Answering Two Questions

Since I skipped the questions I was supposed to answer on Tuesday's post and I also had no idea what to post about today, I tweeted the following last night:

Let's do this - you ask me some questions, I'll answer them in tomorrow's post. Anything you like. You have 30 minutes.

After which, I received two questions from "normal" people, and 21 questions from my "friend" Sarah. I'll tackle Sarah's questions next week but since today's post is already late (I had a busy morning and I was too distracted assembling new bookshelves last night/this morning to blog), let's just answer the questions from people who aren't overtly insane.

@CBethTweet asks: "What's your favorite fast dinner? (Optional: One to be cooked inside, one to be cooked on the grill)". Thank you, Beth, for asking one reasonable question. I may have griped about the two part answer but you labeled it "optional" and did not follow it up with 20 additional questions.

A quick but awesome inside dinner is a pasta dish I tweeted about earlier this week. Boil some angel hair pasta. Put some olive oil in a pan, saute some garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes. Dump in some basil and a can of diced tomatoes, including the juice. Stir and let it cook down until most of the liquid is evaporated. Remove from heat and stir in a small can of evaporated milk. Toss with pasta and bury in parmesan cheese. I like this because it's very forgiving. If you're too lazy to chop up some onion or if you don't like the heat of the red pepper flakes or you're out of basil, it doesn't really matter. Sometimes I like to splash a little white wine in my mouth the pan before adding the basil and tomatoes. And sometimes we add some cooked shrimp or chicken to make it more hearty.

I find the majority of grilled meals to be quick. Let's go with salmon. Joe slathers on a little olive oil and some salt/pepper. Then he takes it outside and I have no idea what he does with it until he brings it back in to the table. It's like a tv cooking show - voila, it's prepared! A quick side salad or a microwaved baked potato and we're in business.

@religionbites asks: When & how did you meet your beloved Joe?. Thanks, Patti, for asking one question. Though I guess it's also kind of a two-parter if I want to get technical about it.

Joe and I attended neighboring high schools and a mutual friend asked if I'd go to their prom with Joe. I told him since I had never met this Joe guy, I'd like to at least meet him first to make sure he wasn't a serial killer. We went on our first date (a double date with mutual friend and his woman of the week) about a month before prom and have been together since. First Date Fun Fact: I've always been more or less anxious and spazzy, including the night of that first date. I called and told my friend I wasn't going and begged to cancel. He wouldn't let me. I then seriously considered jumping out of the car at a stop sign. Yeah, I had serious game.

Next week, I'll deal with Sarah's many questions. In fact, I may spend both posts next week dealing with Sarah's many questions.