Spaghetti Night

Tonight I am making spaghetti for dinner. When I get home, I will boil two different types of noodles and create two different sauces. Am I cooking for a get-together of some sort?

No, just for my husband & I. We have become really picky about our spaghetti.

For years, I purchased the same brand of noodles and the same sauce. For spaghetti night, I simply added meat - then Voilà! A quick & easy supper.

Last year, I decided to buy more organically. I also realized that we needed to incorporate more fiber in our diet. So, instead of buying our safe and reliable pasta, I bought organic whole grain pasta instead. I couldn't find an organic sauce that I really liked, so I made one from scratch.

I chopped up Roma tomatoes, and poured on organic extra virgin olive oil. I cut up parsley from a plant that I bought, and added fresh garlic, etc. as well.

I proudly presented my new and improved Spaghetti Night dish to my husband. He complimented me on the delightful aroma coming from our kitchen.

As we sat down for dinner, I (the picky, never-try-anything-new-to-eat-one) timidly tasted my spaghetti. And, I loved it. It was easily the best spaghetti I had ever eaten in my life. It was even better than the spaghetti from our favorite Italian restaurants.

J, on the other hand, took a few bites and decided it "needs a little something extra." To my horror, he went to the refrigerator and got out the ketchup. KETCHUP. He added ketchup to my bistro-quality pasta dish. Apparently, he likes spaghetti sauce extra thick, and ketchup was the perfect addition.

J knew it bothered me, but I kept my disgust and devastation to myself. Instead, I silently vowed that he would never get to ruin eat my special sauce again. From then on, I would make two sauces - the canned for him and the homemade for me.

The next Spaghetti Night, I made the canned sauce for him according to plan. After we finished eating, he nervously said to me, "Can we buy the regular kind of noodles next time? I just don't like these as well."

FINE. SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I TRY TO MAKE US EAT A LITTLE HEALTHIER AND MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY?!?

Instead of throwing a tantrum (like I wanted to do), I bought him his old faithful regular kind. But, I bought more high fiber noodles too. I wasn't about to let him take me down from my healthier diet high.

So, that's the Spaghetti Night became so complicated.