Spaghetti for Dan

About 2 years ago, one of the guys from work, Dan, fixed a problem I was having on my computer. I told him I would make him homemade spaghetti as payment.

Have I told you I'm a procrastinator? I think I've mentioned that before...

Well, I procrastinated.

Until now.

Dan's last day is Wednesday, so I thought I'd better get on it. I was going to come home from work on Tuesday night and get it going. I got all the ingredients Saturday, I was on the ball!!

I didn't go to work today (Tuesday). I spent the morning in the dentist's chair of pain having a tooth pulled. Ok, I was only in the dreaded chair for about 10 minutes. It took longer to give me the novacaine than it did to pull the tooth. I went home and took a long nap and when I woke up I didn't feel like doing anything, let alone cook. But I had made a promise to Dan last week that I would definetly make him spaghetti and I couldn't go back on my word, especially after putting it off for two years!

Browned 1 lb. ground beef with 2 chopped yellow onion and a gazillion cloves of garlic (ok, 4). Added that to a big can of crushed tomato, 2 med cans of tomato sauce, some tomato paste. Toss in some dried parsley, some thyme, basil and brown sugar. Brown sugar? Huh? It cuts some of the acidity of the tomato. Normally I would add raisins instead of the brown sugar, but most people say "ewww" when I tell them I put raisins in my sauce. Then I browned some Italian Sausage and threw that in too, along with a splash of Shiraz wine that was sitting around. I'll simmer it through the evening and turn it back on tomorrow morning while I boil the noodles. Then off to work I'll go with it!

Good luck to Dan in his new venture!!

Stay tuned cuz next week I'll be blogging about the breakfast I'm throwing for some family members during the Ruby Mtn Balloon Festival! We'll watch the balloons launch on Sunday morning while feasting on frittata, fried taters, muffins, apple skillet cake, scrambled eggs and bacon. Those last two items courtesy of Jeff for those who might not want frittata. Coffee, hot cocoa, spiced cider....