Our spaghetti

I think I've been experimenting a little too much in the kitchen. Matt is still incredibly grateful for food on the table at every meal, but he's been asking for some of the old favorites. New recipes are always a little risky and recently, not too many of my new recipes are on their way to becoming old favorites.

Last week Matt said, "How about you make spaghetti?" Part of me just felt bored as soon as he said it, but he did make a good point. There's something comforting about good spaghetti.

The problem was, I couldn't find a recipe for it! None of my new-fangled cookbooks has a simple spaghetti recipe. I knew I could call my mom for her recipe, but something in me wanted it to be our spaghetti.

While I was flipping through "How to Cook Everything," I ran across a recipe for spaghetti and meatballs and asked Matt if that would be OK, or if he wanted a traditional meat sauce. He said he didn't know, he never grew up with it like that. Neither did I. Would making meatballs be pushing the envelope?

Then I remembered that the family I lived with before I married Matt had an awesome spaghetti and meatballs recipe, the kind that's perfect for a cold rainy day like today. Maybe this could be our spaghetti, too!

So I made a call, got the recipe and tonight, we had an "old/new favorite."

The result? It went over so well, I think it's going to be our spaghetti!

60-plus minute meals

I've heard one definition of foolishness as doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.

This is true of me when it comes to Rachel Ray's 30-minute meals. Long ago, I discovered that her meals never take 30 minutes, usually have far too many ingredients to be considered "simple," and nearly always call for 20 leaves of fresh basil, which is in season, oh, about 2 1/2 months of the year, max, and overpriced the rest of the year.

So for a while, her cookbook collected dust and I busied myself with other more manageable weeknight recipes.

However, for some strange reason, I remain a sucker for her TV show, even though every time she says, "How good does that look," or "YUMMO!" I want to splash EVOO all over the television. I guess there's just something about how quick, easy and delicious she makes everything look that entices me.

A few weeks ago we had friends over for dinner and I decided to give Rachel's "Cheddar-Studded Tex-Mex Meatloaf Patties" a shot. Big mistake. This was one of her variation recipes that works off of a master recipe, but swaps out a few ingredients for a different flair. Well, the recipe just didn't explain the swaps all that clearly, I got a late start, didn't do a very good job of cooking and chatting with our guests simultaneously and the patties turned into a greasy meatloaf mash.

Still, a few days later, I tried yet another one of her variation recipes, determined to get it right and to make up for Saturday night's defeat. And now I am proud to say that Ricotta Pasta with Grape Tomatoes, Peas and Basil has become a new house favorite. It actually is quick, easy and delicious, I've even come up with my own variation, adding diced ham.

Of course, I still don't have the stomach to pay for overpriced basil that's out of season, but Trader Joe's frozen basil isn't such a bad substitute.

I just can't

There are many sports I don't particularly enjoy watching, but I will. Sports like football and even hockey, which can get gruesome.

But I draw the line at wrestling. I can't bear the sight of two men clawing at each other, muscles ripping, jaws beyond clenched, limbs twisting in outrageous directions. This is why the photo I chose for this post is a caricature, and not an actual photo, of wrestlers.

Unfortunately, the NCAA college basketball tournament happens to commence the same weekend as the NCAA wrestling tournament. Unfortunately, we have cable and can actually watch the wrestling instead of taking a more sane approach and checking in on the competition over the Internet. Unfortunately, Matt wrestled in high school and insists on watching the tournament during March Madness commercial breaks. Unfortunately, he had a liberal definition of commercial breaks ... five minutes?? Please.

Now don't get me wrong. I am very proud of Matt's wrestling career. I just don't need to relive it!

Matt just peeked over my shoulder at what I was typing and wants me to mention that two of the wrestlers in the competition are from Davison High School, which isn't far from where we live.

Hurray. I wish them all the best and will happily read about their successes in the newspaper.

From zero to blue in four days

My "skiing career" began in 8th grade at a landfill posing as a mountain in Pennsylvania. It lasted for just one day, and then I took an approximately 15 year hiatus.

But this past week I went from landhill skiing to safely making it down the blue slopes of the Wasatch Mountains in Utah.

All manner of people taught me how to ski this week, (although unfortunately no Austrians), including my patient mother-in-law who taught me everything I need to know about speed control, a retired construction manager turned ski instructor, and an instructor with only one arm!

I'm still immersed in post-vacation chores, which include filling out my NCAA brackets ... time to end this post!

Being deliberate

One of the things about Matt that I envy is how he is so deliberate. There is very little he does without reason, and I'm not just talking about the big things in life, like where to work and live, who to be friends with, how to spend your money, etc.


I'm talking about things like:


1. Parking at the airport. When we leave our car in airport parking for several days in the winter, he ensures that the windshield is facing the sun, so that at least some of the snow that buries our car will melt. In the summer, he parks in the opposite direction, so that we will not enter an inferno upon our return.


2. Parking in general. Matt always back into parking spaces. Though tedious at times, it allows for a speedier and safer departure. I am proud to say that this has rubbed off on me a little, as I almost always back into our driveway and garage.


3. Ordering food at a restaurant. He always hits the restaurant's sweet spot. If we're having lunch at a deli, he gets a rueben or an Italian sub, whereas I'll wander into ordering some pile of roasted vegetables on foccacia or a wrap of hummus and sprouts ... of course there's nothing wrong with these sandwiches, but at a deli, does it really make sense to avoid meat?


4. Where you keep your sunglasses. Matt's sunglasses are always either on his face, or in their case in the console of the car. Mine are either on my face, on my head, on the kitchen table, on the bed, in my purse, on the kitchen counter, sometimes in the console of the car, and never in a case.


5. Teeth brushing. Matt almost always brushes his teeth right after dinner. This way, when he gets tired and wants to go to bed, all he has to do is go upstairs! I delay this process, and it becomes all the more arduous when I'm half-asleep, but flossing and brushing, and he's already under the covers, sawing z's.


6. Washing fruit. When Matt takes an apple to work, he washes it beforehand, doubling his chances of actually eating it. When I take an apple to work, the thought of getting up from my desk, going to the kitchen, washing and drying it is often enough to make me reach for the pretzels instead.

What Annapolitans do on a snow day

My mom told me this morning that it had snowed so much in Annapolis that she would be stuck in the house for days.

I said, how much snow did you get? Seven inches?

She said, "Yes!"

I kind of couldn't believe it.

Now there are many things about Detroit I'm still adapting to - the cold being one of them and probably the widespread enthusiasm for automobiles would be another.

But I can confidently say that I have fully adapted to driving in winter weather. I'm not half-bad at it either!

Tonight Matt was asking me about today's snowfall in Annapolis, so I decided to check out www.hometownannapolis.com for more information. This video found on the site's "Snowstorm Blog" (yes, there is actually a blog for the snowstorm!) will fill you in on what most people were doing today. Note, the streets in the background of the video appear to be clear. As does the street in the photograph above.

Now as I write this post, I realize I am proably asking for some grief from my Annapolitan friends and family who will protest that they hardly ever get this much snow, don't have the resources to deal with it, and can't they just enjoy a good snow day or two? Or probably three?

And to that I say, this is all in good fun!