Appetizing Muse

I finally tore myself away from the computer this afternoon to cook a meal. Although my work is not finished by a long shot, I felt it was time to give Wilbert food that did not come from a can or a box. In my defense, he's perfectly capable of cooking just as I am, and the long hours I put in at the computer are rarely frivolous or useless. He works outside the home for eight hours, while my "chores" seem to be constantly ongoing.

At any rate, I was hungry for spaghetti so I assembled the ingredients. I only had one small can of tomato sauce – hardly enough – but didn't feel like running to the store. Instead I used a large can of whole tomatoes with the juice, to which I added more water, cooked hamburger with onions and fresh garlic, sliced zucchini and black olives. Spices included parley flakes, white pepper, salt and a dash of olive oil. When the sauce started to bubble, I sprinkled Romano cheese on top and let it soak into the liquid before stirring. In a separate pan, I cooked meatballs shaped from sweet Italian sausage. After draining, I added the meatballs to the sauce.

Wilbert brought home a jumbo zucchini two days ago. One of his co-workers is inundated with the vegetable and kindly gave us the largest of the lot. I thought it might be too much for the spaghetti sauce, but as usual the zucchini cooks down and gave a nice flavor to the mix. A small salad completed the meal.

Wilbert was so grateful he cleaned the kitchen, leaving me free to make another pot of coffee and head back to the computer.