and you know all the whys and wherefores of this countdown, right? Homemade cookbook, friends contributed, Handyman said I couldn't/wouldn't do it, I'll show him, yadda yadda yadda....
...and the rest is cookbook history!
Just remember, the countdown is not all about pretty food and food design---it's about the people and the stories.
And (the most important thing) proving my husband wrong--and that I can and WILL make every recipe in this cookbook.
Which brings me to recipe #344
Adria's Spaghetti
And her mother-in-law's meatballs
(This is also Spaghetti Sauce #25)
You all know I have an affinity for spaghetti. And meatballs are just icing on the top. Or meatball on the top. Or whatever.
Sometimes when we go to Olive Garden, I will order the spaghetti and meatballs. It's just so--good.
This recipe is good too.
I always make a cookbook countdown recipe when we go to the cabin in the fall. I can tell by the dated marbled pink countertops (which are actually updated from the original). And my favorite wine glass that looks like I'm drinking from a tulip.
What do I say about Adria?
Good-bye? It's sad to me, when I am saying goodbye in the countdown. It's not like I can't just pick up the phone and talk to her anytime. But still... we don't do that as often as we should.
Adria did not turn in many recipes for this countdown.
You can see all (3) of them here: Just click here.
But the ones she did are really good.
We were neighbors and saw each other almost every day. We did a couple of field trip chaperoning for 2nd, 3rd, 4th graders.
We were the cub scout den mothers for our kids -- and only one other boy whose name was Jimmy Jones. Yes, only 3 boys in our den.
In the summer of 1994, we decided to be in charge of the cub scout day camp. We figured what the heck, if we could handle 3, we could handle 33, as more 'dens' joined us for the day camp.
Adria and I worked our asses (sorry for the profanity) off and had a dunk tank, platforms in trees (to drop science experiments) and obstacle courses to run, and so much more.
We didn't know it then, but we were preparing to have grandchildren! Because that's what we do now-- we might as well have a dunk tank, platforms in trees and run obstacle courses.
Grandkids are more exhausting than running that 4-day day camp in 1994.
BUT it's a lot more fun too!
But I digress--- Day camp '94 culminated in a sleep out. Neither of our husbands could make it, so there we were on a Friday night after surviving all that 33 10-year-old boys could throw at us (figuratively and literally) ---almost in the dark--trying to put a tent together. We could handle a dunk tank and platforms in trees--- but a tent? You would have thought we were the 3 stooges! And there were only 2 of us.
It all worked out in the end, I guess. My memory ends with all of us sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories.
I don't see her or talk to her very much lately.
I need to retire and remedy that.
Good-bye Adria (and her husband Tim)
So, friends, My friends! This is recipe #344 out of 361.
(I'm 99% sure I have all the math down pat now)
(it would have helped if I had gone in a linier progression instead of jumping all over the place)
Look how close I am!
2023 will be the year!!
Will it really tho?
(I'm slow going) (soooo slow)
