Last night was volunteering night at the SPCA for my cat loving daughters. They then go straight from their offices to the SPCA. The wife and I have a meal to our liking without having to cater to our celibate twins fancies. We had leftover hamburger meat from a taco meal Saturday night to please our grandson. We had some red pepper garlic in olive oil, (of course the oil was spanish not greek but then you don't look a gift horse in the mouth), brought to us from Spain by our daughter-in-law and a little pizza sauce, Gattuzzo that is. So I told the wife I would make spaghetti à la Costo.
I brought some water laced with a bit of salt and lots of garlic powder to a boil; I then dumped in some whole wheat spaghetti. My wife hates al dente, so when the pasta was a little overcooked, I drained and set it aside. Then, I sauteed the olives in their oil adding sliced mushrooms, when everything was suitingly light brown I added the meat, already cooked, warmed it along with the olives and mushrooms and finally added the pizza sauce...and some red wine. When in doubt I always add wine. Every thing being nicely mixed and hot I mixed in the spaghetti then sprinkled it with grated parmesan, provolone, asiago and mozzarella and put it to broil in the oven about 8 minutes. It was pronounced delicious. We washed it down with Muscadet, my wife, and I with Côtes du Ventoux.
Not orthodox Mediterranean cooking...but very good.
Yes, "not orthodox, but very good." We do have to adapt to what we have around us, don't we? And that principle is very Mediterranean.
RépondreSupprimerSo I guess I must a chip off the old bloc despite passing time.
RépondreSupprimerIt seems a very rich sugo, your sugo 'à la Costo'. Not orthodox? Why? We do all sorts of crazy things here. And, by the way, I was amused by your use of wine: I also add wine when I am in doubt - which happens most of the time.
RépondreSupprimerAs Anne of Green Gables would have said:"We are kindred spirits!"
RépondreSupprimerWine was given to us by the gods through Noah so it is good to use it.
Yes, I really believe we have something in common, and it doesn't really matter whether I am a baby boomer and you a depression-era kid, as you once told me.
RépondreSupprimerAnd that 'wine was given to us by the gods through Noah' tells a lot about you, ah ah.
RépondreSupprimerOn another note, I remember that terrible scene when Noah is old and, having gotten drunk, one son makes a mockery of him, and the old white-haired man CURSES him. Terrible et dramatique, vraiment. Many passages of the Bible are beautiful, without doubt.
The Bible is a teaching instrument and such horrible things are menat to deeply imprint the lesson.
RépondreSupprimerOn the other hand, the most beautiful and erotic poem that I have ever read is in the Bible: le Cantique des Cantiques.
Il Cantico dei Cantici is only the best known - though, I agree, probably the most beautiful.
RépondreSupprimerI remember many years ago a book by an American who had collected all erotic passages from the Bible. The book was thick and its title was ‘Bible porn’, 'Bible Eros', I'm not sure.
Which reinforces the suspicion that all this sexual repression in Christianity was due to the influence of the first Fathers of the Church. The role of Augustine and of Paul is well know. But what about Origen? He went to the extreme of castrating himself in order to better reach his crazy ideal of purity. Unbelievable.
This is why - be patient with me - the people who really are Christian ‘to the letter’ – like the Irish - got so repressed they become sort of pervs. I was disgusted by the scandal of the Catholic-run schools in that country. Italy, despite her numerous faults, being religiously superficial and a bit pagan, doesn't live all these perversion and traditionally has a simpler attitude towards sex.
Even though, with the terrible diffusion of Internet porn, nobody really knows the effect this new phenomenon will have on world culture …
PS
RépondreSupprimerOf course I didn't mean that the Irish are pervs, that is not the point.
I did not read this into your post. Of course chastity was an obsession in the Catholic Church. I remember my confessor, in catholic classical colleges you had to have one, greated us with:" How are things?" Things meaning "how is your chastity going?" and he was not a paedophile. I was not so chaste either.
RépondreSupprimerBy the way MoR, how did we go from spaghetti to chastity?
RépondreSupprimerIt is the human mind, a mystery. And Paul, I like very much talking with you. You sparkle my imagination. But don't worry, I'm not gay :-)
RépondreSupprimerAnd also I would love to talk to you *always* in French. But it is time-consuming for me, for lack of practice.
Pas de problème, je comprends les deux langues...et j'ai un dictionnaire italien/français...dont je me méfie un peu. Les expressions locales n'y figurent pas et les mots peuvent avoir deux ou trois significations selon le contexte. Donc à utiliser avec circonspection.
RépondreSupprimerInfatti è bello il caos linguistico, la babele. Chaqun parle la langue qu'il veut selon le moment. It's not something one can share with anybody. Avec vous Canadiens c'est plus facile. By the way, I posted a long comment on the Commentator's blog about his writing on Islam. Wonder if he'll reply.
RépondreSupprimerI just checked, he has't as of one minute ago.
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