Italian Week!

     This past week was Italian Week on Food Network. If you're wondering why I'm telling you this, it's because my mom is a huge fan of Italian cooking. She swears up and down we were meant to be Italian. So, we decided to celebrate by cooking an Italian meal every night. Each family member, excluding my sister who is at college (Sorry Catie), got to pick one of their favorite dishes to cook. On Monday my mom made her famous eggplant parmesan. I know everyone says this but, my mom really does make the best Italian food. Since she's a boss in the kitchen, my dad and I wanted to do just as good. 

     Tuesday night was my turn. I decided instead of trying to be fancy I'd stick with a classic, spaghetti and meatballs. Since I'm mostly known for my baking and not my cooking, I went for the easy route. What's simpler than spaghetti and meatballs? Boy was I wrong. I asked my mom for her recipe and found out that watching a few 'Extra Virgin' episodes on Food Network was not going to help me. I am by no means an expert on how to write a blog post about a recipe, so, I figured I'd just share a few snapshots my mom took.

     One thing a learned about cooking meatballs is that it's hard to enjoy meat when you've smelled it raw. If my vegetarian sister is reading this, no, it does not mean I'm becoming a vegetarian. I just ended up enjoying the leftovers the next day a little bit more. (Tip for rolling meatballs- Lightly roll them in your hands. Try not to compact the meat to keep it from becoming too dry.)

My beautifully rolled and raw meatballs!

     After I rolled the meatballs, I put them in the oven to cook for a little while until browned on the outside. I didn't let them cook all the way through until I put them in the sauce and let them simmer for a while. As you can see below, this is what they should look like when ready to eat.

     Once the sauce and the meatballs were finished, I quickly made the spaghetti noodles. By that time, the smell had filled our house and my dad wanted to 'help' finish cooking it. 

     After I cooked the pasta, all that was left to do was put it in a bowl. I had to go outside to get some basil for the finishing touch. 

     I don't think I could've done it without a little bit of my mom's help, but it turned out beautifully. We ended up sitting at the table with Italian music playing while we ate. I'm pretty sure my dad and I got on my mom's nerves while we sang the only words we knew to a couple of the songs; mine being 'When a *mumbles some form of words* like a big pizza pie that's amore'. All in all, the meal was delicious. Later on in the week it was my dad's turn and he made a steak marsala. It was amazing.

     I know this doesn't really have anything to do with music, but I want this blog to be about my life in general. Someone told me recently that they loved hearing about the adventures that go on in my life, so I figured that you guys might too. I have a lot of stuff coming up soon and hopefully I will have time to keep you updated!

xx Carson