Lumache al'arrabiata

Leeds is a great city with lots happening all the time.  It is also home to a whole host of imaginative people who are willing to roll their sleeves up and get things done.  Today saw the start of something new for the city, Playful Leeds.

The idea of having fun in the city is a far cry from the "No ball games allowed" signs of my childhood that were put up by Council killjoys.  The first event focused on the idea of playfulness and whether Leeds is already a playful place.  I'm still a child at heart and can find fun in most surrounds but I can't remember the last time I made a den out of cardboard boxes.

I had our little boy in-tow so I also spent the afternoon toddler wrangling.  He's fast on his knees when he has his head down and that's when chaos can happen.  Fortunately for everybody at the event he was on his best, most playful, behaviour.  It's fair to say that we are both looking forward to playing more in future and seeing what comes of Playful Leeds.

After a busy day playing it's good to know that you can knock up a simple pasta dish without thinking too much about it.  They don't come much simpler than arrabiata.  Tinned tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and red chilli.  It's that simple.  Arrabiata is the Italian word for angry, so as long as you put in plenty of chilli you can claim to be authentic.  I also added some salami to ours but only because we had some in.

NB.  Lumache is the name of the pasta shape we happened to have in.  It is meant to resemble snail shells and is traditionally served with a snail ragu.  Arrabiata is normally served with penne but I was feeling playful.