passport renewal / penne perfection

Whenever I have to do something that involves a visit to a government run agency, I realize that those cocktail parties aren't so bad after all...
I needed to renew my passport.  I'm an american citizen and I already have a passport...shouldn't be too complicated, right?  Wrong.  I brought my passport to the post office along with my marriage license, driver's license, american flag, soul, and cross.  This didn't change anything.  I might as well have arrived on a donkey wearing a sign that said I don't speak english, I have no identification, and I don't pay taxes. The woman at the desk looked at me as if I was some sort of criminal, handed me a form, and told me that I had to go somewhere else to have my photo taken.  "Why can't I do it here?" I asked.  "Cannot do it here," was her reply in broken english.  Fine.  I went to AAA and got my photo taken...and you know what?  They're really nice there and didn't charge me anything for my photos (translation: not run by the government).  I started to feel better about the whole process, and brought my filled out form and photos back to the evil post office woman.  No good.  She said that because I had gotten married, I needed to make a notarized copy of my marriage license.  "I have it right here...can't you just make a copy or sign off that I showed it to you?"  She shook her head, and I felt the distinct urge to scream.  Why hadn't she told me this before? In a nutshell...a little power is a dangerous thing.  I was at her mercy and as far as passport renewal went, she was essentially the freaking queen of the passport.  I gave her a fake smile and said "thanks for your help" as sarcastically as I knew how...and off I went to town hall.  The office was in the basement, at the end of a long corridor.  I was feeling sorry for myself until I saw how bad the town hall people had it.  They were all "big-boned" to say the least, with the same kind of crap that you usually find on a sad office workers desk: glass jar of jelly beans or hershey's kisses for everyone to enjoy (translation: just for them because it's the only thing that can momentarily distract them from the monotonous drone of the fluorescent lighting), a plaque that says something along the lines of "Live, Love, Laugh", a framed picture of their pet, and seasonal decorations that try to evoke the feeling of celebrating the season, but somehow just end up looking cheap. Their windows looked out on a slope of dirt with a few gangly bushes.  Solution? Stick scarecrows and dried corn stalks into the ground and hang black spiders and cats above the windows so that you're instantly transported to a scarier version of The Wizard of Oz.  $25 dollars later, I was given a copy of my marriage license from a woman wearing earrings that said "Boo!", and drove back to the post office.  I wrote a check for $110 (they need to pay all these people after all), then paid a few more dollars to mail everything out to the passport processing center, and then...I was done.  Hooray!  It only took me three hours, four stops, four different people, and $140 dollars to renew my passport!  What an efficient system!  

In light of the time I wasted for passport renewal, I will share a lovely pasta recipe of mine that takes 30 minutes or less to make, and tastes so delicious that you'll instantly feel transported to an Italian countryside...with or without your passport!  I use tempeh for an added boost of protein and to give the dish a meatier texture.  If you don't like capers and olives, then I don't know what to say except: I'm sorry.  Capers and olives make pasta extraordinary so if you've never tried this combination out before, now is the perfect time!

Penne Perfection with Tempeh, Capers, and Olives

1/2 bag or 3 cups whole wheat penne (I use Bionaturae brand)
1 jar marinara sauce (if you're not using homemade, splurge a little on the good stuff...Rao's marinara sauce = amazing)
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 package tempeh, crumbled (I use SoyBoy soy or five grain tempeh)
generous splash of white wine or stock to deglaze the pan
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 container or 2 cups button mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
1/2 jar capers + brine (I use Mediterranean Organics capers)
generous handful of kalamata olives, pitted (buy them pitted, otherwise make a unicorn work on pitting them while you do the rest of the cooking)
sea salt & black pepper to taste

Fill a large pot halfway with water, add a small handful of salt (yup, handful.  Water for pasta should almost taste like teardrops), and bring to a boil.  Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, heat oil on medium flame and add onions, cooking for a few minutes until soft and starting to brown.  Add crumbled tempeh and stir occasionally, until cooked through, about five minutes (the tempeh will stick, and that's okay!).  Deglaze the pan with wine or stock, using a wooden spoon to loosen the crispy bits from the bottom of the pan.  Now add garlic and mushrooms.  Once the water is boiling in your pot, use a colander, chinois, or strainer to briefly submerge kale in water.  Press out excess water with spoon, then add to saute pan.  Turn down flame to low and add capers, olives and marinara sauce. allow to simmer for a few minutes while you cook the pasta according to package instructions (usually about 10 minutes for whole wheat).  Once the pasta is al dente, drain in colander and place back in pot with a little olive oil.  Now add the entire mixture in your saute pan to the pot and mix everything together with a little salt and pepper.  Serve to four italian-wannabe unicorns.