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Spaghetti Bolognese had done many things for me over the years. It has been the main string to my culinary bow. I could always say I knew how to cook because I was able to make Spaghetti Bolognese. It has kept me alive and allowed me to vary my diet away from my usual staple foods of Chinese take-away, pizza and cereal.

I've tried boiling eggs but they've cracked. I can boil potatoes but at some stage, either before or after, you have to peel them and prepare other ingredients before you can say you've cooked a meal.

Good Ol' Spag Bol

Spaghetti Bolognese is easy to do. I learned how to make it when I was at university. Admittedly I wasn't at university for very long but then again it doesn't take long to learn how to make Spag Bol.

The advantages of it as a food source for students are pretty simple: it's pretty simple. It's easy to cook. It's cheap. It's tasty. It makes a change from eating take-aways every night, even when you can afford them.

I can remember learning to cook Spag Bol one evening shortly after starting college. I was living in a house with six other students. It was the beginning of the college year so we all started off with good resolutions. A cooking and cleaning roster had been drawn up and on this particular night I and another guy were rostered to cook.

I had grown up with a doting mother so I had never had to fend for myself before. Therefore the magic in the kitchen was all down to the other guy, whose mother obviously didn't love him as much, and I was the assistant as he browned the mince, boiled the spaghetti and added the sauce. It was like rocket science to me. Incidentally this was the same evening when I found out what the thing you use to turn stuff on the frying pan is called: a spatula.

After gathering these two pieces of knowledge I felt that university had nothing more to teach me and I dropped out shortly afterwards.

Since then I have learned to cook a couple of extra dishes (not many). I have ordered many, many Chinese take-aways (lots). I have eaten lots and lots of pizzas (yes, indeed). In a way though, spag bol remains my favourite dish to cook (yes, indeed).

Learn more about this author, Sean McGoldrick.
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