Dear John: Spaghetti with Meatballs and Sausage, and Grandma B's Amazing Sauce

Background: John Tyree has come home to Wilmington, North Carolina on furlough after three years of active duty in the Army. He's been spending his days on Wrightsville Beach surfing. One day he meets Savannah, who has come to Wrightsville for a month with a group of college students, who are building a house with Habitat for Humanity. For the next couple of weeks, until it's time for John to return to Germany where he is stationed, John and Savannah spend most of their time together when Savannah isn't working on the Habitat house. After John returns to active duty, they write to each other almost constantly, and count the days until they will see each other again.

John's father lives alone in the modest house in Wilmington where John grew up. John barely remembers his mother; she had left him and his father when John was very young. The two have never had a close relationship, however; John's father has always been quiet and reserved; often spending hours at a time with his extensive coin collection. John had been quite rebellious as a teenager, and joining the Army was a way for him to get away from his father.

The night John came home on leave, his father brought him to the house and cooked spaghetti, as he had done every Friday night of John's life. It was comforting in a way for John to come home to find things pretty much the same at home as they had always been, right down to the daily eggs, bacon, and toast every morning and the spaghetti every Friday night. John's father looked older and more tired, however, and even though the two hadn't seen each other in three years, they couldn't seem to find much to talk about. That was how it always had been.

Now, if I were cooking spaghetti on a Friday night, I would open up a jar of Ragu', maybe brown up a little meat, and call it done. But since this blog is for the most part a weekend project, I decided that the day after Hurricane Irene (a Sunday) was a great day to make my mother-in-law's special pasta sauce. Or "gravy," as she calls it.

GRANDMA B'S AMAZING PASTA SAUCE

First, make the meatballs.

When Grandma makes them, she soaks some bread in milk, and then mixes it with a couple of pounds ground beef along with some chopped fresh parsley, an egg, some salt and pepper. Since mine need to be gluten, dairy, and egg-free, I put about a cup Organ All-Purpose Rice Crumbs in a bowl with a little rice milk to moisten it; then I mixed it in with the ground beef, along with approx. 2 T each of chopped parsley and thyme, and a heaping half tablespoon (which is just about a whole tablespoon, really) of Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with two tablespoons of water. The meatballs should be about an inch and a half in diameter.

My dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free supplies

For the sauce:

1 to 2 lbs meatballs

1 to 2 lbs Italian sausage links (hot or mild. Grandma uses a mixture of both, and cuts the hot ones in half so folks can tell the difference. Me? I go for all hot.)

1 medium onion, diced

2 to 3 cloves finely chopped garlic (For the record, I almost always double or triple the number of garlic cloves my recipe calls for. But you can do whatever you want.)

1 small (6-oz) can tomato paste

1 large (28-oz) can tomato puree

2 large (28-oz) cans tomato sauce

red wine

basil leaves (if fresh, says Grandma. But a dried bay leaf or two will do in a pinch.)

Brown sausage in a large saucepot; remove and set aside. Brown meatballs and remove; drain off most of the fat. (I don't necessarily cook the meat all the way through, because later it will cook in the sauce for several hours.) In the same saucepot, sautee onions and garlic over medium heat until they begin to soften; add the tomato paste and cook for about a minute, stirring frequently. DO NOT BURN.

I use so much meat, I need to brown it in two pots. Here's my local free-range hot Italian sausage.

Don't worry about the browned bits that stick to the bottom of the pot.

Fill the tomato paste can with wine; add to the pot and cook for another minute, stirring frequently. Ad puree and bring to a simmer; add sauce and bring to a simmer again. Add salt and pepper to taste; add basil (or bay leaves) if available. Bring to a simmer. Add sausage and meatballs to sauce; bring to a simmer. Cover and turn heat to very low. Keep covered on very low heat for 2 to 3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. It is VERY IMPORTANT to stir the sauce every half hour so that it doesn't burn.

I had some red wine from the Finger Lakes that was a little bit too sweet for our taste, but it's perfect in Grandma's sauce.

(Onions, garlic, tomato paste, and wine)

Fortunately I had some fresh basil on my deck. It really does make a difference.

This makes A LOT of sauce. When I make this I'll divide it in two and freeze half of it; the rest we'll have for several nights of dinners. (Spaghetti...lasagna...eggplant parmesan...meatball/sausage subs...even pizza.)

When the sauce is done, I put the sausage and meatballs in a separate dish for serving.

