What happens to the turns when I ascend

Unless there's been a recent revamp to the Sea that I'm unaware of, the Seaside Shack is not accessible until level 11. I would suggest, however, that you not do any of the Sea content until level 15-ish as the monsters are very high-level and can hit pretty hard.

The thing about Pastamancers is that, like most archetypal mages, they are squishy glass cannons. If you can get the jump on your enemies, you have a higher chance than the other classes of taking them out in one round. However, you are also more susceptible to being one-shot by monsters than the other classes, as Muscle classes can just tank hits while Moxie classes dodge them.

So, the important thing to do is have good Combat Initiative. If you're level 6, you can use the Springy Fusilli skill to gain +40% Combat Initiative, which is usually more than good enough. The Pastamancer's Epic weapon also gives bonus Combat Initiative, so try to grab that if you don't want to be so skill/buff reliant.

If you don't think you can one-shot your enemies, especially if you're taking on boss monsters, then you need to find the Pastamancer's best friend: Entangling Noodles. This skill easily gives the best bang for your buck. Learnable at level 2 and costing only 250 meat, Entangling Noodles is definitely one of your best spells. While it doesn't do any damage, it roots and prevents your enemies from attacking for several turns (the base is 3 for Pastamancers, I believe).