It was my first try at cooking something that complicated. Truth is, I have never ventured into cooking something that requires more than five ingredients. Good thing I had three people with me who knew how to cook, though I still held the reins to the whole affair.

I started by boiling some water for the noodles. While I waited for it to boil, I took out the chicken, ham, bell pepper, white onion, and garlic. I was only able to slice the garlic and the ham but I had some help with the chicken, bell pepper and the white onion. I was not a kitchen person so chopping those ingredients into cubes was a real task for me.

When the water was already boiling, I put in the noodles and added some oil and a little salt, just as my mother told me to do. Then, we went back to the task of dicing all that was needed to be diced.

With the noodles done, I took out a pot to start making the sauce. I then melted some butter in the pot over a low fire and then browned the garlic in it. When it was brown enough, I added the white onions and let it juice up. I also added the ham and the chicken. When both types of meat were cooked, I added a can of evaporated milk and two tetra packs of all-purpose cream.

I kept in mind to continuously stir the sauce to prevent it from sticking to the pot while adding crushed chicken broth cubes. When the sauce started to boil, I put in the diced bell pepper. Then I continued to stir the sauce until it was boiling again, a sign that it’s ready.

While I was preparing the sauce, a helper was hard at work frying some bacons, which she later chopped into tiny pieces as topping for our carbonara sauce.

I’m glad it turned out okay. My family liked it. I might cook pasta again someday … soon.