Spaghetti Sauce

Two years ago I was in Seven Days of Creation and made a commitment to have several hours a week set aside for "creative outlets of my choosing." I worded it that way because I knew it mattered to me to have that creative outlet but I wasn't too sure about what it looked like.

As it turned out, my favorite creative outlet is cooking. I have a vast collection of cookbooks and I can truthfully tell you, I've read them cover-to-cover. When I get a cookbook, the first thing I do is read it all; then I cook something from it.

Since Seven Days, however, I've been spending more time developing my own recipes as well as honing those I have had for years. My spaghetti sauce recipe was handed down from my mother who is a great cook. It's my recipe now, though, because years of adding my special tweaks has made it my own. One of the creative results of all this extra cooking has been "Spaghetti Madness Thursdays," a line stolen from a long forgotten movie. Nearly every Thursday, pasta is on the menu and hands' down, the family favorite is this quite ordinary sauce.

Fair enough, all this creative kitchen time has not ended any wars nor fed any of Austin's homeless. No one will see the results in a gallery nor will a Noble Prize for Kitchen Wizardry (though I think it's a good idea) be awarded. But what is true is that for the last two years, I have had a lingering sense of satisfaction because week in and week out, I've been doing something peculiarly creative and personal. And that, in turn, has sourced my work which is, as the day ends, about something noble. Wheeee!