Angry Pasta Salad

I've been known to cook in a lot of different emotional states - happiness, sadness, excitement - but never have I cooked so successfully and with such complete abandon as I did today.  And what was my emotional state? Anger. Usually, when I cook when I'm angry, my food reflects it by being somewhat burned or overcooked, just because I'm too busy being angry to really pay attention to what I'm doing. Today though, I was inspired by my anger.
I got home after work today looking forward to the weekend and spending time packing for my upcoming vacation on Thursday. When I walked in the front door I was greeted by a sullen pre-teen daughter, two hyperactive dogs, a sleeping husband and a kitchen counter clogged with dirty dishes which matched nicely with the dishwasher full of dirty dishes. I didn't have a particularly great day today so when I saw the disarray in my kitchen I felt my blood pressure rising (not a good thing, as I actually suffer from hypertension). Then there was my all time favorite question at 5 o'clock in the afternoon - what's for dinner?
To keep from using my sharpest chef's knife on some poor family member, instead I grabbed a basket and headed outside to my garden. I decided I'd have my own "Top Chef" challenge and use the ingredients I had in the garden and in my pantry to pull something together for dinner. I picked some tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, and basil and brought them inside and then scoured my pantry. The best I could come up with was a box of mini bow-tie pasta and in my refrigerator I unearthed a small chunk of Parmesan cheese. I also found a small red onion hiding in the vegetable crisper as well as a left over ear of corn from dinner last night. Those were my ingredients. I decided not to use the green beans, since I'd just had some the night before and the cucumber would go into my green salad. So I was left with tomatoes, basil, pasta, cheese and onion. Hmmm....this was going to be a challenge. What I came up with though was probably one of the best impromptu recipes I've created up  in a long time.  I just had to name it "Angry Pasta Salad"in honor of my inspiration.

Angry Pasta Salad
Ingredients
1/2 box of mini bow tie pasta
6 small Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tablespoons of finely chopped basil
Corn cut from one ear of cooked corn (or you could use a can of corn if you didn't have the fresh available)
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper

Cook pasta according to the package directions. In a large skillet heat the olive oil and cook the garlic and onion until soft. Add tomatoes, corn and basil and cook for another minute or two. Drain the pasta and add to the skillet. Add the Parmesan cheese. Stir until well mixed and cheese melts. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I enjoyed my salad warm but I'm sure I'll love it just as much tomorrow when I eat it cold for lunch.
So the next time you get angry - cook! Who knows what you'll come up with?