Last Minute Town Stuff

No matter how much careful planning goes into our times interior and out in town... Well... last minute stuff comes up. A lot.

Here we are running some last minute errands on the bike. It's been awhile since i've posted an all-the-family-on-a-motorbike photo. So, i thought it was time. :) One of our first errands on the day this was taken was to buy Nadia a new helmet (Quinn's head is not big enough yet...which is, frankly, shocking).

Now, i will segue into a "Making Spaghetti Sauce" series. Not at all related to last minute town stuff. :)

Not having a single drop of Italian blood in my veins, i sought out the advice of the best Italian Spaghetti Sauce Cook i could find: Mrs. Ginny Pallotta of Agawam, MA. :) Oh, how long ago was THAT?!?! I don't know, but it was a long time ago. And oh, how much fun we had that day. Sitting and chatting over coffee for WAY too long, poking around in the garden, then "studying" hard in the kitchen with fresh ingredients. i won't divulge all her secrets here, but i will say that she taught me everything i know.

4 kilos of tomatoes

1 kilo of ground beef

1 bulb of garlic

2 carrots

2 onions

1 green pepper

1/2 cup mushrooms (shhh, don't tell Phil) :)

and 1 stick pepperoni (Thank you, Lindsey!!!!!)

Blend, chop, brown, sautee, mix and cook and cook and cook.

Enter: Canning for Dummies. Well worn, splattered and stained, this book has saved my hide many a time.

I canned 8 pints of that yummy sauce that day to take interior with us this time.

Thank you, Ms. Ginny! Miss you!!

In other news, Quinn has another tooth! (that makes 7)