Pasta Sauce
When looking at universities, I was determined not to be too far away from home (the irony of my current situation, I know!). I had never been one to want to go to summer camps or be gone from home too long. Home, and my family, were very important to me and had quite the tug on my heartstrings. Deciding on Auburn, a wonderful university that I loved whole-heartedly and was under two hours away from home was just perfect.
I knew I didn't want to be too far from home, but I also knew deep down that traveling and really getting to know another country was important to me. So, I began investigating study abroad opportunities. As an elementary education major, there are really not many options as by your junior year, you are in classrooms getting experience. That didn't deter me for long though. I found an opportunity in Florence, Italy, a place I had already travelled to twice before and loved. My parents were incredibly supportive even though the classes I wanted to take had nothing to do with helping me complete my degree. Signed up for cooking and photography, I happily hopped on a plane excited about the adventure I was beginning.
I had taken photography in high school and so the class was for me just a wonderful opportunity to take and develop my own photographs (this was back when we used a thing called "film"). The cooking class was a challenge for me. Never really doing anything in the kitchen, I was anxious, in fact after my first day, I think I called my mother in tears. I wasn't really accustomed to struggling so much in the classroom and I was upset and frustrated. I kept at it though, after all, it was a cooking class in Italy, so how bad could it be?
As with most things we struggle with, it turned out to be one of the best things that I ever did. I became more confident, I tasted things I never would have before and I grew as a person, not just a cook. I still don't feel very confident in the kitchen unless it has to do with baking, but there is one dish I learned from my teacher that has become a favorite. It is a hearty pasta sauce that I sometimes will admit to eating as if it were a bowl of chili. I have lots of memories attached to the sauce, not just the memories of learning to make it in that kitchen in Florence, but as it is a favorite, it is the dinner I most commonly make for my friends and family. There have been lots of laughs, catching up and all sorts of stories told over this sauce.
Today, it has been simmering on the stove all afternoon, ready to make memories with some new found friends.
I knew I didn't want to be too far from home, but I also knew deep down that traveling and really getting to know another country was important to me. So, I began investigating study abroad opportunities. As an elementary education major, there are really not many options as by your junior year, you are in classrooms getting experience. That didn't deter me for long though. I found an opportunity in Florence, Italy, a place I had already travelled to twice before and loved. My parents were incredibly supportive even though the classes I wanted to take had nothing to do with helping me complete my degree. Signed up for cooking and photography, I happily hopped on a plane excited about the adventure I was beginning.
I had taken photography in high school and so the class was for me just a wonderful opportunity to take and develop my own photographs (this was back when we used a thing called "film"). The cooking class was a challenge for me. Never really doing anything in the kitchen, I was anxious, in fact after my first day, I think I called my mother in tears. I wasn't really accustomed to struggling so much in the classroom and I was upset and frustrated. I kept at it though, after all, it was a cooking class in Italy, so how bad could it be?
As with most things we struggle with, it turned out to be one of the best things that I ever did. I became more confident, I tasted things I never would have before and I grew as a person, not just a cook. I still don't feel very confident in the kitchen unless it has to do with baking, but there is one dish I learned from my teacher that has become a favorite. It is a hearty pasta sauce that I sometimes will admit to eating as if it were a bowl of chili. I have lots of memories attached to the sauce, not just the memories of learning to make it in that kitchen in Florence, but as it is a favorite, it is the dinner I most commonly make for my friends and family. There have been lots of laughs, catching up and all sorts of stories told over this sauce.
Today, it has been simmering on the stove all afternoon, ready to make memories with some new found friends.
Recipe??
ReplyDeleteHappy to share! ;) There's no exact recipe, but here goes: Chop an onion and garlic up and let them get close to brown or at least more translucent in some olive oil. Put in some sausage (preferably a mix of some hot and mild, like the Jimmy Dean sausage!). Let some of the fat cook out and break up the sausage. Pour in red wine (yes, you have to open a bottle, and well, you can't just leave it sitting there). Let the meat purple and some of the wine cook out. Then, add tomatoes! I usually use a combination of sauce, chopped, and diced cans of tomatoes. Put in some bay leaves, then salt and pepper to taste. It is best when it has hours to simmer!
ReplyDelete