Ode to Pasta.....

I thought I wanted you.

I thought I needed you.

I thought I missed you.

So, I came crawling back to you.  

Oh, how wrong I was.

I don't want you.

I don't need you.

I should have kept on missing you.

Oh, pasta, you've done me wrong for the very  last time.  

We're done.  

Forever. 

and ever, ever, ever.  

My love affair with pasta goes way back.

In my lifetime, I probably consumed a few thousand pounds of pasta.

Every kind of pasta!

Trust me..... thousands of pounds of every kind of pasta.  

Then, along came my Lap band.

My pasta eating days were over.

I tried.....let me tell you....I tried.

But, it never worked out too well.

So, I began a life barren of pasta.

To be honest.....it was okay.  It really was.

Yes, there were moments when I truly missed pasta.

But, the pain it caused me was enough to keep me away.

Yeah. 

So.

The pasta.  

Let me begin by telling you.....

Things in Judiland are pretty busy right now.  Our Doctor son is home for a bit of time until he decides where and when he going off to do his doctor things. So, there's been lots of comings and goings and activity surrounding his stop-over at home. There's not a minute that goes by that I am not either planning a meal, shopping for a meal,  making a meal, making arrangements for a meal or cleaning up after a meal.  It's just been one meal after another.....here, there and everywhere. 

Our sorority girl is finishing up her summer job, fitting in all those things she didn't get to do this summer (I can't even imagine what that could be!) and  getting to see all of the people she didn't get to see this summer and then closing out  the summer with another gruesome round of  oral surgery this week.  In between all of that, we've been getting things packed up and ready for her SENIOR year of college.....

Then, as if things were not topsy-turvy enough at our house--with the Doctor and all of his stuff laying around and all the newly purchased sorority girl things laying about and people coming and going and all those dishes to do---I made things just a little bit more chaotic by falling madly in love with a new dining room set.  Now, I must confess that I've been on a hunt for new dining room chairs for quite awhile now.  I said I would never part with my table--being that it was a family heirloom that I painstakingly refinished and all.  Well, I guess I'm not all that attached to that table  after all.   No sooner did I spy this dining room set in one of my fav boutiquey furniture places--I already had that lovingly refinished  family heirloom on the back of a pick up truck in my mind.   So, I now have to get that refinished heirloom table and the chairs on the back of a pick up truck for real and send it away somewhere...not sure where...but somewhere.   And, while it's gone and before the new table and chairs arrive--I might as well have the floors redone and do some major cleaning of the dining room.  I mean--the holidays are coming!  Right? 
Let's just add THAT to the list.....

Yeah.  

So.

The pasta.

Being that I'm working and going crazy and as busy as ever AND  planning meals and cooking morning, noon and night, I'm running through my standard menus pretty quick.  And, as crazy as it sounds....I'm also  trying to shake things up every so often with a few new recipes.  It's all becoming just a bit overwhelming.  So,  I  decided that in order to make things a bit easier in the menu planning department on week nights when we are doing the "dinner thing" (which has been every damn NIGHT!), I would assign each meal a theme and not stray from that theme.  Having a theme always helps me to ditch menu items that just don't work.  I have a habit of cooking everything in my best recipe arsenal---going out of my mind and making a pretty huge mess.   For instance---I  decided I will do  Mexican or All American or BBQ or Caribbean--to name a few.  It helps to reign me in so that I'm not making my famous seafood nachos and my much-loved roasted asparagus with goat cheese appetizer along with a stuffed turkey!  

Yeah.

So.

The pasta.

Finally, the other night, after much suggestion and lots of pleas,  the time came when I just had to do an Italian theme. 

What's an Italian night without pasta....right?
OMG!  Pasta.  My Lap band does not like pasta one damn bit! 

Of course, I've made pasta a million times since I got my Lapband.

But, this time, because the Italian theme dinner was going to be on a week night--I decided to make the pasta as the main course with only a salad as a first course.  No meatballs or antipasti or eggplant parmagiana or any of that  extra Italian stuff.  

What this meant was that I was going to have to eat the pasta if I wanted to eat dinner.  

I just could not make myself an entirely different dinner.....

Upon hearing this, my entire family shuddered.
They had visions of me having major issues right there at the table! 

But.....I couldn't think of any other way to have a nice enough meal for company while making it easy on myself.  

And, I figured.....who doesn't love a big bowl of good pasta smothered in fresh tomato sauce flavored with garlic and fresh basil.....topped with a handful of  excellent grated romano cheese?
Mamma mia! 

I decided to go with a thin spaghetti since I figured that might work best for me.

It sounded like the perfect plan!  YUMMMMM!

I have to be honest here---I was excited! 

I mean....it had been 5 years since I had a bowl of pasta!

I WAS GOING TO EAT PASTA!

I WAS GOING TO EAT PASTA!

Yeah.

So.

The pasta.  

It wasn't bellisimo.....

Pasta.....you've done me wrong for the VERY last time! Tra noi e' finita.