John and his father ate their spaghetti with a glass of milk. We opted for mojitos instead. (This was Joe's plate. My gluten free pasta of choice for this meal: Mrs. Leeper's corn spaghetti.)

During their brief time together, Savannah meets John's father and visits him several times. Savannah sees something in Mr. Tyree that John has never considered before, and this revelation ultimately helps John to better appreciate and accept his father's awkward quirkiness.

There's also a guy named Tim in this story (maybe we have a little bit of a love triangle?), an autistic boy named Alan, a hotshot named Randy, some horses, and the full moon.

I'll tell you more when I share my recipe for teriyaki grilled chicken!

Bonus: Peach ice cream, and an Irene update

Now that summer is pretty much over, and fresh peaches will soon be a thing of the past, I want to share the peach ice cream that I made--twice--more than a month ago now in my new ice cream maker.

I found this recipe at Barbra's (aka scmom) at "Bless Us O Lord" blog:

5 large ripe peaches

3/4 cup sugar, divided
large pinch kosher salt

1/2 t. lemon juice

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

Peel, pit, and chop the peaches. (The first time, I chopped them; the second time I puree'd them as well. Details below.) Place them in a medium saucepan with 1/2 cup sugar, salt, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until jamlike in consistency, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, combine cream, milk, and remaining sugar in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until liquid begins to bubble around the edges, stirring occasionally.

Transfer to a bowl and add peaches and sauce. Place bowl in a bowl of ice water and let sit for about 30 minutes or until room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled.

Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instruction. Freeze until scoopable to your preference.

(source)

You can dice your peaches as big or as small as you want, depending on what you like.

We had to lock it in the laundry room for this part so our dog wouldn't eat it.

Churning...

All finished and ready to eat! (That's gluten free granola on mine.)

The only complaint I got from Joe and the boys was that the chunks of peach in the ice cream were frozen and were cold on their teeth. (I liked it this way, though.) I made it again a few days later, and this time after cooking, I put the peaches in the blender and puree'd them before adding them to the milk and cream mixture.

Not as chunky, but just as delicious!

Not long ago, I tried making peppermint ice cream; soon I'll share with you how that turned out!

---------------------------------------------

I guess I kind of left everyone in suspense in my last post, and maybe you're wondering how everyone fared in the midst of Hurricane Irene.

Nick had this to say on Twitter on the days following the storm (I'm combining the 140-character-or-less tweets into somewhat of a paragraph):

My family is safe, the house is fine. Just a little water in the yard. Other parts of New Bern weren't so lucky. Many -- hundreds -- of houses in New Bern flooded, lots of downed power lines, power off to thousands of homes, many fallen trees. 9 out of 10 people in New Bern without power. Might take time to get it restored. Flooding in town ranged from nothing at all to up to 8 feet in some places. We have a generator, so we're okay. It might take a week for power to be restored. Internet and phone is spotty ...Downed power lines everywhere ... The problem is that even the stores have no power so have to leave town to buy things like milk and bread. Thank you to all the utility crews that have come to Eastern North Carolina to clean up after Hurricane Irene.

Now he's back to publishing tweets like this:

"When life hands you melons, you know you're dyslexic..."

"Do we STILL not know who let the dogs out?"

(Check out Nicholas Sparks' official Twitter page for more cheesy jokes.)

In my neck of the woods, we got a healthy dose of wind and rain from Irene, but not nearly the amount of flooding and damage as other parts of the East Coast. We didn't even lose power, which was the best part! (Nick hasn't said anything about Lee; I expect they're getting quite a bit of rain from that one like we are.)

Coming up next: Spaghetti with meatballs and sausage, and my mother-in-law's amazing pasta sauce. I promise.

7 Quick Takes, Volume 7 (The Hurricane Irene Edition)

--1--

Right now it's raining slightly, and we're waiting for Hurricane Irene. She's just hit Eastern North Carolina and is heading North. I don't *think* it's going to be all that bad here; when Isabel hit us eight years ago, we lost power for a week. I'm counting on that not happening this time. Joe's parents live east of us and they'll likely get hit harder than we will; they've decided to hunker down in their house rather than coming to ours. Please keep them in your prayers, as we're keeping everyone in Irene's path in ours.

I'm glad we took our Ocean City vacation last weekend instead of this one.

