Bachelorette Night

The other night, when My Beloved was out for a business dinner, I was close to the end of one of the best books I have read all year and not feeling much like cooking. I briefly considered poached eggs on toast, but was defeated by the thought of dragging out the toaster, finding the toast tongs and supervising the toast in our less-than-reliable toaster after a long day at the office.

The author of the book, Liz Gilbert, had eaten a lot of pasta when she visited Italy and that sounded good to me. Luckily, the pantry yielded a box of angel hair pasta and I found a small head of broccoli tucked next to the green onions in the crisper and a chunk of Parmesano reggiano.

When I cook like this, it's all about using the fewest pots and utensils possible. I boiled the pasta in water with a little salt and, just before it was done, dropped in the broccoli florets to cook in the same water. After draining, I slathered the pasta and broccoli with some butter, grated a nice coating of the cheese over the whole thing and tossed with the slivered green onions.

I was hungry enough to eat, inspired to say a prayer of thanks for this quick and simple meal, and I loved the ending of this terrific book.