Fettuccine a la Carbonara

This is Eric's all time favorite pasta recipe. It is the go to meal when I ask him: What do you want to eat tonight? The first time I had this, Eric had made it for me, but I guess now I'm the one who makes it (in the US.. this will soon change). I'm not sure if this is French or Italian, but I've never seen it in any Italian restaurants in the US, so lets say its both.
Serves 5-6
Ingredients:
-1 pack of low sodium bacon, cut into little pieces with the big fat cut off
-1 pack fettuccine pasta
-1/2 a carton of heavy whipping cream or use your judgement... I'm really not good at giving precise measurements I'm noticing
-1/4 cup reserved pasta water
-a few shakes of dried thyme
-a few shakes black pepper
-a few shakes dried parsley (but go ahead and use fresh, its better)
-1 or 2 egg yolks depending on your ickiness factor (mine is low, so I use 2)
-shredded swiss and parmesan (I cannot help using both)
Directions:
1. Put your pasta on. This takes the longest. Do the rest while the pasta cooks.
2. Put your cut and trimmed bacon in a sautee pan with NO BUTTER OR OIL! Add thyme, pepper and parsley and watch it cook.
3. Drain the excess fat from the bacon using the same thing you use to drain the pasta (what is it called?)
4. Don't forget to take 1/4 cup of water out of the pasta before you drain it! Then drain it and put it back in the pot, and pour the egg yolks and mix it in with your spatula or tool of choice.
5. Add the bacon, heavy cream, and 1/4 cup pasta water into the pasta and mix around
6. Serve with shredded swiss and parmesan on top (and fresh ground black pepper, because I now can no longer live without it)
Variations:
Eric likes his exactly as the recipe states above, but I've added sun dried tomatoes and even zucchini sauteed with the bacon, and its very good too!