People would think that being a busy career-type, I wouldn't get much satisfaction out of cooking, but actually, it's one of the things I do to relax. Enjoying a refreshing beverage, generally alcoholic, is another way. I thought it would be nice to share some of my recipes. Some of the drink recipes are not really too highly recommended; keep in mind, my metabolism and general tolerance levels are different from yours. The food recipes--may have some surprises. I got the first from Vixen--it's a little like Spaghetti Carbonara...but it's not.
Spamghetti
1 lb of cooked spaghetti
2 eggs
1 can SPAM, diced
a few ounces of grated mozzarella, or parmesan, depending (play with this one, I do)
some breadcrumbs
a casserole dish
I know a lot of people out there who have a serious fear of meat they can't really identify, but trust me, when you're hungry, SPAM(tm) is really not bad. Just try not to go weird over the kind of slimy stuff between the meat and the can--I've tested it and it's safe. Besides, it's been around forever and really is just pork shoulder and ham--easily more recognizable than the ingredients of the hotdogs you've been getting because you had a coupon, and they were on sale...yeah, consider the source. Brand name tinned meat versus bargain meat tubes. I'm not trying to make anyone paranoid, but... Point of interest, I find you don't get the same taste from other tinned meats--use the SPAM. Or, if you really can't deal, go ahead, use diced ham, Hormel canned is pretty good.
Here's how easy it is. You can spray the casserole dish, I find I don't always have to, but you are working with cheese and you can't trust me to tell you an appropriate cooking time. You put the cooked spaghetti in. You put the eggs in (crack'em first--don't put in the shells!) Put in the Spam. Stir. Top with cheese and bread crumbs. Put in the oven for, I dunno, about 30 min. at 350 F. (It will look like a casserole when it's done.) If you don't like baked, you can skip the casserole and do it in a huge skillet on the stove top, but you want the eggs *cooked*.
Cheese Sauce (good with Spamghetti)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1/4 cup Parmesan
parsley, salt, pepper, to taste--you can use oregano or basil, but I think it's overkill
Cheese. I think I live on cheese, grease, meat and sugar--those are my food groups. Of course, I work out a lot and sometimes have to fight people in duels to the death. But a little butter, cheese, fat...it's not gonna kill you. Here goes--you melt the butter in a saucepan and then stir the flour in. You don't want lumps and please don't burn the butter--it makes the sauce look funny. Add the milk. Add the cheese--for Christ's sake--keep stirring! And then add the flavoring stuff. Bang--you made a sauce.
Instant Screwdriver
I had this roommate for a while my senior year in college...about three weeks, but you knew it couldn't last. For one thing, her parents were paying her bills, so between her and me, there was already a big difference, and she was a sheltered English major-type--like Vixen, but worse. And then, I had these swords, and a gun, and I was being stalked and there were late nights I was at the lab all hours, and weird computer geeks were calling the apartment leaving messages about dropping off some printouts--she got freaked. And she thought I did something to her cat. Whatever. But she did have this idea--and I don't know if the guys at NASA ever thought of it, but instant screwdriver--two shots vodka. Ice. Two teaspoons of Tang. Stir. Vitamin C, vitamin V. I believe it will cause liver damage, but you only go around once or so.
A whole bottle of Sake
This is not a recipe--this is just one way to spend a weekend. I recommend getting a 1.75 liter bottle of one of your less expensive brands. If the taste of straight sake puts you off at first, don't worry. The taste ceases to be an issue after your third shot. The good thing about sake is it's good at room temperature. Some people like to mix it with a little vermouth--that's a saketini. Some people prefer to shoot it down after a beer--I call that a waste. And it's harder to fit your whole bottle of sake into one weekend that way--although I have done some experiments using a case of Sapporo and have discovered that ordering a large bacon pizza is helpful. Cringe if you want, but from the notes I can still decipher (yes, I treated as a real experiment), the bacon pizza helped me stay upright for 45% longer. Gains like that can't be scoffed at.
Jim Beam and coke
I have mentioned on numerous occasions that this is a very good thing. The reasons are too numerous to really go into, but I'd like to cover just a few of the finer points. To begin with, it's easy. Two ingredients, three if you count ice. The proportions are variable, as one's taste for alcohol to cola ratio changes as the evening proceeds. There are no surprises, no exotic flavors to account for--it is the same Jim Beam and coke I've been drinking since I was fifteen and cutting school. It takes me back to a simpler time when all my cares were simpler. Getting into college. Not getting busted for truancy. Burning in hell for all eternity because I was cutting school and drinking Jim Beam and coke instead of studying algebra.
Cold Pizza
It may not be everyone's notion of breakfast as it should be--but damn it, it's breakfast as it *could* be. There is no more instant breakfast than opening the fridge, opening a white cardboard box, and having a triangle of bread, cheese, tomato sauce, and meat *right there* and ready to eat. Again, I favor the bacon pizza--a more breakfast-oriented topping to start your day with. I cannot recommend it with orange juice.
Coffee
If it were not for coffee, I do not believe I would be alive right now. You may know of other people who have said wild things about the importance of coffee, but please allow me to put this into perspective--I'm an Immortal. And I do not believe I would be alive today if it were not for coffee. That is my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Scotch
If you had to pick one way to go, oh, you could pick all kinds of ways. Jumping from the Empire State building, to use an example. But if I had my druthers of ways to go, I'd pick drowning in very, very good scotch. Of course, that wouldn't kill me. It would still be the way I'd go.