Whenever I explain to friends that I don't know how to cook, I'm typically met with the following response: "Really? Not even pasta? Pasta is so easy to make."
That may be true, but I've discovered it's easier to buy pasta. Not fresh pasta, but frozen pasta, from the supermarket.
I really like Trader Joe's linguine, for a few reasons. Firstly, it comes with pesto and tomatoes. The tomatoes partially satisfy my daily recommended serving of fruit. And I can smother my bread in the pesto. I love saucy bread. The soggier the bread, the more delicious it becomes. I wish Trader Joe's sold soggy loaves of bread.
Secondly, the linguine contains less sodium that some of the other frozen pastas that Trader Joe's offers. I'm very cognizant of sodium count when I purchase frozen foods. I strive to be as healthy as I can be while maintaining an unhealthy diet.
Thirdly, and most importantly, the linguine is convenient. It takes very little effort to open the bag, pour an icy clump or two of linguine onto a plate, thaw it out in the microwave for three minutes, and eat it. It's reasonably delicious, and isn't that what we want from our meals? For them to be reasonably delicious?
I was eating linguine with two slices of (non-soggy) bread the other night when I had a flash of genius. I enjoy eating the linguine. I enjoy eating the bread with the linguine. Why not combine the two? So I brilliantly placed a clump in between the slices of bread, dipped the pasta sandwich in the pesto sauce, and indulged myself. It was sooooo good.
As it happens, I was chatting with friends the next day when they asked me what I'd had for dinner the night before. I told them about the pasta sandwich. They were not impressed.
"That's weird," they said.
"How is it weird?"
"Pasta is not meant to be eaten as a sandwich."
"Says who?"
"It's not normal. It's carb overload."
"You eat bread with pasta, don't you?"
"Yes."
"So what difference does it make if you eat the bread and the pasta at the same time?"
"That's just gross."
"You would never eat a pasta sandwich?"
"No."
To that, my response will always be: Really? Not even a linguine sandwich with pesto and tomatoes? A linguine sandwich is so easy to make.
