The International House of Mojo

Cooking With Spaff #2: Tom Sarris
by James Spafford, photos by Edd Buffery & Marc Kent

New to "Cooking with Spaff?" Then here's the lowdown: In this article we will be talking to some great LucasArts employees both past and present, extracting their favourite recipes from them though devious means and then cooking the dish. You can cook along, it's going to be great fun!*

So I just noticed that it has been just over a year since the last episode of Cooking with Spaff, that once glorious and weekly promised article that made us look like we would have some regular content! So what happened? Well, I'm not telling you.

I've found all the ingredients again and everything else I need, and so we can finally bash the second Episode out.

Now what's special about this edition, is that it falls on Valentines Day! And, while the recipe isn't the most romantic of all meals, and certainly does not have the Italian connotations of romance (?), it is easy to make and I know a lot of people who would benefit from a little cooking advice around this heart shaped day of the year. For the lonely souls out there, such as me, we can see behind the obvious excuse to do a Valentines special and see this for the fishy fun that it really is. Let's get going.

Last week year saw us opening with a recipe by Dominic Armato, and some may have found it a little overwhelming, perhaps not a thing they could be bothered to cook due to its sheer massiveness and complexity. Fear not! The chef du jour himself describes this week's meal-a-rama as "Great for university students on the go!" It's cheap, its easy, and it is of course, tasty! This week: Tom Sarris' Tuna Bake.

Before I talk about Tom let's deal with the issue of tuna. No one likes Tuna, not even people who pretend to like it. ...At least that's what I thought, until I actually ate some. So anyone whining about not liking tuna, and how they can't be bothered to cook this meal... Just hush, and join in with everyone else OK?

Now, Tom Sarris may not be as familiar a name as Dominic Armato to you, but it should be! This man has been around working behind the scenes at LucasArts for a long time. You'll find his name in the manuals of all the old classics, and also in the editing and writing credits for that lovely magazine, The Adventurer!

Tom is the Director of Public Relations over there at our favourite Californian resort, which means he has to deal with all us little fan sites who demand copies of ancient games that have to be dug out of some crypt somewhere... but low and behold he still manages to do it! Of course, Tom also deals with the small fish like the general press, and Star Wars fans.

In recent months he has also hired us a new friend to deal with the increasing demands we make, so hopefully we will get her to appear on the show in coming weeks.

We have known Tom for a few years now, and as with Dom, we first actually met him at E3. While he didn't so much cook us a meal as buy us one, he has proven to me on several occasions that he has a good taste when it comes to food (Funny story actually: ...Erm, no come to think of it I'll leave that one alone :). Our relationship with Tom is a simple one: he keeps us hooked up with exclusive interviews, free goodies and insider news, and I supply him with a constant supply of British music of which he is a major fan! Of course, its not actually as much of a bribe situation as that sounds: In reality, Tom is probably the nicest man on the planet, and would probably sell his Granny for Mojo... probably.

OK so now we know who's behind this meal. lets hear how it's done!