--2--

I expect the Sparkses are getting pounded as I'm writing this. Judging from this photo Nicholas posted recently, they're right on the water. He had some things to say about Irene on his Twitter page yesterday:

#Irene is directly south and moving due north. Weather forecast predicts "wind and rain" tomorrow. Ya think?

With such high winds expected, "Irene" should really be called "I-lean" ...

If it rains cats and dogs this weekend, I'm going to be really upset at the pet owners who didn't keep their animals inside ...

#Irene expected to make landfall in North Carolina. Heavy wind and rain expected. Bad-hair day virtually guaranteed ...

#Irene is directly south of my house and moving due north. The weekend forecast for weather says to expect "wind and rain." No kidding.

As much as #Irene is making people worry, the sky isn't falling. It's called "wind-driven rain."

And this:

Weather joke: There was a communist named Rudolph. One day he looked out the window and said, “It looks like a storm is coming.” “No it isn t,” said his wife. “Besides, how would you know?” “Because,” he responded, “Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear.”

Yeah, I've heard that one, Nick. Very cheesy. Stay safe.

--3--

If Joe's parents came and stayed with us, we'd have to leave their car outside in the elements. There's no room in our garage anymore after we moved all the deck furniture in.

I'm not sure yet if we'll move it back (except for my herbs, of course). Our days of enjoying meals outside may be over until spring.

--4--

Did you know there is a Gluten Free kiosk in Nationals Park in Washington, DC? I was quite excited to discover this when we attended a game this summer. The place was quite popular, too.

I had the loaded nachos and a Redbridge beer. (I enjoyed them very much, but I must say I tried not to look at the loaded nachos other people had gotten from other places; they looked yummier than these.)

--5--

Here's a re-broadcast of a Quick Take I posted on "Musings of a Catholic Mom" soon after we spent a weekend in Shenandoah National Park:

After the 5 pm Saturday Mass at Our Lady of the Valley, we decided to check out the town of Luray and find something to eat. When we saw a sign that read, "The Best Burger in Virginia" outside the Artisan Grill on East Main Street, we just had to try it. Larry, Curly, and Joe all got burgers (Larry had the barbecue burger and Joe and Curly had the bacon cheddar; they all loved them), and Moe and I, because of our food restrictions, each ordered a bowl of the buffalo chili. Other than the beans being slightly undercooked, it was delicious. I also decided to try the Caprese salad--sliced tomatoes sprinkled with goat cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette. The tomatoes were obviously of the local, fresh variety--big, thick, slices with that unmistakable fresh tomato flavor. I wished there had been a little more cheese on them, but even though I was already full from the chili, I ate almost every bite.

We also checked out their daily dessert selections, and Larry and Joe decided to try the panna cotta. We had never heard of that--it's an Italian dessert made with cream, milk, sugar, and gelatin. It kind of reminded me of a cross between Jell-o and creme brulee. Larry got raspberry and Joe got amaretto. Of course I had to mooch a bite from each--both were amazing; although I liked the raspberry better. They also had small-dairy ice cream on the menu; Curly ordered chocolate and I ordered vanilla. This was definitely NOT factory-made ice cream, and the chocolate was even better than what we had made the previous weekend.

If you're ever in Luray, be sure to check out the Artisan Grill!

And there you have my first ever restaurant review.

--6--

I wonder what this tastes like?

If I weren't on a gluten-free diet I would want to try it just for fun. (I probably wouldn't like it anyway.)

--7--

Today I'm making peppermint ice cream and a gluten-free berry crisp. Tomorrow I'm planning to whip up my mother-in-law's spaghetti sauce, whether we have power or not. (Thank goodness for a gas stove!) Which reminds me, I need to thaw the meat in the microwave today, just in case. I can't wait to share those with you here.

For more Quick Takes, check out Jen's Conversion Diary blog!

At First Sight: Spinach-stuffed chicken breast, wrapped in applewood-smoked bacon

Hello again!

