Olive Oil, Hot Sauce and Sports - Three Things I Can't Live Without

As I was cooking spaghetti for dinner the other day, I realized that Olive Oil is one of the sole components of my cooking. Not that I put it in my morning cereal (although, I have been tempted... not really) but good lord, can you think of anything other than perhaps butter that can be so readily used in cooking almost anything? Next time you throw some pasta together, pour a tablespoon of Olive Oil in the water before you bring it to a boil. You can thank me later.

Tonight I realized that the other magical addition to food is hot sauce. Some people 'don't like' spicy food or anything 'too hot'. The problem is that they just don't know what they like. There are so many different types of hot sauce in the world that you are bound to find something that won't kill you or put hair on some strange part of your body (unless you actually want it there).

Here are some things to put hot sauce on -

• Hamburgers (combine it with your usual toppings and maybe even a little BBQ sauce)
  
• Hotdogs (Ketchup and Hot Sauce is amazing...don't use too much of either)
• Spaghetti
• Mexican food (green jalapeno hot sauce is usually my choice)
• Popcorn (don't use too much)
• Use your imagination... Pizza is also another good option for hot sauce

I grew up playing baseball, football and basketball. I was obsessed with reading the sports page by the age of 7. Say what you want about the value of sports, jocks and their usefulness in the world - there are a lot of people out there even crazier about sports than I am. Especially if you consider NASCAR a sport.
There is something about sports that brings people together and sets them apart at the same time. Ohio State and Michigan - one of the greatest if not the greatest rivalries in college football is evidence of how much sports means to people on a wider level than a simple 'sports thing'. It is regional, it is cultural and it is part of every nation in the world from soccer to curling and even... NASCAR.