There's an old saying among pasta connoisseurs - "presentation is nine-tenths of the law - the law of pasta, that is!". They say this and then make a kind of face that implies this is very funny.

Whether or not they're right about it being funny is less important than the statement itself, which is entirely true. Our eyes are our second-most important organ when eating, and far and away our most important when reviewing. After all, taste is subjective - but anyone can see what a food looks like, and in the case of a review, it's all you have to go on other than my vague ramblings. You may or may not agree with my assertion that "chicken tastes good", but you can definitely see from this picture what it looks like.

Pictured here is Presentation, which was clearly garnished by a skilled hand.

When two things work well together, that's synergy. Choosing the right pasta to go with the right sauce, and the perfect topping to cap it off, well, that's synergy. It's the difference between a classic dish and a failed experiment. Sure, a new twist can be exciting - but the old standbys are still around for generations because they work.

Consider this dish - the meat in the Spicy Three Meat sauce is actually identical to the meat that the meatball is formed from. This creates a natural continuity and makes the dish feel interconnected, intentionally designed - it doesn't "feel" like a Pasta Bowl dish of three random ingredients slopped on top of one another.

Pictured here is Synergy - it just works!

Welcome to your word of the day! Juxtaposition is the combining of different things to highlight the differences between them. One could argue it's the opposite of synergy, but that doesn't mean juxtaposed elements don't work well together!

To illustrate this concept I took the three most disparate ingredients I could find within the context of the standard NEPB. Cheese sauce just feels *wrong* on spaghetti, and italian sausage is just wrong on pretty much anything.

Pictured here is Juxtaposition - perhaps two wrongs can make a right!

To paraphrase the motto of a company that, frankly, has no business using it - better ingredients, better food. Strip away the fancy garnishes, the mixing of flavors, and the pretentious words, and you're down to the base ingredients.

This particular dish is the first time I ever really felt like I was getting my dollar's worth from the premium sauce. Actual whole chunks of mushroom that had texture and flavor all their own, not just a grey goop incorporated into the sauce like a can of Campbell's cream-of-blah. The chicken was crisp, and the pasta was actually properly cooked, which is difficult to do for whole wheat.

Pictured here is Quality, which might just be my new favorite on the menu - it's that good!

As the sun crests over a dusty dune, you grant yourself a brief break from your tireless trudging through the sandy soil. For the fourth time today, you bring your empty waterskin to your cracked lips, but it remains as dry and empty as it was yesterday afternoon. All hope is lost.

Then, in the distance, you see an orange glow. It can't be...but it's unmistakable! A five cheese marinara oasis! And, peeking up from beneath its rolling waves, two succulent links of sausage. Your journey is at an end - you will not die here tonight.

Pictured here is Sunrise on the Savannah...or is it just a mirage?

Your journey has taken you to the icy reaches of the north, where stoic men with thick necks chew blubber without even being on a reality TV show. You're searching for the only woman in the world who can help you. Somewhere in these frozen hills is the antidote for your brother's lycanthropy, caused by the venomous bite of a were-polar bear.

Huddled in an igloo some three kilometers from your current location, the shaman you seek watches you through the colored smoke of her fire. She knows the hour of your approach long before you arrive - but she isn't yet sure whether you will be able to withstand her trials to earn the cure you need.

Pictured here is the Lonely Inuit - dare you take on her challenge?

A symbol of power long dormant, but still deadly, Vesuvius stands as a constant reminder that no matter the stength of mankind's belief in its dominance, Nature will always reign supreme. The best laid-plans of mice and men often go awry, particularly when covered in molten lava.

Pictured here is Vesuvius, the very picture of quiet strength.

The scene is familiar - a group of accountants out for a weekend adventure to escape the humdrum routine of their day-to-day lives. This weekend is white water rafting down the Ococee river, though the thick Georgia clay colors the water, making it less white and more a dull red, an ominous portent that escapes their notice.

In the eight years that the Ococee Board of Recreation has operated, no serious injuries have ever been recorded from rafters. Today, that untarnished record will be tragically broken.

Pictured here are the doomed Weekend Warriors, though it is better to die living than live dying.

why did i order
little fourpaws?
i forgot to ask
for some toppings

pictured here is fourpaws

-twirl the longness of spaghetti
smile dustily to the people,
for dinners
who crookedly care.

pictured here is love

there is the sweet shy pirouette
your angelhair
and then

your italian
sausage.

pictured here is rain

if i believe
in death be sure
of this
it is

because i have tried this pasta

pictured here is death