Did you think I'd dropped off the face of the earth? Actually, if you follow my other blog, "Musings of a Catholic Mom," you'll see I've been plenty busy. I have a new job as a teaching assistant that starts this week, in a new Montessori preschool that just opened up at an Episcopal church in my town. What's really great about it is that the school's director and head teacher is a friend who taught both Curly and Moe when they were preschool/Kindergarten age, AND for two years I was her teaching assistant. It was great working with her; I'm psyched! I've also been trying to help the boys get ready for the new school year; Curly and Moe have summer homework which they (of course) have waited until the last minute to finish. We've also been stocking up on school supplies and buying shoes and getting their school uniforms together. Larry is starting at the public high school in a couple of weeks, and last Monday he took his Virginia Standards of Learning test for Algebra I--and passed with flying colors! There is no doubt that Larry is entering a new phase in his life; he finally asked for his own room, and we spent a weekend moving his stuff and re-organizing Curly and Moe's stuff too. I took no less than five ginormous garbage bags of clothes to Goodwill. And last weekend Larry got a phone. A year from now he'll be old enough for a learner's permit--Heaven forbid. And we just spent a fun but too-short weekend in Ocean City, Maryland; I took almost 200 photos in four days. Stay tuned to "Musings of a Catholic Mom" for highlights from that trip (I'll try not to post too many vacation pictures and bore you to death), a little bit about the church where we went to Mass on Sunday, and a few thoughts about beaches in general and crowded places and beach bungalows and a condo on the twenty-first floor. Here's a preview:

Okay, now for the real purpose of this blog post; to FINALLY share the amazing bacon-wrapped stuffed chicken I made nearly a month ago.

Remember the little spat Lexie and Jeremy had in At First Sight when they went to a fancy restaurant together? Jeremy wanted to get a big ol' porterhouse steak but ended up ordering tuna (to see the delicious tuna we grilled, click here) because Lexie didn't approve. Lexie, being pregnant and all, wanted to eat something healthy, so she ordered stuffed chicken and steamed vegetables. Of course, the stuffed chicken we had probably wasn't nearly as healthy as Lexie's; and I'm sure Lexie didn't order hers wrapped in bacon and stuffed with, among other things, full-fat sour cream. (At least mine had spinach.)

I found this recipe online:

SPINACH STUFFED CHICKEN BREAST

Ingredients:

· 1 (10 ounce) package fresh spinach leaves

· 1/2 cup sour cream

· 1/2 cup shredded pepperjack cheese

· 4 cloves garlic, minced

· 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness

· 1 pinch ground black pepper

· 8 slices bacon

Most everything is the cheap grocery-store brand--except the meat, which I bought at my local butcher shop. Once I tasted their applewood-smoked bacon, I found no need to ever buy bacon anywhere else.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. Place spinach in a large glass bowl, and heat in the microwave for 3 minutes, stirring every minute or so, or until wilted. Stir in sour cream, pepperjack cheese, and garlic.

3. Lay the chicken breasts out on a clean surface, and spoon some of the spinach mixture onto each one. Roll up chicken to enclose the spinach, then wrap each chicken breast with two slices of bacon. Secure with toothpicks, and arrange in a shallow baking dish.

4. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, then increase heat to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C), or use the oven's broiler to cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes to brown the bacon.

(source: allrecipes.com)

I think it's cool how spinach suddenly gets smaller when it's heated up.

I like to butterfly my chicken breasts before pounding them.

Ready to go in the oven...

You have no idea how delicious these smelled.

Taking a cue from Lexie, I steamed some carrots and rice to go with it.

(I read recently that when you're taking pictures of food, you should never shoot your plate from above like this. I'll keep that in mind next time.)

Sometime I'll make the steak and garlic mashed potatoes that Jeremy wanted to get, but for now we'll leave Lexie and Jeremy alone to enjoy their romantic evening.

There is also one more food project from the epilogue of At First Sight that I'm going to save for later. When I finally get back to that one, I'll have no choice but to reveal the ending of the book, and I at least want to give you a chance to read it first. (Did I ever tell you that Message in a Bottle was one of my least favorite Nicholas Sparks books when I first read it? Not because it wasn't good--it is--but because I already knew the ending. Many years ago I was up for a late-night feeding with one of the boys--Moe, probably--and I started flipping channels and heard dramatic music, and saw ocean waves, and Kevin Costner and a sailboat and Robin Wright Penn on the beach and...anyway, I didn't know what I was watching and suddenly the credits started rolling. "Message in a Bottle," they said. Never heard of it. That was a long time ago.) So of COURSE I wouldn't want to ruin At First Sight for you--Oh, but guess what? A while back on his Twitter page, Nick was going on about which books were the most fun to write and which ones were the most challenging and which ones made him cry--and At First Sight fell into the third category. Hope that didn't spoil it too much for ya.

After I share the wonderful peach ice cream I made and probably post another 7 Quick Takes, (and can you believe it's almost been a year since I started this little journey?) we'll move on to Dear John. And with Dear John comes spaghetti, and do you know what that means? Grandma B's totally authentic and deliciously Italian sauce, complete with meatballs and sausage. You won't want to miss that!

