It was a typical Friday at the office, with my spirits lifted higher by an afternoon visit from my wife and baby girl. I like to think I’m the main draw, but there’s also a fancy organic frozen yogurt place down the street from the office.

Later that night would be a company social, which I missed. This is because I threw myself into threatcon alpha and violated an embarassing number of traffic laws to get to my loved ones, in a disabled car, in the rain, in the middle of the highway. On the phone, the first thing I heard was our five-month old screaming. My wife calmly explained that she was “a bit freaked out” since she was stranded, and that the “smell of burning plastic” was lingering in the car…

In 2004, Nissan Motor Corp. fell from № 6 to № 11 in the J.D. Power quality survey. Five years prior to that, Nissan and French automaker Renault formed an alliance. Over two centuries ago, Americans fought a war to gain independence from England. Curiously, the French claimed victory.

A year after the Nissan-Renault alliance, Jean-Baptiste Claudine, assembly line worker № 373, fell in love with a young woman named Chloë. She was a masseusé he met in Amsterdam that spring. Smitten by her chams whilst assembling Idle Control Valve 3237731, he did not notice his cigarette butt fall into the casing. That part made its way into my wife’s 2001 Maxima.

Time for some pasta, and to share a recipe:

With a vat of lightly salted water heating, pan-fry the pork chops in olive oil; season with some sea salt and cook medium-high heat until nicely browned on both sides. Remove from the pan, and keep that tasty brown stuff; add a bit more olive oil and throw in a a bag’s worth of spinach and stir a bit. Add a splash of white wine — this will quick steam the spinach while de-glazing the lovely brown stuff off of the pan. Add some finely chopped garlic, pepper, red pepper flakes. Don’t forget to treat yourself to a glass of white wine.

Set-aside the spinach. Into the same pan, throw in that homemade tomato sauce made from my wife’s huge harvest of tomatoes last year.

The water should be boiling now. In goes the thin spaghetti; stir a tiny bit and turn the heat down just before it starts to boil again.

Oh, hey: Don’t knock powdered garlic; it’s perfect when the context is right, and this is it. Add some extra oregano and basil; maybe more black pepper. Hey, there’s some red wine saved; pour some of that in too. Reduce a bit. Drink the rest of the red wine.

The pasta should be ready and al dente, by now. Throw that into the pan, and toss with some Parmeseano; hey we also have Romano. Add to bowl. Stack the spinach. On top of all that sits the porky goodness.

That’s all…