Best Spaghetti in the World · 7 September 2007
Every boy thinks that his mother or wife makes the best food in the world. And even though I have not tasted every spaghetti in Monroe, much less the world, I know that my wife makes the best spaghetti there ever was. She even has written proof to go along with the accolades accorded to her by her loving children and me. Her mother wrote her a note saying that she makes the best red sauce. That note has been on our refrigerator for years and serves as proof positive that Lisa is the best spaghetti maker of all.
Okay. So the note does qualify Lisa’s spaghetti sauce as being the best of anybody that her mother knows but that is pretty good. Still, a recent incident did prove to me that my wife must make the best spaghetti in the world. And if you happen to know her, do not let her demure and say that the reason I like her cooking is because I would eat anything. Contrary to her opinion, I do not eat dog food.
Our middle child, Peter, loves spaghetti. It is his favorite food. Along with cheeseburgers and pizza. Yes, even though he is old enough to know that there can only be one favorite, each of these dishes holds the number one spot for him. So when he suggested that we have spaghetti the other night, Lisa obliged. She likes to borrow the words of some wise person when she says, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
Lisa started by rolling the Italian sausage into balls and cooking them. They were mostly done as she started to gather the rest of the ingredients. That was when her cooking genius showed itself. There was no tomato sauce or paste. She improvised. She cut up and pureed tomatoes and used tomato juice. When Lisa went to the cupboard, she found out that there was no spaghetti spice mix. She put in her own spices and other ingredients. A little oregano, some garlic, some of this, some of that. She let it cook and then turned the heat down to let it all simmer. It smelled great. Like always.
As Lisa simmered the sauce, she went to get the spaghetti noodles. Unfortunately, the cupboard was not just sparse, it was bare. There was less than a half a package of spaghetti noodles. There were some curly noodles but since our boys do not like change very much, she asked them if they would like to have very little straight noodles, enough curly noodles, or a mixture of straight and curly noodles. Of course, they wanted just straight noodles. There were not enough so she cooked a mixture.
When all was said and done, we had a wonderful spaghetti dinner. The boys got hand-picked straight spaghetti noodles covered in red sauce and Lisa and I had curly and straight noodles with the same red sauce. It was a great meal. Even Thomas, who has just started eating sauce on his noodles had seconds. And thirds!
I know that my mother-in-law and I are biased, but the claim that Lisa makes the best red sauce was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt when she cooked without her usual ingredients. Her spaghetti was wonderful as usual. And even if it sounds like I am a kid on the playground saying, “Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh,” my wife does make the best spaghetti in the world. So there.
© 2007 Michael T. Miyoshi
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Published 03 January 2008 in The RiverCurrentNews
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