Don't Forget the Olives!

I wouldn't really call this entry a "recipe". It's really more like a memory involving food (and alcohol). I really miss my friends, and I am so glad that we have been able to stay in touch. I have so many wonderful memories with them, and I am so happy to have found a way to incorporate some of them into this cookbook. :)

“Pasketti”

Back in my younger, wilder days, my best friends and I would get together as much as we could for what we called “pasketti night”. Since these nights usually involved a lot of beer and Bacardi-o, the recipe isn’t exact, and the outcome was different every time we made it. Karen and I have co-written this recipe from what we can remember. There is no ingredient list or specific instructions because we really can’t remember exactly how we made it.

Start out with a block of cheddar cheese to snack on, a bottle of bud light, and an o-bomb (bacardi-o and red bull). Since the night is young and you’re just getting started, go ahead and have another o-bomb. Brown about a pound and a half to two pounds of hamburger meat and chop up an onion and some bell peppers while you sip on your bud light. {Karen prefers the different colors of bell peppers, so make sure you have a variety.} Eat some more cheese and have another o-bomb. Drain the meat then add the onion and bell peppers and cook it for a min while you try to find the spaghetti sauce you bought. Get side-tracked, and decide it’s time for another o-bomb. Remember the meat and veggies (hopefully before they burn), and locate that dern sauce. Add the sauce to the meat, and because you think you are an awesome chef, add some spices like garlic powder and oregano and whatever else sounds like it might be good. Is it time for another o-bomb yet? Wait, this part is really important if you want your pasketti to turn out right… Add an entire jar of green olives. Now it’s time for another o-bomb! Refill your bud light and grab another block of cheese. While the sauce is simmering, boil some water and olive oil (so the noodles don’t stick) and preheat the oven for the garlic bread. O-BOMB!!! Make fun of each other for stupid stuff you’ve done, laugh, take silly pictures to post on myspace/facebook, eat more cheese, drink more beer… Oh yeah!! The water is boiling, the sauce is sticking, and the oven’s ready. Stir the sauce, dump the entire box of noodles in the water, and put your frozen bread in the oven. Remind yourself to set the timer, but forget. Who’s turn is it to make the o-bombs?

Surprisingly, we never burned the noodles or the bread, but more often than not we were full from all the cheese and never even ate the “pasketti”. LOL! Most of the time “pasketti night” was at Eric’s apartment, and the real treat was bubba burgers for breakfast! We also loved to go down to the Marietta Square in our pj’s and eat breakfast at Le Peeps, then walk around Eddie’s Trick Shop for an hour. Sometimes it would be at Bo's, and we'd drink red wine instead of o-bombs. J So many great memories!  I love my friends and miss them dearly!

P.S.  Be careful not to get so drunk that you get sick, Karen and Eric will surely put a plastic bag around your ears and take pictures! Don't say I didn't warn you!
{No, I will not post the pics!}