Feeling Ill

     Summer  is officially here and I find myself feeling a little under the weather, but sickness I'm faced with is not easily cured by a pill or syrup. To cure my sickness, it's at least a twelve hour long process that can cost hundreds of dollars, depending on how the procedure goes.  Though the ailment's dosage have gradually declined in the past four years, I am afraid that that's not exactly good news.  All this makes me crave the cure more and more, the little pick me up that had never failed.; Mom's spaghetti!

     Now first things first, her spaghetti dinners had everything that one would look for in a great meal.  A complex red sauce with some of my favorite tomatoes, filled with aromatic herbs and spices and accompanied by crispy garlic bread for sopping up every last drop of food on your plate.  Only a few have had the pleasure to be familiar with this childhood delight like I have. Her sauce is comprised of ground beef, dried basil, oregano, cayenne pepper, and whatever else sounds good, and is bound together mostly with some of my favorite ketchup (bet you'll never guess what kind).  The bread was made from plain white bread covered in butter and garlic salt and baked till golden brown.  Last but not least is the pasta. It has to be angel hair or else it isn't right. Everyone knows that the pasta makes the dish and those slippery long strands of yellow noodle never disappointed.  Even though this simple dish should be easy for a culinary graduate to master, there is just something about it I can't seem to get right. There is a secret that only my mom has mastered with years of continuously cooking it, and I can trust no one else to make it right.

      In truth, there might be one more secret ingredient that I am aware of that makes this dish so special. It's the atmosphere of home that I am sick for; my family and those closest to me.  It's because of them that I have left home, but it's because of them that I am pursuing my dreams.  I am home sick for now but I will see them soon and, with all honesty, the spaghetti tastes the best after a long time away.  

Hines