It's been so busy and exhausting that we just want food to appear in front of us. Sometimes we are lucky and this does happen, usually by virtue of a telephone call to Maldonado's. Sometimes pizza is not the answer, however. You'd think this area of CA would have its share of delivery of something that is not pizza, but no. So instead you go to the store and say hmm hmm hmm up and down the aisles and eventually come up with something like this.

That's another Sapporito pasta from Redwood City, one stuffed with ricotta, pine nuts, and spinach. It's not a standard type, though, as you can tell from the totally plain and non-logoed package. Clearly someone got a shipment of too many pine nuts and was all "What shall I do with these? I know!"

So, sauce. The clear choice here is a pesto...OR IS IT? There are already pine nuts inherent in the pasta itself! So perhaps we should do something else, something like a metric ton of parsley instead of one of basil.

ALL RIGHT THEN

Ravioli and not pesto

some good fresh ravioli, made or bought
olive oil
garlic
parsley
salt and pepper

Cook ravioli. Fresh ravioli takes maybe five to eight minutes to cook all the way through.

In the meantime, make sauce. The sauce is not really a "sauce" per se but a variant on aglio e olio. Get out a big sauté pan and heat some olive oil. Smash, peel, and mince garlic; add and cook slowly until delicious. I mean, until highly scented and beginning to get golden. If you cook it slowly enough the garlic should be perfect just as the ravioli is done.

Drain ravioli and dump it into the pan with the oil. Add as much parsley as you can stand to pick and chop, plus some salt and pepper. Mix it up. You now have green dinner.

For optimal green dinner experience, you want raw things along with the cooked. Here's the salad: butter lettuce and icicle radishes.

Execution:

- Ravioli is obvious.

- Bring some pulverized sea salt to the table. Dip radish chunks in the oil from your ravioli, then in the salt. Eat them.

- Drink lots of frigid white wine. Ours was 2006 Cartlidge & Browne Sauvignon Blanc. It's organic, which was what prompted us to buy it in the first place. That was a good idea. If you ever see this stuff, and have any interest in dry white wine whatsoever, you should buy a case.

- Go to bed.