Red Pasta Sauce

I'm a Gemini which means my moods are sporadic and often erratic. I've come to terms with that but those around me sometimes do a double-take. I can go quickly from feeling desperate and overwhelmed by life to being utterly smitten with a frozen river speckled with quacking playful ducks and feeling like the world is such a magical place. This happened on the weekend: Saturday I felt isolated and lonely and like life was playing a few ungrateful jokes on me to waking up on a glorious Sunday of sunshine and taking a mini driving excursion to Unionville where there happens to be a great natural pond to skate on. And coincidentally a lot of ducks like it too.

Saturday night was a typical 9:30 pm eating event of wine and dinner in front of lit candles and a full bloomed amaryllis. One tubular stalk with an exposed root in a slothful array of dirt suddenly transforms into several trumpet flowers that illuminate the entire kitchen. Oh yes, in February life is all about simple pleasures and delights.

I am placing myself on the strictest budget of my life currently which means I'm in a constant tizzy about how to merge and blend ingredients that I have on hand with a few well thought out bought items when necessary. Luckily I felt like pasta. And luckily I had two frozen lamb sausages in the freezer from the decadent sausage makers at St. Lawrence Market (hundreds of varieties and meats to choose from). I also had a few bottles of tomato sauce: one a roasted red pepper tomato sauce and the other a cheesy sundried tomato blend. So I got to work on the sauce by cooking down chopped onion, chopped garlic and a chopped jalapeno pepper in olive oil with rosemary and dried oregano. Then I added the sausage which I had boiled until cooked through but still pink in the middle when I sliced them. After everything had simmered I added the sauces and diced two fresh tomatoes into the mix. Although I would've loved some thick noodles like rigatoni I didn't have any so we debated between a spaghetini and the farfalle butterfly noodles. We chose the farfalle because there were more of them and when you are hungry and it's 9:30 pm you chose quantity over aesthetic sometimes. Yum yum. A hearty rich tomato sauce with chopped parsley and fresh grated parmesan is a wonderful meal to break bread and wine over. Good eating is a surefire way to beat the February blahs!

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[Rufus]

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