My daughter and I have started weekly yoga sessions, and we need to eat about 2 hours before the session starts. And because the session starts at 6pm and I don’t like eating after 7pm, today I decided that we will have an early dinner.
Our go to pasta dish is usually a hearty spaghetti bolognese. Today I tried something different. Geoffrey Zakarian from the Kitchen TV series makes a pasta using pantry staples. He used bacon, onions, cannellini beans, canned artichokes and pasta. I couldn’t find artichokes so I used portobellini mushrooms. I left out the butter but added a clove of finely chopped garlic. The pasta is finished off with a drizzle of olive oil, finely chopped parsley and grated pecorino.
The secret is to slightly caramelize the onions and to almost crisp the bacon. My daughter thinks the dish can be improved by adding some chopped Kalamata olives or perhaps a squeeze of lemon. I think she’s right as the artichokes in Geoffrey’s recipe would have added that hint of brightness that was missing in my dish.
All the same, what a delicious dish! The bonus is that it is quick, easy and inexpensive. It was ready to eat in under 30 minutes. Take a look, I’m sure that you will want to try it!

The advantage for me is that I can fast for 20 hours on a Tuesday night into Wednesday now. I have increased my fasting window from 16 to 18 hours and I can only do this if I start fasting early at night. I’ve found that 2pm is the latest that I can fast until the next day, as I do start to get hungry at around 1pm.
Until next time ☕️
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Published by Joy
I am a 60-something year old South African of Chinese descent. Although my heritage is Chinese and I cannot live without rice, I feel more connected to South Africa and the diverse South African culture than I do to China.
I have lived all my life in South Africa. South Africa is a beautiful country, with wonderful coastlines and beaches, incomparable wildlife and some beautiful mountains. We have long, hot summers and tolerable winters, with snow only in a few places. We seem to have it all.
I am fortunate to have travelled a little. I have travelled to London and Scotland in the UK; Sidney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast in Australia; New York, Boston and Colorado in the US; Beijing, Shanghai, Canton and Xi’An in China; Hong Kong and Mauritius. I would like to travel more and on my bucket list is Japan, Italy and the Northern Lights. At some point, I would like to visit China again, I was last there more than twenty years ago.
I have worked for large organizations nearly all my life. I have been fired once, nearly fired twice, and as recent as last year, I was retrenched. But I have also been promoted, won excellence awards with monetary awards and once awarded with a trip overseas. I think I can claim to have experienced it all!
The retrenchment that I recently experienced was bitter sweet because I had already reached retirement age. So theoretically I should have been sitting at home by my pool anyway. But it was still a shock to find myself with no reason to get out of bed every morning for more than six months.
So yes, I am still on the wrong side of 60, that won’t change, but I am no longer unemployed. I am not certain how long my current employment will last, but I am content for now. And should I find myself unemployed for any length of time again, I think I would do things differently. For example, I will make those plans to travel and tick a few more desires off my bucket list.
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Looks delicious
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Great job on figuring out a good fasting schedule – and the food looks delicious! I think I would have devoured it if I was fasting or not!
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Pasta is always irresistible, isn’t it!
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Great job on figuring out your fasting schedule. And the food looks delicious – I think I would have devoured it if I were fasting or not!
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