Not (At All) All'Amatriciana

Yes, bacon was in this sauce. Yes, tomatoes were involved. But, those factors are not enough to designate this dish as "all'amatriciana," which is usually made with guanciale (cured pork jowls, which is something I never have around the house) or pancetta (the ballsier Italian cousin of Hormel bacon).

I used some of the same ingredients as this Babbo recipe, but these simple recipes make their stand with quality ingredients and I did not have such pork products, the appropriate type of pasta (I had linguine in the pantry, which is flat and does not hold the sauce very well) or fresh parsley at hand. But, it fit the bill for a cheap dinner and got me pining for "real" pasta season's return (cold pasta salads are apropos for summertime, but they're understudies to me).

Pairs well with: True Lies
With good comfort food, you need a movie that will distract you gleefully from whatever drove you to the plate of pasta/corn dogs/chicken fried steak. I love this movie dearly and always watch it whenever it's on. Some choice scenes: 1) Jamie Lee Curtis's misguided yet saucy striptease; 2) Arnold riding a horse into an elevator; and 3) Bill Paxton as a car salesman who pretends to be a spy to get lucky with gullible housewives. I leave you with this bit of dialogue when Jamie Lee Curtis gets the call for a secret assignment:

"The codename of your contact will be Boris. Your codename will be--"
"Natasha?"
"No. Doris."