I don't usually cook but when I do, I make a mean pasta dish. :P

There are two things I can't do: draw and cook. In that order. I can't, for the life of me, draw anything aside from stick men/house/bird/sun. Cooking, on the other hand, has hope since I have people around me who cook (ie. mom and my older sister). Usually, I leave them to the cooking part and I do the eating. But sometimes life's a bitch and you have to do things on your own to survive. That's when I cook.

I only cook when I'm alone and there are no leftovers I can reheat in the ref. When this happens, I do the one thing I know I'm pretty good at: pasta. So the other day, I was searching for easy pasta recipes when I remembered a pasta dish my mom taught me: carbonara. But not the complicated one; the easy one. And I sure can whip up something easy.

CARBONARA 

(Yields 2-ish; 1 if you're really hungry)

2 generous handfuls of macaroni *

3 strips of bacon, sliced vertically into rectangles

2 cloves of garlic, minced

butter

1 egg

grated cheese **

around 4-5 fresh basil leaves ***

pepper

reserved water from boiled pasta

splash of evap milk

*You can totally use any type of pasta here. I just used macaroni because that's the only type we have here at home. Also, I suck at pasta proportions so yes, handfuls!

**The amount of cheese here depends on you. I just grated mine and hoped for the best. I used cheddar but I think you can also use parmesan.

***You can substitute basil with thyme or parsley or even dried herbs you have at home.

1. Boil the pasta. I put a little salt on the boiling water too.

2. When cooked, save some of the water while draining.

3. In a bowl, beat egg with grated cheese. Set aside.

4. Fry bacon. Don't use oil. The bacon has enough fat to coat the pan with oil while cooking. Unless you're using healthy bacon.

5. Transfer bacon on a plate. After, saute garlic on the same pan you just used. The bacon I used didn't have enough grease so I added butter. 

6. Bring back bacon, cook for another minute.

7. Remove pan from heat, add pasta. Make sure everything's coated with the oil/butter, garlic, and bacon.

8. Pour egg + cheese mixture over pasta. Make sure you're mixing the pasta while doing this step or the egg mixture will cook like an omelette.

9. When everything's mixed, bring back pan to low heat. Continue stirring.

10. If it's too thick, add a splash of milk and/or the pasta liquid.

11. When you reach the consistency you like (I like mine a bit thick), remove from heat. Add chopped basil and pepper.

12. Enjoy!

I didn't have to put salt in mine since I was okay with the saltiness of the sauce but feel free to put some if you think yours is bland or lacks saltiness. Also, always bring the pan back to the heat especially when you add the egg mixture; better safe than Salmonella, amirite? I like this kind of carbonara sauce because I like the gritty-ish texture of the sauce. I feel like this is more filling too and richer- yes, definitely richer.

Times like this I pat myself on the back for being a responsible adult who can whip up something good for herself. Good job, me. :)