Blog #4:
Oh Pasta - How I love thee. Let me count the ways!
Dude. I. LOVE. PASTA. I have since I was a kid - a kid small enough to truly think it was really called "noodles." And the finicky eater in me has changed so little since then. I wouldn't touch pasta unless it had butter on it. LOTS of butter. ONLY butter. And then, as my iron deficiency reared its ugly head in my pre-teen years, it was butter and salt only! No red sauce. No cheese. No veggies. No meat. (Yup - you heard me. No meat!)
My favorite dinner of all time was steak and pasta. But not just any steak and pasta. No. No. No. It was specifically Steak and Pasta made by my Teca (Grandma on my dad's side.) Man oh man. She DRENCHED the pasta in butter. And she cooked the steak JUST right. (which is probably why my dad does steak so well). And she never argued about my sister and I wanting NOTHING to do with veggies. It was a special dinner we got throughout my childhood, and I'd give anything to have one more. Sadly, Teca left this world in 2002 and I've had to find other ways to like my pasta since.
In college, I discovered a love for Parmesan Cheese. Salty Cheese???? Yes please!!! And now, my pasta has evolved from "plain butter" to "Pasta with Butter, Salt, Parmesan, and the occasional helping of grilled chicken." I've also conceeded occasionally to have my pasta with a meat sauce - of course there needs to be very little sauce and A LOT of meat, still covered in parmesan, but still - I'll eat it. But I just love pasta. After all this time. And it is so easy to make. Truth be told, it is the first thing I ever learned to cook.
So, as I eat my curly-q pasta with butter, salt, and parmesan, I am thankful for so many reasons. I'm Thankful for the memories I have of Teca in my childhood. They were great times. I am thankful that, no matter where I am or what I am doing, pasta is always an easy fix to my eating issues. And I am thankful that there is a comfort food that makes me so happy all the time. So yea - I'm Thankful for Pasta.
-Jen
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I am also a pasta lover, however I am a pasta with a ton of red meat sauce. I hate cream sauces and I can't quite eat it plain. I don't have the same kind of childhood memories of it, but I could eat it everyday and be happy. Thank you for the reminder.
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