Tales of a Wananabe Kitchen Goddess

About a month ago, I was watching as a make-up artist layered eye shadow on my discipler Ate Carol's eyes in the music room. I was trying to figure out how she (the make-up artist) was making Ate Carol's chinky eyes look bigger and more dramatic when my discipler suddenly asked me, "Is it true that you're good at cooking?"
That question hit me like one of the wicked curveballs Victoria bragged about in "Twilight." Me? Cook? That was easily one of the funniest questions everyone had ever asked me simply because as much as I love to sink my teeth into anything edible and cater to my gastric juices' every whim, my cooking skills are, unfortunately, (grossly) inversely proportional to my appetite. As if to further bolster my culinary insecurities, I have come to realize that I could possibly forever banner the title "Kitchen God's Daughter/Grand Daughter" as my father and both my grandfathers are real geniuses in front of a pan and stove.
So as to rightfully deem myself worthy of every spoon I reach for, I decided to start with desserts and pasta about a year ago because they seem easy enough (and because they're two of my favorite food items). And it seems like when I eat whatever I make, it all tastes pretty good even if I know it lacks a bit of something here and there.
On Sundays, my mom gives our house help the day off so we don't eat lunch and dinner at home. We usually eat out or have food delivered. Tonight, my mom decided to try a new paste recipe which she clipped from a magazine. It was called Vongole Pasta with Prawns. Like me, my mom and my sister both lack serious culinary skills but the adventure of trying something new and actually making it yourself was all together appealing. My mother and I went off to the supermarket to buy the needed ingredients which included white wine, clams and prawns. Our previous pasta projects were topped off with either red sauce or creamy white sauce but we have always been fans of pasta drowning in olive oil. But then again, we have never tried mixing olive oil with white wine so it should be worth the try. Shallots were not available in the supermarket so we just went for small onions. There were also no lemons in the fruit stall so we opted to use calamansi. We didn't know wat lemon zest was so we left that out and since there was also no dried chili flakes on the shelves, I grabbed some chilli powder. We also used canned clams since there were no fresh clams available.
We brought the groceries home and the three of us started work on what would be our dinner. Mom added more wine than we thought was needed and my sister was trying to shield me from adding more chili powder. Later on, we started laughing so hard because the mixture did taste more of wine than anything else. Dad checked us out from the window and I started to wonder if he was contemplating on calling for food delivery. So we added more oil and butter just to counter the taste and I would sneak in more chili powder when my sister wasn't looking.

Finally, we added the pasta to the sauce and then piled everything into a huge serving bowl. Call it a case of "sariling luto, sariling puri" but it was actually pretty good, if I may say so. Even our house help thought so! I think we turned the heat on too high or something so much of the sauce evaporated so it would have been better if there was more sauce. If I had my way, I would have added more chili and more pepper. I really liked how the sweetness from the wine blended with the spicy tinge from the chili. I had one too any helpings and in the end, my plate could really tell you how our entire culinary adventure ended.

If any of you want to try it for yourself, I'll post the recipe just as soon as I find it.