She Let Me Cook

Jane wasn't feeling all that energetic yesterday, and so she let me in the kitchen. It's been cold and drab and wintry here in Los Angeles, and so comfort food was on my mind. What could I make?

• Scrambled eggs with dill, um... not vegan.
• Spaghetti with ground turkey meat sauce, um... not vegan.
• Grilled chicken thighs - too cold to BBQ, not enough time to marinate the chix, and um... not vegan.

Suddenly I had a newfound appreciation for the challenges Jane faces on a daily basis. When you've been cooking one way for over 20 years, it's a bit of a challenge to come up with new meals when you're under the gun.

Then it came to me -- a meal my roommates and I used to cook up in NY in my twenties, Spaghetti mit Peas. The only problem with that is that neither Jane nor I had any idea where the original recipe was, and my friend Rich didn't respond to my email. So I decided to wing it; I'd made the recipe often enough in my life and I knew what ingredients were involved, I just didn't remember exact proportions.

Dinner was exactly as expected, a little heavy on the carbs, but warm and filling and comforting. Of course, we had salad with that.

After we finished eating my computer beeped at me, signifying mail had arrived. Looks like I remembered the recipe exactly! Including the "farts to follow, not date food" warning in the last line!