent of the samples tested. No deaths have been reported in the wealthy city-state, but the government has ordered 11 preschools and child-care centers closed, according to the Health Ministry’s Web site.

WHO issued a warning last week predicting that the outbreak will likely continue in China for the next few months because the virus tends to thrive in hot weather. It advised disinfection and frequent hand washing to prevent its spread, along with closing schools and daycare centers in hard-hit areas.

Full news on AP

I have more information on HFMD over here with resources from CDC and also include a hand food mouth alert.

Family Meals – SIMPLE TOMATO-BASED SPAGHETTI SAUCE

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SIMPLE/ LAZY TOMATO-BASED SPAGHETTI SAUCE
Contributed by Lai Yin

2pips Garlic – chopped (Optional)
1 onion – chopped
2 tomatoes – roughly diced
2 tbsp minced meat (Chicken, beef or pork)
1 or 2 tbsp Tomato Ketchup (to taste)
water
bay leaf (optional)

1. Saute garlic and onions till soft.
2. Add minced meat. Saute 2-3mins
3. Add tomatoes. Saute 2-3mins.
4. Add tomato ketchup to taste. Add bay leaf (optional).
5. Add a little water and simmer till everything is soft n mushy.

Makes 2-3 toddler portions. Besides spaghetti, can also go with macaroni, alphabet pasta, capellini etc. Optional extras: can also add chopped carrot or sliced leeks.