Sunday----

Sadly, let me join everyone else in expressing how much I shall miss Paul Newman. Now this was one great actor and fantastic man and all the more so because he never allowed his fame to take away his right to be a normal, everyday guy! He was a loving husband and devoted father and gave away millions to help others. Rest in peace Paul, we are better because you were in our lives!



Now it’s raining and around 1pm the football games shall begin, hurrah. However for reasons unknown I decided to tackle an ole task done years ago. What? My sister-in-law offered and I took lots of tomatoes and as I’m the only one who truly likes them, this was way too much even for me (trust me I pigged out sufficiently and needed to back away from the trough). So I decided to make homemade tomato sauce, none of that store bought stuff, nope, make your own.

As mentioned I did this years ago but memory and dead brain cells made it impossible to remember how this was actually accomplished so I went to the Internet and looked up “homemade tomato sauce.” Man, there are a zillion possibilities and I finally selected one and knew I would revise it – that’s just my nature.

First I had to boil the tomatoes until the skin starts to peel, then plunge these babies in a large bowl of iced water. I don’t ever remember this ice part before ( I think we just yank'em out of the hot water, let’em cool, and literally ripped the skin off – no ice involved whatsoever and hot hands was just part of the fun!). Then according to the recipe I was suppose to squeeze the seeds out – are you kidding me, as I remember it, seeds and all went into the food processor and that is exactly what was done today!

Then using a big pot I was cooking onions, bell peppers, carrots and garlic in oil until the onion starts to soften (what in hell does that mean, does it yell I am soft or is it when you can see thru it that means its soft?). Then I noticed some leftover homemade salsa my daughter had given us and thought, what the hell toss that in too – give it some real kick! I began adding spices too, basil, Italian seasoning, and dab of salt, ground pepper and almost forgot the wine (damn that would have been horrible). Tossed in a bay leaf and now the stuff is simmering away on my stove. Oh ya, I took a taste and man, this is good stuff. The only thing I don’t have is tomato paste to thicken up my sauce but hey, one trip to the store is fine – I can also get some garlic bread too.

I feel so damn domestic today I could just puke! Its fun to do such things every now and then, but I gotta tell ya, when someone else makes tomato sauce for you, why bother? I admire folks who really love to cook and prefer to make things from scratch, you go people as for me, I have cooking moments and then they pass, thank God!

So now I shall mop the kitchen floor, do up the prep dishes and get ready for foot ball. Enjoy the day--rainy, damp and humid but as long as we’re breathing, we are doing just FINE!