Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Deep down in the Cave

You load sixteen tons . . . what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store


Last night I had a great time at the Cave in Chapel Hill. Performing was The Virgo 9 and a touring band called Cicada Omega. The Virgo Nine was tight with their blues-punk sound, and Cicada Omega just drove it all home with their transcendental junkyard blues style. Towards the end of their set, Cicada Omega performed "Sixteen Tons." At first, I thought it seemed so outdated, but when I read this article in the NY Times today- "Gas and Food Prices Push Up Inflation", I thought that choice of a song was right on.

The article and the show made me think of Sunday night when I was eating dinner, and I made this dish that I call my depression era meal- thin spaghetti with sautteed tomatoes. Trying to always be quick like a bunny with my cooking and cheap, I am going to give you my recipe for a 15 minute meal. Yeah, beat that Rachel Ray! This will feed 2 people easy. You can use any pasta you have in the house. I just like thin spaghetti because it cooks up in 7 minutes.

6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons of dried basil (fresh would be better, but this is cheap eating)
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
a pinch of salt
4 fresh roma tomatoes, diced

Heat the olive oil in the pan and then saute the garlic til it's soft, then saute all the other ingredients in the pan with the garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes later throw it on your noodles and you have dinner.

On the side steam some squash or broccoli, cause you need to eat your veggies.