Been a while

It's been a while since I updated my blog - I've been busy with a few things (which I'll detail later, once it's closer to becoming a reality).

Tonight was spaghetti night, which I usually dislike as it's boring and uninspiring but I decided to do something about it. I took a recipe to make my own spaghetti sauce and ran with it. This one was sourced from Jamie Oliver (who generally has good ideas) and I make it my own. It's super simple, tasty, but does require some time. I used mostly fresh tomatoes, but had to use some tined ones as well (they cooked down and it wasn't enough).

2 tins of whole plum Italian tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes)
4 cloves of garlic.
1 hot pepper
Olive oil
Basil, oregano

That's it - nice and simple. Just heat some olive oil and saute the garlic cloves (crushed) until fragrant. Pierce the pepper and stick it in whole (it's pierced so that it doesn't explode). Then add your tomatoes (ensure they are peeled if fresh) whole, into the pan - do not crush. Cook down the tomatoes (about an hour) until nice and saucy :). Add basil and oregano and continue to simmer the sauce until thick. Take out the whole pepper, and cut it up into pieces and place it back into the sauce. After, you have to choose to either simmer the sauce for another hour or so until thick, or add a tin of tomato paste. The paste give the sauce a nice simmered taste and consistency.

Now, I added a smidgen of Frank's Red hot which gave it a little more kick (and tasty). Brown your meat and add it into the sauce. Simmer until well blended and season carefully with salt and pepper (make sure you taste prior and after to get the right amount).

Serve on pasta - even Britgal liked it.

Next time, I'll add some onions to see how that works out, but I think the key is to keep it simple so that all the flavours make it through (garlic, tomato, pepper) and that makes it very tasty!

On a different note, tomorrow is back to work. I've enjoyed my long weekend and I kinda want to keep doing 'time off', but alas it is not meant to be. Perhaps I should take some more serious time off sooner rather than later? Food for thought (no pun).

Aero has a new blog (new to me) and I'll be adding a link to it. Some of those video/audio clips are intense! I hope he in-lines some personal story telling to go with it. There is something voyeuristic about reading other peoples activities, thoughts etc. I can't quite put my finger on it's appeal, but posting also has it's rewards. Obviously, it is the other side of the voyeurism equation, but it's also somewhat cathartic to write out and express yourself in a (hopefully) non-judgmental way. I'm not really going into new territory here, I'm sure we're all aware of the virtues and issues of doing personal journals online - it is interesting.

Prior to the weekend, I too got to see the dutch's peanut and she is cute! Almost makes me want my own... well, one thing at a time. It's funny how things change, and how some things stay the same. My dad has retired, my friends are having kids, trying out new things, taking courses, and growing up a little. I do enjoy the fact that we're all also youthful at heart as well - not stupid, college drunk kind of youthful, but kids at heart. I hope that quality doesn't dissipate... why am I washing all nostalgic... Perhaps I made the sauce too spicy and I'm delirious!

In any case, back to work tomorrow.