CHAMPIONS, FAR FROM CHAMPION

One pays the price for being lazy!  Last night we decided to go out for a quick bite to eat rather than stay in and cook.  I had not been to Champions Bar in the the Renaissance Hotel yet this trip so we decided to go there.

Sandra ordered a bowl of soup and I chose chicken wings.  When the food arrived Sandra's first spoonful of soup contained a piece of plastic in it.  My wings, on the other hand were cool, not cool as in good, but cool as in cool.  Cool or even cold wings can actually be quite good, but these were sloppy skinned and very very greasy.  I a managed to peel and eat only three before I gave up.

We asked for the bill, and then we explained that we didn't want to pay for the plastic soup...in fact in the US we wouldn't have paid for any of it, but leaving a plate of cold greasy wings here is just an expat. affectation.  So three wings and a beer for about $20 (with tip!).

So we went home and improvised a quick supper with what was in the fridge.  At this point any Italian readers should look away as they would surely prefer to have the wings!

I had a piece of smoked ham in the fridge which I cut into cubes and gently fried.  Then I put a pan of salted water on the induction cooker and added a good handful of dried spaghetti to the boiling water.  This meant I had about ten minutes.  I put some left over stuffed zucchini in the microwave for Sandra (recipe was blogged earlier).  She is happy to eat them two days in a row, I am not!

I broke an egg into a bowl and added some President Brand Salakis FETA cheese.  This is not quite like feta cheese, but rather a feta cheesish/cream cheese cross breed.  I mixed it in well and added some milk powder.  (Of course there is no fresh cream or milk in Atyrau and the UHT variation is, to my taste, quite horrid).  

I put a splash of water in the mix to turn the powder officially into milk.  I then added a good grind of black pepper and  mixed it up well.

When the pasta was cooked I emptied it into the collander and tipped my egg mix into the hot empty pan and gave it a few stirs for the cheese to melt.  Then I added back the pasta and threw in the ham and mixed it well before turning it out into a bowl for dinner.

If you are looking at the above picture an seeing the grated cheese on top and wondering why I didn't use parmesan in the recipe...it isnt!  It is a little piece of aged gouda that I found in the cheese box!!

And just in case you thought I was making it up about Sandra getting the Zucchini, here they are...