He knows how to make me feel better.

With a perfect white rose.... to celebrate being cancer free. Nestled among a dozen miniature salmon colored roses to lift my depression. Sealed with a kiss and one of those enveloping hugs that just make you feel safe and loved.


Feeling better I decided he needed a great meal. Cooked with love since my skill isn't that great, LOL. So the book I just read, Garlic and Sapphires, had a recipe I wanted to try. So here it is. Quick, easy and tastes like you know what your doing.

Spaghetti Carbonara.
1 pound spaghetti.
1/4 to 1/2 pound thickly sliced good quality bacon ( she prefers Nueske's) Living in Iowa we had 2 choices, thin or thick, LOL No name brand. Course I could have gone to my uncles and called it Dale's.
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 large eggs
black pepper, (I prefer freshly ground).
1/2 c grated Parmigiano cheese, plus extra for the table.

Bring the water to boil for the spaghetti. Use regular spaghetti. We always eat wheat spaghetti and in this case I think regular white spaghetti would have been better. Not as healthy maybe, but only the rocks live forever...right. The whole wheat overpowered the delicate flavors. Throw spaghetti in the water when it boils and cook as directed.

Cut the bacon crosswise into pieces about 1/2 " wide. Put them into a skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Make sure to sip the nice glass of wine your drinking to put you into the correct mood for cooking. Cook them for 2 minutes, until the fat begins to render. Add the whole garlic, we used 3 cloves because we are garlic freaks, and cook another 5 minutes, until the edges of the bacon just begin to get crisp. Do not overcook; if they get too crisp, they won't meld with the pasta.

Meanwhile , break the eggs into the bowl your going to serve the pasta in, and beat them with a fork. Add some grinding of pepper. I just love that line. Adding the grinding of the pepper here Rick, giggle.

Remove the garlic from the bacon pan. If it looks like too much fat to you, ( it didn't too me), discard some, but you're going to toss the bacon with most of its fat into the pasta. Yes you heard me right.... IT'S FAT!

When the pasta is cooked, drain it and immediately throw it into the beaten eggs. Mix thoroughly. The heat of the spaghetti will cook the eggs and turn them into a sauce. Add the bacon with it's fat, toss again, add cheese and serve. Yummy.

Now I have a way I love to cook brussel sprouts. I steam them. While they are steaming I saute some pecan pieces in butter until lightly browned and them toss them with the sprouts. With this meal we also had a great loaf of bread. I like a hard crust and soft inside and lots of flavor inside. So we bought some at the bread bakery and topped the entire meal off with some nice dark Zinfandel wine.

You know what, the meal was a success, how could it not be. It took maybe 30 minutes to cook, make me look like I knew what the heck I was doing and I feel like my depression is back on the back burner. We had jazz playing softly in the background, my lovely dog was quietly begging from the doorway, the tip of her tail softly tapping and the wine made my pain recede quietly to the back corner of my mind. And you know what..... life is good. Whatever is dished out to me. It can't beat times like this. Oh, and don't toss the garlic, we ate them separately, oh so good.

Now we are going to cuddle on the couch and watch a movie. I can handle whatever is coming my way.