Artichokes and Pasta

After my class last night, I wanted to cook! We didn't cook anything at school so all the way home I was imagining what to fix myself. Tuna? No. Chicken? Nah. Pasta? Heck yes, but with what? Tomatoes, garlic, and butter. So I went straight to the market to pick up a few ingredients I needed. After picking up some pasta and beautiful roma tomatoes, I wanted to go look at the produce again to see if I wanted to add anything else. Luckily, out of the corner of my eye, I saw these giant, green artichokes! You don't know how I excited I was, I think I might have let out a little hoorah in front of everyone. I have been waiting for months for the market to start selling them, and it was only 2 for $4! Amazing! I got three. I rushed home and put two pots of water on.
Nothing is more comforting than pasta. My mom made it all the time when I lived at home. Now when I have it, I think of the times when pasta sauce stained my lips, and I would slurp it up like in Lady and the Tramp. People think seasoning the water with salt is bad for the pasta, when in Italy they think the water should taste and smell like the ocean. When in Rome. I cooked my artichoke for thirty minutes and cooked my spaghetti to al dente. Al dente comes from Italian and means "to the tooth" or "to the bite", referring to the need to chew the pasta due to its firmness. Basically, it's the best way to enjoy pasta.
I sauteed my largely chopped tomoatoes and garlic in butter and poured it over my spaghetti. I melted some more butter for my artichoke to dip in. The artichoke was already zesty so I didn't add any lemon juice to the butter. Perfectly cooked food and a happy stomach equals total bliss.
I love that simple ingredients can be so incredibly appetizing, if cooked properly. Pasta, garlic, tomatoes, garlic, and artichokes can make you feel like you are eating like a king, or in my case, a queen. Remember, cooking is not complicated. It only will be if you make it out to be. You are in control of your cooking, not your food.
Be creative, have fun, and be merry with food.



"These things are just plain annoying. After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual "food" out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps. Have the shrimp cocktail instead."
-Miss Piggy