cherry tomato and basil pasta salad

the temperature has suddenly dipped in london and it's hovering in the single digits these days. i long for the sultr summer days, which just a few months ago seemed liked they were here to stay. instead of making hot soups and other comfort foods, i'm stubbornly resisting the notion that winter is upon us. at least for now.

as a symbol of my defiance, i made a cold pasta salad bursting with the summer flavours of tomato and basil. i had some left over paparadelle which i cooked in lots of salted water and allowed to cool for about ten minutes. then i added some chopped sweet cherry tomatoes to the pasta. this was followed by a couple of cloves of crushed garlic followed by handful of loosely torn basil leaves. finally, i drizzled some extra virgin olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

as i bit into the summer freshness of my salad, i closed my eyes and dreamt about the beaches of sardinia, the weekend getaways to paris and barcelona, the long summer evenings spent at outdoor cafes in west london, the walks in kensington park at eight pm when it was still light, rollerblading in notting hill and everything else that made the summer of '06 so memorable and the winter feel terribly depressing now.