At First Sight: Grilled tuna with crispy gluten free hush puppies

Wait! Don't let the "gluten free" part scare you away! They really and truly were amazing, and even the rest of my family, who usually turn their noses up at all my gluten free pastas and bread and such, really, really liked them. Trust me. But first, a little background:

At First Sight picks up Lexie and Jeremy's story where True Believer left off. (Here I'll reveal the ending of True Believer, because I can't really tell the rest of the story otherwise. If you REALLY don't want to know, then I suppose you can scroll down to where the recipes are...) Lexie and Jeremy have known each other for about a month, having met when Jeremy came to Lexie's home town of Boone Creek from New York to investigate some mysterious lights in a cemetery. (If you want a little more about True Believer, you can visit my earlier posts about it--here's the first one, and the second one, and the last one. Come on back here when you're done.) Anyway, Jeremy and Lexie have had a falling out of sorts, and Jeremy goes back to New York to get on with his life. He doesn't stay long, though, because one day Lexie's grandmother Doris suddenly shows up at Jeremy's apartment (she's flown to New York from North Carolina just to see him mind you) and announces that Lexie is planning to marry her friend Rodney the sheriff, and if Jeremy knows what's good for him he'll get his butt down there to stop them. Because Lexie doesn't love Rodney--she loves Jeremy, and Doris knows it. So Jeremy flies to Boone Creek, finds Lexie, and of course she doesn't marry Rodney. (Rodney's in love with someone else, anyway, so now everyone is happy.) The last thing Lexie says to Jeremy at the end of True Believer is, "It's a girl."

Well, now, that's a setup for a sequel if there ever was one. At First Sight follows Lexie and Jeremy through the nine months of her pregnancy (during which time they have a lovely wedding on the beach at Cape Hatteras), and as they are anticipating the birth of their daughter, they're just getting to know each other, too.

It was a little tricky deciding what to cook for this one, because there really isn't a scene where the guy and the girl cook together like in most of Nick's other books. There is one funny scene in a restaurant, though--the nicest one in town, actually--where Jeremy wants to order a porterhouse steak, and Lexie scolds him because that's fattening and too much meat and SHE'S getting chicken, and maybe he should get the broiled tuna. At first he is defiant and says he's ordering the steak, darn it, and she says, fine, go ahead, see if I care; in the end he ends up ordering the tuna.

I was browsing the Internet for a recipe for grilled tuna (Jeremy gets broiled tuna. Forget it. We're grilling.) and I found one on a cooking website with the perfect name: Spark Recipes. That must be destiny, I decided. Here it is:

AWESOME GRILLED LIME TUNA STEAK

Ingredients

1-1/2 lbs fresh Ahi Tuna (frozen/previously frozen is not the same)*
Juice from two limes (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
2 tsp. chopped fresh cilantro

*I used yellowfin (I think) instead of ahi, since that's what was available at our favorite fish market. I'm sure almost any type would be delicious.

Directions

Combine ingredients for marinade, put in plastic bag with fish. Marinate the tuna for 30-60 minutes. Remove from marinade and place on grill. Grill to desired doneness. We prefer medium rare and it is delicious. It is easy to overcook tuna. You can always cook it a little more. A thick steak should take no more than 8 minutes for medium rare.

1-1/2 lbs tuna usually serves 4. You eat a much smaller piece than you would a steak. Leftovers are good the next day on a sandwich or salad.

Number of Servings: 4

(Source: SparkRecipes)

(Dang, I forgot to take a photo of Joe grilling the steaks. Again.)

-------------------------------------------------------------

At Herb's Restaurant, not only does Doris make the best chicken pesto sandwich, she also makes lots and lots of hush puppies. I've already made hush puppies twice for this blog, (for A Walk to Remember and A Bend in the Road) and since I've started on my gluten free diet I've wanted to try making some hush puppies I could eat. Now I had the perfect excuse! Here's the one I decided to try:

HUSH PUPPIES (WHEAT FREE)

1 1/2 cups cornmeal

1 cup rice flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

3 teaspoons seasoning salt (I used Old Bay seasoning, and it worked great)

chives or green onion top (I skipped this)

1 medium onion

1 egg*

milk or water or apple juice, to make doughy (I used a combination of white wine and some chicken broth I had left over from the corn chowder.)

