Pasta!

So, you can't write about Italy without talking about pasta and how awesome it is; and how it being awesome has made me a GIANT since I eat it night and day.  So- thought I would make a list of my favorite pastas--- that way you all can be informed about which ones are the best and I'm even throwing in there the 4 that I think are the most overrated. 

Delicious Pasta: 
1) Cartoon shaped macaroni and cheese.  I know this immediately discredits this list according to Italians, but I don't care.  Cartoon shaped mac&cheese tastes significatly better as shapes than actual macaroni, and I ONLY buy the shapes.  Maybe it's because they're thicker and bigger?  (Who doesn't like big thick things? :-P) but for some reason, Scooby-Doo, Blues Clues, Spider-Man, Spongebob, and all the other characters out there--- are delish.

2) Cavatappi.  Super fun.  Nuf said.

3) Penne.  Dude, this pasta you can eat with like, ANY sauce and it works.  It's diversity renders it awesome.

4) Rigatoni.  Also big and thick.  Scoop some sauce in the giant hole in the center and you got yourself some good eats.  Well-- no comment on how that ENTIRE thing sounded. Perhaps pasta has some sexual undertones?

5) Linguine.  Has always been awesome, but I never realized HOW awesome it was until I didn't eat it for a while.  More versatile than spag and I like the shape better.

 6) Spaghetti.  Classic.  Also skinny enough to be delicious raw--- so if you see me eating and  handing out raw spaghetti at the bars (yes, I have done that before), do not be alarmed.

7) Taglietelle. Gotta be fresh. But when it is, and with the right sauce, oh man.

 8) Gemelli.  The acceptable skinny pasta. Twirly, but not in an annoying way.

9) Fisarmoniche. Whoa. just whoa.  Never saw this in the states and I am blown away by its awesomeness. Fun shape that works with everything.

10) Fusilli Spirale. The tightly wound spirals make this yummy.  Yup, said it.  Yummy.  But as you will see later, its GOTTA be tightly wound, the regular fusilli is stupid. 

11) Tortiglioni. This is also delicious with most sauces, and therefore, like rigatoni, a winner.  The shape is simple, but not TOO simple, and not annoying. 

12) Scoobi doo pasta. Boh. It seems exactly like cavatappi and it's got the name scooby-doo. soo, guess that sorta speaks for itself. (Tania--- no smirking at this)

The most overrated pasta:
(sidenote, none of these are BAD, but if I had my choice--- I'd eat those other 12 first. and then all the other ones in between. and then these) 

1) Farfalle.  Otherwise known as bow tie pasta in the US.  It's not awful, but i mean, it's hard to stab and unless it's perfectly al dente--- it falls apart when you DO stab it.  It's just dumb.  However, acceptable in cold pasta salads.

 2) Orecchiette.  Meh. I must admit one of my favorite dishes in the WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD is made with this pasta, but that should say something--- that DESPITE the fact that I think it's super overrated--- it's STILL my favorite dish like-- ever. They're all small and have a weird texture when you eat them

 3) Trofie. Sorry Genova.  I prefer my pesto on other stuff.

4) Fusilli. Just dumb. I'm not sure why I hate them as much as I hate them... they never did anything wrong to me, but whoa. I think they're useless and small and have a weird shape and just, don't do anything good.

Ok, now go eat some pasta!