Directions:

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, break up any lumps.

2. Stir in onions, green onions, and chives.

3. Add egg and blend well.

4. Add liquid until batter is thick enough to form into balls, but not runny.

5. In a large skillet or deep fryer, heat 4" oil to 350°F or 180°C.

6. Form batter into 3/4" to 1" balls and drop into the hot oil (use two spoons to form them with).

7. Do not crowd. (Why is this a step all by itself? Seems obvious to me...)

8. Cook until dark golden brown and cooked through, about 2 minutes.

9. Drain on paper towels.

Source: Food.com

*Up until now when a gluten free recipe called for egg, I used egg. Since Moe is allergic to egg, I asked him if I made gluten free hush puppies, would he want to try them? He said yes, he would; so instead of egg I used 1 1/2 teaspoons Egg Replacer mixed with 2 tablespoons water.

I didn't tell Larry and Curly the hush puppies were gluten free at first. Larry came in and saw what I was making and said, "Yum! You're making hush puppies!" I had him and Curly both try one, and after they gave me their approval, I said, "Guess what?" That's when they realized what I had done, and they said, "Well, they're good!" We ate most of them, and the rest I put in the freezer for later. (I think I liked Paula Deen's just a teensy bit better, though; next time I'll see if I can figure out how to make HERS gluten free.)

With Bobby Flay's coleslaw (to see what else we were eating the first time I made it, click here), corn on the cob, and a nice thick slice of in-season tomato, it makes a perfect summer supper!

Up next, we'll have stuffed chicken, loaded with fat, salt, and cholesterol. I don't think Lexie would approve.

7 Quick Takes, Volume 6

DISCLAIMER: If you get a sense of deja' vu right around Take Number Three, I apologize. A few of these takes are already on my other blog, Musings of a Catholic Mom. Since they're somewhat food- and/or book-related I decided to post them here too; sorry if some of this seems repetitive. And it's likely my next "7 Quick Takes" post here will have at least one repeat from Musings too. I'll try not to make that a habit.

--1--

On a recent weekend, we went camping in Shenandoah National Park (too see some highlights, click here). On Saturday night after returning from the town of Luray after attending Mass and eating dinner out, we built a fire and roasted dough boys for an after-dinner treat.

What are "dough boys," you ask? Just some Bisquick mixed with a little water, wrapped around a stick and cooked over a fire. (I like to call them "Biscuit-on-a-stick.")

Curly put some butter and kiwi jam on his. These would make a great camping breakfast, don't you think?

--2--

In my most recent post at Musings of a Catholic Mom, I talked about how I want to make my blogging more authentic (and on that one I want to be authentically Catholic; even here I like to bring my Catholic faith with me sometimes), and I want both my blogs to be reflections of who I really am, not glossed-over versions of myself and my family life.

Therefore, I'll tell you what REALLY happened when we made the dough boys. The kids were all excited because they had just made them the previous week at a nature camp they had attended. I dutifully poured some Bisquick into a bowl (even though I really didn't want to bother with making them--it was late and I just wanted to relax by the fire with my Hornsby's Hard Cider), mixed it up with some water, and let the boys have at it. Well, Moe was very upset because the dough was sticky, and when he tried to put it on his stick, it got all over his hands and made a big mess. "OK," I said, "Why don't I just put a little more Bisquick in it and make it less sticky?" (Remember, I'd never done this before.) He kept complaining that I wasn't doing it right. Even when Curly showed him how to knead the dough to make it smooth and easier to handle, he was having none of it. I finally asked him to show me what I needed to do, and he said he didn't know because Ms. L, the camp leader, had been the one who made the dough and given it to the kids. He whined so much that Joe and I almost banished him to the tent for the rest of the evening unless he pulled himself together. Thank goodness he eventually did.

And you thought there was no drama in my family.

--3--

This week Moe is visiting Joe's parents. We've had a tradition these last several years that each summer, one of the boys gets to spend a week with them. It's a great way for them to bond with their grandparents, and the boys always look forward to when it will be "their turn." For about two days before Moe left, I kept finding myself on the verge of tears thinking about how much I would miss him. He's having a great time with his grandparents, of course, and even with only one of the boys gone the house seems quiet. He calls us every night and tells us about his day, and I know I won't sleep well unless I get a chance to say good night to him. I'm feeling a little guilty, though, because yesterday when I made my homemade hamburger buns (I've posted the recipe here and here), I realized I could use a REAL EGG and REAL MILK since there wasn't anyone in the house allergic to them. We excitedly went to Chick Fil-A for lunch; a place we usually avoid because they fry their stuff in peanut oil. And the other day at Costco I grabbed a bag of tortilla chips--not our usual brand, but one we like better but never get because they're cooked in (you guessed it) peanut oil.

He's coming home Saturday, and I can't wait. Having everyone home is much better than getting to eat at Chick Fil-A.

(Oh, and I also bought Honey Nut Chex, too. I realize now that I haven't missed much.)

--4--

Speaking of cereal, check out what I found in Target not long ago:

I remember growing up, seeing that on the grocery shelf every time I would go with my mother, and she would never buy it. It was always Raisin Bran and Grape Nuts and Special K in our house. I would be extremely jealous when I would visit friends and notice that THEIR mothers let them have it.

Of course I got some and you know what? It tastes like Captain Crunch. Which my mother would never buy either, but when I got to college it became a staple food.

--5--

I finished Stieg Larsson's Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy, and I'm glad I did (a couple of times the graphic sex and violence almost made me quit reading. Almost.) I've decided that the main character, a troubled young woman named Lisbeth who has multiple piercings and tattoos and doesn't relate to people very well, is a female version of Jack Bauer. On second thought, she is a combination of Jack and his computer-savvy friend Chloe, without whom Jack would never have survived many of his run-ins with the bad guys. Not only does Lisbeth habitually hack into other people's computers, but she manages to survive a number of brutal attacks--including (SPOILER ALERT) being shot in the head point blank and then buried alive. My favorite part of this series? When Lisbeth (ANOTHER SPOILER) is about to be murdered by a monstrous villain who feels no pain, and she grabs a nail gun and shoots nails into the guy's feet, pinning them to the floor. Brilliant!

--6--

Now I'm reading two books at once: one e-book and one I checked out from the library. My current e-book is C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. I've read almost half of it now. It's definitely not what I expected--instead of reading like a novel, it's a series of letters written by a demon (Screwtape) to his nephew Wormwood, offering advice on how best to turn a good man away from God and to the Dark Side. Very eye-opening. Screwtape could easily be talking about me.

I'm also reading Long Way Down: An Epic Journey By Motorcycle From Scotland to South Africa, by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. (Yes, I mean THAT Ewan McGregor, as in Obi-Wan Kenobi.) In 2007 ( I think) Ewan and his best friend Charley took off from northern Scotland on motorcycles, along with a team of support people--cameramen, a doctor, producers, fixers--and rode all the way to Cape Town, South Africa for a TV series called Long Way Down and to do some charity work for UNICEF. (In 2004 they rode around the world for their TV series Long Way Round; there is a companion book for that one too. For more about Ewan and Charley's adventures, click here.) Anyway, Joe and I had watched the Long Way Down series on DVD, and I'm enjoying reading Ewan and Charley's accounts of the trip in their own words.

By the way, did I ever tell you I'm a biker chick wannabe? Someday I want to climb on the back of a Harley (straddling my husband!) and ride across the USA. Joe doesn't share that dream. *sigh* Maybe when they make Long Way Up Ewan and Charley will pass through my town. That would be the next best thing.

--7--

The other day on my Facebook news feed, I found a fun post from Nicholas Sparks' Facebook fan page: a link to a website, MeetTheAuthor.com, and a three-minute video of Nick talking about his novel, A Bend In the Road. I did a little searching and discovered that Nick recorded little tidbits there about all of his books from The Notebook to At First Sight. I spent entirely too much time online last night, a good-sized chunk of which was watching these videos. Click the book titles to see them!

The Notebook

Message in a Bottle

A Walk to Remember

The Rescue

A Bend in the Road

Nights in Rodanthe

The Guardian

The Wedding

Three Weeks With My Brother

True Believer

At First Sight

In my next post, I'll share some delicious grilled tuna that was inspired by At First Sight. I'm having to bend my own rules a little bit for that one; the only time anyone cooks (besides grilling steaks and hot dogs, which I think happens in every one of Nick's books) is in the epilogue. I don't think I can do that one in context without revealing the ending. I'll figure something out.

Check out my other blog, Musings of a Catholic Mom, for another Quick Takes Post (as I mentioned, some of it is repetitive, but most of it is not), and for even more, be sure to visit Conversion Diary, the official "7 Quick Takes" hub!